Gaining more Instagram followers can increase traffic to your website, make more sales, and turn you into an influential brand, but curating an online community can be difficult. Here are 15 ways to help you get started in gathering more eyeballs on your profile:
- Curate Your Profile
Plan out your feed according to your niche. Have a consistent aesthetic that supports your brand. Look at your feed as a whole. Do the post fit together? What impression do they give?
2. Instagram Reels
Short-term looping videos are the most effective way to gain audience attention right now. Create high interest content based on popular trends or behind-the-scenes content. Use keywords and hashtags in Reel Captions to describe your video content. Spice up your video up by including trending sounds and add on-screen text for viewers without sound. Avoid TikTok watermark, this will drive viewers off Instagram.
3. Optimize Your Post Caption for Search
According to The Verge spokesperson, Instagram’s team considers “type of content, captions, when it was posted,” and more for surface relevant results. Use keywords in your caption with this in mind or write them in advance to save on time.
4. Develop a Hashtag Strategy
Reach rate increases 11% as the number of hashtags grows from 1 to 30. Use hashtags related to your product or service. Also think about hashtags based on the type of potential client you want. For example, use #businesshelp to if your service is useful in b2b spaces.
5. Host an Instagram Giveaway
This tactic helps you grow fast and gain potential new followers. Have clear entry requirements that support your growth goals. For example, you can suggest tagging a friend in the comments, sharing on Instagram Stories, or following your account. It is even more beneficial to partner up with a creator or complementary brand that shares a target audience.
6. Partner with Influencers & Brands
Find like-minded individuals or brands to partner up with. Make sure the partnership will be mutually beneficial by combining complementary target audiences. Don’t forget to consider Nano or Micro influencers. They usually have higher engagement rates and a stronger relationship with their audience.
7. Create Highly Shareable Content
Grow organically, by including inspirational quotes, informative carousel posts, and on-trend memes. Memes have a high chance of going viral due to their funny and clever nature. This will create a positive association with your brand and your community with be more likely to share a laugh. Balance trending visuals and the sentiment of your target audience to bring attention to your niche.
8. Have a Clear Value Position
Your content doesn’t have to be the same, but if someone follows your profile, they must know what product or service you are selling. For example, if you are selling shampoo, one post can focus directing on sales and another can be hair styling tip using the shampoo. Think about the value your product or service will give your audience.
9. Cross Promote Your Account on Different Channels
TikTok is big right now. You can use the short video form to preview your Instagram profile and encourage viewers to follow you on Instagram as well. You can also do this with your website, email newsletter, podcast, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, and any other platform included in your marketing strategy.
10. Create an Instagram Challenge
Think about an activity that people would enjoy and find a way to incorporate your product or service into it. Make participation as easy as possible. Create a branded hashtag and tie the challenge back to your brand.
11. Encourage User-generated Content with Branded Hashtag
Raise brand awareness by sharing user-generated content with a branded hashtag or tag. These can act as testimonials. For example, if you were a wedding dress company, a satisfied client might share a photo of the dress they bought and include your branded hashtag. Share it and make sure to add the handle of the original creator.
12. Make Content Accessible to All Audiences
Over 430 million people are deaf or hard of hearing and 2.2 billion people have vision impairment. Add subtitles or text overlays to video content on Instagram videos, Stories, and Reels. Manually write descriptive alt text for Instagram posts. Verbalize visual details during stories or videos. Capitalize each word in hashtags for screen readers.
13. Post Consistently
Post on consistent days or times. It helps to preplan what days, times, and how frequently you want to post on Instagram. Think about when your target audience is most likely will be on Instagram.
14. Add Keywords to Your Bio’s Name Field
You want your company to be searchable. Think about what industry or niche you are in, who you want to target, and what solution you offer. Check the term in Instagram’s search bar to see what appears if you are stuck. An example of this in if you brand sell custom artwork, your Name Field might include the term “Art” or “Artwork”.
15. Collaborate on Feed Posts
Instagram has an Instagram Collabs feature that allows Instagram feed posts and Reels to have co-authors. When you partner up with another brand or influencer you can share views, likes, and comments. This is big if you want to combine communities to grow your audience. Keep in mind that the content has to work on both accounts.
Need help growing on Instagram? Call 248.528.3600.