Instagram has become a game changer social media platform for many. Forget about millennial for a second here, everyone and their grandma is an account holder on Instagram. Instagram users vary from those maintaining private accounts for friends and family only, to those who use their accounts for business purposes, and rightly so to. Instagram has over a billion users and an even higher user engagement level. Reports show that over 80% of all Instagram accounts follow a particular business. So it’s not surprising then many want to get in on the action. One way to promote your business on Instagram is to gain followers. The more the better. In this post we’ll be taking you through some ways in which you can grow your Instagram following. So stick around to find out how to grow Instagram Followers.
How to Grow Instagram Followers for Free
This basically means that you have to stay relevant to your growing audience. If you happen to post one day and then your next post comes after a month, you can hardly stay relevant with that. Studies have shown that posting regularly helps in gaining followers. Those accounts with the highest followers were found to post on an almost daily basis.
The more regularly you post the more relevant you stay, the more relevant you stay the more followers and likes you get. Studies have shown that by moving your posting regime from once a week to once a day you can double your follower growth. Remember it’s all about staying relevant.
Points to take away:
- Post regularly
- At least once a day
- Double your follower growth by doing so
How to Grow Instagram Followers Tips #1- Use Videos, Live Videos and Stories in getting across your image:
Instagram may have started as a photo sharing platform, but from there has gone on to videos, live videos and stories. Use these to your advantage. You can now get across better to your audience by using videos and the live variety as well as stories to promote your brand and yourself.
By using these tools you come across as more connected to your audience as well as being more interesting. Let’s look at the studies here for a second- they have shown that by posting a video you gain better engagement than by simply using an image.
Another thing about going live, is that when you do so you go to the front of the feed for your followers. Reports have also shown that 57% of all business have found stories an effective media strategy.
How to Grow Instagram Followers Tips #2: Use Hashtags
By using hashtags you can stay on top of the game. Hashtags may be found everywhere but nowhere are they more used than Instagram. If you’re an Instagram account holder, which you must be if you’re reading this post, then you probably already know what hashtags are and what they do.
Instagram has made it even possible to follow a hashtag now too. By using hashtags you lead people looking for that thing directly to your feed. From there it becomes a case of liking what they see.
Now on to the reports, reports have shown that by adding hashtags and a location tag you can increase your engagement. Or by that I mean Followers too.
Now this begs the question of how many to use? Instagram allows you 30 hashtags per post but the optimal number is somewhere between 6-9, if you don’t want to look spammy, that is.
Points to take away:
- Use hashtags and a location tag
- More engagements by doing so
- 30 is allowed
- 6-9 is better
Grow Instagram Followers Tips #3- Share Your users content:
The idea behind this, is that you take what other users generate and post them to your account, of course with giving full credit to that user. This strategy can be a hit or a miss. On one side you can keep posting everyday as you will have something to post on the other side many users may not like that your trying to gain a following using their work.
Points to take away:
- Remember to give credit to the initial user
- Do not misuse this strategy
How to Grow Instagram Followers Tips #4 Go in for a Collaboration in learning:
You can always collaborate with another Instagram user to gain a following. Of course you have to do it with their permission of course. These collaboration can take many forms- from taking over one and another stories to collaboration on making a joint painting.
Another thing big brands do is that they sponsor social media influencer’s and benefit from their following too. Influencer’s take pictures of their products and post it to their accounts tagging the brand, thus allowing people to look the brand up too.
Points to take away:
- Collaboration to grow a following
Tips #5 Post at a Correct Time:
Now many studies are indifferent to the time you post. But everybody and every brand has a time that they post at. So should you. Alternatively there are also tools such as Iconosquare to use to get the best time to post your next, well- post. These applications take your existing data and show what your best time to post should be. This is all the more important if you don’t have a business account and can’t get access to Instagram’s Insights.
Points to take away:
- Post regularly
- Post at a particular time
Tips #6 -Use Instagram analytics
How do you know what people like and what they want to see? You can always check up on Instagram’s analytics. In the Instagram app, go to your profile pic and tap on it. From there check the insights icon. Go to the posts section and tap on the see more option.
Here you can see your top posts sorted by whatever filters you choose. For example you can see your top post by looking at the number of comments for each post.
These are few ways in which you can learn how to grow Instagram Followers.
