Growing a following on Instagram is no small feat. The platform has over a billion users, but finding the right ones to target and entice as followers can be difficult for even the most social media savvy Instagram users. Luckily, there are proven strategies to help grow your following on Instagram.
Running an Instagram account takes time and effort, and growing one takes even more. If you invest the time, however, and follow the best practices, your account is certain to thrive. Try these tips to get real, engaged followers on Instagram.
Post Amazing Content
This may seem obvious, but often people put their content on the back burner when they’re focusing on finding new followers. While it may be time-consuming, it is absolutely vital that you keep your main focus on creating amazing, unique content. Otherwise, you’ll lose the followers you already have and have trouble finding new ones.
Every photograph or video you share on your account should be top quality. If an image is blurry or unfocused, don’t share it. Post interesting, vivid visuals to draw in potential followers. Use the Instagram video editor to make eye-catching videos. Once they visit your profile and see even more amazing content, they’ll be more inclined to follow you.
Your captions should also be on point. Every post should have a relevant and engaging caption that captures peoples’ attention. A common strategy is to ask a question in your caption to encourage a response – this will help you gain more comments, making your account look more popular to prospective new followers, and it will improve engagement as it relates to the Instagram algorithm. The algorithm gives favor to posts with high engagement, meaning your post will be favored in feed ranking and could end up on Instagram explore pages.
The main takeaway here is that you can’t let your content suffer while you focus on getting more followers. Ultimately, it is your content that they will follow you for, so post great content and the followers will eventually come.
Stick To a Theme
Your content should be high quality and interesting, but it should also stick to a certain theme. What is the purpose of your account? If you run a business profile on Instagram, then your account should be all about the business and related to that industry. If it’s an account for your blog, make sure it stays in line with the theme of your blog.
Aside from following their friends and families, people follow accounts based on their interests. Your account should have some sort of theme, purpose, or target a specific interest group. If your account has no focus and just posts random content, it will be difficult to find a large number of followers.
Your content should stick to a theme, but so should the visual representation of your account. Images should mesh well together to create a consistent aesthetic. When someone new comes to your page, they shouldn’t see a jumble of incoherent images. The best Instagram accounts stick to a certain theme, both in content and how the content looks.
Many accounts stick to a certain color palette to ensure that the grid on their profile is visually appealing and looks neat and clean. Consider picking a color theme as well as a content theme to make your Instagram look the best it can, and to attract new followers.
Use the Right Hashtags
Hashtags are incredibly useful tools that will help you reach a larger audience of potential followers online. Adding hashtags to your posts will make it so that they appear on the topic pages for those hashtags and in the feeds of users who follow that hashtag. If your content is good and Instagram recognizes its relevance, your posts may even appear on the Instagram explore page.
The key is in using the right hashtags. Do research to find the best hashtags for your industry or theme and use a few of those (some sources say the ideal number is 11). By using smart, relevant hashtags, your posts will be seen by people interested in those hashtags and, therefore, your content. This gets more eyes on your posts and if they click your username, your profile.
Target Local Followers
If you post content related to your location or run a local business, tag your location in posts! This can help your posts appear on location pages and help you find more local followers. Businesses especially should try this tactic, as it can bring customers to your door.
Tagging location can help you appeal to followers in your area. You can also include your location in your Instagram bio so that anyone who views your profile knows where you’re from. This gives your account a sense of legitimacy and makes you seem more like a real person, as well as appeals to followers in the same area as you.
You can also use location-based hashtags to reach an even larger local audience. To directly find new followers in your area, check out location pages and see who’s posting. Often if you follow first, they’ll give you a follow back.
Try an Instagram Growth Service
Finding all these followers on your own is a lot of work, especially when you’re already creating the content for your Instagram account and, if you’re running a business page, also handling your day to day work for that business. Most people struggle to grow their followers on their own, so why not opt for an Instagram growth service to help you on your way?
To clarify, we do not mean nor recommend purchasing fake followers. Fake followers are banned by Instagram and will only hurt your account and your reputation. Buying fake followers can result in an Instagram shadowban and will waste your money, as the fakes will probably be deleted by Instagram eventually anyway.
There are good, safe Instagram growth services out there you can try instead. One solid example is Social Buddy. This service, like others, targets real followers based on your industry, interests, competitors, and other factors. As a result, you’ll get real followers who will actually engage with your content, since they are genuinely interested in it.
Grow Your Following on Instagram
Try out one or, even better, all of these tactics to find more followers on Instagram. Growing your account organically takes time and effort, but with patience and great content, you’ll get to the numbers you’re hoping for.
