Have you been posting on Instagram without seeing great results on your followers count? I know, it can be very discouraging when you aren’t growing relevant followers for your Instagram account after so much work.
Today I will be writing all about how to increase your Instagram followers. Let’s start with the basics. Growing your Instagram account falls onto three main categories.
- Quality
- Consistency
- Relevancy
Are you posting just for the sake of posting? Or do you have a strategy set up with a clearly defined goal with ways to achieve and measure your results?
Before you start your Instagram follower growth, I recommend you start by reading the 10 most common social media marketing mistakes, and how to get your social media strategy started in 3 simple steps. Once you’ve understood what social media is all about, you can continue to increase your followers.
Okay, let’s get into the good stuff.
1) Post quality content
If you expect people to follow you just because, then you have the wrong idea about social media, especially Instagram. There are a total of ONE BILLION active users on Instagram in 2019. If your content isn’t quality content, then you are just wasting your time. Do not post for the sake of posting. Again, this is why a goal and strategy is so crucial for your follower growth. The more quality content you post, the more people want to continue seeing valuable insights every single day.
When posting on Instagram as a business, you should always ask yourself these questions before hitting the “post” button:
- How does this post help users on Instagram? Does it give them valuable knowledge or insights?
- Am I addressing their pain points?
- Am I giving proof that my products/services are the best in the industry?
Think of Instagram as your background check. For people who are coming to your account are either:
- interested in buying your product/service
- want to learn more about your product/service
2) Don’t be afraid to find your target audience & direct message them
Don’t be scared to follow your target audience. This is another way of getting in front of your potential users. If you see users following certain accounts that relate to your business, then go ahead and give them a follow. You are essentially putting yourself in front of them, and unless they have thousands of followers, chances are, they will check out your profile when they see that you have followed them.
For example, if you are a vitamin supplement shop, and you see users following health-related accounts about nutrition and vitamins, giving them a follow may spark a want in your product. They may think “Hey I would like to buy some vitamins! Let me check them out and see if they would be worth my purchase” This is why you should always have your profiles fully optimized. As SOON as a user lands on your Instagram account, they should know exactly what you are right away. Are you a digital marketing agency? You better have that right in your BIO.
If you have users who are following you and are engaged with your account (they like your pictures, watch your stories, and comment on your posts) then go ahead and message them! You may have a special promotion going on and would like to share it with them. Make sure you find a balance between promoting yourself to them but not being too pushy with the selling. Directly message them and tell them what you do, why it’s so great, and the fantastic promotion you have that they should take advantage of. Create urgency.
3) Do not buy fake followers/likes
With over 1 billion active users on Instagram, we know that there are a lot of spam accounts. Did you know that there is a whole business going on with fake followers? People can buy followers and likes, and this is why all of these users are considered ‘active’ because they get paid to like and follow random people. Many clients have told me that social media agencies guarantee them a certain amount of followers; how do they do this? By buying the followers. I always explain to my clients that this is not good, at all. This is very similar to buying spamming, low-quality backlinks to your website. This DECREASES your authority on Google and buying fake followers decreases your RELEVANCY on Instagram.
You may be wondering, “but even if they are fake followers, doesn’t this give me more exposure on Instagram, and won’t they rank me higher?” No. Much like Google, Instagram’s algorithm is always changing. In 2018, they switched from a timeline to a relevancy newsfeed. This means that before your newsfeed was sorted based on TIME, a chronological timeline. With a skyrocketing amount fo active users, Instagram switched over and now they prioritize relevancy. This means that the accounts you interact with the most, and the most popular accounts are the ones at the top of your newsfeed, not necessarily the latest posts. Don’t get me wrong though; time still does matter to an extent. Your post from 3 days ago will not rank number one on people’s timeline just because it got a lot of likes.
Buying fake followers may increase your number, but your post will only be more relevant to those fake followers. The algorithm is based on your interaction with the accounts, so if your interaction is only with fake followers, you will rank at the top of fake followers’ news feed. This means that you’re getting further and further away from your real audience.
4) Choose relevant hashtags & location to help users find you
Much like keywords on your website and on your ads, hashtags help users find you. Let’s say you are a clothing store in Toronto, then on every single post you make, should have a hashtag that says #TorontoClothingStore and alternatives of it. If you are a local store, then you should also always add your location. These are the small steps that many business owners ignore, assuming that they don’t help their follower count at all. But it does.
If you aren’t promoting yourself based on your category and location, then how do you expect people to find you? Do you think they are going to have some revelation and magically end up on your account? Absolutely not! The same way we run ads and implement endless SEO on websites so that they can be found when people search for specific keywords on search engines, the same way you should be applying your hashtags. Instagram lets you add up to 30 hashtags per post. Take full advantage of this and add 30 relevant hashtags to every single post you make. Please avoid adding hashtags such as #FollowMe, or #PopularAccount. Again, you will attract the wrong followers, and this will only be a waste of your time. Think of your hashtags as keywords, and implement hashtags you think your potential customers are looking for.
Now let me tell you a little secret, the hashtags on your posts also help your ranking on search engines. I know! Crazy! So many people do not take advantage of this. This is why digital marketing is such a complex and time-consuming way to market. Unlike traditional marketing, you do not just write one piece of marketing, print it, deliver it, and you’re done. Digital marketing is CONSTANT, and your business name should be EVERYWHERE on the web. Every time you add your business’ name across all platforms, you are increasing your exposure on Google. As soon as search engines crawl content (this includes Instagram), your content is set on search engines.
5) Consistency
The one fantastic post you made two weeks ago, will no longer matter today unless you have 10 million followers. You have to stay on top of everything and top of your followers’ news feed. Posting twice a week is not enough for a business; people will forget about you.
If you aren’t consistently reminding people why you are so amazing, then they don’t know. Out of mind out of sight. Remember this expression when it comes to marketing your business on social media. Without showing users your knowledge; they can’t trust you. Buyers today are impatient, curious and demanding. They are impatient because they expect things right when they need them. They are curious because they want to KNOW about your product; they want to be convinced. They are demanding TRUST. Trust takes a long time to build, just like SEO. Without slowly building your brand awareness online and showing them little by little that you are the number one in your industry, then trust is tough to achieve.
There you have it! You can do it.
Gaining followers on Instagram used to be much easier than it is nowadays. You have to be continually optimizing and connecting with users to gain followers. Many people have the idea that if you simply just post the users will come to you. This is not the case. You have to be involved on Instagram. You have to put yourself in front of people, the same way we do with ads, mail flyers and radio commercials. You have to be there and have your chance to present yourself. Post quality content, add the right hashtags and locations to attract relevant users, post every day, and do not be afraid to message and follow your potential customers. It’s all about engagement and connecting with your audience.
