Let’s ask you a question – what’s your Instagram follower count?
Whether you are concerned or not about these numbers, people do look at them.
Yes, we agree that a high number isn’t necessarily a complete reflection of your brand or content quality. But, they do matter – because most users and influencers look at these numbers while determining if they should follow your page and if you are worth partnering with.
So getting more followers on Instagram is a need of the hour for businesses.
But how can you grow your follower base?
That would be a million-dollar question that business people like you want to get answered. Therefore, we are here with some of the best tricks to gain Instagram followers – and that too organically.
#1. Have A Consistent TimeTable
Posting a lot of content for a few days and then suddenly posting nothing for a week will not fetch you any result. You have to follow a consistent approach towards posting excellent and creative content on your business’s Instagram page.
That doesn’t mean that you have to do a post every day. But, stick on to a definite schedule. Your audience should have a clear idea of when they can expect to hear from you.
For that, create a time table, pick days you want to post and keep at it. Remember to specify the details about the content you want to post on the scheduled day, so you don’t postpone the task. If you’re wondering about choosing the dates for scheduling the posts, you can seek help from our Social Media team.
However, if you’re struggling to come up with fresh content ideas for your brand’s social feeds, here’s a list of exciting ideas to get your creative juices flowing ?? Not Sure What To Post On Social Media? Here’re A Few Content Ideas
#2. Communicate Through Captions
Posting a good photo isn’t enough to gain followers; instead, you have to create an emotional connection with your audience through captions. So, with every photo you post, add a meaningful caption that can initiate conversations with your followers.
Rather than writing a few meaningless sentences or putting together some emojis, add something that will inspire people to comment on your post. You have a maximum of 2200 characters available for your caption; however, we’d recommend to keep it as brief as possible. No one would love to read long stories.
And while writing, keep it consistent with your brand style; yet, don’t hesitate to use your sense of humour.
See the strategy ‘Nike’ used to connect emotionally with their audience.
Need more help with Instagram captions? Get in touch with our team of professional copywriters.
#3. Make Good Use Of Hashtags
#Hashtags – if used wisely, these can actually help you to get discovered and drive traffic to your Instagram page. And while employing hashtags, make sure to:
- Add more popular hashtags in your niche, so that more people will find you.
- Avoid hashtags that are too big. Just think of it this way – if you want to search for flower images would you search for #flower or #flowergram? You’d go for the shorter one, right?
Also, another important thing to remember is that you cannot use the same hashtags for every post, because chances are high for such posts to be detected as spams.
This image will tell you how Parel Creative uses hashtags that make sense, to drive traffic to our posts.
For more info on using Instagram hashtags, read ?? How To Use Instagram Hashtags for Business Growth
#4. Create An Attractive Grid
As you know, Instagram is a visual-first Social Media channel. So, users are apparently likely to follow your page if they could view an attractively curated grid than seeing an assortment of jumbled images.
Therefore, try to build an engaging Instagram grid with meaningful and relevant content that people would love to explore. Try customising it with the same filter, theme or a creative photo layout that could add a personal touch or make a point of difference.
Here’s how ‘Peter McKinnon’ maintains his Instagram feed. See how dark tones in every photo contribute to this page’s overall consistency.
#5. Learn From Data
As your Instagram account grows, your audience also changes. Therefore, it’s necessary to modify the strategies you use to match the current scenario.
Always keep track of how many followers you are gaining, how many unfollowed you, the kind of content that brings more likes and comments, the best time to post and the list goes on. These data will help you to build better result-oriented strategies to increase your followers organically.
You can either use Instagram’s own analytics tool or any other analytics-providing software to get more specific data. In case you need manual assistance in this regard, feel free to get in touch with our Social Media Marketing team.
#6. Optimize Your Instagram Account
Optimizing your Instagram account according to your target audiences’ tastes is another crucial step in gaining followers. ‘Optimizing’ means nothing but adding a bio, profile picture, and identifiable username, to build a brand identity.
And while you do that, it is wise to make use of the link in your bio. This is the primary spot to drive Instagram traffic to your site; so, try linking this to the product pages related to hashtags or campaigns on your Instagram page.
Additionally, keep your username close enough to your brand or company name. It should be recognizable to the audience. Also, avoid using numbers or special characters, and keep it in-line with other Social Media handles you already have.
For example, see ‘Lakme India’s’ Instagram username – it is their company name itself. You can also notice that they have kept their logo as their profile picture, so as to make it easily recognizable by their audience.
#7. Promote Your Instagram Page
Creating awareness and visibility is the cornerstone of getting discovered, and promotions are the best way to deal with it. So, make sure to list your Instagram account on your website as well as other Social Media handles.
And, when promoting your Instagram account through other Social Media accounts, make sure that you are not just requesting for a follow. Rather, you have to promote rich and useful content you post on your Instagram so that your users will find reasons to follow you there.
Luckily, with Instagram, you have several features like Stories, IGTV and Reels, to share creative content.
#8. Avoid Fake Instagram Followers
There’s a difference between fake followers and genuine followers, and that difference can potentially impact your Instagram account. The disadvantages of purchasing Instagram followers can outweigh the merits of having organic followers. So it’s always best to keep it all original and real.
Here’s what fake followers can do to your Instagram.
- They can deceive new followers and lower your credibility.
- Fake followers will not purchase your products or services, which means you will have no ROI.
- Fake followers can most probably be bots that aren’t capable of interacting. They won’t like, share or comment on your posts. This will lead to an inactive Instagram account that itself can become a reputation-ruining factor.
Key Takeaway – Interaction and proper communication by a few real followers can add life and value to your Instagram than having a big bunch of fake followers.
Conclusion
Instagram has now become a very potential platform with millions of users worldwide. So, leveraging the platform in the right way is necessary to increase the followers of your brand. You can take advantage of these eight tips to smash your Instagram game and take your brand to the next level.
If implementing these seem to be hard, worry not – the experienced Social Media managers at Parel Creative, the best web development and digital marketing company in Kochi and Singapore, can work this out for you. For help, contact us now.
