Just as nothing comes easy, growing an Instagram account with lots of followers takes efforts and time. Those who choose to use fake followers, do this with the hope of boosting their numbers but end up losing resources as well as a good reputation for their accounts. Even though it takes you some few years, getting real followers that invest in your brand brings growth to your account. Below are the strategies you should use to grow your Instagram followers organically.
Research
Understanding your followers by conducting research will help you know they preferences. Research regarding the age group, gender, and location of your audience enables you to achieve relevance in your posts. You will know what kind of language to use by familiarizing yourself with the age group of your followers.
Timing determines the success on an account. It helps you target the time when most of your followers are online so that your posts can reach most of them at the right time. Instagram allows you to view the specific days and hours in which you have most active followers. Researching more on these aspects give you a better Instagram following.
Consistency
To build an audience, you need to be consistent with your post. Ensure that you post at least once in a day so that you can keep your followers busy on a daily basis. Instagram gives you better chances of posting lots of items, but you should not overdo it. Apply an adequate scheduling tool to help you stay consistent.
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Captivating photos
Choose a specific theme and stick to it. Let your audience identify you with a particular subject. Filter your photos similarly so that they are coherent. Captivating images need proper preparation before you decide to post them. Take your time deciding on what your audience will love best before posting anything. Using analytics helps you understand what your followers like most by looking at the impressions and engagements a particular post gets. Avoid displaying items that you are not sure about, instead, plan so that you don’t run out of content.
Come up with lifestyle content
Lifestyle content helps an audience relate to your posts. For instance, when selling a particular product, using lifestyle content helps an audience understand how the product works in real life to help you demonstrate the importance of your brand. This creates a relationship with your audience and triggers conversations regarding the product you are advertising from your account.
Hashtags
Both branded and community hashtags come in handy in growing your Instagram organically. Use a branded hashtag to achieve precision when targeting your particular audience. Community hashtags also help you resonate with your followers. Use relevant hashtags that are not exaggerated to entice them. Even if Instagram gives you the liberty to use up to 30 hashtags per post, overusing them is not healthy for your post.
Research on the most appropriate hashtags for each post. Ensure that your photos and hashtags blend as you use them regularly. Low competition hashtags show that you went an extra mile than using popular ones that are common with everybody. Use short, clear hashtags that do not exceed your caption text.
User-generated content
When you encourage your followers to create content, it gets them more involved as they end up sharing such material, thus, increasing sales. This boost credibility among followers as you learn more about your consumers. You also relieve your content team burden of coming up with new ideas by encouraging followers to generate more content. You can come up with contests and promotions to give your followers discounts and prizes as they submit user-generated content. Encourage your followers to tag friends to be part of such contests.
Advertise your Instagram on various channels
Use other social media platforms such as Twitter and email newsletter to let your audience know that you have an account on Instagram. Alert your email recipients regarding your Insta profile by setting an Instagram icon to your email signature. Target a large audience on Facebook and Tumblr and encourage them to like your posts on Instagram and follow you. Use widgets on Facebook to enlighten your audience regarding your Insta feed. You can also share your Instagram content on platforms such as Facebook to gain more followers.
Appling tagging and geolocation
Growing Instagram followers need you to work with others. Work hand in hand with similar brands so that they can give you consent to tag them in your photos and captions. This makes people associate you with them thus boosting popularity. Always use geolocation tags while posting from famous places known by most Instagrammers.
Move with the trend
Instagram features keep on changing. Ensure that you keep up with the changing trends to make it fun for your audience. Captivating features such as face masks, filters, and stickers in your Instagram stories boost creativity. It also shows that you are trendy making it easy to draw more followers to your account. You can always engage your followers using polls to understand their tastes.
Influencer marketing
Build healthy relationships with competitor companies that have similar target audience so that you can learn from them. This will help you know the imagery they use, the tone they apply to their photos and how successful their strategies are to increase following.
Working with such brands may earn you a repost or a mention which is a sign of progress. Ensure that you like and comment on such accounts. You can also come up with a project that can help both accounts grow. Choose a successful influencer marketer that has the experience to help you develop your account. Marketers increase your brand awareness and help you retain customers as they grow your Instagram following.
Final thoughts
Whether you intend to get more traffic for your blog or create brand awareness, growing Instagram followers organically, helps you achieve this effect. You may struggle at first but fake followers should not cross your mind because they will never make you grow. Use the tips discussed above to take your feed to the next level and remember what matters most is the relationships you create and how fun you make it for your followers.