How to expand instagram following
Get More Real Instagram Followers with These 10 Tips
Instagram has become a cornerstone of many brands’ social presence, driving profitable traffic to landing pages, growing conversions, and building an engaged audience.
If your Instagram presence isn’t quite as robust as you’re hoping, it might be time to learn how to sharpen up your strategies for getting real, organic followers on Instagram. The larger your audience grows, the more opportunities you have to engage with users and create unique experiences for them.
The organic distinction is important: sometimes brands take the easy way out when trying to get more Instagram followers. Pay for likes and follower sites are everywhere, but these shortcuts are never worth it, as the Instagram algorithm regularly gets updated to weed out paid, low quality accounts and interactions.
Not to mention, the number on your Instagram following ultimately means nothing if it doesn’t represent an engaged fan following that makes purchases, visits your landing pages, and advocates for your brands with friends and followers. Start building your presence up the right way with these tips on getting more Instagram followers.
Before you set out figuring out how to gain followers on Instagram, one of the most important steps is to have your account fully optimized. Think of your brand’s Instagram bio as the “homepage” to your account.
Without a bio, image captions, a proper username or profile image, how will people know the account belongs to your brand? It might seem obvious, but on Instagram your bio and image help form the foundations of your brand identity. The link in your bio is your one spot to drive Instagram traffic to your site, so optimizing your account is essential.
If you’re uncertain where to link, try marketing or product pages that relate to specific keywords, hashtags or campaigns on your Instagram account. Linking to your homepage is OK–but why not give users a cohesive experience when moving from your bio to a site? This has led to the popularity of IG link landing pages that host relevant links to the last few pieces of content mentioned on a brand’s feed, and “link in bio” posts that help direct audiences to those links.
Additionally, keep your username as search-friendly as possible, which usually means sticking close to your actual brand name. If your business name is longer, shorten it to something your audience would recognize. Don’t add numbers or special characters to your username, and if possible keep it in-line with other social media handles you already have.
The best way to optimize your account is to create and follow an Instagram marketing strategy. Download our free guide to get started.
2. Keep a consistent content calendarThe worst thing you can do when trying to get followers on Instagram is to post content at random, haphazard times. If you’re lucky enough to get users following you in the beginning, you don’t want to make them forget they followed you in the first place.
To combat this, keep to a regular posting schedule. Typically, brands shouldn’t post more than a few times a day to avoid spam, but whatever your cadence, keep it consistent.
Approximately 200 million Instagram users log on daily, so to cast your net even wider, try publishing a few times throughout the entire day.
In fact, our very own research on the best times to post to Instagram pinpoints the top times to post for multiple industries, or you can follow our research of the best times across all topic areas below:
Sticking to a schedule will help you build a consistent experience for your followers and keep them in the know of your brand. But if you’re wondering how you’re going to remember to publish at these different times in the day, we’ve got you covered with Sprout’s scheduling and optimal times features–read on for more details.
3. Schedule Instagram posts in advanceWhile the Instagram algorithm has changed to show users more content they like, posting at the right times can still give your posts more visibility by increasing the overall engagement they receive.
There’s a lot your brand can do to raise visibility, and now with Sprout Social, scheduling Instagram content is one of them.
With our newest tools, we can help your brand schedule Stories, Carousels and Feed posts through an easy process.
By scheduling content in advance, your entire team can see campaigns and schedules more efficiently. It’s always smart to build out content in advance and with our Instagram scheduling tools, you can reach your audience and maintain a consistent flow of content at the same time.
You can also use Sprout’s patented ViralPost feature and let us do the work for you. ViralPost analyzes your own account’s engagement history and identifies the optimal times for you to post algorithmically.
4. Get partners and brand advocates to post your contentPerfect your Instagram content plan with Sprout Social
In addition to scheduling a complete picture of your Instagram content calendar, Sprout offers even more features to perfect your brand’s feed.
Share IG-approved visuals with your team using our Asset Library, or test out our grid preview feature to make sure every aspect of your presence is true to your brand style.
Get a hands-on look at these features and more with a 30-day free trial of Sprout.
When you’re learning how to get more Instagram followers, it’s important to know the value of your audience. The larger your follower count grows (organically), the more buyers and interested customers you will have.
The best way to get customers to follow you is to get in front of them and be present. It’s critical to be present on your own Instagram as well as others. Try sponsoring user-generated content to get your brand in customers’ feeds. You can also hold Instagram contests to get your brand
out to a larger audience. These types of campaigns build social proof by showing your fans are invested enough to repost your content or create their own UGC.
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A post shared by Urban Outfitters (@urbanoutfitters)
Another way is to get your handle in front of a much larger audience.
Try to work with larger Instagram accounts in your industry, like notable influencers in your space, to share your content to their audience.
Just make sure you’re providing something of value. The last thing you want to do is seem too salesy. Find marketing collaborations and co-marketing plans with other businesses to build your Instagram audience.
5. Avoid fake Instagram followersThere’s a huge difference between an Instagram account having fake and legitimate followers. It might seem tempting to simply purchase Instagram followers, but the backlash outweighs the perks of organic follower growth.
Fake Instagram followers tend to:
- Deceive new followers: If users come to an inactive Instagram feed with tens of thousands of followers, it will lower the account’s credibility. Don’t trick people into following you. Build trust and long-lasting relationships for better engagement.
- Have no ROI: It might seem easier to buy followers, but your acquired bot or unmanned new followers won’t be purchasing anything.
People follow brands on Instagram for a reason–they like what you’re posting or your company in general. These are actual spenders and bring monetary value to your business. - Create little-to-no buzz: If you have 10,000 fake followers, how many are going to comment, like and share your content? More than likely, these bot or fake accounts will be cleaned up by Instagram, deleted and make your posts seem like engagement graveyards.
Real people have the ability to share, like, comment and engage with your Instagram posts. Additionally, these users enjoy when there’s someone on the other side responding.
For example, Lush Cosmetics takes the time to answer various product questions, which results in users coming back, following or possibly sharing with others. These interactions will always have more value than a set of inactive followers.
6. Showcase your Instagram everywhereHow are people going to find an account unless you promote your Instagram? Make sure your Instagram account is listed with your website and other social networks.
Creating visibility and awareness is one of the best ways to get discovered. If you truly want to get more Instagram followers, let people know where to find you. You could add social media buttons to your website and blog to help promote social shares across all your networks as well as show people where to find you on Instagram.
Follow #MoMAPrimeTime on Instagram today as we celebrate the last day of Summer Camp for 200 New Yorkers, ages 65+! https://t.co/RNyV7Ibr9y pic.twitter.com/64SvbUaWLL
— MoMA The Museum of Modern Art (@MuseumModernArt) June 23, 2017
Another great idea is to cross promote across your social media accounts. The Museum of Modern Art regularly spreads awareness about its Instagram through Twitter. You can easily leverage your other social networks to direct users to your Instagram.
However, make sure that you’re not just asking for a follow. Instead you should try to promote unique content on your Instagram so users have a reason to follow you there.
Fortunately, with Instagram adding a ton of new content and video features like Stories, IGTV and Reels, you have a great opportunity to build followers through creative content.
While this is easier said than done, it’s smart to learn what content your followers want to see. You’ll quickly find on Instagram that some content performs better than others. This is why testing is so important.
Whether it’s filters, captions, content types or post times, the smallest detail can make all the difference. Keep your ear to the ground with new Instagram trends so you know you’re posting popular content.
To take your analysis a step further, your brand should invest in Instagram analytics tools. This will make it easier to track, benchmark and analyze Instagram content across accounts.
Be confident in your content strategy by analyzing different filters, captions and more to see what works best with your audience. If you’re unsure where to start, try analyzing your competitors.
You shouldn’t directly copy your competitors, but it’s smart to take notes on what they’re doing or posting that drives engagement. A little competitive research can go a long way. You can use our Instagram Competitors report to get a look at what’s working for other brands in your industry.
8. Get the conversation startedOne of the best ways to make users aware of your Instagram is through conversation. According to the 2020 Sprout Social Index, consumers want to engage with visual-first content like photos (68%) and video (50%), followed by 30% who want to engage with text posts. Instagram is the perfect fit for this audience profile, pairing eye-catching visuals with captions that can be just as engaging when you perfect your Instagram caption copywriting skills.
People are continuing to use social media as their contact reference for brands, whether its for off-the-cuff questions and chat, serious customer care queries, or praise for their favorite brands and products.
And for your business, you need to be supportive and communicative on Instagram.
Try to respond to as many questions or comments as possible, because it could mean the difference between getting a new customer, follower or improving your relationship with your audience. Our Index research also showed 89% of consumers will buy from a brand after following on social, so it’s important to secure the attention and loyalty needed to convert a visitor to your profile into a follower.
9. Find hashtags that convertOne of the most tried-and-true ways to get followers on Instagram is through hashtags. For years hashtags have served as an essential tool for discovery and allowed us to extend our social reach. As a marketer, you want to build your community by gaining followers and hashtags provide just that.
For starters, find hashtags that are not too populated. Social Media Examiner points this theory out by explaining how the hashtag #love has more than 184 million photos connected to it.
Trying to highlight your Instagram content in a sea of millions of pictures and videos is not an easy thing to do.
You have to find hashtags that people in your target audience are more likely to check. If a relevant connection is made, these users will be more likely to follow your account. Unique, branded hashtags are one way to group posts around hyper-relevant content to your brand and campaigns.
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A post shared by M&M'S (@mmschocolate)
For example, M&Ms does a great job at focusing hashtags to an event where they are participating. By using hashtags like #mmspotlight, the brand targets its audience more directly where the spotlight concert event happens and creates awareness.
Understanding how your hashtags perform on Instagram is also just as critical to using them.
And with Sprout Social’s hashtag analytics tools, you have direct access to hashtag performance and usage data to see what’s working best.
Don’t go blindly into the hashtag universe, know what you’re tagging so you can build your following.
10. Make your Instagram followers happyLast but not least, when you make your Instagram followers happy, you see the payoff in audience growth. We’ve given you plenty of tips for brainstorming and scheduling content, so put them into practice in a way that feels real to your brand voice. In other words, avoid seeming needy, sales-driven or robotic.
For many accounts, this means sprinkling in posts that are legitimately designed to bring a smile to followers’ faces and build customer relationships. Don’t forget to provide content to your followers as if they were friends on your personal feed: this might include posting memes, inspirational content, or just re-sharing interesting photos or artwork (all properly credited, of course) that can give your followers a little mental pick-up during the day.
More tips for your Instagram presence
Developing an Instagram following is a multifaceted process. Knowing the ins and outs of best practices on the network will help your strategies be more effective. Learn more with these guides to some of the most important IG essentials:
- How to promote your Instagram: 13 ways that actually work
- 9 Instagram post ideas to spice up your account
- How to regram on Instagram
- How to get more Instagram Likes
- How to craft an impactful Instagram bio for business
Instagram continues to grow in popularity with audiences, so taking advantage of these tips to get followers will help you increase your reach. If you’re ready to put Sprout’s powerful tools behind your Instagram management, start a free trial today.
17 Ways to Get More Followers on Instagram (2022)
Instagram can be a highly targetable, visual marketing channel for your brand and an opportunity to build a loyal audience that grows with your business.
In fact, over 500 million Instagram users browse the app every day, making it home to some of the most engaged audiences around.
In this guide, we’ll show you how to grow your Instagram follower profile and increase engagement, while growing a massive following over time—one that’s full of real fans, not bots or fake followers.
17 ways to get more Instagram followers
- Incorporate Reels into your content mix
- Cross promote content
- Curate your profile grid
- Work with brand ambassadors
- Get follows from your loyalty program
- Market through your personal Instagram account
- Get on feature accounts
- Use the right hashtags
- Post at the right times
- Steal your competitors' followers
- Pay for sponsored posts and product reviews
- Use geotags to boost local discovery
- Organize your Stories in highlights
- Ask for more followers
- Run a giveaway
- Share user-generated content
- Use Instagram live
Let’s dive deeper into how to implement each tactic to get more Instagram followers.
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1. Incorporate Reels into your content mix
Reels are fun videos you can share with followers on your Instagram account. They have audio, effects, and creative tools. You can share them on your feed and publicly in Explore to reach new audiences.
Reels are new territory for brands. Instagram’s beauty partnerships manager, Kristie Dash, stated in a Glossy forum that Reels are still a relatively new way to publish content, and there isn’t one formula for success. But, she does suggest the following tips to gain traction:
- Keep content unique and trend drive. Identify trends on Instagram and TikTok and put your own spin on it. This increases the chance your Reels will go viral and get in front of new people.
- Make content relatable and simple. Not every Reel needs to be a production. Lower quality videos can perform the same, if not better, than highly produced Reels.
- Educate your audience. Find the balance between education and entertainment in your Reels.
Reels should be a huge priority for you right now. It’s prime real estate for your brand to be discovered by new followers.
Kristen Dash, Beauty Partnerships Manager, Instagram
Social media marketing agency owner Trilce Jirón Garro, of TBS Marketing, agrees. “Don’t sell your products through Reels content. Share facts. Provide tips about the industry you’re in. Entertain viewers,” she says.
Trilce suggests that both new and existing brands incorporate entertaining Reels into their Instagram strategy. “Reels give anyone the opportunity to reach new target audiences. There’s no learning curve because Reels content is lo-fi.
And creators can produce community-driven content that builds trust, gains followers, and makes sales over time.”
Trilce also loves the Instagram Insights Tool introduced for Reels. “Reels have become an integrated part of any Instagram marketing strategy. Analytics tools for Reels has made it easy to track metrics and analyze data to see if your Reels are working. Now, you can understand exactly what your audience likes and dislikes, when to post Reels, and what calls to action resonate with viewers.”
Using Reels Insights, you can see patterns and understand different spikes in engagement that affect your visibility on the platform. That way, you can create higher-quality content that gets even more engagement and followers.
Need help creating a Reels strategy? Read Why and How to Use Instagram Reels to Market Your Shopify Store to learn more.
2. Cross promote content
Cross-promoting involves posting similar content across various social media channels.
It’s a tactic used to save time and resources. It’s also effective at increasing brand awareness and growing an audience on Instagram.
Mobile users are spending an increasing amount of time with video and entertainment apps, with video content on social media platforms accounting for the biggest increase. Whether it’s a short-form video or lengthy tutorial, you want to improve the reach of your Instagram content.
Justin Bieber’s holiday dance challenge is a great example of successful cross-posting. During the 2020 holiday season, the Canadian singer posted the same dance challenge on both TikTok and Instagram. On TikTok, his video short received 9.8 million likes. The same content on Instagram received 4.8 million likes. He was able to get in front of more people just by posting the same video on two different platforms.
Nadya Okamoto, founder of lifestyle period brand August, has found that TikTok naturally cross-pollinates to Instagram and YouTube. She says in an interview with Modern Retail, “As we’ve grown on TikTok from August, we’ve also grown to 175,000 followers on Instagram.
” Actively posting on multiple platforms has “affected our overall cost of acquisitions to be super effective,” allowing the brand to steer away from paid media as a main acquisition channel.
TikTok isn’t the only channel you can cross-post on. The Instagram Reels format translates well to YouTube Shorts and Pinterest Stories. It’s important to note that Instagram’s algorithm won’t promote Reels that have a TikTok watermark. So if you’re going to cross-post content from Instagram to other channels, ensure the content is high quality and doesn’t promote a competing platform through watermarks.
3. Curate your profile grid
Most of your followers won’t follow you for what you posted in the past but for the promise of what you’ll post in the future. Your audience wants to know what they’re going to get if they hit that Follow button.
Having a feed with a consistent theme and a consistent posting schedule can have just as much of an impact in growing a following as many of the other growth strategies we’ve covered above.
Even a simple pattern can entice new followers, as long as it’s communicated at first glance to anyone who lands on your profile.
Consider your Instagram bio and your last nine posts as your first impression on Instagram. Do they effectively communicate some degree of consistency through personality, filters, colors, or layout? Does the clickable link send people to the same homepage every week? Or are you linking out to fun and exciting content too?
The layout of your grid is an often underestimated way to get creative with the aesthetic of your feed while adding a rhythm to your publishing strategy and consistency that’s worth following.
In fact, many accounts that adopt this approach are often able to spend less effort on creating content by focusing on converting visitors into followers, producing text graphics or other content with a faster turnaround, and streamlining the overall production of their Instagram content.
You can use a tool like Later to easily plan out and schedule the look and layout of your feed.
Letterfolk is just one example of how far some brands go with the aesthetic of their Instagram layout.
Your feed serves as the billboard for your brand. It’s a customer’s first touchpoint with you and captures the essence of your brand.
Trilce Jiron, TBS Marketing
4. Work with brand ambassadors
Don’t want to pay the celebrity influencer big bucks to market your brand? Works with brand ambassadors who have anywhere from a couple hundred to a few thousand followers. Ambassadors are people who genuinely support and believe in your brand and will tell their friends about it.
Luxury shoe retailer Sarah Flint reports seeing success with its brand ambassador program, which has over 500 women. Each ambassador has their own unique discount code, which gives them a free pair of Sarah Flint shoes after five new customers use it.
Ambassadors like Holly Hollon attest to the quality and comfort of the brand’s shoes. Her posts are authentic and relatable to regular Sarah Flint shoppers.
This helps the brand grow its Instagram following and earn sales.
5. Get follows from your loyalty program
Retailers are increasingly launching loyalty programs, repeatedly encouraging consumers to shop with their brand over another. It’s worked for brands like Sephora and Blume. One way brands are capitalizing on loyalty programs is by rewarding those who follow them on Instagram.
When luxury retailer Rebecca Minkoff launched its rewards program, RM Rewards, it gave shoppers the option to earn points by following the brand’s Instagram account. Brands like Blume are also finding the value in rewarding Instagram followers. Program members can earn Blume Bucks for becoming a friend on Instagram versus Facebook or Twitter.
6. Market through your personal Instagram account
Another popular way to increase your Instagram following is growing your personal account—basically, make yourself the influencer. Harnessing both the company account and your personal account can increase brand recognition, follower counts, and sales.
Pro tip: You can also run this playbook on TikTok to improve your numbers.
It’s a tactic that works well for fashion label ANINE BING. In addition to the brand’s Instagram profile, the company’s founder also drives engagement and awareness through her personal Instagram page, which has over one million followers.
Anine invites followers into her design studio, takes them through the design process, and even gets feedback from followers throughout the creative process. Anine also shares a bit about her personal life and milestones, giving followers a peak behind the curtains of their favorite designer’s life.
7. Get on feature accounts
Instagram feature accounts are pages that curate the best content in a specific niche. They are like the “best of” photo journals for an industry. Some feature accounts have a massive following. If you get placement on the account, it can send new Instagram followers to your profile.
There are feature accounts for every niche: travel, fashion, photography, and more.
For example, @discoverearth curates adventurous travel content from around the world for over 6.1 million followers.
8. Use the right hashtags
Your goal on Instagram is to engage your current audience on a regular basis while also growing your number of real followers. Posting new, interesting, and engaging photos will satisfy the first requirement, but to begin growing you’ll find hashtagging your photos extremely important. Hashtagging makes it easy for people searching for specific terms to find your photos.
So which hashtags should you use? Just like with Twitter and other social sites, users on Instagram choose certain hashtags over others. If you use popular Instagram hashtags within your photos, you’re much more likely to reach new users and be discovered.
At the time of this writing, these were the top 20 hashtags on Instagram:
- #love
- #instagood
- #photooftheday
- #fashion
- #beautiful
- #happy
- #cute
- #like4like
- #tbt
- #followme
- #picoftheday
- #follow
- #me
- #art
- #selfie
- #summer
- #instadaily
- #repost
- #friends
- #nature
If you looked at this list and said, “But none of those apply to my products or brand,” you’re likely correct.
Using hashtags is one thing; using the right tags is completely different.
Popular tags like the ones listed above will likely net you additional engagement and likes. However, they won’t lead to increased long-term engagement, new interested followers, or, most importantly, sales.
If you want to tag your photos properly, you’ll need to find and use the most relevant hashtags. This means doing the appropriate research to make sure you’re using hashtags that not only describe your brand but that are also being searched for on Instagram.
To find relevant hashtags, you’ll want to use a free online tool like IconoSquare or Webstagram to start.
Below, I used Webstagram to find relevant, related, and popular hashtags for my men’s accessory business by searching for key hashtags closely related to my brand.
As an example, searching the hashtag #MensFashion, I was able to pull the following list of additional keyword hashtags along with the number of times they have been used (i.
e., their popularity).
You can also find more related hashtags and their popularity if you search for any of your target keywords directly in the Instagram app.
You’ll want to go through this exercise trying different keywords that describe your brand and products, building out your hashtag keyword list as you go.
Keep in mind that Instagram allows for a maximum of 30 hashtags per post. Additionally, the popular words will change over time, so make sure you revisit your hashtag keywords every few months so you're using the best possible terms.
You can also steal hashtag ideas from competitors or similar accounts that have the kind of following you aspire to, but ultimately, you want to create your own groups of hashtags that relate to your specific account.
Pro tip #1: Here’s a trick I use for my ecommerce businesses. For every product and product category in my stores, I’ve researched the most popular related Instagram hashtags. I came up with 15 to 20 popular hashtags for each category of products I sell, as well as a base of five to 10 popular tags that describe my brand and product offering.
Finally, I also created a list of popular local specific hashtags that relate to my brand.
For example:
Brand keyword hashtags
#mybrandname #mensfashion #mensaccessories #mensgoods #fashion #mensstyle #instafashion #menswear
Product category keyword hashtags
#bugatchisocks #happysocks #corgisocks #socks #sockswag #socksoftheday #sockgame #sockswagg #socksofinstagram #happysockday #sockwars #funsocks #happysockday
Location-specific keyword hashtags
#Toronto #TorontoFashion #TorontoFashionBloggers
All of these groups of keyword hashtags are stored in a page on Evernote. This makes it easy and efficient when I’m on the go to post a new Instagram image optimized for the most relevant keywords.
You can easily open my Evernote and copy my standard brand-, product-, and location-specific hashtags to post with each photo. Some Instagram scheduling tools also let you save caption templates for storing your hashtag groups.
Doing the work of researching, organizing, and saving the most applicable and popular hashtags upfront will save you a ton of time down the road, increase your engagement, and help garner new followers.
Pro tip #2: If you’ve been posting to Instagram for a while and feel you’ve missed out on all these opportunities to build your audience using keyword hashtags, fret not. You can still go back and post a comment with your new hashtag keyword lists and watch the likes and followers roll in.
Using hashtags in Instagram stories
Hashtagging on Instagram posts is a given, but you should also be using hashtags in your Stories for the chance to be seen by users who follow that specific hashtag.
You can use hashtag stickers (which can be found in the Instagram Stickers menu when creating a Story) or just hashtag directly in your captions for a chance to be featured in a hashtag story.
Now that users can follow hashtags, your Stories on Instagram have a chance to be seen by both people who are following that hashtag and anyone who’s just checking it out.
9. Post at the right times
Beyond adding the appropriate hashtags and using the best filters to get more Instagram followers, you should also consider the timing of your posts.
A targeted approach involves analyzing what has and has not worked for you in the past. By visiting IconoSquare’s optimization section, you can get a detailed analysis of your posting history versus engagement. This report will also highlight the best times of the day and days of the week to post.
The dark circles indicate when you usually post media. The light gray circles show when your community has been interacting. The biggest light gray circles represent the best times for you to post.
You can also get a lot of great insight for free from Instagram analytics for business accounts, found under the Followers section.
You may want to consider using a social media scheduling tool to automatically publish your posts when your audience is the most engaged.
10. Steal your competitors’ followers
One of the best ways to find and attract a new following is by seeking out your closest competitors’ Instagram accounts and engaging with their audiences.
These people have already shown some level of interest in the products you carry simply by following your competitors.
So how do you effectively steal your competitors’ followers? By engaging with them. There are several ways to engage with Instagram users, and the more work you put in, the more followers and repeat engagement you’ll get out of it.
The three types of engagement on Instagram are:
- Follow a user
- Like a photo
- Comment on a photo
Don’t be afraid to use an emoji or two to add some personality to your text.
11. Pay for sponsored posts and product reviews
All this optimized posting to your account is great, but if you really want to increase Instagram followers, you need to take advantage of influencer marketing and expose your brand to a wider audience.
So, how do you do that? First, unlike the tactics to grow Instagram followers mentioned above, this one usually isn’t free. However, if done correctly, it’s of good value.
To get started, you’ll need to make a list of large accounts in your niche. For example, if you sell beauty products, you’ll want to find large accounts from beauty bloggers.
You may already be following these accounts, but if not, you’ll need to find them. One of the best ways is to use Webstagram (mentioned earlier) and search for some of the closest hashtag keywords you uncovered in the beginning of this post. When you do a search for your keywords, not only will it show you the related keywords, it will also show you the top Instagram accounts that feature those keywords.
There are a couple of things to look for in the profiles results:
- A large following—usually 20,000 to 200,000
- An email address in the profile
If there is an email address in the profile, it usually means the account is open to sponsored posts or a shoutout in a sponsored Story.
You’ll want to email and ask their sponsored post pricing. In general, I have found the average rate to be around $20 to $50 per post, depending on the size of the following.
However, if you’re selling a unique and original product, you may also want to consider sending your product for the influencer to review and post. Usually, the more natural and less advertisement-like the image, the greater the engagement and response.
You don’t necessarily need influencers with a massive following to get more followers on Instagram, but rather ones with a high engagement rate (likes and comments relative to follower count), which many influencer marketplaces can provide.
12. Use geotags to boost local discovery
Besides hashtags, you can also make your Instagram posts and Stories discoverable by tagging your location—either the city you’re in or the venue where the photo or video was taken.
Locations not only have their own Instagram feed but also their own Story, and hashtags that you can contribute to when you use the location sticker in your own Stories.
Local businesses can get the most value out of location tags by posting regularly to these feeds and also engaging with posts from prospective customers who are physically in the vicinity.
13. Organize your Stories into Highlights
Whenever a potential follower lands on your business profile, you have a short span of time to convince them to follow you.
One way to do this is by using the Highlights feature on your profile to organize your Instagram Stories in a way that communicates what your account is about.
Since Stories have a 24-hour lifespan, Highlights can be used to give them a second life and entice others to follow you so they don’t miss out on more Stories in the future.
Use Story Highlights to grow Instagram followers by:
- Creating trailers that tease what your account is about
- Organizing your Stories into themes (like countries you’ve visited, for travel accounts)
- Explaining your products through pictures and videos
14. Ask for more followers
It sounds obvious, but it deserves to be said: Don’t be afraid to occasionally ask your audience to follow you.
The same way YouTubers ask their viewers to follow them at the end of their videos, you can also ask viewers to follow you for more content.
Sometimes people might really enjoy what you put out on Instagram but need a nudge before they actually follow you.
You can also do this in your Instagram captions, work it into your content by pitching what your audience will get if they follow you or by hinting at content that’s coming up that they won’t want to miss.
15. Run a giveaway
One of the best kinds of comments you can get on any social media post, not just Instagram, is when one user tags a friend. Not only do these comments contribute to your post’s engagement, which in turn makes it favorable to the Instagram algorithm, but each tag brings you a new audience member who arrived through a recommendation and who you could potentially win over as a follower.
One way to encourage this behavior is by posting relatable content that begs for 1:1 sharing (e.g., a gym meme that asks you to tag a friend who skips leg day). But a more reliable way is by running a giveaway that encourages your audience to tag a friend and follow your account.
Follow Instagram’s promotion guidelines and any legal requirements for running an Instagram contest that applies in your country of operation.
For inspiration, here’s an example of a successful product giveaway from Philip Kingsley that incentivizes people to follow its account and tag a friend for the chance to win a collection.
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16. Share user-generated content
User-generated content (UGC) is any type of content—such as videos, photos, reviews, audio, and more—that you curate from fans or followers. It’s an essential tool in your marketing arsenal for gaining followers on Instagram. UGC helps humanize your brand by featuring real people, with real stories, that show your product in real life and builds a more trusting relationship with potential customers.
Not only does your audience love their 15 minutes of fame on your Instagram feed, featuring them also helps drive more sales in your online store. According to research from Olapic, consumers today are 56% more likely to buy something after seeing a photo of the product shared by customers.
Take Fashion Nova, for example. The online retailer’s Instagram account relies heavily on user-generated content.
Fashion Nova’s user-generated content gives it access to thousands of pictures from people all over the world to share with its audience—pictures that both showcase the brand’s values and inspire followers to engage with its posts and buy the clothes real people are wearing.
When it comes to creating user-generated content for your online store, start by asking customers to share their favorite experiences and images with your products by:
- Creating a branded hashtag feed where customers can post images
- Adding a call to action in your Instagram bio
- Running a contest
- Reaching out to influencers
- Adding an “ask” for user-generated content in your packaging
Remember, the goal of UGC is to show an authentic view of your products. If some customers send you lower-quality photos that still highlight your products’ best features, don’t be afraid to use them.
17. Use Instagram Live
Live video is the key to running a successful marketing strategy on any social media platform. With Instagram, you can use Instagram Live to stream videos to your followers and engage with them in real-time.
When your brand starts a live video stream, a ring encases your profile picture in Instagram Stories to tell followers they can check it out.
Followers also receive a notification when you start a live video. Once you finish your livestream, you can upload it to your Story for 24 hours.
Remember that Instagram Live is interactive. Your followers will probably comment while you’re live, so try to acknowledge their comments and find ways to get them to participate.
Some ways to gain more followers when using Instagram Live include:
- Influencer takeovers
- Hosting an AMA (ask me anything) or Q&A
- Teasing a product launch or update
- Hosting a talk show
- Going behind the scenes on your operations
- Sharing a current event
- Running product tutorials
Building an Instagram growth strategy to drive followers
In this post we talked about the most effective ways to use Instagram to grow your instagram following, but it's not always a numbers game. As with any social network, the most successful content strategy is to be authentic and social.
If you focus on engagement, not just number of followers, Instagram can be a great home for your products and brand and can lead to a healthy stream of revenue for your ecommerce business. For more tips on turning this social media platform into a profitable channel, check out our post on how to make money on Instagram.
Illustration by Eugenia Mello
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How to get more followers on Instagram FAQ
How do you get more followers on Instagram for free?
- Find and post in popular hashtags related to your photo, product, or brand.
- Create your own branded hashtag.
- Use hashtags in Stories.
- Create Instagram Reels.
How can I increase my followers on Instagram?
- Use the right Instagram hashtags.
- Steal your competitors' followers.
- Use geotags on Instagram posts.
- Organize Stories into Highlights.
- Post user-generated content.
- Collaborate with other brands.
- Post at the best times.
- Use Instagram analytics tools.
- Publish Instagram Reels.
- Livestream on Instagram Stories.
How to increase the number of followers on Instagram
We have already blogged about how to increase your reach on Instagram* or increase engagement. Today we will tell you how to increase the number of followers on Instagram * - by legal methods, on your own or with someone else's help, paid and free ways, without registration and SMS.
If you are already actively maintaining a profile, but there is not enough time to switch to new goals and achieve higher indicators, then try delegating the routine part of the work to the SMMplanner deferred posting service. In it, you can plan the release of posts in advance, and in your free time think about how to increase followers on Instagram * on your own, using the tips from this article.
Purpose of promotion
Not all promotion methods are equally good for different types of accounts. First of all, you should decide on the goal - why your profile should become popular at all costs: you are an artist and want fame, you sell lawn mowers and want to increase the flow of customers from social networks, you are a massage therapist, makeup artist, tutor or coach, and looking for customers?
The main reasons why Instagram users* gain an audience:
- Promote a personal brand . Social networks allow specialists to stand out from competitors due to charisma and get customers from their own loyal audience.
- Earnings on advertising . Bloggers with a large audience make good money by integrating promotional publications into their content - talking about products, services and brands.
- Selling products .
In social networks, they announce and sell various goods - both material and intellectual: electronics, sports goods, clothes for children, books, courses, consultations. - Business promotion . You can attract customers through Instagram*, so entrepreneurs often think about how to increase the number of followers on Instagram*. Not only cafes and beauty salons use social networks for this today, but also shoe repairmen, cleaning companies, factories for the production of solid wood furniture - companies from a wide variety of niches.
- Distribution of creativity . Through social networks, you can talk about books, poems, music, announce concerts and performances. Instagram* is especially useful for artists and illustrators, as the main unit of content on the social network is a picture.
- Independent media promotion .
For online publications, the size of the audience is a key indicator. An online magazine needs subscribers and is meaningless without them. And sometimes only at their expense can survive.
- Bringing attention to the project. Through social networks, you can gather a caring audience and work together to solve some problem or urgent problem, and do so on a regular basis.
attracting people. Based on this, develop a strategy and content plan, which includes posts with the information that you are going to convey. You will also need to first prepare the account that you are going to promote.
Preparing to recruit followers on Instagram*
Your account should have a specific theme, and you should clearly understand what content you are going to make and who might be interested in it.
To assess the potential and characteristics of the audience, you can analyze similar accounts:
- see how many subscribers are interested in the topic and who these people are;
- what posts cause them more reactions;
- how often new posts appear in profiles;
- how a blogger or company interacts with their audience.
This will help you understand what kind of audience you can attract, how to interest them, what kind of response you can expect and what methods of engagement to use. At the same time, you do not need to duplicate the topics and content of competitors, but regularly review their profiles in order to better navigate the general information space and build on your own differences and advantages.
Since the most important contact with subscribers takes place through the profile, make sure that the information in the header is concise and understandable, and the design is beautiful and relevant to the topic.
What you need to consider when creating a profile and what you need to mention separately:
- a keyword in the account name will help your target audience find you faster, as it will be indexed by search;
- a completed description, even short and concise, will give new subscribers a clear idea of you, this encourages them to stay and get to know you better;
- if you have a website or accounts in other social networks, connect clickable links, this is especially true if you are recruiting an audience to lead it to a website or product catalog.
Think about ideas for posts in advance and make a content plan. Schedule a content release for at least a month and publish a few posts in the feed. It's very hard to get people interested in an account where nothing happens. If it’s hard to come up with topics for publications right away, use the post idea generator.
Want to learn more about professional account promotion? Choose the SMM.school course you are interested in and learn how to attract an audience and promote your profile on social networks at a convenient time for you.
If you want to quickly understand the functionality and capabilities of current sites, come to the free workshop "Fundamentals of SMM". The video course will give you the necessary basic promotion skills - you can apply them to develop your account.
Ways to increase your Instagram followers*
We have collected proven and legal promotion methods for you and divided them into two categories for convenience.
How to increase the number of followers on Instagram* for free
To grow your audience and increase your motivation to keep an account, try the following promotion methods that you can use for free:
Use hashtags in your posts . Try to use target tags that are as relevant as possible to attract the attention of interested people.
Why this is needed and how it will help, you can read in the article “How it works: Hashtags on Instagram* 2021”. Let's just say that hashtags will make your publications visible to people who do not subscribe to you, and they can also be used to maintain headings, develop a brand, catch a wave of hype, and show content to users from your region.
Mark geolocation . This is a must if you have a regional business, cafe or home studio. The tag will increase the coverage due to users who are geographically close to you. They are also very likely to become clients of your beauty salon or hairdresser, especially since, taking into account recent events, it has become important to visit salons, massage rooms and other treatment facilities, if possible, within a radius of 1 km from home.
Someone may see that there is a pottery school nearby and take it as a sign to try something new Attract the first subscribers from your contacts .
In the settings, you can add other social networks and follow the people you have as friends. They'll get a notification and be able to decide whether or not to subscribe back, so it's quite delicate compared to, for example, sending subscribe requests in private messages.
Post a link to your account on other social networks . You can promote your brand or your services on multiple social networks at the same time, or at least link to your business page on other accounts. You can also regularly repost or even publish posts automatically on several social networks at once using SMMplanner.
Leave a comment . You can attract the attention of potential subscribers by commenting on posts in related blogs, profiles of other bloggers, and thematic communities. This way you can show expertise, for example by answering someone's question, or being witty. You can express your point of view, disagree or even argue, the main thing is not to get personal and do not offend anyone.
Also be active by following and liking other profiles.
Shared broadcasts . Conduct broadcasts with specialists from related fields. This is how you can exchange audiences, increase the number of followers on Instagram* without cheating and once again show them that you can be useful.
Bloggers also broadcast: Olga Kravtsova recorded a broadcast with a psychologist on a topic that worries her, in case subscribers have similar anxietiesFriends of friends . If you have a good product or an interesting account, you can ask your friends to recommend you to their contacts in order to increase the number of followers on Instagram*. It's easy for them, and you enjoy it.
Get involved and be active . If you are an expert, you can act as a speaker; if you are a blogger, you can broadcast to subscribers on topics that are important to you. If you are selling something, show the product from different angles and tell some interesting information about it, for example, show the production process.
Post subscriber content . If possible, motivate them to create it. Such a strategy, for example, is entirely based on the GoPro account, which at the time of writing has 18 million subscribers.
A unique situation where the product itself motivates people to create contentCreate a variety of engaging and useful content . Come up with your own tricks that will make users want to share the publication, or tell something useful in collections so that subscribers can save them.
Run a marathon, challenge or other activity . Set goals and invite followers to join or support you. Perhaps someone just lacked the motivation to start running in the morning or read one book a week.
Organize polls and polls . Engage subscribers in interactive activities and discussions, ask them for advice in order to make a decision, ask for an opinion, even if you need to choose what color to buy a chair for the country.
People like to answer simple questions, and this is another reason to use Stories. Also, with the help of subscribers, you can find new topics for posts or even adjust your content strategy.
Post more stories . Their reach is higher than posts, and so far they remain one of the most effective types of content. It is also worth learning new tricks - for example, learning how to shoot Reels. As long as the format is relatively fresh, there is a chance to attract a large part of the new audience with it. You can get inspired by the article "8 interesting examples of using Reels on Instagram *".
Sometimes bloggers just share their favorite jokes and funny videos, this also increases the reach and allows you to gather an audience with a close sense of humor Connect business account . It has a lot more opportunities for launching advertising and promotion. For example, it will be possible to add messenger buttons to the description and study statistics in more detail.
Track the statistics of . Analyze the performance of posts in the statistics and note which ones have gained more coverage and attracted more attention. Adjust the content so that it falls into the interests and field of view of subscribers. Experiment with topics, pitch, and posting times.
To collect statistics and analyze the effectiveness of promotion, we recommend using the DataFan service. You only need to connect your account once, select the type of report, and the data will be updated automatically.
Read another article on our blog on this topic - "12 Ways to Promote on Instagram for Free*".
Paid methods to increase the number of followers on Instagram* without cheating
This group includes promotion methods that require small or large investments.
Organize sweepstakes and contests . You can start when your account has several hundred followers. The standard mechanics of the event is a drawing of a prize between users who subscribed, liked or reposted a post or story, tagged friends or wrote something in the comments.
A gift can be your own product, a discount, a certificate, a partner's product, a place on the course, etc. The main thing is that the prize deserves attention.
Participate in giveaways. Become a sponsor on Instagram giveaways*. It's a bit like a lottery for both you and your subscribers. How it works was described in detail in the article "How to participate in giveaways on Instagram*".
Use targeted advertising . You can set up advertising posts to target audience and get new subscribers every month. The effectiveness of the tool and the cost of a subscriber at the same time depend on the ability to use the target.
Order advertising from bloggers . To do this, it is important to be able to choose with whom to cooperate. Whether a blogger is right for you depends on their audience, reach, cost of advertising integration, your goals and budget. You can read more about this method in the article “Cooperation with bloggers: pros, cons, pitfalls”.
Advertise in thematic communities . A public post is usually much cheaper than a blogger's wall post. You can choose a community among thematic ones, or you can find one where they post funny videos with cats - everyone loves cats, one of these people will love you too.
Invest in promotion . You can find an SMM specialist or an agency that will take care of promoting your account - developing a content strategy, creating content, launching ads, posting, analyzing statistics, negotiating other people's ads in your account, etc. These services are used by both companies and the Internet stores, and bloggers, since it’s hard to deal with an account with a large audience on your own. So that Instagram* does not completely absorb the lifestyle of bloggers all the time, they hire assistants.
These are the main methods used to gain followers on Instagram*.
If something is missing in the article or you have your own unique features - write in the comments, we will definitely supplement the information!
We also recommend reading the article “How to promote an account on Instagram * from zero to 3000 subscribers in a month”.
In conclusion
Whether you need followers to sell on social media or just want to share your observations with those who support you, justify investing in an Instagram blog* and get paid for ads from brands whose philosophy matches yours - The main thing is that your content is interesting and relevant.
And the secret of how to maintain a profile regularly in order to increase the number of real followers on Instagram*, and not spend all your free time on it, we have already revealed above - use the SMMplanner deferred posting service. The service helps to plan the publication schedule, prepare them using built-in tools such as Story Builder and Canva without leaving the application, set UTM tags to track statistics, set up automatic publication on several social networks at once.
Successful promotion!
How to get followers in 2022 on Instagram: from 0 to 10,000
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As practice shows, the first 10,000 subscribers are the hardest to get. The reason is simple: people are reluctant to subscribe to little-known pages. But nothing is impossible. We have compiled 14 tips for you to help you grow your profile from scratch within a year.
#1 Join mutual PR groups / Liketme
How can a little-known page quickly gain followers? Join mutual PR groups, this tactic is best for promoting new accounts.
It works like this. A group of participants is recruited, after which everyone sends a link to their post. All members of the group like and comment on each other's posts, thereby increasing the reach. When there are a lot of likes and comments under your post, it arouses the interest of other people: they want to see what is there.
Sounds nice. But. There are many groups for mutual PR and on various topics, for example, about travel, fashion, etc. To attract your target audience, join such groups on the topic of your page. And to keep the attention of new subscribers, you should also subscribe to them.
This is a short-term strategy for developing a page from scratch that will not increase sales, but will increase brand trust and awareness.
#2 Repost someone else's content
To promote his store, Nicole Martins Ferreira, an SMM specialist, started using the Repost for Instagram app to repost other people's content.
One of these reposts got 52,862 views, 1,264 comments and 9,147 likes. It was a big hit, Nicole didn't even have 10,000 subscribers at the time. But remember, according to Instagram policy, you need to request permission to repost from the author of publications. Otherwise, there is a risk of getting banned.
Why reposts of other people's content, and not publications of your own? Newbies don't have such good content, and reposting - what could be easier?
What content to repost? Use hashtags to find the most popular posts, share the ones that got you the most engagement.
This is the simplest and most effective strategy for beginners.
#3 Ask followers to share photos
It's much easier to promote your Instagram page if you have a product or service that your customers share on their profile. If you post content with your customers, it will increase your social security and credibility.
If you haven't had any clients yet, you can contact an influencer (blogger) that suits your niche and order a review of your product. It is better to choose bloggers who have about 5,000 subscribers. Such accounts have a much lower cost of advertising and a more engaged audience.
You can also offer cooperation. For each completed sale through a referral link, you pay a commission to the blogger.
If you already have clients, you can ask them to tag you in their story or feed in exchange for a gift or a discount. Once you have enough clients, you don't have to ask anymore, they will tag you for free.
#4 Create a consistent style and stick to it
Yes, sounds like “ blah blah blah ” .
Let's figure it out.
Often people subscribe not because of the published content, but because of the anticipation and the ability to predict what your next post will be.
Let's say you run a corgi page and post cute pictures and videos of him every day. Users who come across your content may notice that you always have cute corgi photos. They will subscribe and start following your page, waiting for new cute corgi posts.
Sticking to a single style or theme is more than a branding game. We are talking about the psychophysiological component of emotions: the expectations that your existing and potential subscribers create. They want and expect to see more content of the same type or style every day.
By sticking to a consistent style, you build confidence and trust in your brand, which in turn helps increase your following.
#5 Use hashtags
Many social media experts recommend using 5 to 11 hashtags. Don't be afraid to ignore such advice!
Start experimenting with hashtags and eventually you'll figure out which ones are right for your brand.
Why not use 30 hashtags? You can add all these hashtags to the first comment under the post, which few people will see.
Is your goal to increase coverage? Then this is the easiest way. With hashtags, your posts will rank higher for keywords, which increases your reach.
If you want to reach your target audience, then you should avoid generic hashtags like #love or #life, use niche hashtags.
#6 Use location tags
Increase your reach with « Location Tags » , it indicates the city or place where the video or image was taken.
If your business is in a specific city, you can use these geotags to make it easier for people to find and follow your Instagram account.
Locations have their own separate feed, stories and hashtags - use this sticker and your content will be automatically added there.
#7 Start blogging
Do you have a blog? Start running it on Hashtap or Yandex.Zen.
You can add links to your YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook accounts to your blog post.
The more people who read your blog, the more likely they are to go to your social media pages and follow.
This is more of a long term strategy and you may not have a blog. But the faster you start it and add links to your social networks, the more likely you are to gain subscribers.
#8 Follow competitors' followers
To promote your account, you need to find people who follow your competitors' pages.
Do you know your competitors? Find them! Then study their profile, content and who comments on their posts, highlight your target audience. Start chatting with them.
It's better to choose smaller competitors to start with, as larger ones may have good loyalty programs that you may not be able to afford at the moment.
#9 Work with bloggers
Why bloggers? Every blogger has his loyal followers. By running ads with a blogger, you are guaranteed to get new subscribers and, most likely, sales.
But when choosing a blogger, carefully study his profile, exclude cheating subscribers.
Sign an agreement so that the blogger cannot use bots. Due to the rapid influx of fake followers, you can get your account banned. You do not want this?
#10 Giveaways
Giveaways are another effective way to promote your account.
If the draw is published on the site, then you can make a subscription to your social networks a mandatory condition for participation. This is how you unlock your account.
If you don't have many subscribers, you can post about the draw in free groups and blogs. You can also negotiate with bloggers - you send them a product, they review it for free and talk about the draw. Many agree to such conditions. Result? Hundreds of new subscribers in all social networks.
If you don't have your own audience yet, this is a great way to attract new subscribers. And to attract the target audience, you need to choose a blog from your niche.
Is your goal to promote your account? Then this strategy is for you if increasing sales is not.
#11 Collaboration with other brands
While you are at the start of your page promotion, collaboration with other brands is a quick way to gain a targeted subscriber base. You just repost and tag each other's profile.
You don't have to do anything but repost. New subscribers will write to you first.
#12 Instagram Tips/Guide
Instagram Tips is a new way to share educational content in the form of tips and hacks. In the IG guide, you can add: a title, description, video or image, as well as use already published posts in the feed.
There are 3 guide formats available:
- Places - collections of interesting places, objects, etc. in your city or some other city.
- Products - collections of products that you sell on your Instagram.
- Posts - your existing posts on the same topic, collected in one place, to which you can add titles and comments.
If you have interesting and useful tips, they will be shared with them.
