How to follow people on instagram fast
How To Get More Followers on Instagram [5 Simple Steps]
Starting fresh on social or just trying to build your online brand? You’re probably wondering how to get more followers on Instagram.
And no, we don’t mean buying followers or using bots. Those tricks might boost your follower count for a short time, but they won’t do you any favors long-term.
That’s because the only truly valuable Instagram followers are real people who care about and engage with your brand.
Check out our in-depth guide to learn how to grow Instagram followers organically.
Step 1. Lay the groundwork
Step 2. Create great content
Step 3. Make yourself findable
Step 4. Engage with your community
Step 5. Keep learning
Bonus: Download a free checklist that reveals the exact steps a fitness influencer used to grow from 0 to 600,000+ followers on Instagram with no budget and no expensive gear.
How to get more Instagram followers for free
No time to read the whole guide? Check out the video below for what you need to grow on Instagram this year:
Otherwise, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and get to work.
Step 1. Lay the groundworkHave a thoughtful Instagram marketing strategyIf you want to be effective on social, you need a clear plan.
Getting more Instagram followers is a great starter goal. But followers alone won’t create a successful Instagram account. Your goal needs to be part of a larger plan that connects to your business strategy and social marketing objectives.
Think about the reasons why you want more Instagram followers.
What do you really hope to accomplish? Maybe you want to:
- increase brand awareness
- boost product sales
- drive traffic to your website.
Staying focused on these business-oriented goals will help keep your Instagram account consistent. It will help you tell a compelling brand story that appeals to new profile visitors and helps build (and keep) a loyal following.
Define your target audienceAsk yourself some questions about who you’re trying to reach:
- Where do they live?
- What do they do for work?
- When and how do they use Instagram?
- What are their pain points and challenges?
The answers to these questions will help you craft content to connect with the people on Instagram who are most likely to give you a follow.
They will also help you consistently deliver content that will keep your audience engaged for the long run.
Create a consistent brand story and aesthetic
Maybe you want to show off how your product is made.
Or humanize your brand by sharing an employee’s perspective. An aspirational brand might showcase the lifestyle or achievements of your customers.
No matter what you’re going for, it’s important to maintain a consistent brand voice, personality and look.
Your posts should be easily recognizable at a glance. Think of your Instagram grid as one cohesive unit. You can always use Instagram Stories to share content that doesn’t quite fit with the look and feel of your main feed.
Your products don’t have to look the same, either. You can use styling to give your grid a consistent look and feel, like @themillerswifecustomcookies does:
Source: @themillerswifecustomcookies on Instagram
Use keywords to appear in searches
Before people can follow you on Instagram, they have to find you. But not all text on Instagram is searchable. Only two fields on Instagram contribute to search results: name and username.
Your username is your Instagram handle.
It should be consistent with the handle you use on other social networks since this also makes it easier for people to find you. Use your brand name or a variation of your name that people are likely to use when searching for your brand.
Your name can be anything you like, up to 30 characters. You don’t want to keyword-stuff, but including your most relevant keyword in the name field can make you easier to find.
For example, travel writer Claudia Laroye (@itsclaudiatravels) includes the keyphrase “travel writer” in her Instagram name. Now, she’s more likely to be found by people looking for travel content or writers.
Source: @itsclaudiatravels on Instagram
Optimize your Instagram bio and profileTwo-thirds of Instagram business profile visits are from non-followers. If your bio and profile convince them to click the follow button, those visitors may become followers.
Your profile includes your name and username fields (mentioned above), your website and your bio.
Your bio can be up to 150 characters, so make the most of it. Convey your brand identity and show new visitors why they should follow you. What kind of content can they expect?
This bio from @abstractaerialart sums up the account’s purpose and promise in a quick, easy-to-digest way:
Source: @abstractaerialart on Instagram
If you have a professional account (business or Creator), you can include extra info in your profile, like your contact information, type of business, and location.
Step 2. Create great contentDesign a gorgeous Instagram gridSure, this might seem obvious, but it’s critical when thinking about getting followers on Instagram. Every post on your Instagram grid must be high-quality and visually engaging.
When new users visit your profile, the content should make them want to see more (and click Follow).
Give commercial photographer @nelsonmouellic a round of applause for this visual feat.
Instagram is a visual social media platform, but great Instagram captions help you get more reach and engagement.
Here are some key strategies to keep in mind:
- Put the most important words up front. If the caption is more than 125 characters long, users must tap “more” to see the whole thing. Make the most of those first words to inspire that extra tap.
- Ask a question. This makes it easy for your audience to leave a comment. That increased engagement will help make your account visible to more people.
- Use emoji. Emoji add a bit of variety and can make your caption more enticing. Just make sure you use those emoji correctly!
- Try different caption lengths. Our data shows that long captions are more likely to improve engagement, but ultra-short captions can also be very effective when the visuals speak for themselves.
Will Tang of Going Awesome Places posts great photos with detailed captions that tell the story behind the shot. His Insta bio calls him a “creator of ridiculously detailed itineraries and guides.” That means this caption approach is very on-brand.
Post content that’s meant to be re-sharedView this post on Instagram
A post shared by Will | Going Awesome Places (@goingawesomeplaces)
Your audience wants to engage with content that’s useful and inspiring. So when planning your posts, think about types of content that other people might like to share.
People love sharing infographics. Feed that desire by supplying your followers with your expert insights. If someone embeds your Instagram posts in their blog, you’re exposed to a whole new audience of potential followers.
People can also re-share your posts in their Instagram Stories. These posts are clickable, so anyone who wants to know more can click through to your original post. It’s another easy way to expand your reach to new audiences and potential new followers.
For example, here’s how a Hootsuite post about LinkedIn demographics looks when shared to my Instagram Story.
Embrace Instagram StoriesIf you want more Instagram followers, you need to use Instagram Stories. Half a billion Instagram accounts use Stories every day, and 45% of the most-viewed Stories are from businesses.
People who use Stories are highly engaged. Plus, you can use the hashtag and location features in your stories to expose them to people who do not already follow you.
Make the most of Stories highlightsPut a lot of effort into an Instagram Story and not quite ready to say goodbye after 24 hours? Pinned Stories highlights are a great way to introduce your brand to people who visit your profile.
So pack those highlights with great info and content to show new visitors why they should follow you.
Don’t forget to customize the cover photos on your highlights, too. Supplement company Vega keeps things on-brand and plant-friendly with their custom green highlights.
Source: Vega on Instagram
Post consistentlyYour existing followers want to see content from you. That’s why they followed you in the first place. So give them what they want!
When users interact with your posts, those engagements tell Instagram’s algorithm that your content is valuable. Those interactions will then boost your reach. So giving your existing followers something great to interact with can help bring in new Instagram followers.
How often should you post? According to our analysis, between 3-7 times per week.
Post at the right timeInstagram uses an algorithm, not a chronological feed. But timing is still important to the algorithm.
Hootsuite’s social team found that the best time to post on Instagram is between 8 AM -12 PM PST or 4-5 PM PST on weekdays.
But your audience might have different habits than ours. A tool like Hootsuite Analytics can show you the best time to post for your audience based on past engagement, impressions or traffic.
Source: Hootsuite Analytics
Try Hootsuite for free. You can cancel anytime.
Start testing various times and measuring results. For example, if you’re a retail brand, you might want to test posting during lunch
Schedule your posts and storiesWhat if the best time to post to your account is 3 AM? (Hey, it happens.) Use a desktop-based Instagram tool like Hootsuite to schedule and publish directly to Instagram.
Scheduling your Instagram posts in advance allows you to plan a cohesive grid that tells an overarching story. It also allows you to dedicate time to creating excellent captions rather than trying to come up with something witty on the fly.
You can also use Hootsuite to schedule Instagram Stories and Reels.
Step 3. Make yourself findableUse relevant hashtags to reach new usersSadly, the text of your Instagram posts isn’t searchable. But your hashtags are. Using hashtags thoughtfully can be a good way to get followers on Instagram for free. You can even create your own branded hashtags.
Relevant hashtags can help people find your content. Instagram users can even follow hashtags. That means your hashtagged content may appear in the feeds of people who do not yet follow your account.
You can include up to 30 hashtags in an Instagram post, but don’t go overboard. Instead, do some experimenting to learn how many hashtags work best for your particular account.
Avoid hashtag gimmicks such as #likeforlike, #tagsforlikes, or #followme. These may give you a temporary boost in followers. But those people aren’t interested in what makes you and your content special.
They’re not going to help you build a meaningful, engaged audience on Instagram.
Instead, focus on using highly targeted hashtags specific to your photo, product, or business, like stylist Dee Campling does in this #wfh shot.
Tag your locationView this post on Instagram
A post shared by Dee Campling (@deecampling)
If the location of your post or Story is clear, it’s worth adding a location tag. It’s another easy way for people to find your content on Instagram.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Instagram’s @Creators (@creators)
If your business has a physical location, tag it and encourage customers to do the same.
Users can then click on that location and see all photos and Stories posted from your store, restaurant, or office.
For example, here’s what you get when you search for the location of Van Wonderen Stroopwafels in Amsterdam:
Source: Instagram
If you’re posting from a conference or event, adding your location can help you connect with other attendees. This will expose your account to a highly relevant group of new potential Instagram followers.
Tag relevant usersIt’s easy to tag Instagram users featured in your photos. Just use an @-mention in your caption or Instagram’s tagging functionality within the post.
Users are notified when they’re tagged, so tags encourage them to engage with and share the post. Your post will also appear on the Tagged tab of their Instagram profile.
You can also tag users in your Instagram Stories. Then, they can post shared content to their own Story with just a couple of taps.
If they do so, their viewers can click through to your account.
Be careful, though. Tagging someone just to get their attention isn’t a great idea. Instead, only tag users featured in your photo or relevant to your post’s content.
Some potentially relevant users to tag might include:
- Customers
- Suppliers
- Other relevant businesses
- Colleagues or employees
- Someone who taught you a skill or told you about something you share in the post
- Anyone who appears in the photo
Another way to introduce your Instagram account to a new audience is to ask other Instagram users to tag you. When they tag you in a post, their audience sees your handle and can click on it if they want to learn more.
Your bio is a great place to ask people to tag you on Instagram.
For example, Visit the USA asks Instagrammers to tag them for a chance to be featured on their account.
Source: @visittheusa on Instagram
Cross-promote your Instagram account on other networksIf you want to get followers on Instagram for free, you need to make it easy for people to find you.
Your Instagram profile should be easily discoverable. If you’ve already built a following on another social network, let those fans know about your Instagram account.
Share a link to your Instagram profile and give your existing social followers a reason to check it out. (Like an Instagram-exclusive coupon code, event, or contest.)
When BlogHer hosted Jameela Jamil for an Instagram Live, they made sure to promote it on their Facebook Page as well.
If you’re just starting your Instagram account, make sure to post some content before you promote the account elsewhere. Aim for a minimum of 12 posts.
You could also highlight some of your best Instagram posts on your other social channels. Consider boosting these posts with paid advertising so your other social followers can find and follow you on Instagram.
You’ve already seen some embedded Instagram posts in this blog. These clickable posts allow users to head directly to the relevant post or Instagram profile.
Embedding your own Instagram posts in your blog is an easy way to share your content and drive traffic to your profile. Every new visitor to your Instagram profile is a potential new follower.
For example, say Hootsuite wanted to announce our mascot’s makeover. Sure, we could share a few pictures of Owly’s new look.
But we could also embed an Instagram post, like this:
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Hootsuite 🦉 (@hootsuite)
Any time you’re sharing visual content like photos, charts, or infographics in your blog, there’s an opportunity to embed an Instagram post with that content instead.
Think beyond your social channels when sharing your Instagram account.
You can link to your Instagram account on your website, in your email signature, and in your online newsletters. The link doesn’t have to be big, either. You can use a small Instagram icon.
If you’re promoting a new Instagram account, a quick email blast is a great way to get free Instagram followers fast.
And don’t forget about your offline materials. You can include your Instagram handle on coasters, posters, packing slips, business cards, or packaging. It’s a simple way to drive more free Instagram followers to your account.
Use Instagram QR codesYour Instagram QR code is a scannable code that allows other Instagram users to follow you instantly. It’s another easy way to promote your account on physical materials like packing slips, signage, and product packaging.
Your QR code is also a great way to get new followers in real time at networking events and conferences.
People you connect with in person can scan your code to follow you without having to type out your handle. Try printing it out and tucking it into your namebadge holder for easy access.
Find your Instagram QR code by tapping on the three lines icon at the top right of your Instagram profile and selecting QR Code .
Try to get featuredFeature accounts are Instagram accounts that curate and re-share content based on a hashtag or tagging. Some of these accounts have a huge following. If they share one of your posts (along with your handle), they can send a new stream of Instagram followers your way.
There’s a feature account for just about every niche and interest on Instagram, so start exploring.
For example, @damngoodstitch features embroidery posts. The account has more than 180,000 followers.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by DamnGoodStitch (@damngoodstitch)
Aim for the Explore page
The Explore page is what you see when you click on the magnifying glass icon at the bottom of the Instagram app.
According to Instagram itself, this is where “you can find photos and videos that you might like from accounts you don’t yet follow.”
Half of Instagram accounts visit Explore every month. That’s a huge opportunity for brands looking to grow their audience.
Ending up on the Explore tab isn’t easy. Luckily, we’ve got an entire article dedicated to helping you get there.
You can also pay to get into the Explore feed by selecting Explore as an ad placement.
Bonus: Download a free checklist that reveals the exact steps a fitness influencer used to grow from 0 to 600,000+ followers on Instagram with no budget and no expensive gear.
Get the free guide right now!
Source: Instagram
Step 4. Engage with your communityFollow relevant accountsYou should only tag people in an Instagram post when the content is directly relevant to them. But you can follow anyone you like.
And when you follow a user on Instagram, there’s a good chance they will check out your feed and consider following you back.
Social listening is great for finding conversations and influential users (a.k.a. influencers) to follow.
Instagram’s “Suggestions For You” section is also a handy resource for finding relevant accounts to follow. These suggestions show up in your Instagram feed between posts, in between Stories, or on the right side of the screen on a computer.
Just remember not to follow too many other accounts too fast. Your follower ratio, or the number of people who follow you compared to how many you follow, is important for credibility.
And don’t follow people just to get their attention, only to unfollow after they follow you back.
This is kind of a jerk move and will hurt your Instagram reputation.
Like all social media networks, Instagram is about the communities built within it. So make sure you’re participating in those spaces.
Get involved by liking, commenting on, and sharing content from other credible users in your community. Avoid generic comments (like “Awesome post!”) that look like they come from bots.
Engaging with other posts helps draw attention (and potential new followers) in two ways:
- People get notifications when you like and comment on their posts. They may check out your profile to return the favor.
- If others find your comments thoughtful or intriguing, they may check out your profile.
Here’s an important stat for anyone thinking about how to get more followers on Instagram: 60% of consumers say they’d follow a brand on Instagram after seeing it promoted by an influencer they trust.
If you’re not working with influencers now, then you should definitely consider it. Luckily, we’ve got a whole guide on Influencer marketing to help you out.
Collaborate with other brandsDon’t be afraid to reach out to other brands to see if there’s a way that you can work together on Instagram. The right kind of collaboration could help everyone involved get more Instagram followers.
Think about businesses you already collaborate with in other ways. Maybe you’re connected in a local business improvement association or shopping area. How could you work together on Instagram?
One common option is to host a contest featuring products from multiple companies, like Rocky Mountain Soap Company did with Annika Mang of @borntobeadventurous.
Try an Instagram Live collaborationView this post on Instagram
A post shared by Rocky Mountain Soap Company (@rockymountainsoapco)
Live video keeps getting more popular, and Instagram is a great place to take advantage of the trend.
Users are notified when an account they follow starts broadcasting live, so a live video really grabs attention.
To get your Live video in front of a new audience, use the “Go live with a friend” option to co-host a live video with someone else in your industry. Ask the other person to host a Live video, then invite you as a guest. The two of you will appear in a split screen, introducing you to all of their followers.
For example, Design Emergency hosts a weekly Instagram Live to interview key figures in the design world.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Design Emergency (@design.emergency)
Likewise, Wine Spectator‘s Straight Talk series features interviews with industry insiders.
Use interactivity features in StoriesView this post on Instagram
A post shared by Wine Spectator Magazine (@wine_spectator)
Instagram Stories offer plenty of interactive features to engage users, like poll, question, and chat stickers. These stickers are a simple, low-stakes way for your audience to engage with your content.
Polling stickers increased three-second video views in 90% of Instagram’s beta campaigns for this feature.
Source: Instagram
If users come across your Story from a hashtag or location page, they can engage right away. It’s a great way to make them want to learn more about your brand by giving you a follow.
Pin your best commentsOne of Instagram’s little-known features is the ability to pin up to three comments for each post.
Today we’re rolling out pinned comments everywhere.
📌
That means you can a pin a few comments to the top of your feed post and better manage the conversation. pic.twitter.com/iPCMJVLxMh
— Instagram (@instagram) July 7, 2020
There are a couple of ways you can use this feature as part of your plan to get more followers on Instagram.
- Use pinned comments to extend your caption beyond 2,200 characters by continuing the story in the comments. This lets you take on more detailed and in-depth storytelling, which may be a fit for some accounts.
- Pin your favorite comments from other users, especially if they are creating a lot of engagement.
This feature can help you manage the conversation on your posts and create more opportunities for engagement.
Step 5. Keep learningCreate an AR filterAR filters for Instagram Stories are photo effects Instagrammers can use to modify photos taken through their mobile phone’s front and back cameras.
Those posts with puppy ears? Those are done with an AR (Augmented Reality) filter. Those “which [vegetable/pizza/emoji/etc.] are you?” posts? Yup, those use AR filters too.
Any Instagram user can now create an AR filter. The filters you create live in their own section of your Instagram profile.
Source: @paigepiskin on Instagram
If your filter is not promotional or branded, it will also appear in the Instagram Stories effects gallery, where any Instagrammer can find it.
How does creating an AR filter help you get more Instagram followers? Your account name appears in the top left corner whenever anyone uses your AR filter. It’s clickable and can drive more new visitors to your profile.
Source: @gucci on Instagram
Run contests Contests on Instagram are a great way to help you get more followers. Just make sure your entry process involves asking people to follow you and comment on one of your photos by tagging a friend.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Hotel Casa Amsterdam (@hotelcasa_amsterdam)
Tagged friends will also see your post and may choose to follow your account as well.
Encouraging user-generated content as part of your contest can also help you reach more people. People will learn about your profile from posts their friends create. This is an effective way to build trust with new followers and get more eyeballs to your page.
Consider advertising on InstagramOkay, this isn’t exactly a way to get free Instagram followers. But Instagram ads can be a powerful way to reach new followers fast by getting your content in front of people who would otherwise not see it.
And unlike buying followers, using Instagram ads is a totally legitimate and effective way to get more Instagram followers quickly with a small investment.
Target your audience by location, demographics, and even key behaviors and interests. You can also create a lookalike audience based on the people who already interact with your business.
Besides the feed, you can advertise in Instagram Stories and the Explore feed. For all the details on creating and posting an Instagram ad campaign, check out our detailed Instagram ads guide.
Learn from Instagram Insights
Instagram analytics tools will give you data on impressions for each post, along with reach, engagement, top posts, and more. You can also find demographic information about your followers, including gender, age, and location.
Regularly reviewing this data can help you identify areas where you can adjust your strategy to hel p you get more followers on Instagram.< >
Keep an eye on what time of day your followers use Instagram, so you can post when people are most likely to see and engage with your content. Data nerds who want to go deeper may want to consider a social media management tool like Hootsuite.
These tools can show you the best times to post based on impressions, engagement, and traffic. They’ll also give you a bunch of other helpful performance metrics, like your follower growth rate.
Get more Instagram followers using Hootsuite. Schedule content for the most optimal times, streamline engagement, track your performance, and more—all from a single, easy-to-use dashboard. Try it for free.
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How To Rapidly Grow Your Instagram Following
Bonus Material: Instagram Marketing Swipe File
Sarah Peterson
Last Updated Sep 07, 2022
Intro | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Free Swipe File
Alright, so we know that Instagram is a great platform for driving not only traffic, but also opt-ins for your email list.
And that’s all true. But that traffic and those email subscribers are dependent on how many followers you have.
See, Instagram is a feed. So only the people who follow you will see your posts unless you boost them in Instagram by paying for ads.
The main method of driving traffic back to your site from Instagram is through Call to Action posts (which we’ll cover in depth in Chapter 4). And the more people you get those CTA posts in front of, the more effective they’ll be for driving traffic.
So here’s how to build up your Instagram following like crazy.
The 4 Free Ways of Getting More Followers
Needless to say, if you have a budget to throw behind your Instagram growth, it’s going to grow much faster than if you have no budget.
In full disclosure, Sumo had a budget to grow our Instagram account. We did throw some money at it, so unless you can do the same, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll be able to gain 49,000 followers in 3 months.
But that doesn't mean you can’t grow rapidly using free Instagram follower growth methods.
Here are all the ways you can get more followers for free.
I’ve ordered them by effectiveness. You can do all of these things or just one or two, depending on how quickly you want to grow.
Disclaimer: Please only choose what you’re comfortable with. If one of these methods doesn’t jive with you or seems spammy, move onto the next method.
Strategy #1: Share for Shares
One of the hands-down most effective ways we’ve used to grow our following on Instagram for free is through "share for shares".
This is when you identify similar accounts that reach the audience you want to reach (and vice versa) and you both post a Call to Action post to follow the other account. Here’s an example:
- I see an account that has a similar amount of followers to us. Let’s call it @S4SExample. The account reaches the audience that we want to reach, and we reach the audience that @S4SExample wants to reach.
- I message @S4SExample and ask them if they are up for a share for share, or "S4S".
- @S4SExample says yes, and identifies a post of @SumoMe’s they think will appeal to their audience. I identify a post on @S4SExample’s feed that I think will appeal to @SumoMe’s followers.
- I post @S4SExample’s post on our feed, with a call to action to follow @S4SExample.
- @S4SExample posts our post on their feed, with a call to action to follow @SumoMe.
Here’s an example of a share for share:
These are so effective because share for shares are exponential. As you get larger and grow your account, you can start working with larger accounts, driving a lot of followers to each.
At first, if you have under 1000 followers, you’ll be working with accounts of a similar size. You can expect 5-10 new followers for every share for share you do.
But as you grow to 5,000-10,000 followers, you can expect 20-30 new followers, scaling from there.
With Sumo, we made a goal to do four share for shares per day, or about 33% of the content we were posting.
You have to mix these up with your own content (otherwise the accounts you’re working with will have nothing to share, not to mention that you’ll piss off your followers).
To find accounts to do a share for share with, you really just need to start with one or two. From there, you can find like accounts by expanding their account, and clicking onto the Suggested accounts:
When you’ve identified an account you want to do a S4S with, you can either message them on Kik (if they’ve listed their Kik username in their profile) or direct message them on Instagram.
The preference is that you message them on Kik, which is an app you can download to your phone that many Instagrammers use to communicate.
The problem with direct messaging them in Instagram is that if they don’t follow you back, your message will go into their Message Requests folder, which means that they won’t be notified of a new message until they go into their messages to check.
Usually, Instagrammers know what a S4S is, but if you’re starting from scratch and targeting accounts who have fewer than 1,000 followers, the account owners might not, so you may have to explain it to them.
The messages you send don’t have to be complicated.
Just say something like "Hey, want to do a S4S?". Here’s how we were approached:
You don’t have to make it more complicated than that. Just a simple ask and then a post.
When you’re doing a S4S, for maximum benefit to both of you, make sure the call to action is clear, and not buried under reams of text. If you check the S4S I included above, we tag the other account early in the caption and explicitly tell our followers to go follow the other account.
If there’s a mutual benefit to the S4S, you could be setting up a relationship where you share each other's content for a long time.
Strategy #2: Follow/Unfollow
Alright, some people don’t like this method of getting more followers. But even so, it works.
This is a method by which many of the huge accounts you see out there today grew their following rapidly.
The concept on this one is simple: you follow the followers of similar accounts, in hopes that they’ll follow you back.
Because Instagram is still "up and coming", there aren’t a lot of spammers or companies spending time there. So when you only have 125 followers, and most of them are your friends and family, you notice when somebody new follows you.
What if that somebody new was similar to another account that you were following because you were interested in the content?
By golly, you’d probably follow them back!
By following the audience you want to reach, you’re making them aware of your existence. You show up in their notifications as a recent new follower, and it’s easy for them to just press the + button to follow you as well.
Let’s use an example. Let’s say you were a personal trainer, and you had online fitness programs. You wanted to build your Instagram account to build your email list and conversions.
You might identify that the uber-popular Instagrammer Kayla Itsines already reaches your target audience. You create similar content and inspire people on your Instagram feed to lose weight and feel better about themselves.
Chances are, Kayla’s audience will also enjoy the content that you publish.
Follow Your Target Audience For 30% More Followers
Because there’s a process for everything, here’s the ideal follow/unfollow process - so you don’t lose friends and alienate people by spamming them with following and unfollowing them.
Step 1: Find accounts who already have large followings of your target audience.
Step 2: Click on to their followers, and begin following any of the accounts that don’t look like spam and match your target audience.
Step 3: Repeat this every hour up to 60 new follows.
After you’ve followed these accounts, you can increase the chances that they’ll follow you back by engaging with them on Instagram. Like and comment on their posts.
We’ve found that around 30% of the accounts that we follow will follow us back.
This might seem super promising - after all, you could just follow thousands of people every day and grow super quickly, right?
Well, not necessarily.
Instagram doesn't want any spambots mass following and unfollowing, so it’s imposed follow limits.
You can only follow 7500 accounts, and per hour you can only perform 60 actions (follow and unfollow).
Protip: Even though there are follow limits, Instagram still may flag you as a spammer and block your account from following and unfollowing anyone if you’re hitting the pavement too hard. Don’t be too aggressive. You don’t want to lose your privileges or be seen as a spammer.
Unfollow The People Who Haven’t Followed You Back
This is called the follow/unfollow method rather than just the "follow" method because you don’t want to continue following any accounts that have not followed you back.
There are two reasons for this:
You can only follow 7500 accounts overall on Instagram, and you don’t want to waste those follows.
If you’re following far more people than are following you, this works as anti social proof.
This means that if your audience sees that you have fewer followers than you’re following, they won’t want to follow you. It’s like asking every girl you know to prom just to have a backup. It seems desperate.
In the past you could use a tool called Crowdfire to see who is not following you back, and then go unfollow them. However since early 2017 Instagram stopped allowing third-party tools to see one-to-one relationship data like who you’re following but isn’t following you back. So Crowdfire no longer works.
Now the best way to do it is manually. Set a schedule for yourself to follow and unfollow. Maximize the amount of follows you can do in one day by fulfilling Instagram’s limit of 60 actions per hour as much as possible, and then set one or two days per week when you only unfollow.
Remember: first followed, first unfollowed. Meaning unfollow those you followed first who aren’t following you. If you just followed the person a day ago and they’re not following you yet, it might be premature to unfollow them.
Protip: To avoid being spammerific, I highly recommend you interact with the people you’re following before unfollowing them. Go into your feed periodically and like their posts, comment on their photos and videos and engage with them.
If they still don’t follow you, chances are it’s because they made the conscious decision not to.
If you just unfollow people a couple of days after following them, you may not have given them the chance to notice you and follow you back.
Strategy #3: Using Relevant Hashtags
I recently moved "back" to Vancouver after a short, 6 month stint of vagabonding.
Because I was new (again) to the city and had never lived in the city proper before, I didn’t really know what was going on. And guys, lemme just say - summers in Vancouver are the bomb dot com, and I wanted to stay active in the community with events.
So, I took it to Instagram.
I searched a few Vancouver-related hashtags to see what people were posting about, and ended up finding some great Instagram accounts that have led me to some events and things to do around the city:
You better bet that once I found those accounts, I followed them.
And I followed them because they were using the hashtags I was searching.
On social media, especially Instagram, hashtags are still a highly relevant way to search for content surrounding a theme or idea.
Your audience is almost definitely using hashtags, too, so to grow your account, it’s important that you use all of the hashtags Instagram allows for each post.
Right now, each post on Instagram can have 30 hashtags.
I highly suggest having a bank of hashtags that you can use and pull from. We sort our hashtags into a spreadsheet that help us organize which we want to use for each post, so we can maximize the impact of each post.
Brainstorm 30-50 hashtags that you can use on a regular basis and paste them into a spreadsheet for easy tracking.
Sumo does this in a tab on our Instagram marketing plan. Don’t want to make your own? Grab ours for free by clicking the button below:
Download the Instagram Marketing Plan
Once you have a list of relevant hashtags for your brand, you want to use them in your posts.
Don’t actually post them in your post, however. Comment on the post after it’s up so that you don’t break the flow of the nice Instagram post. See how we’ve done this with our posts:
Not sure which hashtags to use?
Search popular accounts similar to yours to see what hashtags they use. Then, allow yourself to be sucked down the rabbit hole. Click on the hashtag and see what the top posters are using.
Protip: Choose hashtags that aren’t too big, but aren’t tiny, either. If you have fewer than 10,000 followers, aim for over 100,000 posts, but under 1,000,000. You want to aim to get to the "Top Posts" of those hashtags, which isn’t outside of the realm of possibility if you choose hashtags that aren’t too huge.
Strategy #4: Engage With Other Accounts to Get More Followers
Let’s face it. You’re not Beyonce.
I know. Shocking.
So as a regular user of social media, one of the best things is to get comments and engagement on your posts, right?
And this is especially true if you don’t have a ton of followers and you haven’t become accustomed to dozens of comments on each Facebook post, Tweet, or ‘gram.
If you even have just a small following you’d probably recognize a user who comments on a post every once in awhile or likes your posts and likely start following them back.
That’s why engaging with your target audience on Instagram is a crazy effective way to not only grow your following, but also build relationships with your target audience.
Not only that, but it’s effective in gaining social proof. After all, if you're engaging with the people you follow on Instagram, they’re more likely to engage with your posts. And if your posts consistently have a large number of "likes" and comments on them, others will see you as more legit and be more likely to follow suit.
There are three ways to engage on Instagram for more growth:
Engage with the users you’re already following. Like the posts in your feed, comment on any that catch your eye, and message the people who resonate with you. This will help you increase the ratio of people you follow who follow you back, as well as the engagement on your own posts.
Engage with users who are following your "competition". Visit your competitors Instagram profile page, click on their number of followers, then like or comment on their posts. This exposes you to new audiences who may not have been following you before (without necessarily having to follow them).
Engage with the people who use relevant hashtags. Look up hashtags relevant to your niche or industry and engage with the posts under that hashtag.
The 2 Paid Ways of Getting More Followers
Luckily, there are a lot of uber-effective free methods to getting more Instagram followers.
And let’s say you’re using them all.
You’re following and engaging with your target audience, working with similar accounts on share for shares, and using hashtags like a boss.
But you’re as impatient as me standing in line at the gelato shop. You want to get it moving faster.
One way to get that line moving faster is to use these paid methods of growing your account.
If you have a bit of money to spend on your growth, you can push that needle even further.
All of these methods are based around working with other accounts that are larger than yours to get in front of their audience.
Before you jump into all of the methods, know that the effectiveness of each of these methods depends on a few factors related to the accounts you’re working with:
The size of the account. The more followers the account has, the more followers the call to action on the post will get in front of, which generally means more followers for you.
The engagement of the account. The account could have 6 million followers, but if most of those followers are spambots or completely unengaged, you won’t get as many followers (not to mention that the followers you do get will be useless).
The relevancy of the account you’re working with. If you have a gourmet foods store and you’re working with entrepreneurship accounts, chances are you won’t get as much bang for your buck.
Focus on working with only highly relevant accounts that reach the audience you want to reach.The strength of the call to action in the post. Instead of just asking the account you’re working with to tag you in the caption, tell them you want a call to action to follow you. If you’re a brand and want to drive sales and traffic to your product pages, you can do so too, but remember that if they’re following you, you can put that post in front of them at any time.
The day of the week and time of day the post is posted. The first time we ever paid for a shoutout, I didn’t know this was such a big factor. The account owner recognized my ignorance in this regard, and decided to post the shoutout on a Friday night - one of the worst performing days and times on his feed. Shady of him, and silly of me to not have thought of this. After all, Instagram is a feed, and if nobody is online when your post is published, your results will be bleak.
The account had almost a million followers, and we only got around 25 new followers from it. Overall, it should have been 2.5-4x that amount.
Tools: To find out almost all the data you need on other accounts to get the largest ROI for your money when working with them, the best tool out there we’ve found is SocialBook. There is a 3-day free trial to check it out, and not only can you learn valuable data about your own audience, but also other accounts as well.[*]
For example, you can find the engagement ratings of any account (and compare and contrast):
One of the best features is finding the most liked and commented on posts on any account you are interested in potentially working with:
Which will allow you to know what works with the other accounts audience so you can then reverse-engineer a popular post for maximum ROI.
Equipped with a badass tool and the knowledge of all the factors that make a post effective (or not!), let’s get into the paid methods of growing your account.
Strategy #1: Pay for Big Accounts to Shout You Out
So you know how I told you about share for shares (S4S)?
To refresh your memory, these are a free way of working with similar accounts that reach the audience that you want to reach, to put your content in front of their audience (and vice versa).
Usually, with a free S4S, you work with accounts around a similar size as yours to make it fair. But if you're impatient or also want to work with accounts much larger than yours, you can get larger accounts to "shout you out".
This is where you pay authoritative accounts in your industry to perform a "shoutout", where they share your content for a fee. They include a call to action in the caption to follow your account or click the link in your bio.
Here’s an example of a shoutout that @Millionaire_mentor did with @Durothreads, driving followers to their bio:
Many Instagram accounts operate almost solely for this purpose - they have built up strong followings just so they can charge other accounts to get in front of their audience.
If you work with accounts with over 500,000 followers, you can usually see anywhere between 20-50 new followers (0.01%) from one shoutout.
Shoutouts usually go up for a period of time from one hour to one day. The account owner then removes them (because they’re no longer relevant). Don’t bother paying for a shoutout to be up longer than a day. The amount of followers you’ll get from a shout will have diminishing returns.
Shoutouts can cost anywhere from $5-$75+ depending on the size of the account and the volume of shoutouts you pay for. Aim for around $50 per shoutout - you should be able to work with large, engaged accounts for that price.
When you’re working with accounts for any of these paid methods, you need to come up with the caption. Ensure the caption has a clear call to action to follow your account, tagging you more than once in it:
This was an effective shout we did with another account.
Protip: Some of the accounts that charge for shoutouts are a bit shady.
You’ll have to monitor the account to make sure the shoutout is done. Also make sure that you tell them exactly what you want in the caption (and ensure they include the call to action "follow [your username]" or any other call to action).
Strategy #2: Pay for Larger Accounts to Post a Screenshot Of Your Account
There’s another, even more effective way to get more followers by working with other accounts for paid opportunities.
There’s no mistaking these posts - the sole purpose of them is to drive followers to your account.
These work like a shoutout, except that instead of reposting (or recreating) one of your posts with an inspirational quote or image, the account takes a screenshot of your account, and posts it to their account, asking their followers to follow you.
These can drive a flood of followers to your account if your content is compelling to the host account’s audience, so naturally they are more expensive than a shoutout.
Depending on the size of the account, you can expect to pay anywhere from $40-$150 per screenshot, or (as some Instagrammers call it) "screener".
With "screeners", we’ve seen 50-250 new followers or more.
Protip: How your account as a whole looks when somebody lands on your profile is important for branding and visual appeal. This is especially true for screenshot shoutouts. If you decide to do screenshot shoutouts, make sure the posts to your feed work together and provide a compelling picture of what you do.
Whether you choose to tackle all of the methods or just the free methods of growing your following, you should be able to grow your account rapidly with the strategies in this chapter.
Now, you’re ready to move onto Chapter 4 that will show you how to use your following to drive traffic to your website.
Running short on time? Click the button below to download a free eBook with this entire process, including bonus material like our Instagram marketing plan and SOPs.
Download the FREE Instagram marketing swipe file
And then, you're free to move on!
Click here to go to Chapter 4
P.
S. Want to learn the 10 growth hacks we’ve used to grow our email list to over 100,000 subscribers once people get to our site via Instagram and other channels? Click here for our most actionable growth hacking ideas to grow your email list and traffic.
19 Ways to Get More Followers on Instagram*
Regardless of whether you are on Instagram The product belongs to an organization recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation. personal blog or brand page, subscribers is one of the main metrics that determine the effectiveness of your account. We talk about 19 ways to get more followers on InstagramThe product belongs to an organization recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation..
Of course, you can quickly increase subscribers by purchasing bots, but this will not work, because without a live audience you will not see an increase in reach and engagement, and it will not be difficult to “open” such a trick. In addition, it threatens to block InstagramThe product belongs to an organization recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation, which we talked about in an article about cheating on this social network.
So keep up the more workable ways to grow your audience.
20% discount for the first two months in Amplifer with the promo code AMPLI20
Yes, yes, the phrase “Know your audience” that has set the teeth on edge, but has not become less relevant. This will increase the chances of getting a relevant audience, and if you have a business account, it will help turn subscribers into customers.
All methods are effective only if you work with the target audience. Accordingly, it is better to subscribe to the audience of your competitors, to do mutual PR with blogs of your subject.
Julia Petrova
ilovetasty food blogger on Instagram
2. Tailor the content to your target audience
Once you have defined your audience, you need to start creating content that is related to their interests and needs. Your posts in InstagramThe product belongs to an organization recognized as extremist in the territory of the Russian Federation.
should inspire subscribers, motivate them, evoke emotions. Look at successful profiles in your niche and learn from their posts.
We also talked about how to get your first thousand followers on the main social networks
Once you get your first thousand followers, you can ask them what posts they would be interested in. So existing and potential subscribers will understand that you are listening to them, and the desire to click the coveted "Subscribe" button will increase.
3. Create high-quality and interesting publications
InstagramProduct belongs to an organization recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation. - about visual content, and therefore, your photos and videos should look the same. But it’s not enough to make a good visual, in Instagram, the product belongs to an organization recognized as extremist on the territory of the Russian Federation. The text of publications also plays an important role.
We talked about some tips that will help you make cool posts for InstagramThe product belongs to an organization recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation..
There are many apps that will help you make beautiful and interesting posts. Check out the video and story app collections to help diversify your content.
4. Use hashtags wisely
When done well, hashtags attract new followers. But it's not enough to use the most popular tags. For example, if you post a photo of a forest and want to use the #forest, #nature and #trees hashtags, you will see that there are millions of such publications and the probability that your post will be noticed is extremely small.
This does not mean that you do not need to use them at all, but it is worth supplementing with other tags that your target audience and competitors follow. It is also recommended to use more sophisticated and personal hashtags. Roughly speaking, instead of #sunset, you can use #luxurioussunset.
We talked about how to use hashtags in various social networks, there is also about InstagramThe product belongs to an organization recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation..
5. Communicate with subscribers
Promotion success in InstagramThe product belongs to an organization recognized as extremist in the territory of the Russian Federation. largely depends on the interaction with the audience. They want to know that there is a real person behind the account, so motivate them to discuss posts and like them, and then react to their comments and responses. The more actively you communicate with current followers, the more new ones you will get. In addition, it will help to hear the audience better, and social listening is very useful.
6. Use cross-promotion
Reach out to bloggers who run similar blogs and organize cross-promotion. Start with small profiles, and as your audience grows, contact more and more popular bloggers.
The so-called "mutual PR" can be a good tactic to promote InstagramThe product belongs to an organization recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation..
Mutual PR will be effective if you arrange some kind of interactive for subscribers. For example, challenges or a joint draw. A simple recommendation post is unlikely to work.
Julia Petrova
ilovetasty food blogger on Instagram
7. Follow competitors' followers
Another way to increase your audience is to follow users who follow bloggers similar to you. When they see that you have subscribed, they will know that there is another profile from the topic of interest. But please note that there is a limit on the maximum number of subscriptions, from about 20 to 160 per hour. Learn this by experience, but carefully so that InstagramProduct belongs to an organization recognized as extremist on the territory of the Russian Federation.
didn't suspect you were a spammer.
I started with manual mass following without special services. The difference between manual and service is visible in the conversion. Manual is more effective - apparently, the algorithms
Instagram The product belongs to an organization recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation.understand how the subscription works, but you need to follow the restrictions (no more than 200 subscriptions per day). me a couple of timesInstagramProduct belongs to an organization recognized as extremist on the territory of the Russian Federation.limited the ability to publish posts for a week, suspecting that I used the service to buy subscribers. But for me, this method is still one of the most effective.Julia Petrova
ilovetasty food blogger on Instagram
8. Track relevant hashtags
Did you know that in InstagramThe product belongs to an organization recognized as extremist in the territory of the Russian Federation.
Can I subscribe not only to profiles, but also to hashtags? This is a good strategy, especially when you reach your first thousand subscribers. Track hashtags that are relevant in your niche and use them in your posts. Feel free to comment on the latest posts with such hashtags so that your InstagramProduct belongs to an organization recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation. became more noticeable. It is laborious, but it can give good results.
9. Follow similar blogs
Hashtags make it easy to find relevant accounts in your niche that are similar in content and target audience to yours. An even greater effect can be achieved by turning on notifications and being the first to comment on their publications.
10. Post regularly
We talked about how algorithms work on major social networks, including Instagram*
It's hard to say exactly how much regularity affects subscriber growth. In any case, it makes sense to follow this advice: the better you keep the regularity, the more professional and reliable you look in the eyes of your subscribers - they will know when to expect new posts from you.
What’s more, Instagram* algorithms love it if you post regularly so your posts get the best reach and engagement. It is better to publish 1-3 posts per day. Try to start with one post a day, then gradually increase and see what happens, find your middle ground. You can also refer to the experience of Ekaterina Kalashnikova, who monetized her InstagramProduct belongs to an organization recognized as extremist on the territory of the Russian Federation. largely due to regular publications.
11. Plan your posts ahead of time
You can save time on posting to focus on more important things: communicating with followers, tracking relevant profiles and hashtags. We are not hinting at anything, but Amplifer will be a good helper in this.
Thanks to a visual calendar and a convenient editor, it is easy to create several publications at once and spread them on different days. Moreover, Amplifer will tell you which posts your audience likes the most.
Connect Instagram* in Amplifer to regularly release scheduled publications and improve reach and engagement. The first 7 days are free, without a bank card
12. Post at the right time
Now on InstagramThe product belongs to an organization recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation. algorithmic feed, but what time you post is still important. Agree, there is no point in publishing posts late at night in the hope that a large number of people will see it.
In addition, COVID-19 has greatly affected the best posting times. According to our data, now the peak in InstagramProduct belongs to an organization recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation. shifted by 16-18 hours on weekdays and at 12 and 18 hours on weekends.
However, you cannot rely solely on the average temperature in the hospital. And here Amplifer will come to the rescue: thanks to a special algorithm, it analyzes your publications and advises the best time based on the activity of your audience.
For a 7-day free trial period, you will just be able to evaluate.[instagram*]Try Amplifer to find out the best time to post on Instagram*, adapt your promotion strategy and content plan[/instagram*]
13. Use activity chats
Activity chats are great for attracting new followers to InstagramThe product belongs to an organization recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation. They gather several users who like and comment on each other's posts. A good way to cheat the Instagram algorithmThe product belongs to an organization recognized as extremist in the territory of the Russian Federation. and increase the organic reach of posts.
The fact is that when you post a post, the algorithms InstagramProduct belongs to an organization recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation. show it to a small number of your followers. If the post gets a lot of responses, then InstagramProduct belongs to an organization recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation.
will show the post to an even larger group of subscribers, and if there is no initial activity, then most of your subscribers will not see the publication at all.
Try to find the activity chat in a search engine or in the Facebook community directory The product belongs to an organization recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation, VKontakte or Telegram. But keep in mind that the best chats are rarely in the public domain, so you will have to work hard to find really worthwhile groups. And yes, it takes a long time. But trust me, your efforts will pay off handsomely.
14. Use hashtags in Stories
We have already talked about the importance of hashtags, but they should not be neglected in Stories either. Try adding a few relevant tags to your posts and you'll see your Stories get more impressions than before. Some of those who watched will be able to become your subscribers.
Interactive mechanics will help make Stories more interesting: quests, quizzes, polls, they increase engagement and motivation to subscribe to your profile.
In addition, Stories is an excellent channel for communicating with subscribers. There you can clarify what content they would like to see, arrange Q&A sessions.
15. Post videos and stream live
Making videos on social media is almost a must in 2020, as there is more and more content like this and users are spending more and more time watching it. Live broadcasts are an even more engaging content format because every time you start broadcasting, all subscribers receive a notification. We talked about this in this year's trend selection.
How to get subscribers using ethers? Make joint live broadcasts with other bloggers. They can also ask their followers to subscribe to you during the live broadcast, which can be a good channel to attract a new audience.
16. Post for thematic accounts
In InstagramThe product belongs to an organization recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation. there are many thematic profiles where not their own content is published, but interesting posts of other users.
The only thing to do is to use their unique hashtags in the hope of getting noticed.
How to find them? Use a search engine. Type, for example, “The best travel profiles in InstagramThe product belongs to an organization recognized as extremist on the territory of the Russian Federation.”, or about the topic of your blog. Surely you will find many such accounts.
17. Decide and Use a Consistent Visual Style
Whether you have a new profile or have been in the business for a long time, you need a consistent visual style for your posts to attract followers. You can choose a specific filter or set of effects for all photos so that they echo each other.
The importance of creating a visual style for Instagram The product belongs to an organization recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation. Varya Vedeneeva told using the example of the Periodicals profile.
18. Create posts to tag friends
If you want your posts to be seen by friends of your followers, the "Tag a Friend" feature will help you.
Create a relevant entertaining post and encourage followers to tag their friends. The funnier and more entertaining the post, the easier it is.
19. Try advertising
Do you want more people to see your posts? Think about advertising. In fact, you don't need a big budget to test it. Advertising can be an effective strategy, and InstagramProduct belongs to an organization recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation. can get you new subscribers in a short time.
To promote my account, I buy ads from bloggers, participate in mutual PR and use targeted advertising. I like the first method the most - you can get a subscriber for 6-10 ₽.
Anastasia Chernykh
content director at Amplifer
⌘⌘⌘
We hope our tips will help you build a meaningful audience on InstagramThe product belongs to an organization recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation.
in other social networks where you are present. And remember that people love to follow realistic and authentic profiles. Good luck hunting for an audience at InstagramThe product belongs to an organization recognized as extremist on the territory of the Russian Federation.!
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Instagram[/su_tooltip] and other social networks" action="Try Amplifer" caption="7 days for free, no card needed"]Convenient and intuitive calendar, advanced editor, tips for the best time and built-in Canva editor to create impressive designs
First published on SocialToolkits.com
14 methods to get 1000 followers on IG (free + paid)
The first thousand followers is a significant number for any blogger, and not only on Instagram. This is an indicator that the content has passed quality control and the process has moved off the ground. For commercial accounts, rising exposure helps increase sales, which is why many brands maintain their Instagram pages.
Before you start recruiting subscribers, make sure that your profile is filled out and that you have a content plan. It is important that you post regularly and explore your niche creatively - there will be no chance to make a first impression a second time. With this in mind, let's analyze from simple to complex what tools will help to collect the first thousand followers on Instagram and increase their number further.
Related:
Account design: 25 beautiful profilesHow to manage Instagram (50 chips) from a marketerHow to come up with a nickname on Instagram: 35 ideas for a business account and a personal blog on the internal functionality of the social network. Some tools work on the principle of "tagging": you set a description, hashtags, geotags, etc., and the social network independently generates recommendations for users. Other methods work for content diversity. Instagram allows you to create posts in various formats so that every blogger can reach their audience.
This is what you will use to increase your reach and increase the likelihood that you will be noticed on Instagram.
1. Hashtags and keywords
They will help you get good coverage, get recommended and attract new followers to your Instagram account. But this will only work if the hashtags are relevant to the topic of your post. And do not abuse high-frequency tags: firstly, your post will be lost in the general stream, and secondly, there is a risk of being shadowbanned.
Use low-frequency tags - under which less than 10 thousand publications are placed, and medium-frequency - from 10 to 500 thousand. They belong to niche search and are more likely to attract the target audience.
For convenience, type a few dozen target hashtags and combine them under posts, but it's better to repeat them less often. The optimal number of tags under the post is up to ten.
And one more tip, which is not related to promotion, but will be useful for setting up an account on Instagram.
When you write all the hashtags, create a system of your own unique tags that no one uses. They will be needed for easy navigation through different sections of your posts.
An important point that you should pay attention to when promoting on Instagram is the profile header. It is the profile header that is your "face", the first impression of the account. The role of the header is to give a concise answer about what is happening in the profile, to inspire confidence.
Strong text and use of keywords in the header communicate positioning and brand benefits, influence the growth of subscriptions and sales. Do not get carried away with writing in a hat, be brief, but understandable. In addition, Instagram only skips 150 characters.
On the left is an example of how not to fill out a profile header, on the right is an ideal profile header2. Geotags
Geotag your publications. On the map, this will look like a place of interest that can be visited for several reasons.
For example, you sell your services there. Geotags can also be placed by your clients (not necessarily bloggers) who maintain their Instagram pages for friends and acquaintances. A person will see a mark on the map, read the post, look at your profile and, if he likes it, subscribe.
Even if you don't have a business, geotagging still makes sense. They help users who are interested in the life and blogosphere of their city. But the main factors determining whether a person subscribes or not remain the thematic niche of the profile and the quality of the content. Subject to all these conditions, it is a great way to get targeted followers on Instagram for free.
GeotagsLife hack. Do you want to save time when working in social networks? To do this, you need SMMplanner, which will automatically publish a post or story with tagged users, geometers and hashtags. You can also set up automatic deletion of posts and comments. Click and test for free -> SMMplanner
3.
Participation in challenges Today you won't surprise anyone with Instagram marathons and challenges, but, nevertheless, in order to attract new subscribers, this method will come in handy. A challenge is a challenge that the account owner throws to his friends, the audience after performing certain actions. The main thing in challenges is not only to do something and show your coolness, but to encourage the audience to repeat after you, accept a challenge or throw a similar one to your friends, close circle, etc.
If the content resonates with a large number of people, then they will repost it to their stories, comment, tag you. At first, you can resort to a little trick and arrange a discussion and reposting on a certain topic between you and your friends in order to attract the attention of the audience.
Challenge "10 year challenge"4. Mutual PR
On Instagram, VP (mutual PR) is another of the coolest ways to gain an audience.
It can be used by both novice bloggers and business accounts.
You need to carefully choose partners for mutual PR. They should have a target audience as close as possible to yours, approximately the same number of subscribers - and, of course, the conditions for cooperation should be suitable.
For example, a photographer and a make-up artist can promote each other's pages, since they have approximately the same target audience. In addition, this is an ideal tandem for further cooperation.
Mutual PR on Instagram - stories5. Joint content (co-authorship)
Not so long ago, Instagram introduced a new user collaboration feature - joint publications and Reels. In addition, today brands, influencers and celebrities are more willing to cooperate than to compete. Now users can invite other people as authors of publications. Co-authorship in the IG will help increase the reach and engagement due to the fact that the post will be seen by a combined audience of all authors.
For collaboration, you can choose a partner not only from your niche. For example, a company selling building materials can cooperate with a furniture factory, and a beauty brand with beauty can cooperate with a blogger.
Co-authorship in IGTo find a suitable author or brand for a joint post, it is enough to check the match on the following parameters:
- Your products/services do not compete with each other;
- You have a similar target audience;
- Goods/services complement each other;
- Human factor: it is better to work with nice people, so your companion should inspire confidence and inspire sympathy.
6. Blogger commenting
Comment on posts by bloggers with a similar target audience. Write not only an assessment, good or bad, but also ask questions, suggest an idea for the next post. Try to stand out, but delicately, without unnecessary criticism, so as not to end up in a bathhouse.
In a word, show keen interest and competence in topics, and new potential subscribers will notice you.
7. Traffic flow
Attracting Instagram followers from other social networks is a great way to increase the number of followers for free at the first stage of promotion. Use all the social networks that you lead. Put a link to your Instagram in all your profiles. Write in the status that you are mastering a new format, publishing a photo of your life in IG.
Then periodically remind your followers that you now have Instagram and invite them to visit your profile. Share news in posts: for example, you announced on VK that you would not release posts on weekends, you went to the sea, and photos from your vacation will be regularly uploaded to IG. This way you can organically increase the number of followers on Instagram without taking almost any action.
For example, if you have your own business, insert a link to your Instagram on your website, on e-mail newsletters and even Yandex.
Maps and Gogle Maps. Thus, you will collect additional traffic from different sites.
8. Interactive stories
What are we talking about? Obviously, by posting regular stories to your profile, you won’t gain new subscribers in any way. This is where interactive stories come to the rescue - "add yours" or "add yours" stickers. Their essence is as follows: this sticker allows everyone to take part in discussions on the site. Users can respond to other people's stories with their photos and videos that match the topic of discussion. I think this is a cool opportunity to promote your profile
Participation in discussions in "Add yours"- Instagram games: 32 examples (posts + stories)
- Instagram Stories Ideas: 150+ with Stories Examples
9. Reels
Facebook on Instagram has its own analogue of Tik Tok - Reels. In this section, you can post videos lasting from 15 to 60 seconds. Track trends, participate in challenges. Here you will also find an audience, draw attention to the blog.
Instagram seeks to promote a new content format. The algorithms of the social network are more favorable to videos made in Reels and display them more often in recommendations. Use this hack to get followers on Instagram before your competitors do.
Reels on InstagramImportant. If you have a TikTok account, you can upload your videos to Reels, but it's better to make them here - Instagram has a negative attitude towards TikTok icons on videos.
10. Tagging posts
Posting a link to your page with other users will draw attention to your Instagram profile and help you gain followers. Ask acquaintances, friends or clients to tag you in a photo or story. So you will collect targeted followers who are interested in the life of not a particular blogger, but also his circle of friends.
Link in stories to profile11.
Instagram allows you to upload long videos up to 1 hour. During this time, you will show your product or the entire new collection in detail, answer frequently asked questions, tell you about the business from the inside, etc. And here you can save recordings of live broadcasts.
This method, like the previous one, works to increase the coverage and recognition of the account. If you regularly post unique, useful and unusual "catchy" content, it will become easier to gain new followers on Instagram.
Long Instagram videos
Related:
IGTV (Instagram TV): complete guide + video chips12. QR code
Create your own QR code and add it to business cards, ads, any other printed matter. In general, if you use offline advertising, feel free to place a code on it to quickly go to your Instagram account. This will help you gain traffic and expand your audience.
Qr-code on Instagram13.
The essence of mass following is that you subscribe to users and like their publications. These should not be just random profiles, but your target audience. Seeing such notifications as in the screenshot, users will go to the page, look at posts and stories, and probably subscribe.
Massliking and massfollowingLifehack. The easiest way to promote an Instagram account is with the help of automatic mass following. He will independently do all the actions (likes, views of stories, subscription to users) that will promote the account and increase sales. Click and test -> Zengram (Promo code "INSCALEPROMO" -20% for everything)
Paid ways to attract followers
It is not easy to promote a page on Instagram with completely free methods, especially in the early stages - you will have to try to get the first 1000 subscribers. Paid promotion methods will help speed up the process.
This includes external tools that expand the basic possibilities of page administration: show additional statistics, automate actions, wind up followers.
There will also be classic marketing techniques that imply the existence and planning of a budget: targeting, buying ads from other bloggers, holding contests.
1. Targeted advertising
Advertising targeting — is not an easy task: to search and segment the audience, design ads, calculate the budget. Each stage involves detailed study. If you are a beginner, then you run the risk of losing money. But the effect of achieving the goal is simply colossal, so targetologists are well paid.
Even if you are just approaching the milestone of 1000 followers and are not confident in your experience, it makes sense to study the principle of action and conduct the first "sighting" targeting with a small budget, and then see how much your number of followers on Instagram has increased.
Targeted advertising on Instagram Life hack. Do you want to learn how to create vivid photo and video content that your audience will love? Then we recommend taking the course “promotion on Instagram”. After training, you will be able to independently launch targeted advertising, create unique and attractive content to attract new subscribers. Click and sign up for the course -> Promotion on Instagram
2. Advertising with bloggers
People trust other people more. Bloggers are trusted, as they recommend the product as if through their experience, give a balanced assessment with all the pros and cons (if they value their reputation). Therefore, advertising with them is a great way to get subscribers.
There are several criteria for finding the right blogger. First, it must have your target audience. Secondly, evaluate the reputation and credibility. Look in the comments under the posts and see what and how they write to him. And, thirdly, its subscribers must be alive, i.e. not twisted.
Publication from blogger Plus, advertising for an Instagram profile does not have to be purchased only in IG. For example, if you have your own women's clothing showroom, you can buy ads from a Tik Tok influencer. Moreover, this platform is gaining popularity with space progression.
Advertising in public
Another no less effective way to promote your profile is advertising in public (and not necessarily in the IG). A strong "exhaust" is given by advertising in VKontakte groups. The peculiarity of VK is that this social network brings together mainly Russian-speaking users, so it is perfect for promoting companies of almost any format.
So, an additional advantage of VK can be called a significant number of thematic communities, applications and integration into third-party services, for example, on Instagram.
Related:
Instagram advertising exchange: TOP-5 services + 8 life hacksHow to get people to subscribe?
At the beginning of their journey to promotion in the IG, many users make a gross mistake - they gain subscribers for the sake of a beautiful number, while the quality of their content is the last thing they think about. Trite, but it's true - only if you regularly publish high-quality content, subscribers will be drawn to you.
Let's consider the option when you already have some kind of base of followers that are actively showing up on your account.
1. Subscription gift
It is a very common practice to motivate users to subscribe to you. So, some bloggers and entrepreneurs go to small tricks to get an influx of followers. For example, for a subscription, some bloggers thank their followers with their promotion guides or checklists ala "TOP useful photo editing apps from ...".
So, as a gift for a subscription, entrepreneurs give a discount on the first purchase in the store, or on the first visit to a beauty salon, as in the example below. And as practice shows, this method of attracting an audience has proven its effectiveness.
Gift for subscription In order to make your life easier, below is a list of services with which you can set up an account check for a subscription to your page.
| Service | Cost per check |
| Instateleport | 1 ₽ |
| Instasub | 2 ₽ |
| Smmbot | - |
2. Direct mail
Use direct mail to draw attention to important information. It should not be a request to like or subscribe - users will consider such messages as spam. Direct is good when there is some news. For example, announce the same contest or tell that something really unusual has appeared on your page.
But don't get carried away: there is a limit on messages in Direct. An account that has been in existence for less than three months can send 30 messages per day. From three to six months, the limit is already wider: 40 messages. After six months from the moment of registration - up to 50 messages per day. If these conditions are not met, you can easily get a block.
In the table below, I have collected for you some useful services for mass mailing in direct. They are arranged in the order in which we recommend them, the first three are the top ones, and then out of order.
| Name | Cost (per month) | Promo code + trial period |
| Zengram | From 1 490 ₽ (“INSCALEPROMO” 20% discount on everything) | 3 days |
| Bridgit | From 490 ₽ | 1 day |
| Boss.Direct | From 990 ₽ | “inscale” +5 days free |
| Zeus | From 110 ₽ | “INSCALE” +3 days free |
| Instaplus | From 399 ₽ | 5 days |
| SocialKit | From 1100 ₽ | 7 days |
Related:
Newsletter in Direct: 30 services + 4 steps how to do it By the way. Have you heard about the new method of promotion on Instagram? SocTool has a unique algorithm that allows you to intercept the target audience from competitors online. The service will instantly establish a contact (subscription, like, message in Direct) while the user is online. Click and test - SocTool
3. Contest
If you already have your "backbone" of active subscribers, then announce the contest on your page. Play a gift, and as one of the conditions for participation, indicate a subscription. The main thing is that there are other conditions that will help to fairly select the winners. Otherwise, the contest will turn into a simple giveaway, after which you will lose all subscribed participants.
The timing of the competition should be such that everyone who wants to complete the task, but not too long, so that people do not get tired of waiting for the prize. Optimal - 5-7 days.
Holding a contest on Instagram
Related:
Uploading comments to IG: TOP 5 services + how to do Instagram challenge: 13 ideas of 2021Cheat followers on Instagram
The fastest method to gain followers - cheat programs. We do not support this method of promotion, as it is not reliable. It has a number of shortcomings, but at the initial stage it will give impetus to the development of the account in order to attract advertisers as quickly as possible.
- Sites for buying subscribers in bulk
Buying subscribers is done by buying in bulk or using job exchanges. The meaning of the subscription package is that you order a lot and immediately in a couple of clicks. The table below contains the most popular resources operating in this mode:
| Service | Cost (per subscriber) |
| TmSmm | From 0.14 ₽ |
| Likemania | From 0.35 ₽ |
| Mrpopular | From 0.08 RUB |
| Prostospec | From 0.28 RUB |
| Prskill | From 0.07 RUB |
- Job exchanges
The second option - smm job exchanges. Here you independently compose the task, prescribe the conditions, set your own price for subscribing to you. The order will appear on the site, and only those users who have passed the selection criteria (suitable for gender, age, geolocation, etc.) will execute it.
As an advertisement
In addition to detailed task settings, such exchanges have one more advantage. They can also be used as a performer. By completing tasks, you earn internal currency (points) that you can spend on promoting your profile.
| Service | Cost (per subscriber) |
| Likeinsta | Fully customizable |
| Vkserfing | Minimum from 0.5 ₽ |
| Unu | Minimum from 1 ₽ |
| Socpublic | Minimum from 0.2 ₽ |
The main disadvantage of cheating live followers on Instagram is that it will not bring activity, will not show interest in the content, and, moreover, will not give any conversion and upward movement. Of course, this method will help to increase the number of followers on Instagram, but it will not be of great use.
Also, it's not worth getting a large number of subscribers at once because of the profile blocking. When there is not yet the first thousand subscribers, let's be specific: wind up from 50 to 100 custom, but no more. And as you reach the designated goal, be sure to delete inactive accounts and bots. A list of profile cleaning assistants is attached:
| Service | Cost |
| InstaHero | 199 ₽ / 1 cleaning |
| SpamGuard | Choose a personal tariff |
- Mass actions
Programs select potential subscribers and carry out mass actions on their pages on your behalf: put likes, view stories, subscribe. It is possible to show which accounts to pay attention to: the search will be conducted by the audience of competitors, interests by hashtags and geotags under which you publish.
- Mass following and mass looking
Massollowing and masslooking automation. Set up the simultaneous execution of all actions or select any one desired option. The whole process is carried out through the cloud. Confirmed the task and calmly go about your business further. We give a list of programs that will subscribe you to a potential audience:
| Service | Cost (per month) | Free period |
| Zengram | 1 490 ₽ ("INSCALEPROMO" 20% discount on everything) | 3 days |
| Bridgit | 490 ₽ | 1 day |
| Instaplus.pro | 299 ₽ | 5 days |
- Massliking
Software for mass liking posts of other social network users. The principle of operation is similar: a person will see that you like him, go to the page and subscribe if he likes posts and stories. A working option to increase the number of subscribers.
| Service | Cost (per month) | Free period |
| Instaplus.pro | 299 ₽ | 5 days |
| Bridgit | 490 ₽ | 1 day |
briefly about the main thing
There is no universal formula for how to get a thousand followers and promote your Instagram account from scratch. Now you know what promotion methods are relevant for her.
I remind you that you need not only to gain subscribers, but also to be able to keep them. To do this, make a rule for yourself - post content every day. At least a few stories, if suddenly there is no time to write "long posts". The main thing is not to let your subscribers forget you.
What you do best (for example, photos of cityscapes) - will be the main theme for Instagram.
