With high engagement rates and over 400 million active monthly users, it comes as no surprise that gaining more Instagram followers is a high priority for any business using the platform.
Unfortunately there’s no magic formula on how to get more Instagram followers that will instantly garner thousands of new followers, but there are ways of improving your Instagram strategy so that more of your ideal audience can find and follow you.
What to focus on:
Strategy
Using any social network aimlessly can lead to wasted resources and a low return on investment and Instagram is no exception. Having a strategy in place will help you define what you want to achieve, so you can better target and attract new followers relevant to your business.
Visibility
If you’re struggling to attract new followers on Instagram, a simple (yet often overlooked) solution is to make it easier for people to find you. Increase the number of ways that potential new followers can discover your Instagram account.
Content
This may seem like a no-brainer but it can’t be stressed enough: the better your Instagram content is, the more likely you are to get more Instagram followers. Posting photos that are blurry, branded inconsistently, or simply not interesting provides no incentive for people to follow you.
Campaigns
Running contests on Instagram can help further grow your audience, drive traffic to your website, and even help you sell product. To enter the contest, ask people to either follow you, like, comment on one of your photos, use a specific hashtag, or repost one of your photos. Encouraging user-generated content as part of your contest will help you reach more people. Those who don’t follow you already will be exposed to your Instagram account through a post created by one of their friends, which is an effective way of building trust with new followers.
Community Building
Like all social media networks, Instagram is all about the communities built within it. Find potential new Instagram followers by following them first, and then get involved by liking, commenting, and sharing their content—many people will often return the favour.
Advertising
If you have a budget for social advertising, Instagram ads should definitely be on your radar. A sponsored ad is a powerful way to reach new potential Instagram followers, fast. Instagram now allows almost anyone to purchase sponsored posts within the platform, using online ad-buying tools that are offered by official Instagram partners. This means you can now log onto one of these third-party sites to create, target, and place ads on Instagram, in a self-serve style.
Measurement
If you’re not gaining new Instagram followers at the rate you want, reviewing your metrics and analytics on a regular basis can help you identify areas where you can potentially adjust your strategy.
For example, you may notice a correlation between the time of day you post, certain hashtags, or the type of content, and a spike in new followers. Try focusing on repeating these moments to see if you get the same results.
Note: the tips we have learnedfor this post came from the Hootsuite team