Users have shared more than 40 billion photos (and counting) on Instagram to date. Out of those, tens of millions of businesses are competing for likes and follows.
With so much content being posted daily on social media, you may feel like you have a lot to compete with- and you do.
Fortunately, Instagram is reshaping to be more brand-friendly than ever, meaning you can start growing your Instagram right now.
Whether you’re on the gram for business or personal reasons, there are some surprisingly-effortless ways to get your following growing like a bean sprout.
We’ve compiled several key ways to gain a massive following on Instagram, so take notes!
Post Regularly (More Like Daily)
Studies show that when you post more frequently, more likes and comments come flooding in. More likes and comments mean more chances to grow Instagram followers!
Those who post once a day or more see faster growth in their following.
Your followers will react positively to consistency. Viewers come to anticipate your posts and rely on you as a source of inspiration or entertainment.
Once you get used to posting more often, you will get a flow of creativity to match your posting needs, so don’t stress too much about coming up with novel ideas every day.
Stay On Trend
Your content doesn’t have to do all the work- sometimes keeping up with trends can give you better access to your target audience. Keep an eye out for major holidays, trending hashtags, and trending topics in the news.
A little A/B experimentation goes a long way. You can incorporate said trend naturally within your caption, somewhere in your image, or by simply using hashtags.
As you experiment with various trends, be sure to track and note which trends your target audience latches on to. If you’re posting regularly, you’ll have a lot of chances to fine-tune your strategy!
Post Videos and Stories
Social media has enabled viewers to use technology in ways that simply weren’t possible before smartphones came to be.
Now that Instagram has become a core part of many viewers’ lives, communities are looking for new ways to share their stories and engage with their favorite brands.
Hundreds of millions interact using Instagram Stories each day. In fact, video engagement is already surpassing image engagement. Viewers can also organize their favorite stories into highlights that sit conveniently below their bios.
You have several options for making videos that your followers will want to share with friends. You can use videos within posts, live videos, or stories.
Live stories are great for engaging with viewers in real time, but you want to time them correctly.
Before starting a live video, track current engagement and see which times engagement is highest throughout the week. Those are your best times to start your life story.
Hashtags Get You a Massive Following
Check any top Instagram post and you will see a number of hashtags in the caption. People can even follow hashtags to find relevant posts faster.
Hashtags may look awkward at first glance, but they could be your most promising move if you want to get more followers fast.
Armani Exchange has a great example of this tool in action. They worked with several influencers on Instagram to promote the hashtag #dressedfor. The promoted photos got almost 500,000 likes and nearly 10,000 comments!
The use of influential people on Instagram gave the campaign motion and engaged communities that fit with their target audience.
The success of Armani’s campaign came from their ability to listen and engage with users by using the right hashtags. People loved using social media to discover and display their personal identities, and that motivated many participants to follow the brand.
Use Available Tools
Instagram Insights turn data on your posts into graphs and easy-to-read numbers. You can see when post engagement is highest, which posts had the strongest impression on viewers and top videos within a certain time frame.
You will start to notice a trend with your posts. Images that do well can tell you what kind of photos to post in the future.
If a recent post gets you a ton of attention from people not yet following you, you can use similar posts to reel them in.
You also want to consider tools that turn Instagram viewers into potential customers. Since linking from within Instagram isn’t a convenient option, you want to rank well in searches on other platforms.
Some people use tools to make their page more mobile-friendly and list relevant links in their designated post on Instagram. Others link out via their bio.
You can always use product tags for specific items of potential interest to your followers, but accessibility allows your followers to find your listings organically.
Boosting your rankings on search engines or internal searches makes you super accessible to followers. Since top results on searches are based on the latest search algorithms, you’ll want to know how it works.
Cross-Post
Instagram makes it so easy to share the content you’ve posted to other social media platforms. In fact, Facebook posts from Instagram get more likes, shares, and overall interactions than those posted directly on Facebook.
You can also embed photos from Instagram on Facebook or Twitter and in blog posts for added exposure. Just test it out first to make sure your posts are user-friendly.
One surprise benefit of cross-posting is that it makes your content accessible to those who don’t yet use Instagram.
A person might see your Instagram post on Facebook and think of sharing it. If you use “tag a friend” in your shared post, that viewer is more likely to take action and bring the new followers to you!
Engage Your Viewers
Instagram users like visuals that make them feel connected. A sense of community inspires people and invites them to be more responsive.
Any relevant brand has an Insta community waiting to follow them. Commenting on related posts can catch people’s eye. You can follow people who comment regularly and might be equally excited about your posts!
If you’re fresh out of engaging content, consider hosting a photo contest. Photo contests use strategic sharing to up your brand’s visibility.
Even if a viewer doesn’t see your posts directly, they’re likely to see a friend posting a photo and be inspired to do the same themselves. You’re basically using existing communities to stir up publicity and directing the attention back to your profile.
Give those participating a hashtag to use, and it’ll be easy to track and attract contestants. You can choose a different entry each day to feature on your business profile (or an influencer’s profile) to increase traffic during the contest.
Wrap Up
It couldn’t be a better time for those using the social media powerhouse to grow Instagram followers.
To gain a massive following, you simply need to harness the power of a well-managed presence. If you listen, your viewers will show you exactly what they want to see and what kind of content they find most engaging.
Once you get those posts flowing, our strategies will propel your profile to new heights in a matter of weeks… or days!
For more brilliant tips on how to be a brilliant entrepreneur, check out our other business blogs.
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