Instagram is a great way to showcase your business and yourself to the world. The visual platform allows you to share beautiful and creative images that highlight your business, your talented employees, your personality and unique behind-the-scenes moments. While you may have awesome content that you regularly share, gaining a large amount of followers requires hard work and strategy. As we look at ways to expand your followers and become an Instagram all-star, remember, no matter how many followers you do acquire, quality is key to growing an engaged following. You want a following that interacts with you or your business and rallies behind your brand.
Let’s look at 9 ways you can increase your followers and your engagement.
1. Optimize Your Profile
When creating your profile, you want to make sure it showcases who you are and gives people a reason to follow you. Make sure you select a profile picture that represents you. If you’re a business, your logo is a good choice. When completing the bio section, include relevant content about your company. Also, make sure to include a link to your website that will take followers directly to your site. This is the one and only place on Instagram that allows for a clickable link.
2. Use Relevant Hashtags
By using hashtags relevant to your brand, industry or product in your photo captions, more people will be exposed to your posts. One of the easiest ways to find hashtags that are being used in your industry is through the search tab in Instagram. Just search for a hashtag and then you’ll be able to see a list of related hashtags. I searched #socialmediatips and other hashtags that came up were #socialmediamarketing and #socialmarketing.
3. Use Popular (Already Established) Hashtags
One of my favorites is #MondayMotivation. Who doesn’t love a little inspiration at the beginning of the week? A few other ones are #tbt (Throwback Thursday), #FanFriday and #WednesdayWisdom.
I would recommend using hashtags sparingly. I typically like to use no more than four.
4. Post Quality Images
Smartphones have come a long way these days and that makes it easier to post quality images. Remember, Instagram is visual, make your photos memorable! There are tons of great editing apps that can help breathe life into your photos. One I like is ProCam. Not only does it have editing capabilities, it turns your iPhone into a DSLR camera.
5. Be Consistent
You have to be consistent and strategic in your Instagram posting schedule if you want to see results. I recommend having a social media strategy in place as you build your Instagram followers. This will help you stay focused on your goals and consistent in your posting schedule. To answer the question about how often you should post to Instagram, that’s a little tough. Every person and business is different. I do like the idea of posting daily (if you have quality content – don’t post so-so content just to hit the once a day mark). I think if you can try to post daily, your followers won’t forget you and they won’t feel like you are spamming them. Again, test this out. Track the engagement of your posts for a month and see if you’re gaining followers and increasing engagement. If you aren’t seeing the results you hoped for, maybe it’s time to adjust your posting frequency.
6. Be Engaging and Interact with Followers
As you grow your Instagram followers, remember that you are building a community. With that, you want to make sure that your account isn’t just a one-way street. Create engaging posts that excite your followers and allows them to take part in the conversation. A good way to do that is to ask a question in your caption. For example, if you’re running a donut shop, you likely post photos of the different kinds of donuts you offer. In the caption, you might say, “Check out our newest delight. It pairs well with coffee or milk. Tell us what you prefer to drink with your sweet treat!”
7. Create a Contest
Running a contest on Instagram is a great way to grow your followers. People get excited about contests, especially if you are giving away something. Let’s say you own a clothing boutique. You could offer 20 percent off a purchase to one lucky follower. For the contest, you require people to like your page and tell you what they like to wear most. You can then select one random winner to receive the 20 percent off coupon. Not only is this a great way to gain followers, but it increases awareness about your brand and increases engagement by asking followers what they like to wear.
8. Promote Your Instagram Account
No matter how often you post or how awesome your content is, you’ll want to promote your Instagram account. You can do that on your other social media accounts and on your marketing material. If you have a business card or email signature, you can include your social media accounts on those. If you send out a weekly/monthly digital newsletter, include your Instagram account somewhere on the newsletter. You can even share your top Instagram photo of the month in your newsletter.
9. Share Your Personality
Instagram is a great way to show who you are, even if you are a business. You can share behind-the-scene moments, add personality to your photo captions and engage with your followers. You should have fun on Instagram and make sure to connect with your followers.
If you have tips on how to grow your Instagram followers, please share in the comments.
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