START PLANNING YOUR POSTS NOW Step 1: Growing from 0 to 100 Instagram followers Okay, so you now have a brand new account and need to build that initial momentum and get followers on Instagram. If you already have a business or a brand with a somewhat established community, then getting that initial following shouldn’t be that big of a challenge. Send out a newsletter to your existing customers, inviting them to follow you on Instagram. Remember that when you want people to do something, you need to give them an incentive. In this case, a discount for your products to the first 100 followers could work just fine. If you have a large enough email list, you can split the offer so that first the 100 followers get 30% off, next 100 get 20% off, and so on, to not discourage those who might have opened the email later, from following you. Before you send out the email though, make sure you already have a few engaging posts up to give an idea of your brand. If you don’t have an existing customer/follower community, you can turn to your friends, family or colleagues, and ask them to follow you. This is one of my personal favorites, because you can get the initial follower base quite easily even without posting any content (however, I’d still suggest having at least one post there to begin with), and if you’re one of those people with a large family and friend group, you might just hit that 100 followers quite quickly.
Also, if you have a brand website, you can capture any site visitors by adding an Instagram follow button, to be sure your audience knows where you find you on social! Of course, make sure that your website is well-optimized and built by a reliable website builder (for example, Ucraft or Wix). After you’ve completed this initial step, it’s time to choose a strategy to get followers on Instagram and growing this base to at least a 100 followers. Strategy 1: “Something’s coming…” This will be best if you have some kind of an announcement coming soon — a new website, a product, a giveaway, etc. Create an attractive profile picture, and an engaging and witty bio – don’t be afraid to throw some emojis in there if that’s something that would resonate with your audience. If you have a link to your homepage, email subscription page, or literally any other brand link that could potentially extend the relationship with your followers, definitely add that as well!
Even if you haven’t properly launched your site yet, it adds credibility to your brand — it shows your audience that you’re serious about your brand to have gone the extra-mile and bought a domain. Ideally, you should have at least a “coming soon” page set-up with a lead capture. But don’t sweat it — your Instagram page doesn’t necessarily grow faster by having a link in your bio. At this point, it’s more of a nice-to-have to start moving towards monetizing your audience, which you can totally do in the later steps as well. When writing an Instagram bio, make sure to be very clear on what your account is going to be about. If you’re planning to launch an eCommerce business, then say it. If you’re giving away free marketing advice, let them know. Maybe you’re launching a giveaway for the first 100 followers? They should know about it. Give people an incentive to follow you, even if you don’t have anything up at the moment. If you want to take it one step further (and you always should), publish at least one post that looks beautiful and conveys your brand message. This will help you to get followers on Instagram, as it lets potential followers know what you’re about, what kind of posts can they expect from you, and gets them excited about your upcoming brand!
For ‘Help a Marketer’, I created this: get followers on instagram Brand picture ☑️ Brand description ☑️ Incentive ☑️Website ☑️ Unfortunately, just having your account set up won’t help you get followers on Instagram. Search for accounts that are in your niche or in a niche similar to yours, and already have a substantial following (I wouldn’t go higher than accounts with 10k+ followers though). Once you have identified these accounts, start following at least 10 of them, and make sure to follow about 50 of their followers as well. If you want to go the extra mile (and again, you should), you can check out the accounts of those 50 followers before you follow them, to make sure they actually fit your target audience. Here’s the important bit — make sure to interact with the accounts that you follow on a regular basis! Like their latest posts, leave comments on them, respond to their Instagram Stories and/or just write them a direct message where you introduce yourself in one sentence and mention that you’ve started a new account and you would be honored to see them among your first followers who’ll get [insert the incentive you wrote about in your bio]. The personal approach of the direct message in combination with regular engagement will increase is a great tactic to get followers on Instagram – especially if you haven’t chosen an account that’s too big and will actually see your message. You should be doing all this in the later phases as well, but it’s especially crucial while when you’re still a new account.
Strategy 2: “A rising star” If, on the other hand, you don’t really have anything big coming up or if you’re interested in developing a personal brand (models, photographers, speakers etc), then go for this one. Everything we discussed in Strategy 1 is still useful. You should work on your bio description, explain who you are and what your account is about, reach out to other accounts in your niche and engage with their followers. The major difference here is that you need to build your feed up BEFORE you do the outreach. Remember, you won’t be driving people to your upcoming offer to get followers on Instagram — you will be driving them to your posts. Here’s the big question: How many posts should you have published before you start serious Instagram outreach? In my opinion, at least 9-12 posts would be a good starting point.
This means when someone lands on your profile there is sufficient content to portray you and/or your brand. Keep in mind that your posts should complement each other to create a cohesive grid and feed aesthetic. Having a nice layout for your images really matters. Yes, each individual image works for driving engagement from your existing Instagram followers who see the posts in their feed. However, the overall grid look is one of the most important things (if not the most important) in helping you get followers on Instagram. It shows that you take your brand seriously, and lets them know that they can expect similar quality content consistently. If you’re stuck deciding on a style for your feed, check out this article for inspiration ✨
instagram feed Accounts that use consistent colour palettes and go the extra mile planning their feed will get followers on Instagram more quickly than those who don’t! If you decide to go with 12 initial posts, I’d suggest posting them within 2-3 days at least. It depends on how often you’re planning to post in the future, but I personally think that having all 12 posts published in one day doesn’t seem organic at all. (This, however, is just my personal preference, and if you’re super anxious to start, then knock yourself out and post all of them immediately). In every post, include a lot (30 per post) of different hashtags to make your initial posts more discoverable to potential followers. It’s important to show good engagement on your posts right from the start. I suggest choosing both hashtags that have very little post shares (maybe like 1k-20k), as well as very popular ones (10mil+). Chances are that you’ll start getting Instagram followers from this activity alone! The most important thing to remember is that your hashtags are relevant to the content of your post. For more hashtag tips, check out:
💡 The All-In-One Guide To Instagram Hashtags 💡 Takeaway: Create an attractive bio with an incentive to follow — an offer, the posts themselves, or both Engage with people and brands that might be interested in your content on a regular basis Work on your first posts to develop your own style/layout Research more and less popular hashtags, pick out as many relevant ones as you can, and use them on your posts. Moving on… Explore the data behind your Instagram account. Find the best time to post on Instagram Track your follower growth overtime Understand your post engagement TRY INSTAGRAM ANALYTICS NOW Step 2: Growing to 1,000 Instagram followers Once you have that initial traction, the following strategy will really give an extra boost to get followers on Instagram. Here’s what you do: Identify some of the bigger accounts(50k+ followers) that are similar to yours or are in the same industry with the same target audience you’re trying to reach. Check if their followers are real (some great tools for that: Fameaudit, SocialAuditPro) If the majority of their followers are real, open up their follower list and start following these accounts (I personally suggest to follow accounts that have a real human in the profile picture, instead of a logo)
Start checking who’s not following you back and unfollow these accounts. There’s plenty of apps for both Android and iOS for this exact purpose — just give it a search. Ideally, at least 20% of the people that you started following, should follow you back. The more followers you have, the ‘healthier’ your follower to following ratio is, the more attractive your feed looks, and the higher the follow-back percentage is going to be. People are more inclined to follow back Instagram accounts that: Look real Have more followers than the account is following Have a lot of followers* Have a nicely designed feed of posts In addition to the follow/unfollow strategy, you should start interacting with these bigger accounts (as long as they’re not direct competitors). Firstly, turn on post notifications for these accounts. Every time they post something, be the first to like and leave a comment. There’s already too many “This is so true”, “That’s dope man”,“Awesome post” type of comments out there because of engagement bots. They have become very easy to spot and most Instagram users know that they are not genuine:
GET FOLLOWERS ON INSTAGRAM Generic comments like this are often from accounts using a follower or engagement bot, and therefore don’t count as genuine engagement So try to write something related to the caption or the post — the more human you are, the better! Although AI writing assistants like Jasper AI are all the rage now, It is better to ask specific questions or add your own opinion. This will prove to other Instagram users in your community that you are genuinely interested. get followers on instagram Examples of short comments related to the caption on one of my posts. To reach 1000 followers, I would suggest combining the follow/unfollow strategy together with the strategies covered in the previous step! Secondly, when you start reaching the 1000 follower mark, it’s a good idea to start thinking about scheduling your Instagram posts. This will give you more time to create content, engage with your audience, and continue to get followers on Instagram. Scheduling and managing your Instagram content with Hopper HQ means you can post straight from your desktop, visually plan your Instagram feed, and save loads of time! Photos, videos, carousel posts, captions, first comments can all be scheduled in advance so you never need to rush for last minute posts again.
Sign up for a free 14 day trial today to test it out — you won’t want to go back to doing things manually. Takeaway: Identify the key accounts that are similar to yours and follow them Turn on post notifications for these accounts Leave a comment as soon as they post Follow their real followers Plan your social media posts. Visually plan your posts. Drag and drop everywhere. Step 3: Growing to 5,000 Instagram followers Now that you have a good foundation for growth, it’s time to accelerate even faster. I’m not saying you should stop doing what you have been doing previously. I think those methods are great even if you have passed the 20,000 follower mark. However, adding other methods from this point forward might give the same if not better results with less effort.
Firstly, you should start using engagement groups. If you haven’t heard about them, then you should read the following article, to understand what engagement groups are and how they work: Increase your Organic Reach on Instagram with Engagement Groups. Secondly, consider investing in ads. If you’re building a brand (and not just posting pictures of your cat), Instagram ads will come in quite handy at this point. Thirdly, definitely start scheduling your Instagram posts. Once you’ve reached this stage, every minute you invest into your Instagram counts. Check out this step by step guide to scheduling on Hopper HQ. Plan & schedule social media ahead of time. Video, gallery & image posts Calendar, feed & grid preview Instagram, Facebook & Twitter START PLANNING YOUR POSTS NOW To run ads on Instagram, you need to switch to a business account. If you don’t have it yet (or if you don’t know whether you have it or not), there’s a very easy way to activate it:
Go to your profile and click the settings button next to Edit Profile Scroll down until you see Switch to Business Profile (if you already have a business account, you will find Switch back to Personal Account) Click it and follow the instructions to set up a business profile (FYI – you will need a Facebook page that you are an admin of). Switch to business profile Where to switch to a business profile You can promote your existing posts, or link your account to Facebook and create an ad from the Facebook Ads Manager panel. Try different targeting options, and see which one gets followers on Instagram the quickest or increases engagement (depends on the post and goal). I would suggest making short video ads and choosing Instagram Stories as the ad placement. This is still a relatively underused placement, which probably yields in better bang-for-the-buck ratio than the regular feed posts would. If you need any help with running the ads, hire a freelancer or heck, even shoot me a message on Instagram, and I’ll give you a quick intro! Finally, if you have established relationships with Instagram influencers, don’t forget about them… Influencers are real people too! If you want to approach an influencer about working together, be genuinely interested in what’s going in their lives. If you’re not on the shy side, record a short video of yourself as a conversation starter, and send it to them as a direct message. You’ll definitely stand out from other accounts who they might be having conversations with. If you select multiple accounts as recipients, be sure to not create a group chat, but send it to them separately. Otherwise, it doesn’t seem very personal.
Buy ViewYou might be asking, “How does this help me get followers on Instagram”? Well, it’s quite simple, actually. When you view your notifications on Instagram, you’ll notice a Following tab. It’s where people go to spy on what their friends are up to on Instagram — what photos they like, which accounts they’ve started following, what comments they’ve left, etc. If you haven’t ever used it, you should start ASAP. get followers on instagram The ‘Following’ tab I don’t have hard evidence to back this up, but this BuzzFeed article suggests that 67% of Instagram users use it. If these influencer accounts keep liking and commenting on your posts, there’s a good probability that their followers will see. It’s a great way to help you get followers on Instagram because naturally, people want to know what their friends and idols are into, so they’ll go and check it out. If the content is similar to what they already like anyway, it’s likely that they will start following you as well. The world of influencers is a little daunting if you’re still building your brand and trying to get followers on Instagram, so check out this Simple Guide To Instagram Influencer Marketing in 2020 to learn all you need to know.
Join and use engagement groups Run ads to drive traffic to your profile and posts Build quality relationships with influencers Hitting the 10,000 follower mark on Instagram is magical ✨ That number is so big that it doesn’t fit in the dedicated space, so it’s shortened to 10k. Additionally, you get the huge perk of being able to add links to your Instagram Stories. This opens up an amazing opportunity to start monetizing your Instagram account. Here’s one article on how you can go about doing it with e-mail: How to Monetize Instagram. Keep doing everything you have been doing so far to get followers on Instagram. Of course, if something seems like it’s not giving any returns, then stop doing it and focus on things that have the most impact! You should revisit your Instagram marketing strategy at every stage of this guide to make sure you’re staying on track! Now, since you have a quite nice follower base, you should think of ways to have them help you with promotion: Tag a friend One of the best ways to get people promoting your content is by simply asking them to tag their friends. This can actually be done with any post you make. It works well with emotionally powerful content — quotes, funny and/or inspiring videos, posts about animals etc. In your post caption, you can include something like “Tag a friend”, “Tag someone who inspires you”, “Tag someone who should be doing this” and so on.
The content needs to be really good though. That’s the key here. If it’s not emotionally moving, it’s not likely people will tag others! get followers on instagram Examples of the ‘tag a friend’ caption Host a giveaway Offer a prize that your followers can’t refuse! It can be books, gadgets, hats, shirts, Amazon gift cards, a product you sell, etc. I’m not gonna go into great detail about this, so here’s an article on how to run an Instagram contest, in case you’re interested. get followers on instagram Run a giveaway contest to help get followers on Instagram. Takeaway: Encourage your followers to become brand ambassadors Create posts where they can ‘tag a friend’ Run a giveaway to increase your reach As with previous milestones, everything we covered before can surely be used to grow your account and help you get followers on Instagram.
However, I want to give my final suggestions that I have seen give good return, especially when you have grown your account over 10k followers. Like I said, having your account Instagram follower number over 10k is magical. It builds credibility and you’re definitely not another random account out there anymore. That being said, you should start thinking about creating a voice outside of Instagram. Having more than 10k followers opens up opportunities for monetization, and you should take advantage of them and focus on building your whole online presence rather than just an Instagram account. I mean sure you can do that, but it really comes down to your end game. Start thinking of your Instagram as a business. What problem are you solving? What value are you delivering? What do your followers “get” from your posts? When you have identified these things, search where your potential audience hangs out and start delivering value. Here’s some ideas what to do: Answer relevant YouTube comments Help people in relevant Reddit subreddits Answer relevant Quora questions Talk with people on relevant Facebook groups Post content on relevant forums Write articles for blogs that your audience might follow These are just some examples of how you could be driving traffic to your profile and working to get followers on Instagram. Like Warren Buffet said, “Never depend on a single income stream”. So why should you only depend on the Instagram ranking algorithm to get followers on Instagram?
Now, this might seem like a lot of work at first. But once you’ve got the hang of it, it becomes relatively easy. Alternatively, you can outsource most of these things. Before you get back to watching Taylor Swift’s latest music video, let me just give you one last method – shoutouts. You can agree on different ways to make the shoutouts. For example they can be as regular posts, video post shoutouts, or shoutouts in Stories. Shoutout post example Here’s an example of a shoutout post There’s a reason I haven’t mentioned them yet. In my own experience, getting shoutouts when your account is still small, can be expensive and quite useless. Sure you can do S4S (shoutout for shoutout) with someone who has similar content and is of similar size even when you both have just 100 followers. But in my opinion, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to start promoting other accounts while your own account is still in early stage. I feel that it’s a little off-putting to your followers.
However, if you’ve built a close relationship with someone and their content resonates with you, it will feel more organic for your followers as well. Otherwise, 10k would be a good starting point for getting into shoutouts. You can try to arrange some sort of an agreement, but most of the time, you will have to pay for shoutouts. Talk to different accounts to get an idea how much they are worth. A shoutout from an account with 100k followers might cost you around $50. Also, the amount of new followers you will receive from a shoutout depends on your content, bio, follower count, followers-to-following ratio, etc. (see Step 2). Takeaway: Establish an online presence outside of Instagram to continuously drive traffic to your account. Collaborate with other Instagram accounts for shoutouts. To conclude That is how to get followers on Instagram! According to statista, Instagram now has over 1 billion monthly active users. This is massive social proof that they have managed to establish a platform that people really love.
As a result, it’s attracting an increasing number of brands, businesses and freelancers that want to grow their presence and use Instagram as a channel to drive more sales. Despite this making it harder than ever to stand out, I’m confident that with the help of this guide + your own creativity, you’ll be ahead of the game in no time! A lot of marketers will probably disagree with me on this, but I’ve recently noticed that posting more content doesn’t necessarily make your account grow faster. Engaging with other Instagrammers does. In the beginning, I used to post twice a day every day. One week, I posted only 2 times or so, but was very active on the platform, leaving comments and likes all over the place, reaching out to users that I would like to collaborate with in the future, and so on. The result? My engagement stayed more or less the same, but I was gaining more daily followers than ever before. The moral of the story is that if you’re on a tight schedule, don’t stress so much about posting more content. Post a few times a week, but make these posts absolutely awesome. Use high quality images/videos and write longer captions that are engaging and helpful! To make the process of content creation less overwhelming during an already busy week, space out a couple of hours at least once a week to prepare a ton of scheduled Instagram content ahead of time. This little “hack” has helped me stay sane like nothing else, and the quality of my content hasn’t had to suffer because of my hectic schedule either.
Write engaging, shareable captions. Captions are an essential part of your post — the icing on the cake if you will. Consistently great captions can do wonders for humanizing your brand, winning over followers, and making your content more shareable — thereby giving you more exposure. Here are a few things you might see in a winning Instagram caption: Clever or witty comments Calls to action Relevant emojis Hashtags Clever or Witty Comments Some brands and influencers have used clever or witty captions, or even audience-appropriate jokes to further humanize themselves on Instagram. My colleague Kelly Hendrickson, HubSpot's social media team manager, says that she loves Netflix's account and sub-accounts, particularly because of the post captions. "They have such a clear brand voice, and you laugh along with them. They're in on the joke, just like one of your friends," she says. example of instagram business account like netflix using clever or witty comments to gain followers on instagram Netflix's voice is casual, trendy, and humorous while still staying on brand. In the post above, the caption is funny, authentic, and relatable. Who hasn't flipped through a friend's Instagram Story with the hope that you'll be featured?
Calls to Action Another way to increase the shareability of your caption and engage your followers is to ask questions or have some sort of call-to-action in the captions of your photos. For example, you might write, "Double-tap if you find this funny," or "share your story in the comments." In the example below, we asked followers of the HubSpot Instagram account to leave a comment with a book that's had a positive impact on their work, along with tagging the author: example of an instagram call to action cta on hubspot instagram account to increase engagement and gain instagram followers Relevant Emojis Adding just a few relevant emojis can add even more personality to your posts. It could also make them even more noticeable on an Instagram feed. In the post below, Danielle Gray, a beauty expert with over 50K followers, includes witty text with relevant emojis to make the post pop. example of instagram user stylenbeautydoc using emojis to help gain instagram followers
Along with the three items listed above, you'll also want to include hashtags. Optimize posts with relevant hashtags. On Instagram, a hashtag ties conversations from different users who wouldn't already be connected into a single stream. If you use relevant hashtags, your posts will gain exposure to a wider audience and help you become discoverable to potential customers. The key to using hashtags effectively is to be selective and use them sparingly. Try to limit the number of hashtags per caption to around three. Similarly, don't use "like for like" hashtags, like #like4like or #like4likes. This is a shortcut tactic that'll only leave you with low-quality followers. To find the hashtags your audience might be using, do a little research on relevant hashtags in your niche or industry. The easiest way to do this research is in the Instagram app itself, in the Explore tab (i.e., the magnifying glass icon). When you search for one hashtag, it'll show you a list of related hashtags at the top of your screen.
For example, when I search for #digitalmarketingstrategy on Instagram, it shows me relevant hashtags like #digitalmarketingexpert, #digitalmarketing, and so on. gain instagram followers by optimizing using relevant hashtags To help relate to your followers on a personal level, you might consider hopping on hashtag trends like #tbt ("Throwback Thursday"), #MotivationMonday, #TransformationTuesday, or other trending hashtags. Here's a post from Fanmdjanm, a headwrap collection and lifestyle brand with over 150K followers on its Instagram account, using the #HappyMothersDay hashtag: Once you build up a bit of a following, you can try creating your own hashtags — like your company name or a slogan that applies to your content. This is a great way to build up your brand on the platform and build a more cohesive presence. Lean into trending content formats. With the arrival of TikTok on the social media scene, short-form videos have become one of the most effective content formats on social media.
In fact, according to a HubSpot Blog survey, 85% of marketers who use short-form videos find them to be the most effective content format. And 95% of marketers who leverage short-form videos plan to increase their investment or continue investing the same amount in 2022. That's why it's important to lean into trending content formats. After TikTok, Instagram came out with IG Reels, and this feature is a great way to post funny, relatable content. When Instagram comes out with new tools, like IG Reels, don't be afraid to use those features because they can help you gain Instagram followers. 10. Post content your followers want to see. To gain your first 1,000 followers on Instagram, it's important to know who your audience is. Once you've created your Instagram account, you should take note of which posts perform best. Is it interactive content, behind-the-scenes stories, funny and relatable posts, or something else? When you have a general idea of what performs best, continue to create that type of content. Additionally, Instagram has many tools and features you can use: IGTV, IG Reels, Instagram Stories, Instagram Live, Highlights, etc. Begin by posting several types of content formats and see which one does best. Then, come up with a strategy and master that one tool. Doing so will help you create content your followers want to see and gain new followers.
Promote your Instagram. Like the old adage about a tree falling in a forest, if you start an Instagram account without promoting it, is the account even real yet? Well, yes. But, you'll have fewer followers. One of the best ways to gain followers on Instagram is to promote your account. Embed posts in your blogs (like you see a few on this post), post on your other social media platforms, and share social links in your email newsletters. A great way to gain followers on one platform is to ask current followers on other platforms if they want to follow you somewhere else as well. Additionally, to promote your Instagram, it's important to get started with Instagram promotions and ads. This will help you reach a wider audience. I know it might seem like ads are only effective for selling certain products, but I've followed several business accounts because of a sponsored post I saw.
Engage with users through follows, likes, and comments. Instagram is very much a community, and one great way to get involved in that community is to find people who post pictures that interest you, follow their accounts and interact with their content. It's the most natural way to draw attention to your own Instagram account. This accomplishes two things: for one, when they get the notification that you've followed them, there's a good chance they'll check out your profile. This goes back to the importance of having great content on your account before you start reaching out to others. Secondly, it means you'll be seeing their recent posts in your feed, so you can Like and interact with them if you choose to. As you build a following, celebrate your followers by responding to and pinning their comments, and even reposting their posts for user-generated content. 13. Cross-promote with influencers and brands with similar audiences. Once you build rapport with the folks behind accounts with similar audiences to your own, consider collaborating with them. Partnering with influencers and brands helps with discoverability, reach, and social proof.
For instance, influencer Sweetlikeoyin who has around 60K followers, posted a sponsored image of herself on the beach wearing a dress from Lulu's. The clothing brand then published the same image. With this partnership, both accounts can expand their reach and gain new followers. It's a win-win. However, be sure to create content that seems natural and makes sense for your brands and collective audience. 14. Run Instagram contests to encourage engagement. Another great way to expand your reach while increasing engagement with your photos is to run a contest or giveaway. As part of your contest, you can ask users to follow your account, like, and/or comment on the post to be eligible to win. I mean, come on. Who doesn't love winning free stuff? You can also add a user-generated content (UGC) element to the contest, too, where people post a photo of their own and use a specific hashtag. Here's an example from PlayaBowlsNortheastern, where followers were asked to follow Playa Bowls as well as their brand partner, Scoop and Sushi, and tag a friend in the comments. In exchange, followers had the chance to win a free bowl:
Explore Instagram Stories' interactive features. Instagram has always given brands the platform to share beautiful, curated photos to represent their companies. However, with the introduction of ephemeral Instagram Stories, brands can also share on-the-fly, behind-the-scenes looks for 24 hours that may not be as polished as a published photo, but give your brand more personality on the platform. Just look at how Snapchat exploded a few years ago. Once platforms like Instagram and Facebook introduced similar features, it made those apps more valuable and interesting in the eyes of users. Although Snapchat pioneered this feature, Instagram Stories now has over 500 million daily users. Along with sharing video clips and static images through Instagram Stories, users can also use polls, event reminders, and the "Ask a Question," tool to gain more engagement and learn more about their audiences. Once a user is verified or has over 10,000 followers, they can even include a link to a webpage within a story.
How Brands Can Use Instagram Stories Instagram Stories disappear after 24 hours unless they are marked as a "Story Highlight." Highlighted stories will show up at the top of your profile between the photo feed and your bio. dope scrubs using instagram stories to help gain more instagram followers in story highlights Image Source Here are a few other brands we recommend following to see what they're sharing: Dana Shultz (Minimalistbaker) publishes easy vegan and gluten-free recipes on her blog. Her Stories feature neat how-to videos of her making breakfast and testing out new recipes in her kitchen. The behind-the-scenes aspect of her Stories provides a lot of human context for her blog's brand, and everybody loves a good how-to video.
One of their latest Instagram Stories featured someone watching "The Sopranos" in bed, with the caption: "Who needs plans when you have five more seasons?" This video supports Casper's campaign to stay in bed with a very real look at what millions of people do when they're hanging out at home. Here are our tips for using Instagram Stories for your brand: Whether it's funny, sad, or unique, be authentic. Your photo gallery is where content can be perfect and polished. Instagram Stories are for the raw, unscripted, and unretouched. Use Stories to share the other side of your brand that followers might not be able to see elsewhere. Do you have a dog-friendly office? Is your team trying out the latest challenge? Start filming to showcase the more human side of your brand. Go behind the scenes. These are by far our favorite types of content for ephemeral video sharing. Show followers what goes into the planning of an event or the launching of a product, and make it fun. Your followers want to feel included and in the know. You could also use Stories to cultivate a brand loyalty program that only rewards people who check out your content. 16. Use the Instagram Live feature. Instagram also lets users record and share Live videos, another content format that's proven to be hugely popular on other social networks. What's unique about Live videos on Instagram? They disappear when users stop filming.
This authentic, bi-directional experience lets brands share unscripted, raw moments with their audience to incorporate human elements into a social media platform that's highly edited and polished in its traditional use. Since the Live feature launched, Instagram has added even more features that may enable further engagement or interactions from viewers, such as: Request feature to go live with the live account Pinned comment Q&A box Up to four accounts on Live at a time Filters Live video is a growing trend across a variety of social media platforms, so if something interesting is happening, start rolling. Whether it's an event, a team birthday party, or behind-the-scenes footage, your devoted followers want to see what you're up to. And if you want to make it even more interesting, you could collaborate with an influencer or another brand to host a Live. With people that your audience is interested in, you can promote this Live event, and then host it on your profile. Promoting this type of event will help you tap into someone else's audience while interacting and engaging with your followers by answering their questions and talking to them during the Live.
Share your profile link on your website and social media channels. Have a website? Newsletter? YouTube channel? Make sure you include a link to your Instagram on every single platform. The first place you'll want to make sure to add an Instagram badge is your website, specifically your footer and "About Us" page. Here's what the badge could look like: example of instagram user linking to other business accounts to help gain 1000 instagram followers If your brand has brick-and-mortar locations, put out a good ol' print call-to-action letting people know you have an Instagram account and encouraging them to follow you. You can also place them on your business cards. You might even offer a discount code for doing so. Also, be sure to promote your Instagram account on your other digital platforms. Chances are, the folks who already follow you on Facebook and Twitter will also follow you on Instagram without much prodding. Let those followers know you're on Instagram and encourage them to follow you there.
Buy FollowersPost user-generated content. Similar to cross-promotion, brands can publish user-generated content to show appreciation for existing customers and generate social proof at the same time. If I see a regular person endorsing a product on Instagram, I'm more likely to believe they really like the product. The same is true for most consumers. That's why sites like Yelp are so popular. Ultimately, user-generated content can be an excellent strategy when trying to increase brand awareness and trust in your products or services. For instance, Bevel reposted a video from blogger Rickey Scott using and recommending their products to their 600+ followers. Posting Scott using Bevel is a smart move. Firstly, the product is designed with black men in mind. Having Scott, who is part of the brand's target demographic, recommend the product serves as the social proof the brand wants. Furthermore, part of Scott's audience will likely fall within Bevel's target audience. Simply put, the two brands have similar audiences and brands that align well, which is why it's a good opportunity for Bevel to promote Scott's content. 19. Diversify your audience to resonate with different types of users. As your followers grow, it can be tricky to identify what content types will resonate with them. With this in mind, divide your audience into sub-groups and target your content to various demographics.
For instance, if you have 200K followers, those followers probably come from different regions of the world, have different interests and hobbies, and likely have different careers. Rather than post all-encompassing content that will satisfy all your followers at once, conduct some analytics research to separate them into smaller sub-groups. Take Starbucks as a good example of this. Starbucks has close to 18 million followers. There's no way the global coffee brand can post content to satisfy 18 million people at once — and it doesn't try to. Instead, Starbucks regularly posts more exclusive content geared towards particular groups, such as this post they published celebrating #TeacherAppreciationWeek: how to gain more instagram followers tip to diversify your audience like Starbucks appealing to teachers, students, and other groups of people This post won't appeal to the majority of Starbucks followers who aren't teachers, but that's OK. You don't always need to post content to please everyone. Instead, demonstrate your company's ability to connect and engage with sub-groups and post what aligns with your own brand's values. Education is something that matters to Starbucks, so by posting about teachers, they're doing more to demonstrate their values than they are appealing to everyone. Which is kind of the point, isn't it?
Apply for a verification badge. When an account on Instagram is verified, it has a blue dot, called a badge, next to the username. When another user comes across this profile or finds the verified username in search, the blue dot confirms to them that the account is the business, individual, or brand that it's claiming to be. how to gain followers on instagram tip apply for blue check verification badge for authenticity Image Source While Instagram has a list of eligibility requirements for the badge, the platform does allow users to apply for one. You can learn more about that process on Instagram's Help Center. 21. Create your own filters and badges. When it's time to promote a new product or feature, creating your own filters, stickers, or badges can help you reach a new audience. You can learn how to create your own filter or sticker to jazz up your Instagram Stories. The best way to do this is to use these on highly shareable posts that followers will want to add to their own Stories. This way, you'll reach their audiences and your users will promote your page for you. 22. Tag relevant users. Another way to gain more followers on Instagram is to tag relevant users in your posts. Your posts will then show up in that person's tagged posts, and anyone who looks through there will find your page (and hopefully, follow).
However, it's important that you only tag people who are in the photo, or relevant to the photo. For example, many times, influencers tag the clothing or makeup brands they wore in a photo. Post content that's meant to be re-shared. Each post on your Instagram should have a purpose. It could be to generate likes, comments, engagement, shares, etc. However, you can't expect followers to re-share content just for the heck of it. There needs to be a reason. Because of this, reverse engineer your Instagram posts. Think, "What type of content would my audience re-share?" Then, create that content. It could be a quote, a meme, an infographic, statistics, etc. To gain new followers, you should post content that's meant to be re-shared, so that when others do re-share it on their own Instagram Stories and tag you, their audience will find you and follow you. Get on the Instagram Explore page. Getting on the Instagram Explore page is easier said than done. We get that. However, creating posts that are aimed at getting on the Explore page means you'll be creating easily shareable and trendy content. Think about viral trends and create a video that your audience might engage with. Additionally, use hashtags and tag other users and brands in those posts.
Instagram's Explore Page algorithm also seems to grab content that has more engagement, especially if said engagement happens in the first few hours of posting. In Instagram's case, quality is better than quantity, and getting interaction from influential users (i.e. having a higher follower count) is one of the best ways to do it. Share educational content with Instagram slides. Similar to creating content that's meant to be re-shared, you can also create educational content in the form of Instagram slides. Instagram slides have become a popular way to educate audiences on an idea or topic. Think about what you can educate your audience on and then create a simple Instagram slide post with an engaging title that entices users to click on the post. With this type of content, you can share the post on your Stories, and then hopefully other users will be compelled by the content to share on their Stories as well. 26. Host an Instagram account takeover. When you're collaborating with influencers and other brands, think about hosting an Instagram account takeover. You can have an influencer take over your Stories for the day, and promote this on their own Stories. Then, you'll get their followers to follow along with the Stories and hopefully follow your account. Additionally, you can ask an influencer or brand if you can take over their Stories, and interact with their audience as a way to promote your own account.
Quality Over Quantity Still Matters Ultimately, it's important to focus less on the number of followers you have, and more on the quality of content you create. Your audience will grow naturally if you put effort and time into creating engaging, informative, or inspirational content without worrying about "quick fixes" for boosts in followers. You want to play the long game on Instagram, and that starts with focusing on what you can control: the quality of the content you produce, the messages you promote, and the brand you build. Editor's note: This post was originally published in February 2016 and has been updated for comprehensiveness. Instagram is a growing channel that lets individuals and businesses alike expand their brand. For businesses especially, it's a way to humanize your brand, recruit future employees, showcase your product and company culture, delight customers, and generate new business. But here's the deal: Unless you're famous, it's really hard to amass a huge following on Instagram without some hard work. For the average person or business, growing your following takes time and attention on a daily basis. Luckily, there are a few things you can do right away to collect at least 1,000 quality followers for your personal or professional Instagram account. It's all about knowing where to invest your time and effort — by customizing your profile, curating excellent content, writing clever copy, using hashtags, and working with influencers and fans to incentivize engagement.
Let's dive into how to gain those first 1,000 followers — from creating a follow-worthy Instagram profile to using contests to staying true to your brand. New Data: Instagram Engagement Report [2022 Version] How to Buy Instagram Followers and Likes (and Why It’s a Bad Idea) How to Get More Followers on Instagram The Best Instagram Apps to Get Followers How to Buy Instagram Followers and Likes (and Why It’s a Bad Idea) Let’s just get this out of the way: yes, you can buy Instagram followers and likes. Does this mean you should buy Instagram followers and likes? Definitely not. While many social influencers and major brands work hard to build an organic following, there are some who choose to buy followers with the hopes of increasing their social reach and engagement. Buying followers is cheap — some companies charge less than $5 for hundreds of followers. And with the growing pressure to have thousands of Instagram followers and fans, it’s understandable why some resort to buying them.
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