Instagram is more than just a place to connect with friends and share vacation photos or upload a funny video of your dog. Since its inception, this social media platform has grown into a powerful marketing channel, used by brands everywhere to connect with potential customers.
What is Instagram?
Instagram is a photo and video sharing application that launched in 2010. It allows users to share images and short videos, apply filters to enhance the quality of photos, and share content with their followers. Instagram is considered one of the largest social media platforms in the world, with over 1.35 billion users browsing it daily.
Why do you need to increase your followers on Instagram?
The number of followers on Instagram is not the only factor that determines your success on the platform, but it can open up opportunities for influencers to earn money and provide businesses with valuable social proof.
How to increase your followers on Instagram
In this guide, you will learn how to create content that attracts real followers and how to increase engagement on your posts, stories, and reels on Instagram. Here are 17 ways to increase your followers:
1. Incorporate Reels into your content mix
Instagram started as a photo-sharing app, then quickly shifted to video with the Stories feature. Stories are a more intimate form of video in a vertical format, and can only be seen by friends, followers, and visitors to your page. Reels, on the other hand, are aimed at a wider audience and offer more reach through Instagram Explore, thus providing an opportunity for viral spread.
2. Co-promote content
Co-promotion involves posting similar content across different social media platforms (or Instagram accounts). It’s a tactic used to save time and resources. It’s also effective in increasing brand awareness and growing your Instagram audience.
3. Optimize your Instagram profile
Instagram users are likely to discover you through your content when it appears on the Explore page. If they’re excited to learn more, they will browse to your profile. This is a critical step in attracting a new follower, as a strong brand signals to potential customers and followers that your account is relevant to them (or not).
4. Work with creators and influencers
When you work with influencers, it can add trust and credibility to your paid promotions. One study found that 61% of consumers trust influencer recommendations. When adding influencer marketing to your strategy, make sure the partnership is suitable for both your brand and the creator. The closer your target audience matches the creator’s follower base, the greater the chances of campaign success.
5. Build your personal brand alongside your business
If you manage a brand closely linked to its founder’s story, develop your personal Instagram account alongside your business account. Utilizing both your company and personal accounts can increase visibility, follower count, and sales.
6. Get featured on feature accounts
Some Instagram accounts, known as feature accounts, aggregate the best content in a particular niche – some of which have massive followings. If your content is featured on these accounts, it may have the potential to drive new followers to your Instagram account.
7. Build a hashtag strategy
Your goal on Instagram is to regularly engage your current audience while simultaneously increasing your followers. Hashtags can help you appear in search results for users looking for content similar to yours. Using popular hashtags on Instagram is a way to get visibility in search results.
8. Post at the right times
Your social media content scheduling strategy involves analyzing user behavior and your account’s performance to discover which type of content performs best at what times. Instagram’s analytics tools can provide many insights in this regard.
9.
Engaging with Your Competitors’ Followers
Your direct competitors’ followers are a perfect focus for your efforts. After all, they have already expressed interest in a product or brand like yours. Engaging with your target audience is a great way to show that you are ready for two-way communication and building a relationship with fans and customers.
10. Collaborate with Compatible Accounts and Creators
In addition to marketing with influencers on Instagram, you can collaborate with other brands and creators on campaigns and content that provide mutual benefit. This works best when both accounts have something to gain, such as access to a similar audience to their target customers.
11. Use Location Tags to Boost Local Discovery
Along with tags, you can also make your Instagram posts, stories, and reels discoverable by tagging the location – whether it’s the city you’re in or the place where the photo or video was taken. Locations not only have their own Instagram feed but also have their own story where you can showcase your content to locals and tourists searching for the location.
12. Organize Instagram Stories into Highlights
One element that shouldn’t be overlooked on your page is highlights. Instagram stories disappear after 24 hours, but you can extend the value of the content by organizing them into highlights.
13. Ask for More Followers in Your Instagram Posts
Don’t hesitate to ask your target audience to follow you from time to time. You can also encourage Instagram users to follow you for more content. You can do this in Instagram comments or mention it in video content like reels and stories. Use common marketing tactics to encourage users to follow you.
14. Host a Contest
One of the best ways to incentivize followership is to host a contest. Often, brands and creators ask users to complete one or more actions to enter the contest. These actions can include following the account, liking the post, tagging one or more friends, leaving a comment, and clicking on the entry form on the brand’s website.
15. Share User-Generated Content
User-generated content (UGC) is any type of content – videos, images, written reviews, audio, and more – that is created about a brand by a fan, customer, or follower. UGC helps to humanize your brand and give it credibility, as it is considered a reliable review from a real customer. This increases purchase confidence.
16. Use Instagram Live
Instagram Live is a feature that allows you to broadcast live video to your followers. It works the same way as reels or stories but is recorded live and includes additional interactive features that allow you to communicate directly and monetize your content with Instagram badges, and save the live broadcast for reuse in permanent content.
17. Try Instagram Ads
You have learned how to boost your follower count on Instagram through a number of organic and paid methods, but there is one final way that many marketers and brands on Instagram use. Paid ads are a great option to quickly increase followers if your social media strategy includes a budget for paid promotion.
Source: https://www.shopify.com/blog/14288561-how-to-build-a-massive-following-on-instagram%20
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