Instagram is the most popular photo sharing app that is extensively used by people and businesses all over the world. And there is no sign, that this trend will stop anytime soon.
Let’s take the example of the 2 months old rumor spread through Instagram that features a diamond ring on Hailey Baldwin’s finger while she is on vacation in the Bahamas. According to her Instagram fans, this is proof of her secret engagement to Bieber. That’s the power of social media; it is far-reaching and can spread information like wildfire.
For businesses, this influence can be optimized for greater profit margins. Isn’t that what most businesses are after? If you want to take advantage of this too, you can optimize your Instagram followers to ensure ample profitability. But how would you go about growing your followers on Instagram?
Here’s How!
These tips do not specifically cater to the need of businesses. These are intended for use by the general audience – businesses and individuals alike. Hence, even if you are a food or lifestyle blogger, these tips will come in handy.
Tip #1: Link Your Instagram Account
This is probably the easiest way to increase your Instagram followers. If you have other social media accounts such as Facebook and Twitter, you must have a following on those platforms. All you need to do is direct those followers to your Instagram account by inserting a link to it.
You may dedicate a separate post on other social media, requesting all your followers to follow you on Instagram. For all future posts, make sure each Instagram post is shared across all other social media accounts as well.
Tip #2: User-Generated Content
User-generated content (UGC) has gained popularity nowadays and is quite useful when it comes to engaging other users. You can post UGC from other accounts onto your account, which ultimately brings followers from related accounts to your page. This will encourage those followers to repost your content and reach a much wider audience.
The more reposts your UGC gets, the more followers you can expect on your Instagram page. This is an organic method for increasing page followers on Instagram and requires only minimal effort.
Tip #3: Follow a Theme
Consistency in content is essential on social media, especially Instagram. When a user lands on your business Instagram page, they can view all your posts in a grid view, which makes the first impression. If you were to visit an account that lacked theme, style, and consistency which are all evident from that quick grid view, you wouldn’t bother staying on it for too long.
An inconsistent, theme-less and mundane Instagram page is your worst nightmare, and if you don’t like it, don’t put it out there for your audience. It’s a major put-off!
Have a context for all posts and keep the visual appeal going. Instagram offers you a plethora of filters, frames, and compositions to make your boring photos more fun and exciting. Use them to get more followers to your Instagram page.
Tip #4: Use Instagram Ads
Instagram ads have been put in place to aid you in making yourself and your business more visible. Through Instagram ads, your business account will appear in the feeds of your existing and potential customers, thereby encouraging more followers to your page. These precise ads may be used to target audience through specific posts and relevant content, which might have them clicking on ‘Follow.’
Use Instagram ads to ensure you reach your target audience, and you have more followers in exchange.
Tip #5: Use Geotagging
Geotagging refers to posting a photo on Instagram with the location tagged in it. For instance, if you have visited a new eatery, you can post a picture and tag its location. This will enable other people to view your photo if they have also used the same geotag. It works like hashtags and brings like-minded people together.
Plus, with geotags, you can suggest eateries and other fun places to all your followers. If they loved the place, they might end up sharing a review on your post, thereby inviting similar views, likes and comments. You can eventually lure more followers onto your Instagram profile. Who knew a simple tag could give you a follower boost or two!
Tip #6: Use Insta Stories
Instagram stories are one of the most engaging ways you can grow your follower list. People on Instagram love a sneak peek into others’ life, behind the scenes or an up close and personal exposure into others’ lives. This is all possible with the help of Insta stories.
These stories will appeal to those who are not even your followers yet. If they like what they see, they are sure to appreciate it with a like. If they like your story, they might even want to see more of your content, which would prompt them to click on ‘Follow.’
Tip #7: Work on Your Instagram Bio
An Instagram account with no bio or a boring one is just so frustrating! And it is also crippling your ability to grow. How can you not put forth an appealing bio? It’s the first impression after all. Your bio has to be effective such that it should prompt the user into buying your product or at least staying on your Instagram page a little longer, looking through your posts.
An effective bio has a title, a clear description, a call to action, preferably a hashtag and a link to your website/blog. If you haven’t worked on your Instagram bio, are you even Instagram literate? Also, make sure your Instagram bio is in sync with your business objectives, describes your services clearly and is easy to read and understand.
Tip #8: Prompt Users into Action
This has become a very popular practice on Instagram and other social media platforms. You can post a photo or video on Instagram and ask followers to like and share it. In addition to this, you can prompt them to tag their friends in the comment section or share it on their Instagram profiles. This is how you can engage not just your existing followers but others too.
In the process of liking, commenting and sharing, people will notice your business name or account name and are sure to give it a quick peek. You never know, they might stick around!
Tip #9: Use Quotes
Following the previous point, followers may be elicited into action via quotes. This saves you the effort of taking a picture, editing it and posting it. All you are required to do is to find a relatable quote that you feel your target audience will respond to. Put it up and you will see people tagging others on the post, sharing it, and reposting.
Reposting is one of the easiest and fastest ways to boost followers on Instagram. When a photo or quote is reposted, people whose followers come across it will find your business name and might end up scrolling through your Instagram grid and even pressing that ‘Follow’ button.
Tip #10: Engage with Users
If you have an Instagram profile for your business and you are not engaging your target audience, haven’t you killed the whole purpose of creating a social media presence? Social media fosters a two-way communication policy, so don’t shy away from replying to comments, responding to tags and appreciating your fans and followers publicly.
When you actively participate with your target audience, you become close with them and these relationships can be converted into brand loyalty in the future. Respond to positive and negative comments. You can also follow your followers in the hope that they will return this favor by enticing their followers to check out your Instagram profile.
Tip #11: Like and Follow Other Accounts in Your Niche
You can go onto the Instagram profiles of businesses in your niche and comment on and like their posts, and they might want to do the same for you. When you comment and like other pages and posts, their followers and the public, in general, can see you, and this is exactly how you can increase your followers. It works just like karma.
When you look through other similar business Instagram accounts, you can also search for ideas and see which of their posts and photos attract more views and likes. You may then choose to jot down a few of these ideas and take inspiration from them.
Tip #12: Run a Contest
Running contests and challenges is a common practice on YouTube and Facebook. Remember the ice bucket challenge that had everyone engrossed on YouTube? Similarly, you can use your Instagram profile to run contests and challenges that may ultimately be rewarded through free giveaways for instance.
The simplest way to go about running a contest is to have followers repost a certain image or see how many likes a certain photo can get. Specify a target and ask your followers to reach a certain amount of likes or shares. Once that target is achieved, you can reward them. This makes your business name and handles all the more popular on Instagram, thereby attracting more followers.
Tip #13: Collaborate with Other Accounts/People
Collaboration can be pretty useful when it comes to inviting more followers to your page. You can invite another business or Instagrammer from your niche and collaborate with them to make a post on Instagram. When doing so, you are essentially becoming visible to their set of followers who might then become your followers too.
It’s as simple as making a presence on someone else’s Instagram account, preferably someone with a high fan following, like Kylie Jenner, perhaps.
Tip #14: Use Hashtags
Never underestimate the power of hashtags! Hashtags are not as short-lived as you might think. People search for universal hashtags and if you have used a fairly good number of hashtags in your posts, users will be able to find you and check out your posts and photos. They might even become a follower for more freshly brewed content on your Instagram.
It is very important to ensure that you make use of relevant hashtags, so if your niche is, let’s suppose, beauty, do not use technology hashtags because that would attract the wrong audience to your page. You don’t want to make that mistake.
Use as many relevant hashtags as possible to make sure you have a higher probability of popping up in people’s searches.
Tip #15: Post Often
If you have an Instagram account for your business, but it is not updated regularly, it’s better that you deactivate it completely. What’s the use of running a page that does not provide relevant content to its followers regularly? The whole point of having an Instagram profile is to put forth content that can get your business name around and receive the coverage it needs.
Your social media has to be updated regularly. You cannot take a break from posting on Instagram. Unless you can keep good content, you can forget about getting any benefits from your Instagram account. In order to boost your following, you must have ample content to stimulate interest from the target audience. Otherwise, you might end up losing the few followers you have worked day in and out to achieve.
On Instagram, growing a large following is the goal of many people, but what’s even more desirable is having an engaged and interested audience of people who actually interact with the content you share.
It’s a Wrap!
If you have a business Instagram account that is in dire need of more followers, make sure you follow a few of these tips to secure a preeminent following on Instagram. Post as frequently as you possibly can to encourage engagement from your followers.
Use social media to raise awareness about your brand and get noticed through collaborations, ads, hashtags, geotags and reposts. With such effort, you can grow your business following substantially, and you wouldn’t even have to spend a penny doing it. It’s a win-win!
About the author
Jan Vasa is a digital marketer with an entrepreneurial mind and owner of Jan Vasa Marketing. He has successfully helped businesses to increase revenue with his marketing expertise mainly through Instagram and Search Engine Optimization. In his free time, Jan enjoys playing computer games and exploring the world.
The only reason my Instagram profile looks amazing is thanks to hard work and strategy. It started increasing my follower’s list in a few days. The results were steady and legit. The most important part is this tool is totally safe, i.e. your Instagram account won’t get banned from it.