Are you new to social media or looking to grow your brand online? You’re probably wondering how to get more followers on Instagram. And no, this isn’t about buying followers or using bots. While these tips may help you grow your audience in the short term, they won’t benefit you in the long run. The only truly valuable followers on Instagram are real people who care about and engage with your brand.
What is Instagram Marketing?
Instagram marketing allows businesses to connect with their target audience through photos and videos. In recent years, Instagram has become a great tool for brands looking to showcase their corporate culture to users and promote their products and services in new and exciting ways. This often attracts new customers and potential talent while strengthening brand loyalty and brand identity.
Instagram offers free user insights into business profiles, so you can track views and interactions with your stories and posts and view demographic information such as gender, age, location, and activity times. Instagram allows you to implement key marketing strategies in a variety of creative ways that reflect your brand, including influencer marketing, advertising, giveaways, and more.
Instagram marketing is ideal for businesses looking to attract more leads, increase sales, build brand loyalty, and position themselves as an influential leader.
Best Ways to Get Instagram followers in 2023
Focus on Valuable Followers
There are (literally) a billion Instagram users. But do you want disinterested viewers who don’t bring your account to life? Inconsistent followers unsubscribe just as quickly? I did not mean it like that. You want followers who:
- Comment, like, and share your posts.
- Improve your content and give it meaning.
- Transform into prospects and customers.
- Help get more good followers.
If your Instagram followers are cute, don’t try to break and throw yourself at them. You want to make a perfect chocolate box and maintain the community.
Use keywords to Appear in Search Results
Before people can follow you on Instagram, they have to find you. But not all text on Instagram is searchable. Only two fields on Instagram contain search results: name and username.
Your username is your nickname on Instagram. This should match the username you use on other social networks to make it easier for others to find you. Use your brand name or a variation of it that people are likely to use when searching for your brand.
Your name can contain any name up to 30 characters. You don’t want to include keywords, but including the most relevant keyword in the name field can make your search easier.
Create an Account and Username
Click “Register” to create an account and enter your work email address. If you already have a business or personal Facebook account that you want to connect to, you can click “Sign in with a Facebook account.”
You’ll need to create an Instagram username associated with your business name, location, or brand. Companies typically use their legal name as their username (e.g. @blueadz, @hubspot, @airbnb).
If your business has multiple locations, collections, or sub-brands, you can create a separate account for each and expand your business name to create a dedicated Instagram account. For example, the well-known clothing brand Zara has @zara as its main account and the accounts @zarakids and @zaraman.
Make and Use all Formats
What sets Instagram apart from other popular social media platforms are its different formats. This allows them to grab the user’s attention and allow you to emphasize different aspects of your brand. So use:
- Channel Posts: Highest quality photos and videos.
- Stories: more volatile, raw, and spontaneous content (story hack here).
- Reels: more entertainment-oriented videos (creative ideas for Reels here).
- Lives: Real-time videos, perfect for tutorials and AMAs
The more someone can learn about aspects of your business, the more likely they are to like and follow you.
Publish Content to Reshare
Your audience wants to engage with useful and inspiring content. So when planning your posts, think about the content that other people might want to share.
People like to share infographics. Fulfill this wish by giving your followers your expert opinion. When someone embeds your Instagram posts on their blog, you have access to a whole new group of potential followers.
People can also reshare your posts to their Instagram Stories. These posts are clickable, so anyone who wants to know more can click on them and go to the original post. This is another easy way to expand your reach to new audiences and potential followers.
Make it Even More Exciting with Video Content
Video content is extremely important on Facebook and Twitter. Don’t miss them on Instagram either! On Instagram, engagement with videos is growing faster than with photos. The truth is, that people can’t get enough of short, original, and engaging videos. See how Bluleadz integrated videos into our channel.
Don’t forget to post not only recorded videos but also Instagram Live at least once a week. Nothing says “authenticity” more than live video: grainy smartphone footage can be far more popular than a polished, professional video, especially on a site full of twenty-somethings.
Plus, when you go live on Instagram, you get a prominent place in your followers’ feeds until you finish everything. You still have the option to share the replay later with anyone who missed it.
Publish high-quality content – consistently
This is extremely important for your social media marketing strategy, not just Instagram. The quality of the content is evident, but the consistency is often overlooked. A good post can get you followers, but now you’re in the spotlight. They view your content regularly and if you can’t continue to provide them with what initially appealed to them, they will unfollow you. So what makes great content on Instagram?
- Useful: relevant to the needs of your industry and target group. Advice, facts, news, ideas.
- Thoughtful: Talk about your values, lifestyle, and personality.
- Interactive: it’s fun to follow you! Polls, questions, lives, contests, shareable content.
- Entertainment: attracts and maintains attention. Attractive design, movement, emotions, humor, video, courage.
Cross-Promote Your Instagram Account on Other Networks
If you want to get free Instagram followers, you need to make it easier for people to find you. Your Instagram profile should be easy to find. If you already have followers on another social network, tell them about your Instagram account. Please share the link to your Instagram profile and give your current followers a reason to check it out.
If you just opened an Instagram account, make sure you post content before promoting your account elsewhere. Aim for at least 12 messages. You can also highlight some of your best Instagram posts on other social networks. Consider promoting these posts with paid ads so other social media followers can find and follow you on Instagram.
