Get More Instagram Followers
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While Instagram is a popular platform among those who want to build their audience, doing so is not easy.
Because it has over 1 billion monthly users, getting your audience’s attention can be challenging. After all, Instagram uses its smart algorithm to ensure that users see content that matters to them.
Nonetheless, we can help you discover ways to boost follower acquisition on IG.
In this post, we will walk you through the tips on how you can make your business stand out, show off your brand, and gain more followers on the platform:
Polish your account
Before you can set out to acquire your followers on Instagram, one of the most important things you need to do is optimize your account.
What will you put in your Instagram bio, as it serves as somewhat a homepage for your account?
Without essential things like a bio, image captions, user name, and profile image, how will people know your account relates to your brand?
Although this might come off a bit obvious, your bio will drive Instagram traffic to your site. Therefore, optimizing it is crucial.
If you’re not quite sure how to link, you can use marketing and product pages related to particular campaigns, hashtags, or keywords.
Linking to your homepage is alright. But ideally, you want to provide users with a cohesive experience when moving from your IG bio to your site.
You might want to use IG Link Landing Pages, which hosts relevant links to pieces of content mentioned in your feed. But the prevalent tactic is to use “link in bio” posts, which help direct users to these links.
Moreover, you may also opt to keep your username as user-friendly as possible. By that, we mean sticking to your actual brand name.
Don’t add special characters or numbers. You might also want to keep it in line with the social media handles you already have previously.
Post regularly
It would be best if you were consistent with your posting schedule. As part of Instagram’s algorithm, the platform rewards users who are consistent with their posts.
Now, the question is, how often do you post? Well, post at least once a day, six times a week, if you have limited resources.
But ideally, you should try to post at least two times a day. The more you post, the higher will be the engagement of your posts.
Know the right time to post
At VoyMedia Marketing Agency NYC, we always tell our clients that the worse thing you can do is post content during random, off-peak times. After all, you don’t want users to forget why they’ve followed your account in the first place.
To avoid this from happening, know when to post and try to have a consistent posting schedule.
Know the peak time your followers are most active, as this usually depends on the location and the niche you’re in. Also, stick to a schedule.
Doing so will build a more consistent experience for your followers while keeping them in the loop on your brand’s happening.
Use a creative hashtag
Creating a dedicated and custom hashtag for your brand allows you to create a collection of your best content. If a prospective follower comes across this hashtag, they’ll likely follow you after they’ll see your top posts.
For each of your marketing campaigns, you might also want to come up with a branded hashtag. Usually, this is a much better option because it’s less sales-y than using something more specific as your company name.
Also, some of your followers will use these campaign hashtags, which will, in turn, catch the attention of their connections.
If they have the same interest as you, then they’ll likely follow you.
Tag your location
Apart from using hashtags, you can make your feed more discoverable to prospective followers by tagging your location. It could be tagging a city you’re in or the venue where the photo or video was taken.
Also, keep in mind that locations have their own IG feed and their Stories as well. So, you might want to consider adding location stickers in your Stories.
Many businesses can get the most out of location tags by using them regularly when posting on their feeds. It will also help engage prospective customers who are just near the vicinity.
Repost other’s content
Suppose you are starting with your Instagram marketing strategy, and you want to build a steady Instagram following. You might consider reposting other people’s content as part of your content strategy.
Just make sure that you credit the original owner of the photo or video in the descriptions when you do this. It’s also one way to gain a strong following without your account getting flagged.
So, why do you need to consider reposting other people’s content instead of creating your own? Well, for one, it’s easier to repost other people’s content.
If you don’t have massive followers yet, and you’re new to IG marketing, this is a high-impact strategy that will help you grow your following.
Use longer captions
Captions are valuable on Instagram. So, as much as you can, plan your captions as you would with your content.
Use words that can easily capture your readers’ attention and think carefully about what you want to post.
Some people will like visuals are graphics. Yet, some will enjoy reading as well.
It would be ideal to craft compelling visual content supported by high conversation and engaging texts that are memorable and informative.
Ask your followers questions. Engage with them. That way, they’ll feel that your account is about them and not just about you as a brand.
Come up with quality content
As we have mentioned in the previous points, crafting your content can be incredibly time-consuming. It needs a lot of research, writing, and scheduling on your part.
At the same time, it should be visually stimulating and has engaging captions. Doing so allows you to send more traffic to your site and generate sales.
The majority of your content should be informative enough to appeal to your audience and existing customers.
So, plan your content calendar, and use scheduling tools. What matters most is how you align your content with your current strategy.
Ideally, engaging content is something that:
- It has facts and statistics to support your point.
- How-tos and tips
- If you could not find written quotes, you might write one yourself or work with a writer.
- Educational videos and GIFs
You might also want to consider repurposing your old content. It can be guides, blog posts, white papers, and videos that you can turn into an Instagram post.
Collaborate with others
Know your audience’s value.
You’ll have more buyers or interested prospects if you have a bigger follower count.
One of the best ways for people to follow you is to be always present or in front of them. You might want to sponsor user-generated content to try to get in front of your followers’ feeds.
At the same time, you might also want to sponsor contests so that you’ll get your brand in front of a larger following. Running these types of campaigns enhances social proof.
It also shows your followers that you’re invested enough to repost their content, so they’ll be invested enough in making their own UGC.
You might also want to consider working with larger Instagram accounts in your industry. A great way to do that is to partner with known influencers in your niche and share your content with their audience.
Just make sure that you’re offering them something of value and not come across as too promotional.
Collaborate with others and develop a marketing plan with other businesses to grow your current following.
Clean your tagged photos
If you want the best user-generated content about you or your brand, then you absolutely can.
Although you can’t get rid of all your tagged photos on the platform, there is still a workaround available. You can click “Edit Tags” and choose the ones you want to get rid of by clicking “Hide from Profile.” Doing this does the trick.
Approve photo tags
To also give you better control of the tagged photos you want to display on your profile, go to Instagram settings to show up unless you approve them.
You’ll find this under “Options.” All you need to do is click “Photos of You” and then hit “Add Manually.”
10. Encourage social proof
You’ll also increase your following on Instagram by publishing customer photos on your feed. How so? This will be a form of social proof.
To encourage your customers to share about your brand, reach out to them, and offer an incentive for taking every quality image of your products.
While offering incentives won’t be a long-term strategy, you can use it to build your brand and grow your following when we speak about the short term.
Eventually, as more people see your products and photos on Instagram, many people will follow you and tag you in a post of their own.
That’s a great way to get the word-of-mouth strategy.
Follow people who like your competitors’ pages
To get that Instagram followers boost, you need to find people who follow your competitors.
Now, who do you think are your biggest competitors on Instagram? Jot them down.
Then, browse over and see who is commenting on their posts.
Then, follow these people and engage with them. Now, when picking your competitors on Instagram, you might want to go with smaller brands.
For instance, you’re selling makeup brushes. This means you might want to engage with people who follow a big brand like Sephora. That’s because t is likely that they are your target audience.
It’s because more massive, more established brands have already won the loyalty of their customers.
So, ideally, go with a much smaller competitor. When you comment on the posts you follow, you don’t want to scare them off with your sales pitch. Also, don’t use the same comment for every person that you message. Try to switch it up a bit.
Over time, as you keep on engaging and following people interested in your niche, you’ll eventually amass a strong following in the long run.
Post more videos
Videos are the future of Instagram. And more and more brands are now creating long-form video content for IGTV. This is to engage more people with their content and drive in real business results.
Instagram Stories
According to TechCrunch, Instagram Stories have now gone past the 500 million daily user mark.
So, craft a strong strategy for your IG Stories to make you visible and on top of your followers’ minds.
Highlights
Because Stories only have a 24-hour lifespan, you can also plan your highlights showcasing your best info on top of your profile.
Your highlights will entice other people to follow you so that they won’t miss out on your Stories in the future.
IGTV
IGTV is one way to immerse your followers and prospective followers to engage with your page. You can easily align your Instagram Audience with the content of your IGTV.
Hold Instagram contests
Finally, you can hold IG contests to keep your followers happy. At the same time, you can use that opportunity to get your brand in front of a much larger audience.
By holding these campaigns, you can quickly get your brand in front of a much larger audience.
It builds social proof because you’re encouraging your fans to be invested in your brand. And it shows when they repost your content and even come up with their user-generated content.
Over to You
Driving in more followers and enhancing engagement on Instagram requires a lot of time, money, and effort on your part.
But keep in mind that success does not happen overnight. Nonetheless, adopting a solid Instagram marketing strategy and working with a reputable social media management company will ensure that your efforts will pay off. Good luck!
