How to gain fake instagram followers

Get More Real Instagram Followers in 10 Steps

Instagram is the foundation of so many brands’ social presence. The platform is proven to drive traffic, support sales and engage customers.

And that’s why 59% of marketers plan to up their investment in Instagram this year.

But if you’re not thrilled with your Instagram growth and engagement, you’re not alone.

Competition on the platform is fierce as more and more brands get on board. Thing is, taking steps to grow your audience is absolutely worth it. That’s because the bigger your audience, the more opportunities to delight your customers.

Ready to tweak your presence to attract authentic and organic Instagram followers? This post breaks down how to make it happen.

10 ways to increase Instagram followers

Before we get into the nitty-gritty, this post is about building an organic following.

And yes, the distinction matters!

Some brands want to take shortcuts when it comes to trying to get more Instagram followers. We don’t pretend that pay-for-play sites exist.

That said, these services aren’t worth it for brands long-term. The Instagram algorithm weeds out low-quality accounts and phony engagement from paid bots.

But we’ll bite: there’s definitely some legwork involved in growing your audience authentically.

Doing so it worth totally worth it, though. Below are our ten best tips for getting more Instagram followers the right way.

1. Optimize your Instagram account

Before you worry about how to get followers, consider how your Instagram account is set up first.

Ask yourself: does your profile “look the part?” For starters, consider your:

Your Instagram bio (including your slogan, tagline and/or a branded hashtag)
Your profile picture
Your bio link (and where it points to)

These details define your brand identity on Instagram. More importantly, they impact your account’s discoverability. Building a follower-friendly account means:

Having a search-friendly username. Stick to either your brand name or whatever’s closest to your existing social handles. If your name is too long, shorten it to a variation your audience would recognize (ex: Cold Stone Creamery’s account is @coldstone).
Making your profile picture professional. An appropriately-sized logo is ideal. Any text in your profile picture should be legible on a smartphone screen.
Minding where you point your bio link. This is crucial for turning Instagram followers into meaningful traffic or customers. It’s your only way to funnel social traffic to your site and promotions.

Linking to your homepage is fine but not always ideal. To encourage more meaningful interactions, a social landing page that points to multiple links can help.

This gives your audience total control of how they engage your business next. That means a better experience for your followers.

The best way to optimize your account is to follow a proven Instagram marketing strategy. Download our free guide to get started.

2. Keep a consistent content calendar

Momentum matters on Instagram. In other words, you likely won’t get followers on Instagram if you post at random.

Creating content and providing value is what builds your audience. Doing so consistently is what helps you keep them. Don’t let your Instagram account gather cobwebs.

That’s why sticking to a regular posting schedule is crucial. In terms of when and how much to post, you don’t have to stick to a set-in-stone number. Most brands post daily or near daily. This tracks our own research on how often to post as well.

For reference, below is a breakdown of the best times to post to Instagram. “Optimal” engagement is during the mid-to-late morning and early afternoons during the week.

If you’re worried about your posts not getting seen enough, we get it. Consider how features like Stories can get more eyes on your content if it wasn’t seen the first time.

3. Schedule Instagram posts in advance

There’s no denying that brands are at the mercy of the Instagram algorithm for reach. Still, posting at the right times can still give your posts more visibility. Anything you can do to maximize engagement is a plus.

This speaks to the value of scheduling Instagram content. With Sprout’s newest tools, brands can schedule Stories, Carousels, Reels and Posts.

Scheduling content in advance ensures control and organization. Instagram scheduling tools ultimately help you hit that cadence we mentioned earlier. The ability to crosspost content from other networks helps here, too.

You can also use Sprout’s ViralPost feature to nail down your timing, too. Our platform analyzes your engagement history and identifies the best times to post.

Perfect 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.

4. Engage with customers, brand advocates and influencers

Figuring out how to get more Instagram followers means engaging your audience.

And one of the best ways to do that is through responding to and republishing their posts.

Enter the power of user-generated content. UGC campaigns build social proof by showing followers you’re invested in them. For example, Drunk Elephant regularly regrams their followers’ posts. They gather content with their #BareWithUs and #DrunkBreak hashtags.

Partnering with influencers with an established following is another way to grow your own audience. Content creators can get your brand in front of your target audience and build ongoing awareness for your products.

5. Avoid fake Instagram followers

There’s a big difference between fake and legitimate followers on Instagram.

We get it, too. For the sake of quick growth, it might be tempting to purchase followers.

But the drawbacks outweigh the benefits 100%. Why? Because fake Instagram followers…

Confuse your potential organic followers. An inactive, low-engagement account with a big following is suspicious. This can be a turn-off for fans that’d otherwise follow you and engage.
Provide no monetary value to your business. Think about it. Your bot followers can’t buy your stuff, can they?
Generate no buzz: If you have 10,000 fake followers, how many are going to engage with your posts? Does it really even matter if your posts are brimming with spam comments?

Real people have the ability to share, like, comment and engage with your Instagram posts. Additionally, real followers actually appreciate the time you spend interacting with them.

For example, Lush Cosmetics takes the time to answer questions and engage followers all the time. This results in customers regularly returning to share shout-outs and positive comments.

6. Showcase your Instagram everywhere you can

Don’t be shy about promoting your Instagram if more followers are your goal.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to promoting your ‘gram, either. Here are a few ideas:

Add social media icons to your website and marketing emails. Social media icons make it easier for people to find your business and help you connect with customers.
Feature an Instagram feed on your homepage or product pages. Many ecommerce brands have dedicated UGC feeds on-site (see below).
Reshare Instagram-specific content or announcements on other social channels. For example, you could talk about an upcoming IG Live via TikTok or Facebook.

7. Post content that followers actually want to see

Easier said than done, we know.

Filters. Captions. Content types. Post times. That doesn’t even scratch the surface.

There are so many variables to consider, right? It doesn’t help that Instagram’s algorithm is fickle. What works for one brand might not work for the next in terms of format and timing.

For example, some brands swear by Carousels. Others are all-in on Reels. Both approaches can work. You’ll quickly find on Instagram that some content performs better than others. This is why testing is so important.

Instagram’s native analytics are surprisingly powerful. That said, investing in Instagram analytics tools will take things to the next level.

For example, Sprout makes it easy to benchmark and analyze Instagram content across accounts. Rather than second-guess what’s working and what’s not, our reporting spells it out for you.

Be confident in your content strategy by analyzing those variables we mentioned earlier.

And if you’re unsure where to start, try analyzing your competitors. A staggering 90% of brands say that social media data helps them keep up with competing social accounts.

You obviously shouldn’t copycat your competitors. That said, you can take notes on what they’re doing or posting that drives engagement. Sprout’s Instagram Competitors report can provide a breakdown of what’s working in your industry. A little competitive research can go a long way.

Oh, and keep your ear to the ground with new Instagram trends. That way you won’t miss out on platform-wide opportunities to hop on trending content formats.

For example, Reels are popping off right now. Our data shows that 66% of consumers want to see more short-form videos from brands. In terms of trends, Reels should be on your radar.

8. Make meaningful conversation with your audience

Food for thought: 60% of marketers use Instagram as a service channel.

The platform is perfect for going back and forth with followers. Likewise, many popular post ideas center around asking questions and engaging in a dialogue for a reason.

Off-the-cuff questions, shipping concerns or praise for products are all fair game from followers. Check out how Cometeer responds to all of the above on their Instagram posts:

Being supportive and responding promptly shows people that you care.

You’d be surprised at how your Instagram followers increase once you start acting more personable. Our Index research shows that 89% of consumers will buy from a brand after following them on social. Every interaction counts.

Again, try to respond to as many questions or comments as possible. Doing so could make or break someone becoming a long-term follower or a customer.

9. Find hashtags where your followers hang out

Instagram hashtags have been a staple of the platform, like, forever.

That said, they don’t hold as much weight as they used to.

Dumping hashtags into your posts isn’t going to net you any new followers. Especially when there’s so much noise on the platform.

Be proactive by focusing on industry-specific hashtags relevant to your customers. For example, Lashify regularly posts content to the #LashEducation hashtag. Tags are less general and competitive than #beauty. Becoming more visible within these types of tags is meaningful for brands in the right niche.

Understanding how your hashtags perform on Instagram is critical. With Sprout Social’s hashtag analytics tools, you have direct access to in-depth performance and usage data. Figuring out which hashtags to use is just a few taps away.

10. Take steps to delight your Instagram followers

When you make your Instagram followers happy, you’ll see the payoff in audience growth. The best Instagram accounts have fans and communities (hint: not just followers).

The tips below are the building blocks for a follower-friendly account. Put them into practice in a way that aligns with your brand voice and values. Avoid coming across as needy, solesy sales-driven or robotic at all costs.

So much of how to get Instagram followers for free is about creating an authentic community. For many accounts, this means building customer relationships. Content that highlights your personality and the humans behind your brand is a plus. This includes:

Inspirational content
Humorous content
Re-sharing UGC with unique captions
Storytelling posts
Behind-the-scenes photos and videos
Posts that raise awareness for social causes

How to get more Instagram followers (the wrong way!)

Disclaimer: Sprout Social does not endorse purchasing Instagram followers. We don’t recommend services that sell followings or “Likes.”

As the social space becomes more crowded and competitive, brands are willing to take risks for the sake of instant results.

We’ll say it again: brands shouldn’t buy Instagram followers. Nobody should!

Why you shouldn’t buy followers on Instagram

Here are some reasons why buying followers to grow your account is a serious mistake.

Your real followers know what fake followers look like

Social consumers are getting savvier. Privacy concerns and social scammers have made people hyper-aware of weird activity. In short, people today are spam-detectors.

A sudden follower spike is a red flag. Not to mention having bots stink up your account with endless spam followers. This all damages your reputation and keeps you from growing an authentic Instagram following.

Fake followers bring nothing to the table

You’re probably worried about your Instagram metrics and understandably so.

That said, your follower count doesn’t mean much if your “followers” don’t drive engagement. You might look “bigger” at a glance but who cares? Consider how your engagement rate on the platform will suffer if your follower count is inflated.

If nothing else, buying Instagram followers violates TOS

No surprises here.

Consider how Meta has taken direct action against buying engagement in the past. They’ve gone as far as to shut down companies that sell likes. That’s because this practice violates the platform’s terms of service:

Help us stay spam-free by not artificially collecting likes, followers, or shares, posting repetitive comments or content, or repeatedly contacting people for commercial purposes without their consent.

Platforms for buying Instagram followers

You shouldn’t risk your account or organic followers for the sake of boosting your numbers. But if you’re dead-set on trying an Instagram followers app, we can’t stop you.

Here are some options:

Path Social (Web)

Path Social’s platform is intended for influencers looking to grow their following. Touting “no bots, no fake users” and an AI-powered platform, the tool markets itself as being legit.

Followers & Unfollowers (Android)

This Android app identifies mutual followers and non-followers. This makes it easier to go on following and unfollowing sprees. Of course, doing so can be a red flag to Instagram.

Reports + Followers Tracker IG (Apple)

This Apple app has a similar function as the one above. In short, you can track mutuals and non-followers in one place.

How are you growing your Instagram following?

Listen: getting more followers on Instagram isn’t going to happen by accident.

And despite what you might have heard, there’s no silver bullet solution for making it happen.

The tips above can help you build the foundation for an organic following that actually engages with you. Putting these tips into action is so much easier with a powerful publishing and analytics tool like Sprout.

Want to see our suite of tools in action? Start a free trial today and see for yourself!

12 Hacks to Get More REAL Followers on Instagram [Fast]

Do you want to know how to get Instagram followers fast?

Getting ahead on Instagram can be tough, especially if you have tons of competition and you can’t seem to hit your target engagement metrics in the platform.

If only there were proven tips to increase your Instagram followers authentically…

Luckily there are! In this article, we’ll show you how to increase Instagram followers with a few of our secret tips and tricks.

Before we dive right in, let’s talk about whether you should buy fake Instagram followers or not.

Should You Buy Instagram Followers?

Tell me if you’ve seen the following search terms on Google before:

“How to get 1k followers on Instagram in 5 minutes?”
“Cheat on how to get Instagram followers?”
“How to get fake Instagram followers?”

With over 1 billion users, Instagram remains one of the most popular social media networks in the world.

Competition in Instagram is tough, and it’s one of the reasons why some brands want to take shortcuts in growing their followers.

In the same way that buying fake Facebook followers isn’t worth it, getting fake Instagram followers for your account can also result in:

Low User Engagement – Most fake followers are robots or spam accounts, so they will never like or comment on your Instagram posts.
Decreased Brand Trust – Is your follower count high, but your engagement metrics are low? Then it’s painfully obvious to your audience that some fake followers are involved, so they’re less likely to trust you.
No Potential Customers – Since the followers you bought are spam accounts or bots, there’s zero chance that they’ll do business with your brand. Yikes.

If buying Instagram followers isn’t a good idea, can you increase your account followers authentically without following hundreds of profiles daily?

How to Increase Followers On Instagram Without Following Everyone

You can grow your Instagram followers without having to follow everyone. After all, Instagram lets you follow up to 7,500 accounts only.

It’s even easier when you use Instagram Feed Pro to display custom Instagram feeds on your WordPress site. As the #1 highest rated Instagram feed plugin for WordPress, it lets you easily add stunning Instagram feeds to your website. No coding needed!

Instagram Feed Pro is also super-simple to set up, which is perfect for beginners with little design experience.

Ready to start getting more real Instagram followers — without buying fake followers or following every account you see? You can click any of the Instagram marketing tips below to skip ahead.

Or, you can continue reading this ultimate guide to increasing your Instagram followers.

Top Tips to Increase Instagram Followers Fast (Organic Ways)

Improve Your Instagram Profile
Curate Your Instagram Feed
Take Advantage of Instagram Reels
Display Instagram Feeds on Your Site
Use Niche-Related Hashtags on Your Posts
Optimize Your Post Captions
Engage With Your Existing Followers
Highlight Product Review Posts
Show Your Instagram in Relevant Platforms
Cross-Promote on Other Social Media Platforms
Run Viral Instagram Contests
Monitor Your Instagram Analytics

1.

Improve Your Instagram Profile

One of the easiest ways to get more Instagram followers is to make sure your Instagram account is set up properly.

Your Instagram bio is the most important real estate of your account. It’s from there that users get to know more about your brand, your website and your overall online presence.

Make your bio as interesting as you can to get more Instagram followers with some of these tricks:

Display a recognizable profile picture, like your photo or brand logo
Add relevant hashtags to make it easier for people to find your profile
Include your website URL so people can learn more
Choose words carefully to describe your brand using as little space as possible
Add emojis to convey emotion, character, and personality

To help you optimize your Instagram profile, see this useful post on how to use Instagram for business.

2. Curate Your Instagram Feed

Another hack to increase your followers organically is to develop a unique style and theme for your account.

Because there are so many people all vying for attention on Instagram, you need to stand out to get noticed. A clear visual content style sets you apart from the competition and makes it easier for people to recognize your brand.

For example, Rosie Clayton does an excellent job with her Instagram theme of bright, color pops. And with over 100,000 followers, her style choice certainly paid off.

Optimizing your Instagram gallery doesn’t stop at deciding on a theme or color palette you’ll be using for your Instagram profile. Since Instagram is a media-heavy social media platform, it’s crucial you pay particular attention to media quality as well.

Great quality content can draw in tons of traffic, engagement, and followers. But blurry photos or videos that look thrown-together can drive people away from your profile.

You don’t need expensive equipment to take great photos for Instagram. Your smartphone camera will do the trick if you’re careful with lighting, props, and filters, like this shot below.

You need to think like an online marketer whenever you curate your feed. Here’s a helpful guide on Instagram marketing tips guaranteed to boost your business to help you get started.

3. Take Advantage of Instagram Reels

Did you know that posting Instagram reels on your account can help you get more followers fast?

Considering that 9 out of 10 users watch Instagram videos daily, it’s clear that this type of content can actively reach more audience in the platform.

The more people you can reach, the more people you can convert to Instagram followers for your brand.

Check out this post for the ultimate guide on how you can get more views on your reels. It includes tried-and-tested tips that experts like Starbucks, Neil Patel and Cinnabon use to increase their viewers.

Even better, you can extend further the reach of your account when you show Instagram reels on your website — which brings us to our next tip below.

4.

Display Instagram Feeds on Your Site

One of the easiest ways to increase your Instagram followers is to make the most of your website’s traffic.

If every site visitor can see your Instagram content embedded in your WordPress site, you have a higher chance of converting them into followers versus not showing your Instagram feeds at all.

For example, if your website gets 3,000 unique visitors daily…

And at least 1% of them follow your account just because your Instagram feed is displayed on your site…

That’s 30 Instagram followers added daily to your account!

With the help of Instagram Feed Pro plugin, you can easily add your Instagram feed on your website with just a few clicks.

It’s the best Instagram feed plugin to help you make, customize and show engaging Instagram feeds on your site — even if you’re not tech-savvy. It’s trusted by over 1 million users with a high rating of 4.9/5 stars, after all.

With this plugin, you can easily embed your Instagram feeds on your site’s:

About page
Reviews page
Products page
Blog page
and more…

Your site visitors have already shown an interest in your brand by visiting your website. The next step? Gently nudge them to follow you by displaying your Instagram posts anywhere on WordPress.

To do this for your business, see this step-by-step guide on how to embed Instagram feeds on your website.

Pro-tip: You can also make sure that your Instagram feed is accessible on every page of your site by adding it to your footer area. Check out the steps here on how to add Instagram footer widget to WordPress.

5. Use Niche-Related Hashtags on Your Posts

Hashtags are an excellent way to help other Instagram users find your posts and follow you.

And if you add a range of topical and popular hashtags to each post, there’s a high chance you’ll get more engagement and followers for your account.

For example, you can combine topical hashtags like #makeup and #ootd with a few popular choices such as #Instagood, and #photooftheday to encourage more people to click through and follow your brand.

Pro-tip: Want more exposure for your branded hashtags?

You can curate content relevant to your industry and display it in tailored hashtag feeds on your website.

That way, site visitors get to see fresh, relevant content, and you develop the reputation of being an influencer on those topics. And as you may already know, influencers and brand ambassadors can have massive sway over their followers’ purchase decisions.

When you use Instagram Feed Pro, adding a tailored hashtag feed to your website to boost your following is quick and easy. Just select the Publish Hashtag feed and customize your feed to your liking in just a few minutes.

When you publish your feed, there’ll be a fresh stream of your chosen hashtags on your website.

Pretty easy, right? For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to embed an Instagram hashtag feed on WordPress.

6. Optimize Your Post Captions

Here’s another trick you can use to grow your Instagram organically: get creative with your captions.

Even though we’ve talked about the power of images on Instagram so far, it doesn’t mean you should ignore the words you use.

Your Instagram post captions are a great place to engage with your audience and use persuasive language to encourage them to follow you.

Use captions as a way to tell a story about your photo or video. That way, you can tap into readers’ emotions and build an emotional connection with them, which makes it easier for them to like and trust you.

Chances are, if they enjoy what they read, as well as what they see, they’ll come back for more and follow you.

Another way to optimize your captions is by adding calls to action (CTA) either in the captions of your posts or in the images or videos you upload.

CTAs tell people what action you want them to take next, so if you want them to follow your profile, it’s worth giving them a nudge in the right direction. If you don’t ask, you won’t find out, right?

In this example, the CTA is to help the author come up with a title for their new book, which shows how a clear CTA can spur people into action.

7. Engage With Your Existing Followers

It doesn’t matter if you want to get 100 Instagram followers or 1,000 — the idea behind this Instagram marketing tip is the same.

For you to increase your followers fast, you need to interact with your existing followers regularly.

Boosting your account’s engagement influences Instagram’s algorithm to show your account to even more people. As a result, a larger audience can view your Instagram account and potentially follow you.

Here are some of the best ways to interact with your audience:

Respond to their comments on your posts

Go to your followers’ walls and leave a relevant comment on their posts
Regram your followers’ posts about you and credit them via tags

Chances are you’ve got a bunch of posts you’re tagged in from other Instagram users. Even better, you can go the extra mile and display tagged feeds on your WordPress site so you can use the power of social proof to get more Instagram followers.

Using Instagram Feed Pro, you can easily choose the Tagged Posts feed so your site’s Instagram feed will show only the photos you’re tagged in.

For more details, you can read this detailed post on how to add a live Instagram feed to your site.

8. Highlight Product Review Posts

Speaking of social proof, this next hack to increase your followers can also boost your sales.

We’re talking about building trust with your target audience using customer reviews and testimonials.

Simply put, if people trust you more, they’re more likely to engage with your content and follow your profile.

An excellent way to build that trust is to display product reviews on your website. Product reviews offer real-life testimony for your products.

Right now, many people choose to express their feelings about a product or service on Instagram.

So what better way to improve trust and get more followers than by displaying specific Instagram review posts on your WordPress?

With Instagram Feed Pro, you can highlight specific product review posts and photos with our smart Visual Moderation system, which is guaranteed to improve trust.

Using the plugin’s live feed customizer, you can set this up on the Filters and Moderations settings.

From here, simply click individual posts to hide them from your feed. That way, you can display only the product review posts you’d like to include. No coding needed.

For full instructions on how to moderate your Instagram reviews post, see our documentation here.

9. Show Your Instagram in Relevant Platforms

Are you interested in how to get Instagram followers fast — but in an authentic way?

Then you need to take advantage of all the communication channels your business has. After all, the more platforms you use for Instagram promotion, the more people you can reach and potentially convert into followers.

Here are a few ideas you can use when marketing your Instagram:

Collaborate with a partner brand on Instagram

You can tag them on your account, and they’ll tag you on theirs. As a result, your followers can check them out and their followers become your Instagram fans as well.

Make sure your embedded Instagram feed has a “Follow us on Instagram” button

This makes it easier for your website visitors to find your business on Instagram, especially if you use Instagram Feed Pro to quickly display your Instagram on your site.

Add your Instagram account to your email signature: This way, everyone who gets your email can be a potential follower.
Display Instagram popups on your site

You can use OptinMonster, the world’s best lead generation and conversion optimization tool, to create an Instagram popup and add it to your site.

Even better, OptinMonster has a built-in “Social” template you can tweak to help grow your social media followers — without starting from scratch.

Check out this comparison post on the best Instagram plugins for WordPress for more social media marketing tools like this.

10. Cross-Promote on Other Social Media Platforms

If you’re like most business owners, chances are you have at least one other account on the top social media marketing platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.

After all, your online presence needs to be active on more than one platform so you can optimize your social media marketing efforts. This means cross-posting content from one social media platform to another.

The great news is that Instagram makes it super easy to cross-promote your content on other social media accounts.

Here’s a time-saving tip you can use:

After you’ve edited your photo on Instagram, it’s now ready for publishing. Before publishing a post on Instagram, though, make sure to:

Mention your Instagram account in the post caption
And toggle the options so you can automatically post on Facebook, Twitter and others as well

As a result, your followers on other social media platforms can see that you have an existing Instagram account, so they can check out your profile and follow you.

Pro-tip: Want even more exposure for your social media posts?

If you have accounts on all major social media platforms, you can display all your social media feeds in a single wall using Social Wall Pro. It’s the best social media feed aggregator for WordPress.

With the help of Social Wall Pro, you can integrate your social media into your website in just a few minutes, even if you’re not tech-savvy.

This lets you add engaging social media feeds that combine posts from your Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter accounts like this:

Ready to get more social media followers? Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to display social media feeds to your WordPress site.

11. Run Viral Instagram Contests

Our next secret tip for increasing your Instagram followers is to run a viral contest from your website.

Giveaways and contests attract tons of traffic to your site, as well as helping to skyrocket your social media follower growth in Instagram.

RafflePress, the best contest plugin for WordPress, lets you create Instagram contests without the hassle.

RafflePress has ready-made Instagram contest templates that automatically populate your contests with powerful entry methods. These help you grow your Instagram followers with a few clicks, even if you’re not an expert designer.

And when it comes to publishing your giveaway, you can embed it in WordPress using the handy contest widget block. Or for a distraction-free experience, you can craft a giveaway landing page to encourage tons more entries.

And the result?

Loads more Instagram followers, engagement, brand awareness, and traffic to your website.

See this handy post on how to run successful Instagram giveaways to get started.

12. Monitor Your Instagram Analytics

Our final tip on how you can get more Instagram followers is about basing your marketing strategy on data from your Instagram analytics dashboard.

Using Instagram Insights, you can learn which marketing strategies specific to your brand may generate the best results.

For example, if you want to find out when’s the best time to post on Instagram, here’s what you can do.

First, visit your Instagram profile on your phone and tap Insights. Next, click on total followers.

From the Insights dashboard, you can now see relevant data about your follower activity. To know when your followers are most active, scroll down to the bottom of the Insights page.

For you to get maximum engagement on your Instagram posts, you need to post videos or images during the peak activity times. This way, you’ll get more people who will interact with your posts.

And you know what this means! More post interactions means you’ll have a higher chance of being promoted by Instagram to other users who are more likely to follow you.

Start Getting More Real Instagram Followers

And that’s it, folks! We hope this article helped you how to get Instagram followers fast so you can promote your business better on Instagram.

Want to dominate Instagram marketing? Get started with Instagram Feed Pro and increase your followers today.

Do you want to add Instagram walls to your site? This post on showcasing Instagram feed walls on WordPress can help.

If you enjoyed this article, feel free to follow us on Twitter and Facebook for more inspirational content.

How to get followers in 2022 on Instagram: from 0 to 10,000

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Do not miss new useful articles and keep the old ones handy.

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? nine0005

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. nine0005

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. nine0005

#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. nine0005

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. nine0005

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. nine0005

Locations have their own 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. nine0005

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. nine0005

It's best 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? nine0005

#10 Giveaways

Giveaways are another effective way to promote your account.

If the draw is published on the site, 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. nine0005

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 build a target subscriber base. You just repost and tag each other's profile. nine0005

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. nine0152
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. This will increase your engagement and reach, and with them the number of subscribers.

#13 Use Instagram analytics

« Embedded » Instagram analytics gives incomplete information about your followers.

Connect third-party analytics services to get more data. Many of these services are free.

Best free analytics services for Instagram:

Sprout Social
DataFan
Popsters
Live Dune

All these services collect highly informative statistics on subscribers and your content. To figure out your target audience, analyze metrics such as engagement rate, number of new followers, unsubscribers, and inactive accounts. Use this data to better understand your audience. nine0005

A very loose translation and adaptation of an article from the Oberlo blog.

Christina

Kerbs

Yandex.Direct and Google Ads certified specialist. Knows everything about medical marketing and coffee varieties.

what you need to know before going to the dark side - Dark site of marketing

According to statistics, most Instagram users pay attention first of all to the number of followers of a brand page before they subscribe to it themselves. This pattern is called social proof, or social proof - the presence of a large number of followers is not only proof of the popularity of the brand, but also a signal of its approval from the audience. Therefore, when creating a business page, marketers have to solve a difficult task - to look for the first subscribers. The most common solution to this problem is to buy followers on Instagram by buying bots or autofollowing. nine0005

In this article, we will analyze possible ways to get followers on Instagram, and consider the experiment of Hootsuite, which proved by its own example that buying bots to promote a page on Instagram is ineffective.

Instagram followers: the main ways to cheat

There are only 2 ways to get followers on Instagram. Honest, he's strategic. You set a goal, share good content and the attention of the audience is in your hands. And the second is to use the dark side of marketing - to buy subscribers. That is, bots. nine0004 Everyone has long known that brands, celebrities, influencers and even politicians have been adding fake followers on social media. Why do they do it? It's all about perception. Suppose: you bought bots, thereby getting tens of thousands of subscribers. Real people will "like" your page, as the popularity of an Instagram account is judged by the number of its followers.

To begin with, it is worth defining the key difference: promotion of a page on Instagram using an automation service and buying bots are far from the same thing. nine0005

Instagram follower apps like and comment on posts on your behalf, thereby drawing attention to your profile. You need to specify the user profile you plan to follow based on location, hashtag usage, interests, gender, and more. It is also possible to set criteria after which the bot stops following the account of someone who has not become your subscriber.

Buying Instagram followers is even easier: find an exchange, pay for the service and voila - an explosive growth of the audience. It's cheap, costing about three dollars for every 100 subscribers. But, in most cases, these are bots and zombie accounts (inactive, hacked accounts). nine0005

There are also more expensive options that charge upwards of $1,000 for 10,000 subscribers. These services keep your bots active: they publish posts, update information, and even periodically interact with your content.

Still want to buy Instagram followers?

If you still decide to go to the dark side and buy Instagram followers, then read below the example of Hootsuite's, which decided to find out if the game is worth the candle. nine0005

They created a fake account and bought 1000 followers for $10. The audience grew before our eyes. This is a plus. But it consisted entirely of bots. This is a minus.

Despite the presence of an audience, real subscribers were not added. Hootsuite even posted one photo, but that didn't help either.

Results - a solid minus: no comments. What does it say? There is a number of subscribers, but this did not affect the interest of real people. Even a month later, the post on the Hootsuite's account page did not garner a single comment, absolute zero. nine0005

Of course, the Hootsuite experiment is a banter that was originally intended to be that way. But this is a good example of how most marketers ineptly use the dark Power: they take quantity, but the quality leaves much to be desired.

Yes, this account was subscribed after some time. But who are these mysterious kamikaze? Two schoolchildren and a dozen more bots are not a very suitable audience for a technology company.

nine0004 The only thing that was constant in this experiment, according to Hootsuite's: the number of subscribers remained at the level of 1000, +/- 50 depending on the day of the week. As soon as a certain number of followers disappear - probably due to the blocking of such accounts - the system creates new ones and makes a supply of bots. But it still remained a low-quality audience.

The results obtained when using the application to get followers on Instagram were somewhat different - half of the new followers were eliminated after a week. nine0005

Why you shouldn't buy Instagram followers

You get what you pay for: just the quantity. Not quality. An audience consisting of bots will not like your posts and will not comment on them. Using these methods to get followers on Instagram, you jeopardize the reputation of the brand. And you risk losing real customers.

Suppose you hired a social media influencer to promote a product. After carefully studying his profile, we realized that most of his fans are just bots. I think next time you are unlikely to want to work with this person. nine0005

What is more valuable for business: having 10,000 fake followers or 100 real ones who comment on your posts and willingly share them?

But there are more important metrics than the number of subscribers. Link clicks and interactions (“likes” and “comments”) are the two most important of these.

Engagement rate. Calculation formula.

One of the ways to measure audience engagement on Instagram is to calculate the engagement rate. Add up all the likes and comments from the last ten posts. Divide the amount by the number of followers of your page. Multiply the result by 100 to get the engagement score. nine0005

Number of Likes + number of comments / number of followers x 100 = engagement rate.

This indicator can be used to test the performance of your Instagram strategy, to study the interest of the audience.

How to get Instagram followers without going to the dark side

Study the interests of your audience, share interesting content, thus you will retain your existing audience and attract new followers on Instagram. When posting, use relevant hashtags that will lead you to a new audience. This is, for sure, a more effective way to attract subscribers interested in your company's products or services than to increase the number of bots. nine0005

Use Instagram ads to increase your reach. With a budget of just a few hundred dollars a month, you can significantly increase the growth rate of your account and acquire new readers. Instagram offers a wide variety of advertising options, each tied to a specific business goal (brand awareness, website traffic, product sales, or app downloads).

If you want to empower and manage your Instagram account as efficiently as possible, then use Instagram post automation services such as Onlypult.