It’s no secret that Instagram has become a cornerstone of many brands’ social media presence. This single social channel alone can build an engaged audience, drive profitable traffic to landing pages, and grow conversions. 

Now, if your Instagram presence isn’t performing as well as you had hoped, it is probably time to evaluate and strategies. The name of the game is getting real, organic followers on Instagram. Remember – the larger your audience grows, the more opportunities you will have to engage with new users and create unique and wonderful experiences for them.

At the end of the day, the number on your Instagram following will ultimately mean nothing if it doesn’t represent an authentic and engaged fan following. Instead, you should start building your presence up the right way. With that said, let’s get into it! 

The Top 10 Ways to Grow On Instagram 

Real quick – let’s talk for a quick moment about why the organic distinction is important. You see, sometimes brands will try and take the easy way out when trying to get more Instagram followers. This entails using third party services to pay for likes and followers. These shortcuts are really never worth it, and it’s frowned upon by Instagram. The algorithm regularly gets updated to sift out paid, low quality accounts and engagements. So either way you slice it, this approach won’t work. 

Make Sure You’ve Optimized your Instagram Account

First thing is first, here. Before you set out to become the next big thing on Instagram, one of the most important steps is to make sure that your account is fully optimized. These action items include, making sure your profile photo is up to date, your instagram bio is accurate, and any web links are active. Think about it – without a bio, image captions, a proper username or profile image, how will people know the account belongs to you or your brand?

It’s oftentimes an oversight, but on Instagram things like your profile photo and website are foundations of your brand identity- specifically the link in your bio. This is the one spot where you can drive instagram traffic to your site (or wherever you wish for your audience to go), so optimizing this part of your account is essenti al.If you can’t decide on a single website or landing page to send your audience to, consider using a program like Linktr.ee. With Linktr.ee you essentially create a simple landing page that hosts multiple websites.  You can share any links you choose!

Additionally, you should keep your username as search-friendly as possible. This usually means sticking as close to your actual brand name as possible. If your business name is longer, consider shortening it to something your audience would recognize.

Try to avoid adding numbers or special characters to your username, and if possible keep it under the same name as the other social media handles you already have.

Use A Content Calendar

The last thing that you want to do when you’re trying to obtain new clients on Instagram is to post random content at random times. There are specific times of the week (and times of the day) where your particular audience is most likely online and checking their social media. 

This might take a little investigating and audit of your analytics, but it’s worth the time and effort. 

In general, brands shouldn’t over-post – this starts to look like spam. On the contrary, brands shouldn’t under-post as well- this makes it look like you’re not really active on your account. There’s a perfect balance, and you’ll find this the more that you test things out. Whatever your cadence, try to keep it consistent. 

The reason why we stress sticking to a schedule is because it will help you build out a consistent experience with your audience. And if you’re feeling stressed about having to remember to publish all of your content, there are several tools that can help you organize yourself, schedule and post. Hootsuite, Sprout, and Later are just some of our favorites. 

Review Your Analytics 

We know that understanding Instagram analytics and translating the jargon into useful takeaways can be very overwhelming. However, not to worry. It’s not as scary as it appears. 

Firstly, you should forget the complicated formulas and technical terminology. What you really need to be focusing on with your Instagram analytics are the things you can change, adapt, and adopt to help boost your engagement and growth.

Understanding Instagram analytics and what the data means will not only support the work you’re already doing, but it can also spark new ideas for your strategy and improve work that you’ve already done. It’s a win-win! 

Instagram analytics will go beyond which posts get the most likes or comments. The analytics will get a much broader picture of your account’s overall health, and it can help you analyze your audience’s demographics, patterns, and behaviors.

At the end of the day, it is the best way to make informed decisions and adjustments to your content strategy.

Getting Partners, Advocates and Brand Influencers to Work with You 

Social media and your online audience is an incredibly invaluable gift when it comes to your business and brand. You can reach potentially hundreds of thousands of people without even leaving your sofa. It’s pretty amazing.  

Without question, the best way to get customers to follow you is to get in front of them and be completely present. It’s critical to be present on your own Instagram as well as being active and engaging on other accounts. 

One tactic you can try is to sponsor user-generated content to get your brand in customers’ feeds. You can also try holding Instagram contests to get your brand

out there to a larger audience. Campaigns like this build social proof by showing that your fans are indeed invested enough to repost your content- or even create their own UGC.

Another tactic is to work with larger Instagram accounts in your industry, such as notable influencers in your space. The goal here is to share your content to their audience. You’ll want to be sure that you’re providing something of value, and not coming off as too salesy. Make it a point to find marketing collaborations and co-marketing plans with other businesses that make sense for both parties involved.

Avoid Fake Followers

Here’s the deal: Fake followers are not the answer to your Instagram woes. In fact, there’s a huge difference between an Instagram account that has fake and legitimate followers. We know that it might seem tempting to simply purchase followers, but believe us – the backlash completely outweighs the perks of organic follower growth.

Fake Instagram followers tend to:

Deceive Followers: If your audience comes to an inactive Instagram feed with tens of thousands of followers, this will lower the account’s credibility. Don’t trick people into following you by buying a fake audience. Instead, build trust and long-lasting relationships for better engagement. This process takes longer, but it’s completely worth it.

Have No ROI: People (actual humans) follow brands on Instagram for a particular reason– they like what you’re posting, or they like your company and brand in general. This audience is actual spenders and will bring in monetary value to your business.

Create Little Buzz: Okay, let’s say you have 10,000 fake followers – it looks cool on the follow count, but how many of those followers are going to like, comment, and actually engage with your content. The answer is likely 0. Not to mention, these bot accounts will eventually be cleaned up by Instagram, and your Instagram account will appear essentially empty.

Remember that real people have the ability to comment, share, like, and engage with your Instagram posts. Not to mention, real users enjoy engaging with real users. You can’t talk to a robot, so choose to make some real friends instead! 

Be a Showoff 

When it comes to social media, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to show it off. How else are people going to find an account unless you promote it? You should make sure that your Instagram account is listed within your website and other social media networks.

It’s worth reminding yourself that creating visibility and awareness is one of the best ways to get discovered. If your goal is to truly get more Instagram followers, you need to let people know where to find you. You can do this by simply adding social media buttons to your website, newsletter, and beyond. 

Post What the Followers Want 

Content, content, content. It may be easier said than done, but it is smart to learn what content your followers want to see. You may quickly find that on Instagram some content may perform better than others. This is why it’s important to test and play with it.

You should also be keeping your ear to the ground with new Instagram trends so you know you’re reassured that you’re posting popular content. It can be filters, captions, content types or post times- this is always shifting in the social media world. Make sure that you’re staying up to date and “hip” with it all! 

Stay in Communication 

Without question, one of the best ways to make users are aware of your Instagram is through conversation. Try to be engaging and respond to as many questions or comments as possible. This could mean the difference between getting a new customer, follower or even improving your relationship with your audience. 

Use Hashtags That Convert 

If you’ve ever wondered if hashtags are even worth it, the answer is YES! In fact, one of the most tried-and-true ways to get followers on Instagram is through hashtags. For years, hashtags have been serving as an essential tool for discovery. It’s allowed social media marketers to extend their reach in big ways.  As a marketer, you want to build your community by gaining followers and hashtags provide just that. Trying to highlight your Instagram content in a sea of millions of pictures and videos is not an easy thing to do – and hashtags help cut through the noise. 

But how does it actually work, you ask? The key is to find hashtags that people in your target audience are more likely to check. If a solid and relevant connection is made, users will be more likely to follow your account. 

Understanding how your hashtags perform on Instagram is equally critical to using them. Bottom line – don’t sleep on hashtags. Learn about them and use them!

To Conclude…

Instagram continues to grow in popularity with audiences. Although new platforms may come out and steal the spotlight, this social media channel is still incredibly popular and a great resource for your business and brand. Tale advantage of these tips to get followers and increase your reach!

We would love to assist you with any of your Instagram needs. To learn more about our services, please visit us at www.dalexdesigngroup.com or www.dalexsocials.com