Instagram is one of the most important social media platforms with more than one billion active users, 90% of which follow at least one business on the platform. That is why, attracting a large base of loyal followers can help you grow your brand, enhance brand reputation, and outperform your competitors.
Luckily, the platform is highly visual and targetable, giving you endless possibilities to grow your audience day by day. In this article, we’re sharing the best tactics to help you in your efforts to get more real Instagram followers.
Optimize Your Profile
Optimizing your profile is an important step to convert visitors into real Instagram followers. You can do so by ensuring that it’s clear what your account is all about. First of all, use the same or similar handle and profile image as you do across other platforms and include important details about your business.
Additionally, curate an easy-to-digest Instagram bio that clearly states what your brand does and what differentiates you from competitors. Considering the bio allows only 150 characters, you can organize your past Stories into highlights to showcase relevant information about your brand.
Design a Gorgeous Feed
Once a potential follower lands on your Instagram page, you have only a few seconds to capture their attention and convert them into followers. So, it’s important to have a planned Instagram feed and create content aesthetics that support your brand. Having cohesive and high-quality visuals will help you leave a good first impression and convey your brand values in mere seconds, converting visitors into followers.
Create Reels
From sharing tips and tricks to hopping on the latest challenge, there are a lot of ways you can use Instagram Reels for business. Reels are fun, creative, and very shareable. Plus, they have incredible reach and if you set your account to be public, they can easily be discovered via the Explore tab. What is more, you can include original audio and let other users use it in their Reels with attribution to you. The feature also offers a multitude of creative tools, including speed controls, AR effects, and video editing controls so you just need to get creative.
Optimize Your Captions
Instagram captions give you a unique chance to engage your current audience and reach new accounts. To get the most out of post captions, use the captions to ask relevant questions, spark conversations, tag relevant users, and encourage users to comment. Likewise, put the most important words in the first 125 characters and inspire them to tap “more”, use emojis to draw the reader’s attention, and convey clear CTAs.
Use Hashtags to Your Advantage
Growing followers through hashtags is a tried-and-true tactic. When choosing wisely, hashtags can be a great tool for discovering and extending your social reach. For instance, avoid too populated hashtags because trying to highlight your content among millions of pictures and videos isn’t easy.
Instead, find niche-focused trending hashtags that relate to your brand and would entice your target audience to check. Additionally, create unique, branded hashtags to group posts around content relevant to your brand and or specific campaigns. Encourage people to use those hashtags in their content which would give free publicity and free user-generated content.
Engage With Your Community
One of the most effective ways to get more real Instagram followers is to show your community that you care. Comment, reply to DMs and reply on posts to show you appreciate your followers’ support. Additionally, join in popular conversations. If there’s a discussion started by someone in your industry that people are interested in, you should join in and comment. People might notice you, check out your profile, and give you a follow.
Run Contests
Don’t overlook Instagram contests as they are a surefire way to gain followers. A lot of established brands are using this tactic and see immediate results. Having existing users tag a friend for a chance to win something will attract new users who you could potentially win over as a follower.
That being said, to run successful Instagram contests, you should offer a product or service that appeals to the target audience and write a caption in a way that encourages people to tag relevant people who might be genuinely interested in your brand. Optionally, you can collaborate with an influencer or other brand for the contest so that you harness the power of influencers and grow your brand.
In Conclusion
Growing your Instagram account can seem daunting, but with the right tactics, you can gain real Instagram followers in no time. The key is to target the right audiences, post creative and appealing content, and tap into Instagram’s features and trends. Finally, make sure to monitor your performance and adjust your strategies as you go.