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How to grow on instagram 2018


12 Tactics for Instagram Growth

Summary

Read on to find out the 12 best tactics (with tools and examples) that could help you grow a bigger, more engaged audience for your business on Instagram.

You will learn

  • The best practices to help you grow your Instagram audience
  • The importance of a unique brand voice on Instagram
  • How to post consistently and at the right times to grow your audience

You spend hours planning and creating content for Instagram. For a brief moment after you hit “Share,” all is right with the world. You’re confident you published something great.

Then, radio silence. Or a few likes and comments from your handful of followers. But how do you get more followers on Instagram if not by publishing great content?

There’s no step-by-step guide for Instagram growth. But there are best practices that will help you reach a wider audience and win over new followers.  

Here are 12 ways to get more followers on Instagram.

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Schedule your Instagram posts, carousels, stories, and reels with Buffer
Visually plan your content calendar and make your profile a "must-follow" with Buffer's suite of Instagram scheduling and analytics tools.

1. Optimize your bio

Make the most of those 150 characters. Your Instagram bio tells potential followers who you are, what you’re about, and what action you hope people will take after visiting your profile.

Your Instagram bio should include:

  • A clear description of what you do
  • Touches of your personality
  • A call to action (shop, read more, contact us, etc.)
  • A link

Your in-bio link is your only clickable link on Instagram, so use it wisely. Some businesses include a standard link to their website, while others change it regularly to reflect recent posts. But if you want to make it easier on yourself, take advantage of link-in-bio tools such as Start Page that allow you to turn a single link into a catalog of links.

CoolStays includes all the important aspects of a great Instagram bio.

Consider including a branded hashtag as well. For example, we encourage our fans to use #BufferLove when they talk about our products. Adding the branded hashtag to our bio tells people which hashtag to include to catch our attention. Plus, when anyone taps on the hashtag, they’ll see posts from fans who have used it.

At Buffer we include our #BufferLove hashtag in our Instagram bio.

2. Find your best time to post on Instagram

Notice how we didn’t say find thebest time to post on Instagram? The truth is, there is no universal answer for when to post on Instagram to reach the highest number of people. But there are ways to figure out the ideal times for your followers.

First, use Instagram Insights to figure out when your audience is online. Tap the “Insights” button from your Instagram business profile, scroll to “Your Audience,” then tap “See All. ” From there, scroll to the bottom to find your audience’s most active times.

Instagram Insights will help you find your best time to post.

You should also consider when your content will be most relevant. For example, a step-by-step recipe video might perform better outside of work hours because people are more likely to be cooking. A coffee shop post, on the other hand, might do well around 2 p.m. when people go through an afternoon slump. Experiment with different posting times and track engagement.

If you're looking for some extra guidance on when to post, Buffer's Answers feature provides you with three posting time suggestions for maximizing your reach on Instagram.

Buffer's Answers feature uses data from your previous posts and followers' activity to calculate your best times to post.

Find more in-depth guidance in our article, How to Find Your Best Time to Post on Instagram.

3. Post consistently

A 2021 study of 14 industries shows that businesses share four Instagram posts per week, on average. But we recommend posting at least once a day.  Brands that get into a regular flow with Instagram posts tend to see the best results. According to a Tailwind study, profiles that post daily gain Instagram followers faster than those that post less frequently.

With Instagram’s algorithmic timeline, consistency is a key element to getting your posts seen. If your posts are shared on a regular basis and picking up good engagement, Instagram’s algorithm will likely show your posts near the top of your followers’ feeds.

Of course, quality is always more important than quantity. Posting more often doesn’t necessarily translate to higher engagement rates. Focus on creating content that will resonate with your target audience—more on that in section 9: Engage with your audience.

Instagram scheduling tools allow you to post consistently without having to worry about posting directly from the app every day. Take a look at How to Schedule Instagram Posts to Save Time and Boost Engagement to discover our favorite  Instagram scheduling tools (free and paid) along with scheduling tips.

4. Learn how the Instagram algorithm works

Many Instagram users initially panicked about the switch from a chronological feed to the ranked timeline. However, since the change, the average post is seen by 50% more followers than before. So, forget about learning how to beat the Instagram algorithm. Instead, focus on learning how to use the system to your advantage.

There are six factors that determine what shows up in each person’s timeline:  interest, timeliness, relationship, frequency, following, and usage.

Here’s a quick rundown of what each of those factors refers to:

  1. Interest: How much Instagram thinks a person will like the post based on previous activity
  2. Timeliness: How recent the post is
  3. Relationship: Accounts a person engages with on a regular basis
  4. Frequency: How often a person uses the Instagram app
  5. Following: Posts from the accounts a person follows
  6. Usage: How much time a person spends on Instagram

Instagram’s algorithm aims to surface the best content for each individual user. So, while six separate factors may seem like a lot to worry about, the best thing you can do is create high-quality content consistently.

We dig into each ranking factor in more detail in How the Instagram Algorithm Works in 2021: Everything You Need to Know. We also include guidance on how to create content that caters to each factor and share tips on how to use the Instagram algorithm to your advantage.

5. Experiment with different content types

Instagram is so much more than photos. Over the years, the app has introduced many ways to share content on the platform. Mixing it up with different content types is one of the best ways to gain more followers on Instagram because it gives you the chance to reach and connect with a wider range of people.

Remember: The algorithm looks at interest and strives to show people the content types that they interact with most often. So, if one person likes and comments on Instagram Reels more often than other post types, they’re likely to see more Reels in their Instagram feed. However, if another person interacts more frequently with carousel posts, they’ll see more of that content type in their timeline.

Each type of content has advantages. For instance, Instagram Reels have an edge because they’re the newest content type and Instagram always pushes new features. Since launching Instagram Reels in 2020, the app has moved the Reels button to the center position in the menu bar and made Reels appear larger than photo posts on the Explore page. Considering 200 million people check the Explore page every day, that additional visual real estate can make a big difference in how many people you reach.

Instagram TV (IGTV) videos also appear 4x larger than photos on the Explore page. And, since IGTV videos can be as long as 60 minutes, this type of content is ideal for long-form video.

Instagram Reels and IGTV take up more real estate on the Instagram Explore page.

Instagram Stories disappear after 24 hours, but they have their benefits as well. Fifty-seven percent of brands believe thatStories have been “somewhat effective” or “very effective”as a part of their social media strategy. Plus, if you have a verified account or at least 10,000 followers, you can add Instagram Swipe Up links to Stories to drive traffic to specific pages.

Meanwhile, carousel posts—a series of up to 10 images/videos in a single post—boast the highest engagement rates of all post types. Think of carousels as a mini-story or teaser to a longer-form piece of content, such as a blog. You can use text images, photos, video, or a mix of everything all in one thematic post.

DLC Anxiety uses a carousel post to explain how to reframe anxious thoughts.

Confused by all the arguments for different post types? People like what they like. So, while studies can tell you what the average engagement rate is for each content type or argue for one over the other, the best strategy is to use a variety. Mixing up your Instagram content allows you to reach people with different preferences, and that extended reach helps you boost your Instagram followers.

6. Find your brand voice and create unique content

People don’t follow your business on social media so they can see sales pitches. They follow your brand because they enjoy your personality and the content you create.

What works for one business might not suit your branding—even when you’re in similar industries. For example, Juggling Daisies Hobby Farm and Such and Such Farm both consider themselves to be unique farms. Juggling Daises is all about fun stories, cute photos, and wholesome content. Meanwhile, Such and Such Farm has a more rough-around-the-edges style that includes curse words and humor.

Ask yourself what you want your tone to be. Funny? Informative? Playful? Cynical? Your personality should also reflect what you’re passionate about. Such and Such Farm believes in sustainably grown produce, so many of their Instagram posts talk about their farming practices. What topics do you address with your Instagram content? Everything you share on your business account should show off your brand’s personality and beliefs.

Juggling Daisies shows off its unique personality in its bio and in Instagram posts.

Think of your business account as a person. Design a personality for the account and create branding guidelines so you can stay consistent. Branding guidelines should include notes on tone, style, and values along with your brand’s colors and fonts.

7. Write great captions

Nice photos catch people’s attention—great Instagram captions keep it. Captions give you a chance to provide more context or details about the photo or video you’re sharing. Plus, using keywords in captions can help you appear in search results on the app.

Instagram captions can be up to 2,200 characters. Of course, not every caption needs to read like a blog post. Play around with different lengths. Some photos pair nicely with a short, quippy caption with a couple of emojis, while others might benefit from something longer and more reflective.

The average length of Instagram captions is on the rise, but most brands still don’t go anywhere near that 2,200 character limit. In 2020, the average was projected to be 405 characters, up from 142 in 2016.

OnlineDrea uses both short- and long-form captions on Instagram.

So, when do you go long, and when do you keep it simple? There’s no hard-and-fast rule. Just like with content types, it’s best to mix it up. Take a look at these two posts from Andréa Jones of OnlineDrea. One post has a short caption, while the other specifically directs you to the caption for a longer explanation.

8. Research and use hashtags

We’ve explored hashtags a lot on the blog, but it seems that nowhere on social media are they quite as important as on Instagram. The right hashtags can expose your image to a large and targeted audience, and Instagram users don’t seem to get hashtag fatigue in the same way they might on other networks.

Start by finding hashtags that would appeal to your target audience. Free Instagram tools like Display Purposes and AutoHash help you find relevant hashtags for your Instagram posts. For instance, with Display Purposes, you simply type in a few words about your image, and it will recommend the top hashtags to use.

If you want to gain more Instagram followers, hashtags are essential. Using hashtags makes your content discoverable via search or filtering when people tap on the same hashtag from another post. People can even follow their favorite hashtags so that top content with that hashtag will show up in their Instagram timeline.

Instagram allows up to 30 hashtags per post, but don’t tack on extras just to hit 30. TrackMaven recommends nine hashtags for maximum engagement. Just make sure you don’t use the same nine hashtags over and over again. Instead, group your go-to hashtags by category so you can quickly add a few relevant hashtags to each post.

With Buffer Hashtag Manager, you can create and save groups of hashtags. Then, you can select from your pre-saved groups and add hashtags to your scheduled Instagram posts.

Hashtag Manager helps you build a library of hashtag groups so you can get more reach for every Instagram post.

9. Engage with your audience

Engagement is crucial for growth on Instagram. Many brands make the mistake of focusing on likes and comments without considering the people behind those metrics. If you really want to get more Instagram followers, you need to engage your fans in a conversation.

Keep in mind that just because someone sees your content, that doesn’t mean they currently follow you. If you have a chance to interact with a potential follower, you should take it. Every comment is an opportunity to gain a new follower (or keep a current one), so make sure you respond to each comment you receive. If your hands are already cramping at the thought of tapping away on your phone, don’t worry. With the Buffer Engage tool, you can reply to comments from your desktop.

But don’t just wait for your followers to start the conversation. Create engagement opportunities. Use Instagram stickers such as open-ended questions and polls in Instagram Stories. Ask questions in your photo captions. Encourage people to tag friends in the comments with prompts such as “Tag your BFF who you’d invite on this cruise!” or “Tag your wine-loving friend who you’d do this wine tasting with. ”

Need more ideas? Take a look at our Instagram engagement tips to learn how to get more followers on Instagram by increasing engagement.

10. Collaborate with others

Another great way to gain Instagram followers is to collaborate with others through partnerships or influencer campaigns.

Our brand spotlight with Blume is a great example. Blume gets access to Buffer’s followers through the original Instagram Story and the accompanying Highlights. Meanwhile, Blume will share the spotlight with their fans, which brings their audience to Buffer. It’s a win-win.

Instagram Highlights spotlight featuring Janice Ayan of Blume

Influencer marketing is another way to grow your Instagram following. If you have the budget, you can pay content creators to promote your brand. But if you’re hoping to keep it simple (and low-budget), micro-influencers (1,000–10,000 followers) can be very impactful.  In fact, content from micro-influencers has higher engagement rates than content from larger accounts. You can seek out micro-influencers to set up collaborations or simply re-share user-generated content (UGC).

Remember those branded hashtags we talked about in Section 1: Optimize your bio? One tap on your branded hashtag, and you’ll have an entire catalog of content to choose from.

When we first launched Buffer’s Instagram, we encouraged fans to use #BufferStories and #BufferCommunity. We used those hashtags to find and re-share user-generated content. Within one year, we increased our Instagram followers from 4,250 to 21,000.

We discovered Jon Woon through our branded hashtag and re-shared the content on our own account (with permission of the original creator).

Why is UGC so popular? "It relays authentic experiences about a brand’s products or services from previous customers, which boosts brand credibility," says Ramon Berrios of Trend.

Collaborations are also a chance to show off your values and personality through association. The businesses and people you align with and support say a lot about your own brand. Partnerships can be especially powerful for local businesses, too. Consider partnering with your neighbors so you can reach a hyper-targeted audience.

Make it easy for people to find your Instagram. No one should have to hunt through pages of your website to find your Instagram profile.

We use our website footer to link to Buffer's social accounts.

Add your Instagram account link to:

  • Email footers
  • Your website’s footer and/or sidebar
  • Bios on other social media platforms
  • Social media posts from team members

12. Analyze your results

One way to figure out how to get more followers on Instagram is to look into what your current fans respond to. You can monitor several Instagram metrics directly in the app with Instagram Insights or through third-party analytics tools such as Buffer.

Don’t obsess over vanity metrics such as likes and comments. Instead, think about what the metrics tell you. For example, if you’re testing out a new hashtag, metrics such as new followers and reach will tell you more about the value of that hashtag than likes from your current followers will. However, if you’re experimenting with different posting times, impressions can give you an idea of when your content is most likely to be seen. Your end goal will determine which metrics matter the most.

Analyzing your data can help you to spot trends and understand what content resonates with your audience. 

Watch for trends. Does a specific type of image get more impressions or engagement? Post more of those images and see how your followers respond. Do certain hashtags result in more likes from people who don’t follow you? Use those hashtags more often and keep an eye on new followers.

Read our Instagram Analytics guide to learn more about Instagram metrics and how to use them to fuel your marketing strategy.

How do you manage your Instagram marketing?

If you want steady Instagram growth, you have to give your target audience quality content on a regular basis. While piecemeal social media is fine for personal accounts, businesses need to be more strategic. All of the tactics we covered will help you gain more Instagram followers, but they’re not boxes you can check off once. Staying on top of your social media content strategy is crucial.

It takes time to plan and schedule posts. And managing engagement can be a challenge as well. With Buffer, you can manage every aspect of your Instagram marketing strategy, from scheduling through analytics, right in one platform. Get started for free.

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11 Ways to Grow your Instagram You Can’t Miss in 2022

Want to learn how to grow your Instagram?

You should! Instagram reached TWO BILLION monthly active users in December 2021. That’s doubled since June 2018!

And they’re not just broke college kids: 60% of active Instagram users earn $100K and above.

Of course, you won’t be alone in trying to reach an audience on Instagram. 71% of U.S. businesses market on Instagram, including 90 of the world’s top 100 brands.

80% of IGers follow brands – but how can you stand out and get them to follow your business?

Follow these top 11 ways to get more Instagram followers – organically!

Disclosure: Some links below are affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission if you make a purchase.

1 | Create a compelling Instagram profile

What do IGers see when they visit your account? Your bio!

Is it clear what you offer, and why they’d want to follow you?

As they say, you only get one chance to make a first impression. When someone visits your profile, they’ll decide in seconds whether or not to follow your account.

Make sure your Instagram profile picture matches up with your other accounts, so people recognize you.

If your business name isn’t well-known like IKEA or Nike, add a few keywords to your name to clarify your niche.

You only have 150 characters for your bio! I recommend bullet points that communicate at a glance.

Feel free to set them off with emojis. An emoji can communicate a lot in a single character.

Want to learn more about this step?

READ: How to Make an Awesome Instagram Profile for Business

2 | Curate a beautiful gallery

Know what else IGers see on your profile?

Your last few posts!

Instagram is a highly visual platform, and users are discerning. You can’t just post any old thing that you might get away with on another platform.

Create your brand story:
  • Decide on a visual theme you’ll use to represent your brand.
  • Make sure your photos will provide value to your followers.
  • Use your products to tell a story that will be of interest to your audience.

Because of the grid gallery on your profile page, it’s critical that you develop and follow a themed look or style. This gallery is going to communicate at a glance what your account is about – or just look like a mishmash of swiped content and reposts.

Create your brand content:
  • Use your business colors, fonts, and photography style.
  • Use high resolution photos and third-party editing apps to enhance your photos.
  • Use Instagram filters, third-party filters, or no filter as appropriate to your brand.
  • You can also try apps to add text to photos for a consistent look.
  • Product images should feature the product prominently in the picture.
  • Utilize Instagram video for more creative storytelling.

Who crushes this for graphics? Elevate It Now.

Check out Mónica’s consistency in colors and feel.

Now take a look at Kyoko Lily‘s purely photography-based account.

Her followers grow by leaps and bounds due to her gorgeous consistency (plus she is generous with engagement, see tip 11).

For fabulous graphic+photo branding, see Nicte Creative Design.

Note the consistency of colors, plus a fun and energetic style that helps you decide instantly if this account fits your style.

And don’t forget to brand those Stories Highlights, too! You can see these gals haven’t.

Don’t know what to post on Instagram?

READ: 24 Instagram Post Ideas You Can Steal Right Now

3 | Post Instagram Reels

Not familiar with Reels? They’re 15 to 30 seconds clips that are set to music. They can be shared in the Stories and Explore Feeds – plus there’s a new dedicated Reels tab.

Reels are the newest feature on IG – and Instagram loves to maximize reach for its latest additions.

In fact, they’ve even been advising IGers who want to grow their accounts to use them 4 to 7 times a week.

With the trending and popular accounts feature, you have a chance to reach a totally new audience. They’re also easy to access in the same way as IGTV.

Ready to roll?

READ: How to Make a Reel on Instagram – It’s Easy!

4 | Use Instagram Stories – and keep ‘em coming!

Stories are a fun and effective way to stand out.

Instagram pushes Stories out, both at the top of the home page, and again throughout the feed.

They don’t want IGers to miss them, so take advantage!

Your Story will be bumped to the front of the line each time you add to it, so keep those updates coming. At least a couple a day – even better, every couple hours.

Don’t forget to curate your best Stories into themed Highlights you’ll show on your profile, under your bio.

Don’t know how to use Stories? Find Instagram Stories ideas for business here:

READ: This Is Why You Need To Use Instagram Stories Right Now

5 | Choose the best Instagram hashtags

I can’t overstate the importance of using hashtags with your posts and Stories. Hashtags really help your account get discovered.

But they have to be the right hashtags! Use a mix of brand-specific, industry-specific, and trending hashtags.

Should you use 3 or 30? In the caption or a comment?

You’ve got questions, I’ve got answers.

READ: How to Use Hashtags on Instagram for Explosive Growth

6 | Don’t forget to geotag

Here’s another way for your posts and Stories to be found! If you’re at a popular location, tag the location. IGers perusing that geotag will find your post there as well.

Posts with a tagged location result in 79% higher engagement than posts without a tagged location.

That’s the easiest engagement you’ll ever get!

7 | Craft an engaging caption

Now that you’ve got an awesome post or Story, be sure to get engagement on it, or it’ll just fizzle away.

Tell followers about your experience on a topic, and ask theirs.

Post an inspirational quote and ask if they agree with it.

Ask questions that encourage comments.

And don’t forget to respond to those comments! If you don’t want to engage on social media, you’re in the wrong place.

Ready for more caption inspiration?

READ: How to Write Instagram Captions that Grab More Likes

8 | Post at the best times for engagement

Check your own analytics to see what works best for your account. Every account and audience is different!

As a general rule, the best days to post on Instagram are weekdays, with posts published on Tuesday and Wednesday getting the highest engagement.

Posting to Instagram from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. results in good engagement for brands.

Interactions on posts peaks between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m, with a lot of audience activity between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. when people get off work.

Want the deets to figure out your own best times?

READ: What’s the Best Time to Post on Instagram 2022

Wish it were easier? Try Tailwind!

Tailwind will analyze your audience engagement and pick the best times for your account.

Just decide how many times you want to post per day, and let Tailwind set up a Smart Schedule for you.

Load your photos and videos with your captions. Use Tailwind’s Hashtag Finder to add the perfect array of hashtags to attract your best audience.

Sit back and let Tailwind post to Instagram at the best time, every time!

• • • Click here to try Tailwind for Instagram Forever FREE Plan • • •

Disclosure: If you upgrade to a paid plan, I’ll earn a referral fee.

9 | Post consistently

I know this can be tough. You’ve got a lot on your plate.

But you really need to post daily or your engagement will suffer.

Poor engagement means IG will show your posts less often.

Less new people will discover your posts, and it’s all downhill from there.

Check out the free post ideas linked above, or use a tool like my Your Social Plan to come up with a content plan.

Set aside a day to create a couple week’s worth of posts.

Schedule it up in an approved scheduler that posts to Instagram directly for you.

Then, just return to engage with your comments.

Tailwind app studied over 100,000 Instagram posts to uncover how successful different accounts were when they changed the number of times they post to Instagram each day.

Those that increased their rate of posting over the three month study saw a significant increase in their engagement rate, and enjoyed higher follower growth rates too!

Optimal: post at least once daily.

Tailwind for Instagram offers a Free Forever plan with no credit card required.

Try it out now!

• • • Click here to try Tailwind for Instagram FREE • • •

Disclosure: If you upgrade to a paid plan, I’ll earn a referral fee.

10 | Post user-generated content

Running out of post ideas? Get your audience to help!

Encourage your followers to create videos, photos, and GIFs with your products, or post a testimonial of your services.

Create a branded hashtag that can showcase all user-generated content for your brand. You can feature this on your bio too!

It’s a smart way to increase your brand awareness and get more content too.

Buffer grew their Instagram following by 442%, largely by sharing user-generated content. They posted relevant photos that their followers had clicked along with their Instagram handles.

Take the best user content from around the web and feature it on your own Instagram while giving credit to the original creator. (Best to get express permission first).

Tailwind app can help you with this, too!

Regram photos immediately from anywhere with their browser extension.

Try Tailwind regramming for free now!

• • • Click here to try Tailwind for Instagram FREE • • •

Disclosure: If you upgrade to a paid plan, I’ll earn a referral fee.

11 | Like and comment to grow organically

This should be obvious, but it isn’t.

Get social with your followers, and those you hope to become followers, posts!

It’s quite amazing how often I see accounts of mediocre quality with hundreds of likes on their posts. Even into the thousands!

And how did I find these accounts in the first place? They dropped by my gallery and “liked” 10 or more of my posts.

Or maybe they liked a few and left a genuine comment on one.

THIS is truly the best way to make people aware of your account, and get new followers.

Why? Because it’s social media!

People are there to be social, and to engage with people who show an interest in them – not just in selling stuff to them.

So, go find the followers of your competitors and get engaged.

Engage to your heart’s content!
  • Like and comment popular photos. Mention both creator and other commenters.
  • Follow the 5/3/1 rule to find engage and gain new followers!
  • Like five photos, comment on three photos, and as a result you should earn one new follower.
Your Instagram account needs your personal touch.

 

The WORST way to grow your Instagram

Want to kill your Instagram account?

Automate liking, commenting, and follow/unfollowing.

You know all those irrelevant “cool!” “awesome!” “check out our profile!” comments you get on your posts?

Or the insistent following and unfollowing by certain accounts?

Those are brought to you by bots.

They’re not only super annoying to users, but they also violate Instagram’s Terms of Use and could get your account shut down.

And even if you don’t get caught – these followers are much less likely to engage, crushing your posts in the Instagram ranking algorithm.

A few years ago I tested a service that followed targeted IGers manually with real VAs.

My engagement rate tanked and never recovered. I eventually abandoned that account.

Followers aren’t the be-all and end-all! Engaged followers are.

Please use the top 11 tips above. They are proven to increase engagement and followers! You really need both.

How to Grow your Instagram Account: Conclusion

Theories and myths abound on how to grow your Instagram.

The 11 tips above have been proven by research to actually work!

Pin the reminder infographic to Pinterest, and revisit this post to review.

Make your Instagram marketing easy by using Tailwind!

  • Schedule photos and videos directly to your Instagram feed with Auto Post.
  • Optimize every post for more engagement with SmartSchedule and Hashtag Finder.
  • Regram photos immediately from anywhere with the browser extension.
  • Automatically hide your Instagram hashtags in the first comment to keep your caption clean and clutter-free.
  • Make your posts more discoverable with user tagging & location tagging.
  • Analyze what’s working across every post and profile with smart analytics.

You can try Tailwind for Instagram now, no credit card required.

Or…

Grab their FREE Guide to 10K Instagram Followers!

It’ll give you the tips, tools, and templates you need to get real followers in 2022.

Disclosure: If you upgrade to a paid plan, I’ll earn a referral fee.

Got more tips, or questions on how to grow your Instagram? Let me know in a comment!

How to promote Instagram for free and independently

Updated: December 06, 2022

146 973

Greetings to all Instagrammers! Let's get to know each other and I'll get started.

My name is Vasily Blinov, I am the author of this blog about remote work and everything connected with it. Instagram included! I myself have been working remotely since 2015 and traveling the world. I am promoting my account on Instagram and other social networks, which will also be discussed on my blog. nine0003

I could make a paid course on promotion and promotion of Instagram, but I decided that I would post all my experience and knowledge for free, let those who make money on such trainings execute me for this :)

I will start a new column with basic things about how to promote Instagram, which everyone should know.

Contents

The Complete Guide to Instagram

I think today's article will be long but interesting, so I recommend you read it carefully to the end. And at the end, leave your feedback and comments about what you read. nine0003

So, let's go?

Why it is worth promoting Instagram

At the moment, Instagram is one of the three social networks, where the greatest amount of traffic to my main resources comes from, feedback from subscribers and, accordingly, sales. To better understand what I mean, you can read the article on how to make money on Instagram.

In terms of the activity of the audience, he is in my first place.

Because there is not as much rubbish as there is, for example, on VKontakte or Facebook. Feeds of news and updates in which are teeming with advertising and all sorts of entertaining nonsense. People still tend to use Instagram for its intended purpose, to add photos from their lives there. nine0003

And the audience there, thanks to live content, is more open and adequate.

Therefore, to anyone who promotes their brand, looking for customers by selling their services and products, I recommend promoting their business accounts or personal page on Instagram. Moreover, you can promote Instagram on your own, learn everything from scratch using free and paid methods, which I will talk about today.

What I don't recommend!

Some specialists who offer to quickly promote an account on Instagram do the same thing only 5-10 times more expensive. My friends, freelancers and internet entrepreneurs have ordered similar services, and the result with what I do myself was the same. nine0003

Instagram promotion is an ongoing process, you should not hire guys who promise you to catch up with a lot of subscribers in a short time.

If you don’t have time to do promotion on your own, then it’s better to hire a permanent remote employee – an Instagram manager who will do all the work for you, keep the audience and bring new customers.

How to promote Instagram on your own

I must say right away that I am not interested in fake numbers (subscribers), which usually do not make any sense. I try to collect only a lively and active audience. nine0003

Where to start?

Ahh? AND! - Lecture hall! First step.

Why the hell are you going to promote Instagram? Earn? I think that 95% are interested in this issue for this very reason.

Then what are you going to earn money from? What does your client look like? What will he be interested in? What will help solve his problem, NEED? If I may say so.

For example, my goal is to convey to people what remote work is, how thanks to it you can make your life more interesting, free, start traveling. Help them take the first step — master the promising Internet profession of the future. nine0003

They often write to me, ask questions, give feedback. I know that I have a large audience reach from 17 to 70 years old. But the target is guys aged 21-35 who want to develop, learn, learn something new and dream of traveling the world.

Knowing your audience, it is easier to create useful and interesting content for them, find the places where they live, and attract them from there through your own activity or advertising.

The next 3 easy steps is:

  1. Profile design.
  2. Creating a content plan and publishing.
  3. PR and advertising.

Today I will review them briefly, more detailed information and instructions will be in separate articles.

How to draw up a profile?

A photo and information about you or your product is the first thing a person who visits the page will see. For me personally, these two indicators play an important role to subscribe or not.

For example, this is how my profile looks like, SUBSCRIBE - https://www.instagram.com/blinovlife/. nine0003

A few short recommendations:

  1. 's profile photo is the live photo that is used on all my social networks. This makes it easier to find and remember me.
  2. Name and surname. It is better to write in Russian as it is, and not in transliteration. Transliteration, firstly, not everyone decides to make out what is written there, and secondly, they may read and remember incorrectly.
  3. Where are you from. Increases the loyalty of your countrymen. nine0072
  4. Who are you and what do you do? Let the person immediately understand what you do and on what issue you can be useful. To make it clear why to subscribe to you.
  5. Active link in profile . The only place on Instagram where you can put an active link. It can lead to your website or other social network. In my case, there is a link (https://iklife.ru/partnyorskie-programmy/zarabotok-na-partnyorkah-s-nulya), which leads an article about the online marathon in our Knowledge Base. nine0072

Almost all traffic from Instagram comes through this link in the profile. In posts, they usually just write a “call to action” - follow it. Because it makes no sense to insert links in posts, they are inactive there, and no one will follow them.

We will look at this stage in more detail in the article on designing and setting up an Instagram profile.

How to publish posts?

As they say: CONTENT IS KING!

Your posts are the main factor, that will hook a person, make a subscriber from a visitor, and a subscriber into a friend or client, and will keep him for many years.

A few recommendations for those who promote their personal page, create their own brand on Instagram. Who runs a business selling goods and online shopping, in principle, the same approach.

If you want to promote Instagram, gain live and active followers, then publish only your photos and thoughts. Sometimes, infrequently, you can dilute them with some pictures or infographics with something useful. nine0003

Instagram - is your photo album , only on the Internet and in the public domain. Make it so that you yourself would be pleased to enter it and look at your photos.

One of my favorite photos. For some reason, she wasn't on Instagram. P. S. Especially for the article “How to promote Instagram”

Photo published by Vasily Blinov (@blinovlife)

  1. Take great pictures. nine0052
    Beautiful pictures from the Internet, jokes, demotivators, food photos, etc. Nowadays, few people are interested. People want your photos! It's great when Instagram is in real time.
  2. Sign photos.
    Create useful and entertaining content. Write your stories, what do you think about, where are you, what do you do, give useful advice. Call for comments or likes.
  3. Post more often.
    But not too often, 1-2 photos per day will be enough. nine0072
  4. Reply to comments.
    When you publish a new post, try to immediately respond to comments. Active discussions get the most attention from other subscribers, and they start commenting too. Live communication with subscribers personally will create more trust in you. On Instagram, it is not very convenient to track comments when there is a lot of activity of subscribers. Therefore, the StarComment service helps me in controlling comments under all posts.

In order to competently maintain contact with the audience, you need a content plan or at least a simple plan for the interests of your target audience. In a separate article, we’ll talk about how to draw up such a plan (the link will be later).

How to attract new subscribers?

Now let's move on to methods that will allow you to notice you and interest living people.

Free actions:

  1. Broadcast live.
  2. Make stories. nine0052
  3. Put #HASHTAGS. By hashtags, your photos can be seen by other Instagram users. Here is an article on how to use hashtags correctly.
  4. Mark the places where the photo was taken. Geolocation tags can also be used by other users.
  5. Like. The person you like may want to know who liked their photo and they will go to your profile.
  6. Comment on other people's photos and popular groups. It is especially effective to comment on already promoted users. Their photos are seen and commented on by a large number of people. Get into discussions with them.
  7. Follow people. People usually look at who subscribed to them and subscribe mutually.
  8. Do mutual PR is when you exchange advertising posts with accounts similar to yours. You promote him, and he promotes you for it.
  9. Promote your Instagram account on their personal pages in other social networks and resources.
  10. Instagram promotion programs , where you can earn points by actions, and then buy likes, subscribers, comments for these points. This is not a very good way, as a non-target audience comes and mostly bots. Let's talk about the programs below.

I repeat once again that all these actions will allow you to promote Instagram for free. Do it yourself or hire a manager. nine0003

What are the paid promotion methods?

Of course, paid methods work best of all, such as:

1. Advertising on promoted personal pages and groups.

You publish your post for money with a link to your profile in thematic promoted groups or personal pages of people known in narrow circles. Who is interested, he subscribes to you.
Advertising on an Instagram profile can be given in other social networks and resources. nine0003

2. Contextual advertising.

Your promotional photo appears in the news feed and people follow you or follow your links and buy what you sell.

3. Paid software for Instagram promotion.

Those services and programs that imitate your activity. For example, they will automatically like photos for you according to certain parameters or do other actions. Now let's look at what are.

Instagram promotion programs

I used a lot of things, I managed to evaluate more than 20 popular programs and services on the Internet that work online. Here are the best ones.

Massliking, massfollowing and masslooking (view stories) :

  1. Instaplus. me
  2. Gram Tomato
  3. PlannerSMM

They are paid, but they are inexpensive compared to how much time they save.

Buying and doing different things:

  1. Bosslike
  2. Likemania
  3. 1gram

I will write 2 more articles on this topic:

  • How to get a lot of live subscribers?
  • How to get 500 likes in 10 minutes?

In them I will tell you in more detail about the work of auxiliary programs and sites for promoting.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I want to summarize everything written above about how to make your Instagram popular:

  • define your audience;
  • make your profile interesting and understandable;
  • create cool and useful content;
  • post it more often;
  • put #hashtags;
  • comment, like, subscribe;
  • advertise.

Get promoted, make your brand recognizable, earn money and live high. All success!

P.S. This is my experience in how to promote Instagram, if you have something to add or suggest how to do better, then feel free to write in the comments. nine0003

And also, if you liked this article, then share it with your friends on your social networks and subscribe to the blog news so as not to miss the release of the currently missing articles.

Subscribe to site news

If you want to be the first to be notified about the release of new articles, cases, reports on investments, earnings, creation of profitable projects on the Internet, then be sure to subscribe to the newsletter and social networks! nine0003

9 ways to promote your Instagram

1.

Patience is key

It takes a lot of time, work and diligence to build any kind of platform. Of course, you can look at the giants of the industry with a huge number of subscribers and think that success came to them in an instant. However, many of us forget that in order to achieve these results, they put in their best efforts and spent a lot of time.

YouTubers like PewDiePie, Casey Neistet and Lilly Sing have been in the industry since 2010, Jackfilms even since 2006. Twitch streamer Richard "Ninja" Blevins has been a professional gamer since 2011—seven years have passed. nine0003

Don't expect instant success.

2. Give value

Why do you follow people? Because they post photos you like - they give you value.

Photo: Unsplash

To attract any audience, you must create valuable content that will be interesting to others. Therefore, selfies are a poor option for attracting followers, due to the fact that the only people who are interested in such photos are yourself and your friends. nine0003

3. Main theme

One should stick to a certain niche. Take Chris Howe for example. He is a travel photographer, his niche is to take interesting photos in interesting places. Let's say a person stumbles upon one of his posts and goes to their profile to decide if it's worth following. When he sees his photos in the "grid", he notices one constant theme - high-quality travel photos. Now that a person knows what this photographer is doing, he can decide whether to subscribe to him. He knows what to expect. nine0003

Do not think that this limits the flight of imagination and creativity. Just remember that social media should be treated like a business.

Photo: Unsplash

There's nothing wrong with using Instagram and other social media just for fun, if that's what you want to do. If you want to post 25 selfies a day and 7 videos of your dog, please. But if you're going to do this for business, you need to act accordingly. nine0003

You can be creative and creative by simply uploading content relevant to your niche.

4. Hashtags

Every article, every video discusses the same question: how many hashtags under a post are effective? 7? eleven? thirty? Personally, I adhere to the rule that under each of my photos there should be 30 hashtags - the maximum number that Instagram allows.

Think of it like this: every hashtag is a digital market, in every market users are looking for different content, and you want to maximize the number of people who see your photo. If you have the opportunity to place content in 30 different markets, you will take advantage of it, right? nine0003

So how do you find relevant hashtags? First, it's best to start with the biggest ones. If you took a photo with a Canon camera, you can use the #canonphotography hashtag, which will show you 8.5 million posts. Through big hashtags, you can find smaller, narrower ones.

Photo: Medium

Click on all nine top posts, and select the best hashtags below them - go through them, evaluate their quality, number of posts and activity. If you see for a particular hashtag that the last posts were posted one or two weeks ago, don't include it. nine0003

Personally, I use hashtags that contain up to one million posts, because the larger the hashtag, the higher the chances that your photo will be lost somewhere.

Photo: Medium

Clicking on the second picture, I saw the hashtag #canonlover (96k posts), high quality photos and the right number of shots, so I'll take that as well. Now I have two hashtags, 28 left. Repeat these steps one more time.

Photo: Medium

It's also important to remember that your post will appear alongside all the others, so ask yourself: do you want your content to be next to these images? Do they reflect what you are aiming for? nine0003

I would suggest limiting the number of large hashtags (more than one million posts) to two or three per photo. Focus mainly on average hashtags - from 3,000 to 800,000 posts. You can choose smaller ones if you like. Also, I think it's helpful to create your own hashtags as well.

5. Hierarchy of hashtags

Now I will talk about what I do. It doesn't have any practical purpose, just aesthetics: I place hashtags in alphabetical order, and my own hashtag comes before all the others because it's not just content, it's my content. nine0003

When people click on a photo, first they see the caption, after they click on "more" there are 15 dots leading down and then hashtags. I don't want to litter the photo caption with a lot of blue words.

6. Diversity

If you're growing Instagram or any other social platform, you have to do something else to reach a wider audience. Start writing articles, make YouTube videos, tweet, facebook; do something. Your work doesn't have to exist in a vacuum. For example, I am currently writing an article on Medium and I hope that it will attract a new audience to my Instagram account. nine0003

Photo: @brandonwoelfel

It's very easy to sit still, upload content to the platform effortlessly, and wait for everything to magically come. The situation will only change when you take control of the platform.

Start thinking like an entrepreneur: don't look for an opportunity, create an opportunity.

7. Grid

What is it? This is how all the photos in your account look as a whole. It may seem like something unimportant, but in fact it is one of the most significant aspects of Instagram. Remember: Instagram is a visual platform, your photos not only need to look good on their own, they need to look good together. nine0003

Let's look at some examples of good accounts:

  • Simone Girtz
  • Peter McKinnon
  • Amelia Zelenak
  • Jessica Kobeissi
  • Chris Howe
  • Bodil Jane
  • Chris Schnuwer

All these people create different content. The only thing they have in common is that their work looks good both separately and together.

Some Instagrammers, like Vigo Kramins, create the grid in a very unusual way. Its content is focused on one topic and its catalog looks almost identical. It all depends on what you are striving for. After all, why should anyone look at something (on a visual platform) if it's ugly? nine0003

Photo: Unsplash

8. Multiple accounts

Instagram has a standard feature that allows users to switch accounts quickly and easily. Perhaps you are a creative person in many aspects of life and can regularly produce good content from several sources at once. If you can do it, go ahead.

However, if you are new to Instagram, it is best to learn the platform first before creating additional accounts, otherwise you will waste a lot of time and get very worried. Especially if the profiles do not grow. nine0003

9. Dating

Don't be fooled by the romantic idea that one person just worked hard while others doubted him, and suddenly success came to him. It is not true.

The point is that everyone who is successful is either very good at networking or has been introduced to key people. And, of course, a pinch of luck didn't hurt.

Networking in business means getting to know the right people, making a good impression on them in the hope that you can convince them to invest in your idea. nine0003

Photo: Unsplash

Learn how to be a good salesperson - luckily we have the internet and it's easy to do.

How does all this relate to Instagram?

You have to think about how to make friends on Instagram. This can be done via direct. Before you start writing to someone, I would suggest that you upload at least ten photos to showcase your skills and niche. Otherwise, you will simply be ignored, because no one wants to interact with an account that does not have any photos and is a few months old. nine0003

Post something every day. Use relevant hashtags. Follow people who motivate you. Account not growing? Take a look at your content and see if it brings value to people. If not, change it.

@petermckinnon Instagram feed

Another option is to use branded hashtags and tags. First, what's the difference? Hashtags are pure categorization. You put a hashtag like #canonphotography under the post and the photo will show up in the "recent" hashtag section. If people like it, it will get to the top. nine0003

Brand hashtags like #beautyoftechnology allow brands to view the photos below them and see your work. Once you get sponsored, you will very often do this for every brand you partner with. The more you do this, the more you will earn.

Photo: Medium

Tags are a whole other level when you tag someone in your post. There are no restrictions on the number of tags on Instagram. When you tag a person or brand in a photo, their account gets a notification.

Learn more