Instagram is usually a extremely targetable, visible advertising and marketing channel on your model and a chance to construct a loyal viewers that grows with your small business.
In truth, over 500 million Instagram customers browse the app day by day, making it residence to among the most engaged audiences round.
On this information, we’ll present you methods to develop your Instagram follower profile and improve engagement, whereas rising an enormous following over time—one which’s stuffed with actual followers, not bots or pretend followers.
17 methods to get extra Instagram followers
Incorporate Reels into your content material combine
Cross promote content material
Curate your profile grid
Work with model ambassadors
Get follows out of your loyalty program
Market via your private Instagram account
Get on function accounts
Use the fitting hashtags
Submit on the proper instances
Steal your opponents’ followers
Pay for sponsored posts and product evaluations
Use geotags to spice up native discovery
Arrange your Tales in highlights
Ask for extra followers
Run a giveaway
Share user-generated content material
Use Instagram stay
Let’s dive deeper into methods to implement every tactic to get extra Instagram followers.
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Incorporate Reels into your content material combine
Reels are enjoyable movies you’ll be able to share with followers in your Instagram account. They’ve audio, results, and artistic instruments. You may share them in your feed and publicly in Discover to achieve new audiences.
Reels are new territory for manufacturers. Instagram’s magnificence partnerships supervisor, Kristie Sprint, acknowledged in a Shiny discussion board that Reels are nonetheless a comparatively new option to publish content material, and there isn’t one system for achievement. However, she does recommend the next tricks to achieve traction:
Preserve content material distinctive and development drive. Establish traits on Instagram and TikTok and put your individual spin on it. This will increase the prospect your Reels will go viral and get in entrance of latest individuals.
Make content material relatable and easy. Not each Reel must be a manufacturing. Decrease high quality movies can carry out the identical, if not higher, than extremely produced Reels.
Educate your viewers. Discover the stability between training and leisure in your Reels.
Reels must be an enormous precedence for you proper now. It’s prime actual property on your model to be found by new followers.
Kristen Sprint, Magnificence Partnerships Supervisor, Instagram
Social media advertising and marketing company proprietor Trilce Jirón Garro, of TBS Advertising and marketing, agrees. “Don’t promote your merchandise via Reels content material. Share details. Present ideas concerning the trade you’re in. Entertain viewers,” she says.
Trilce means that each new and present manufacturers incorporate entertaining Reels into their Instagram technique. “Reels give anybody the chance to achieve new goal audiences. There’s no studying curve as a result of Reels content material is lo-fi. And creators can produce community-driven content material that builds belief, positive factors followers, and makes gross sales over time.”
Trilce additionally loves the Instagram Insights Software launched for Reels. “Reels have grow to be an built-in a part of any Instagram advertising and marketing technique. Analytics instruments for Reels has made it straightforward to trace metrics and analyze knowledge to see in case your Reels are working. Now, you’ll be able to perceive precisely what your viewers likes and dislikes, when to publish Reels, and what calls to motion resonate with viewers.”
Utilizing Reels Insights, you’ll be able to see patterns and perceive completely different spikes in engagement that have an effect on your visibility on the platform. That approach, you’ll be able to create higher-quality content material that will get much more engagement and followers.
Need assistance making a Reels technique? Learn Why and How one can Use Instagram Reels to Market Your Shopify Retailer to be taught extra.
Cross promote content material
Cross-promoting entails posting related content material throughout varied social media channels. It’s a tactic used to save lots of time and sources. It’s additionally efficient at rising model consciousness and rising an viewers on Instagram.
Cell customers are spending an rising period of time with video and leisure apps, with video content material on social media platforms accounting for the largest improve. Whether or not it’s a short-form video or prolonged tutorial, you need to enhance the attain of your Instagram content material.
Justin Bieber’s vacation dance problem is a superb instance of profitable cross-posting. In the course of the 2020 vacation season, the Canadian singer posted the identical dance problem on each TikTok and Instagram. On TikTok, his video quick obtained 9.8 million likes. The identical content material on Instagram obtained 4.8 million likes. He was capable of get in entrance of extra individuals simply by posting the identical video on two completely different platforms.
cross-promoting on instagram
Nadya Okamoto, founding father of way of life interval model August, has discovered that TikTok naturally cross-pollinates to Instagram and YouTube. She says in an interview with Fashionable Retail, “As we’ve grown on TikTok from August, we’ve additionally grown to 175,000 followers on Instagram.” Actively posting on a number of platforms has “affected our general price of acquisitions to be tremendous efficient,” permitting the model to steer away from paid media as a primary acquisition channel.
TikTok isn’t the one channel you’ll be able to cross-post on. The Instagram Reels format interprets nicely to YouTube Shorts and Pinterest Tales. It’s essential to notice that Instagram’s algorithm received’t promote Reels which have a TikTok watermark. So in case you’re going to cross-post content material from Instagram to different channels, make sure the content material is top of the range and doesn’t promote a competing platform via watermarks.
Curate your profile grid
Most of your followers received’t comply with you for what you posted prior to now however for the promise of what you’ll publish sooner or later. Your viewers needs to know what they’re going to get in the event that they hit that Comply with button.
Having a feed with a constant theme and a constant posting schedule can have simply as a lot of an impression in rising a following as most of the different development methods we’ve coated above. Even a easy sample can entice new followers, so long as it’s communicated at first look to anybody who lands in your profile.
Take into account your Instagram bio and your final 9 posts as your first impression on Instagram. Do they successfully talk a point of consistency via persona, filters, colours, or structure? Does the clickable hyperlink ship individuals to the identical homepage each week? Or are you linking out to enjoyable and thrilling content material too?
The structure of your grid is an typically underestimated option to get artistic with the aesthetic of your feed whereas including a rhythm to your publishing technique and consistency that’s price following.
In truth, many accounts that undertake this strategy are sometimes capable of spend much less effort on creating content material by specializing in changing guests into followers, producing textual content graphics or different content material with a sooner turnaround, and streamlining the general manufacturing of their Instagram content material.
You need to use a software like Later to simply plan out and schedule the look and structure of your feed. Letterfolk is only one instance of how far some manufacturers go together with the aesthetic of their Instagram structure.
letterfolk grid
Your feed serves because the billboard on your model. It’s a buyer’s first touchpoint with you and captures the essence of your model.
Trilce Jiron, TBS Advertising and marketing
Work with model ambassadors
Don’t need to pay the movie star influencer huge bucks to market your model? Works with model ambassadors who’ve anyplace from a pair hundred to a couple thousand followers. Ambassadors are individuals who genuinely assist and consider in your model and can inform their pals about it.
Luxurious shoe retailer Sarah Flint stories seeing success with its model ambassador program, which has over 500 girls. Every ambassador has their very own distinctive low cost code, which provides them a free pair of Sarah Flint sneakers after 5 new prospects use it.
Ambassadors like Holly Hollon attest to the standard and luxury of the model’s sneakers. Her posts are genuine and relatable to common Sarah Flint consumers. This helps the model develop its Instagram following and earn gross sales.
Holly Hollon IG influencer
Get follows out of your loyalty program
Retailers are more and more launching loyalty applications, repeatedly encouraging shoppers to buy with their model over one other. It’s labored for manufacturers like Sephora and Blume. A method manufacturers are capitalizing on loyalty applications is by rewarding those that comply with them on Instagram.
When luxurious retailer Rebecca Minkoff launched its rewards program, RM Rewards, it gave consumers the choice to earn factors by following the model’s Instagram account. Manufacturers like Blume are additionally discovering the worth in rewarding Instagram followers. Program members can earn Blume Bucks for changing into a good friend on Instagram versus Fb or Twitter.
Blume rewards program instance
Market via your private Instagram account
One other widespread option to improve your Instagram following is rising your private account—principally, make your self the influencer. Harnessing each the corporate account and your private account can improve model recognition, follower counts, and gross sales. Professional tip: You may also run this playbook on TikTok to enhance your numbers.
It’s a tactic that works nicely for style label ANINE BING. Along with the model’s Instagram profile, the corporate’s founder additionally drives engagement and consciousness via her private Instagram web page, which has over a million followers.
Anine Bing instagram profile
Anine invitations followers into her design studio, takes them via the design course of, and even will get suggestions from followers all through the artistic course of. Anine additionally shares a bit about her private life and milestones, giving followers a peak behind the curtains of their favourite designer’s life.
Get on function accounts
Instagram function accounts are pages that curate the very best content material in a particular area of interest. They’re just like the “better of” picture journals for an trade. Some function accounts have an enormous following. Should you get placement on the account, it could possibly ship new Instagram followers to your profile.
There are function accounts for each area of interest: journey, style, pictures, and extra. For instance, @discoverearth curates adventurous journey content material from around the globe for over 6.1 million followers.
Uncover Earth function web page
Use the fitting hashtags
Your objective on Instagram is to interact your present viewers frequently whereas additionally rising your variety of actual followers. Posting new, fascinating, and interesting pictures will fulfill the primary requirement, however to start rising you’ll discover hashtagging your pictures extraordinarily essential. Hashtagging makes it straightforward for individuals looking for particular phrases to search out your pictures.
So which hashtags must you use? Similar to with Twitter and different social websites, customers on Instagram select sure hashtags over others. Should you use widespread Instagram hashtags inside your pictures, you’re more likely to achieve new customers and be found.
On the time of this writing, these had been the highest 20 hashtags on Instagram:
#love
#instagood
#photooftheday
#style
#stunning
#completely satisfied
#cute
#like4like
#tbt
#followme
#picoftheday
#comply with
#me
#artwork
#selfie
#summer season
#instadaily
#repost
#pals
#nature
Should you checked out this checklist and mentioned, “However none of these apply to my merchandise or model,” you’re doubtless appropriate.
Utilizing hashtags is one factor; utilizing the fitting tags is totally completely different.
In style tags like those listed above will doubtless web you further engagement and likes. Nevertheless, they received’t result in elevated long-term engagement, new followers, or, most significantly, gross sales.
If you wish to tag your pictures correctly, you’ll want to search out and use essentially the most related hashtags. This implies doing the suitable analysis to be sure you’re utilizing hashtags that not solely describe your model however which can be additionally being looked for on Instagram.
To search out related hashtags, you’ll need to use a free on-line software like IconoSquare or Webstagram to start out.
Beneath, I used Webstagram to search out related, associated, and widespread hashtags for my males’s accent enterprise by looking for key hashtags carefully associated to my model.
For instance, looking the hashtag #MensFashion, I used to be capable of pull the next checklist of further key phrase hashtags together with the variety of instances they’ve been used (i.e., their recognition).
hashtag examples
You may also discover extra associated hashtags and their recognition in case you seek for any of your goal key phrases instantly within the Instagram app.
You’ll need to undergo this train making an attempt completely different key phrases that describe your model and merchandise, constructing out your hashtag key phrase checklist as you go.
Remember that Instagram permits for a most of 30 hashtags per publish. Moreover, the favored phrases will change over time, so be sure you revisit your hashtag key phrases each few months so that you’re utilizing the very best phrases.
You may also steal hashtag concepts from opponents or related accounts which have the form of following you aspire to, however in the end, you need to create your individual teams of hashtags that relate to your particular account.
Professional tip #1: Right here’s a trick I take advantage of for my ecommerce companies. For each product and product class in my shops, I’ve researched the most well-liked associated Instagram hashtags. I got here up with 15 to twenty widespread hashtags for every class of merchandise I promote, in addition to a base of 5 to 10 widespread tags that describe my model and product providing. Lastly, I additionally created a listing of widespread native particular hashtags that relate to my model.
For instance:
Model key phrase hashtags
#mybrandname #mensfashion #mensaccessories #mensgoods #style #mensstyle #instafashion #menswear
Product class key phrase hashtags
#bugatchisocks #happysocks #corgisocks #socks #sockswag #socksoftheday #sockgame #sockswagg #socksofinstagram #happysockday #sockwars #funsocks #happysockday
Location-specific key phrase hashtags
#Toronto #TorontoFashion #TorontoFashionBloggers
All of those teams of key phrase hashtags are saved in a web page on Evernote. This makes it straightforward and environment friendly once I’m on the go to publish a brand new Instagram picture optimized for essentially the most related key phrases.
You may simply open my Evernote and replica my commonplace brand-, product-, and location-specific hashtags to publish with every picture. Some Instagram scheduling instruments additionally allow you to save caption templates for storing your hashtag teams.
Doing the work of researching, organizing, and saving essentially the most relevant and widespread hashtags upfront will prevent a ton of time down the highway, improve your engagement, and assist garner new followers.
Professional tip #2: Should you’ve been posting to Instagram for some time and really feel you’ve missed out on all these alternatives to construct your viewers utilizing key phrase hashtags, fret not. You may nonetheless return and publish a remark along with your new hashtag key phrase lists and watch the likes and followers roll in.
Utilizing hashtags in Instagram tales
Hashtagging on Instagram posts is a given, however you also needs to be utilizing hashtags in your Tales for the prospect to be seen by customers who comply with that particular hashtag.
You need to use hashtag stickers (which will be discovered within the Instagram Stickers menu when making a Story) or simply hashtag instantly in your captions for an opportunity to be featured in a hashtag story.
Now that customers can comply with hashtags, your Tales on Instagram have an opportunity to be seen by each people who find themselves following that hashtag and anybody who’s simply checking it out.
Submit on the proper instances
Past including the suitable hashtags and utilizing the very best filters to get extra Instagram followers, you also needs to contemplate the timing of your posts.
A focused strategy entails analyzing what has and has not labored for you prior to now. By visiting IconoSquare’s optimization part, you will get an in depth evaluation of your posting historical past versus engagement. This report may also spotlight the very best instances of the day and days of the week to publish.
The darkish circles point out if you normally publish media. The sunshine grey circles present when your neighborhood has been interacting. The largest mild grey circles signify the very best instances so that you can publish.
You may also get numerous nice perception without spending a dime from Instagram analytics for enterprise accounts, discovered beneath the Followers part.
It’s possible you’ll need to think about using a social media scheduling software to robotically publish your posts when your viewers is essentially the most engaged.
Steal your opponents’ followers
Among the finest methods to search out and entice a brand new following is by looking for out your closest opponents’ Instagram accounts and interesting with their audiences. These individuals have already proven some stage of curiosity within the merchandise you carry just by following your opponents.
So how do you successfully steal your opponents’ followers? By partaking with them. There are a number of methods to interact with Instagram customers, and the extra work you place in, the extra followers and repeat engagement you’ll get out of it.
The three forms of engagement on Instagram are:
Comply with a consumer
Like a photograph
Touch upon a photograph
Don’t be afraid to make use of an emoji or two so as to add some persona to your textual content.
Pay for sponsored posts and product evaluations
All this optimized posting to your account is nice, however in case you actually need to improve Instagram followers, you should reap the benefits of influencer advertising and marketing and expose your model to a wider viewers.
So, how do you try this? First, in contrast to the ways to develop Instagram followers talked about above, this one normally isn’t free. Nevertheless, if carried out accurately, it’s of fine worth.
To get began, you’ll must make a listing of huge accounts in your area of interest. For instance, in case you promote magnificence merchandise, you’ll need to discover massive accounts from magnificence bloggers.
It’s possible you’ll already be following these accounts, but when not, you’ll want to search out them. Among the finest methods is to make use of Webstagram (talked about earlier) and seek for among the closest hashtag key phrases you uncovered to start with of this publish. While you do a seek for your key phrases, not solely will it present you the associated key phrases, it should additionally present you the highest Instagram accounts that function these key phrases.
There are a few issues to search for within the profiles outcomes:
A big following—normally 20,000 to 200,000
An e-mail tackle within the profile
If there may be an e-mail tackle within the profile, it normally means the account is open to sponsored posts or a shoutout in a sponsored Story.
You’ll need to e-mail and ask their sponsored publish pricing. Generally, I’ve discovered the typical fee to be round $20 to $50 per publish, relying on the scale of the next.
Nevertheless, in case you’re promoting a novel and authentic product, you may additionally need to contemplate sending your product for the influencer to evaluate and publish. Often, the extra pure and fewer advertisement-like the picture, the higher the engagement and response.
You don’t essentially want influencers with an enormous following to get extra followers on Instagram, however relatively ones with a excessive engagement fee (likes and feedback relative to follower rely), which many influencer marketplaces can present.
Use geotags to spice up native discovery
Moreover hashtags, you may also make your Instagram posts and Tales discoverable by tagging your location—both town you’re in or the venue the place the picture or video was taken.
Areas not solely have their very own Instagram feed but in addition their very own Story, and hashtags that you would be able to contribute to if you use the placement sticker in your individual Tales.
Native companies can get essentially the most worth out of location tags by posting usually to those feeds and in addition partaking with posts from potential prospects who’re bodily within the neighborhood.
Arrange your Tales into Highlights
At any time when a possible follower lands on your small business profile, you will have a brief span of time to persuade them to comply with you.
A method to do that is by utilizing the Highlights function in your profile to arrange your Instagram Tales in a approach that communicates what your account is about.
Since Tales have a 24-hour lifespan, Highlights can be utilized to provide them a second life and entice others to comply with you so that they don’t miss out on extra Tales sooner or later.
Use Story Highlights to develop Instagram followers by:
Creating trailers that tease what your account is about
Organizing your Tales into themes (like nations you’ve visited, for journey accounts)
Explaining your merchandise via footage and movies
Ask for extra followers
It sounds apparent, however it deserves to be mentioned: Don’t be afraid to often ask your viewers to comply with you.
The identical approach YouTubers ask their viewers to comply with them on the finish of their movies, you may also ask viewers to comply with you for extra content material.
Typically individuals would possibly actually get pleasure from what you place out on Instagram however want a nudge earlier than they really comply with you.
You may also do that in your Instagram captions, work it into your content material by pitching what your viewers will get in the event that they comply with you or by hinting at content material that’s arising that they received’t need to miss.
Run a giveaway
Among the finest sorts of feedback you will get on any social media publish, not simply Instagram, is when one consumer tags a good friend. Not solely do these feedback contribute to your publish’s engagement, which in flip makes it favorable to the Instagram algorithm, however every tag brings you a brand new viewers member who arrived via a suggestion and who you might probably win over as a follower.
One option to encourage this habits is by posting relatable content material that begs for 1:1 sharing (e.g., a gymnasium meme that asks you to tag a good friend who skips leg day). However a extra dependable approach is by operating a giveaway that encourages your viewers to tag a good friend and comply with your account.
Comply with Instagram’s promotion tips and any authorized necessities for operating an Instagram contest that applies in your nation of operation.
For inspiration, right here’s an instance of a profitable product giveaway from Philip Kingsley that incentivizes individuals to comply with its account and tag a good friend for the prospect to win a group.
Free Studying Listing: Social Media Advertising and marketing Ways
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Share user-generated content material
Consumer-generated content material (UGC) is any sort of content material—comparable to movies, pictures, evaluations, audio, and extra—that you simply curate from followers or followers. It’s a vital software in your advertising and marketing arsenal for gaining followers on Instagram. UGC helps humanize your model by that includes actual individuals, with actual tales, that present your product in actual life and builds a extra trusting relationship with potential prospects.
Not solely does your viewers love their quarter-hour of fame in your Instagram feed, that includes them additionally helps drive extra gross sales in your on-line retailer. Based on analysis from Olapic, shoppers as we speak are 56% extra doubtless to purchase one thing after seeing a photograph of the product shared by prospects.
Take Vogue Nova, for instance. The net retailer’s Instagram account depends closely on user-generated content material.
Vogue Nova’s user-generated content material provides it entry to hundreds of images from individuals all around the world to share with its viewers—footage that each showcase the model’s values and encourage followers to interact with its posts and purchase the garments actual individuals are carrying.
In the case of creating user-generated content material on your on-line retailer, begin by asking prospects to share their favourite experiences and pictures along with your merchandise by:
Making a branded hashtag feed the place prospects can publish photos
Including a name to motion in your Instagram bio
Operating a contest
Reaching out to influencers
Including an “ask” for user-generated content material in your packaging
Bear in mind, the objective of UGC is to point out an genuine view of your merchandise. If some prospects ship you lower-quality pictures that also spotlight your merchandise’ greatest options, don’t be afraid to make use of them.
Use Instagram Stay
Stay video is the important thing to operating a profitable advertising and marketing technique on any social media platform. With Instagram, you should utilize Instagram Stay to stream movies to your followers and have interaction with them in real-time.
When your model begins a stay video stream, a hoop encases your profile image in Instagram Tales to inform followers they’ll test it out. Followers additionally obtain a notification if you begin a stay video. When you end your livestream, you’ll be able to add it to your Story for twenty-four hours.
Do not forget that Instagram Stay is interactive. Your followers will in all probability remark when you’re stay, so attempt to acknowledge their feedback and discover methods to get them to take part.