Are you looking for the best tips and tricks to retain Instagram followers? If you are, keep reading this article.
Today’s growing online community is vital to the success of companies. Because of this, many businesses have opted to embrace the use of social media platforms to promote their brand, and one popular choice is Instagram.
Using this social media platform, you’ll be able to grow your target audience, drive more traffic to your site, and consequently boost conversions.
After successfully achieving the difficult task of growing your number of followers, you shouldn’t stop there. Instead, shift your focus to keep them engaged with insightful content or risk losing them.
It is bound to happen despite the number of Instagram followers periodically following ups and downs. Consistency in providing quality content or posts on your IG account is essential in maintaining your brand’s online visibility.
And to help you out, here’s a look at tips and tricks on how to best retain your Instagram followers.
Tips and Tricks to Retain Instagram Followers Tips and Tricks to Retain Instagram Followers
Now, let’s look at the 11 best tips to retain Instagram followers.
1) Monitor Your Followers 1) Monitor Your Followers
You always want to know the number of new follows and unfollows at the end of each day. Luckily, this shouldn’t be a challenge because numerous free apps help you track the trend of being followed and unfollowed in real-time.
Knowing such insights will help you determine patterns that can help you reduce the loss of real Instagram followers.
The different kinds of Instagram monitoring accounts include:
- Competitors account for tracking rivals offering identical products or services.
- Potential customer accounts help you identify ideal persona attributes by browsing your profile and feed.
- Follow-for-follow Instagram accounts are easily identifiable because they have spammy kind handles.
2) Have A Posting Schedule 2) Have A Posting Schedule
Never disregard the importance of having a posting schedule, or you’ll witness a mass exit of followers in no time. It is because followers don’t like it when you post content that’s all over the place and doesn’t have a clear theme.
Instead, they expect and want you to continue posting the content that convinced them into following your page. And by deviating from this, they’ll deem to have initially made a mistake by following you back earlier.
With this in mind, you need to develop an Instagram schedule and social media strategy to guide you when uploading fresh content. This way, your posts will have some consistency, making them appealing to your followers because they can relate to them.
3) Consistently Post Fresh Content 3) Consistently Post Fresh Content
You still need to consistently post fresh and engaging content, ideally once or twice per day, even after gaining followers. Doing this ensures your followers see you and have you in their minds at all times.
As it’s often said, consistency is vital if you want to succeed in today’s online-driven marketplace. It is so because Instagram backs accounts that remain consistent in posting new content. Likewise, the latest statistics show followers are less likely to unfollow you if you regularly keep uploading new content to keep them interested.
When posting, you should prioritize quality over quantity. It is why your goal shouldn’t be, for instance, uploading ten posts each day, and you’d instead focus on a few quality posts. Remember, the goal is to promote engagement with your followers by creating content that speaks to them.
Besides the amount of time you need to post new content, it’s also advisable to know the best time to upload new content on Instagram. Knowing the best time to post will differ depending on whose advice you follow, but this should be between 2 PM to 5 PM or 8 AM to 9 AM.
If you need help, an Instagram scheduling tool comes in handy because it seamlessly allows you to upload new content. Therefore, it saves you the trouble of creating a schedule for posting new content.
4) Socialize And Engage With Your Audience 4) Socialize And Engage With Your Audience
After convincing your target audience to follow you on Instagram, you shouldn’t leave it at that and instead need to use this platform to interact and communicate with your followers.
After all, Instagram acts as the perfect platform for you and your followers to learn about each other’s interests. Therefore, you should make a point of always responding to any direct messages or comments a follower sends you.
This way, your followers will feel as though they matter and keep following you.
You can boost engagement with your followers by posting engaging content. It is vital because you don’t want to come off as dull as this is a huge turn-off that leads to a follower unfollowing you right away.
Therefore, you should prevent this by uploading posts that not only resonate with your target audience but are also engaging.
5) Analyze Instagram Data Post 5) Analyze Instagram Data Post
If you suddenly notice an increase in your number of followers, it might be time to start analyzing your Instagram data post. It is why you need to start using Instagram Insights or Social Media Analytics to know the appropriate strategies to counter this exodus of followers.
Using these Instagram tools, you’ll be able to determine posts that aren’t engaging to your target audience and learn the right content to capture and retain your followers’ attention.
The Instagram insights tool will also help analyze why your followers click the unfollow button. Knowing this will help you develop a plan to prevent this from happening.
This tool also uses data to identify the needs and interests of your followers, thereby helping you remove posts that don’t seem to add any value.
6) Tell Your Followers Stories 6) Tell Your Followers Stories
Social media networks such as Instagram are platforms where users go to be entertained with visual content, be it text, video, or images.
As a brand promoter, it’s easy to forget and instead focus on selling your brand to your products or services to your followers. However, this leads to a dip in your number of followers due to mediocre and boring posts.
Knowing this, you should shift your focus to telling stories instead of directly marketing your brand to your followers who are potential clients.
You can best achieve this by sharing videos, captions, or stories that create an emotional connection with your followers. And because this is what most IG users are craving for, this increases not only your conversion chances but also reduces the likelihood of getting unfollowed.
Due to fascination with your content, your followers might even share content with their friends or family.
As a result, you might notice a surge in your number of Instagram followers. To best incorporate storytelling into your IG strategy, share captions that tell your story. Lengthy captions are powerful when storytelling because they’re deemed authentic by your followers.
IG stories are often viewed this way because they look more human, creating a better connection with your followers.
You can also innovatively share your stories with your followers by sharing user-generated content relatable to your audience while simultaneously connecting to your brand.
7) Reach The Right People 7) Reach The Right People
You can only retain a follower if they’re genuinely interested in your brand and the content you share on Instagram. It is why getting the right followers in the first place needs to be your priority and not simply increasing your number of followers.
But this at first might sound contradictory because getting as many followers as possible should be one of your main goals. After all, a higher number of followers increases your conversion rate.
You can only retain a follower if they’re genuinely interested in your brand and the content you share on Instagram. It is why getting the right followers in the first place needs to be your priority and not simply increasing your number of followers.
But this at first might sound contradictory because getting as many followers as possible should be one of your main goals. After all, a higher number of followers increases your conversion rate.
Luckily, there are practical ways you can reach the right followers interested in your posts and content right from the beginning. One such example is through hashtags, allowing you to personalize your posts to only appear to followers more likely to be interested in your content.
For example, if you’re targeting followers interested in dieting, you should use different kinds of hashtags. Consequently, you’ll be visible to IG users interested in dieting, and they’ll follow you.
And because they’re interested in sticking to a healthy diet, they’re highly likely to remain as your follower to continue getting helpful dieting tips.
8) Take Advantage of Instagram Stories 8) Take Advantage of Instagram Stories
Your followers constantly want to be engaged, and there’s no better way you can do this than using the Instagram Stories feature.
This feature is quickly gaining popularity, and at this rate, it might end up as the main feature rather than the main feed. And with 500 million daily users, it’s easy to see why this might be the case not so far into the distant future.
Using Instagram Stories, you can post a video or a combination of pictures that only last for 24 hours. And despite only staying for this short duration, they’re very effective in boosting engagement with your followers.
You can also pin exciting stories that are a favorite among your followers on your profile so that new followers can also catch a glimpse of them. But, of course, the best thing about stories is that they appear at the top section of your follower’s IG feed.
It makes it convenient to quickly and easily interact with your followers.
Followers typically see IG stories as a more approachable and authentic way to interact with them. It is so because it creates a sense of urgency that continually wins their attention.
For optimal engagement of your target audience, it’s best to opt for more vivid IG stories such as videos over pictures. Take advantage of pre-recorded stories to share narratives, one-time speedy promotions, and detailed reports of your products.
In contrast, live stories which happen at the moment are a great choice if you want to capture your followers’ attention.
9) Observe High Standards And Quality 9) Observe High Standards And Quality
Another tip you must observe is maintaining high standards and quality for every content you post to retain your Instagram followers. Doing anything to the contrary will result in a drastic dip in your number of followers.
To prevent this from happening, you should focus on posting high-quality content that your followers will find to be engaging and appealing to the eye.
For example, you should only upload content with superb lighting and pixels, which means investing in a high-quality camera.
Besides the picture quality, make sure to use proper language free of grammatical mistakes as this best connects with your brand. By ignoring any of these quality standards, you’ll undoubtedly notice your number of followers is gradually slumping.
10) Collaborate With Influencers 10) Collaborate With Influencers
You can never do it all by yourself, and this is why you should consider working with an influencer to retain your followers.
Influencers are considered independent, and when your followers see them promoting your brand, they believe this to be further proof of your authenticity. It is why influencer marketing has quickly become the go-to strategy for brands looking to widen their target audience and retain their existing following.
One challenge you’ll face is knowing the right choice of influencer to work with during your Instagram marketing campaign.
It is often the case due to the desire to have a celebrity market your products or services without first examining if they indeed match with your follower’s needs. So, landing the right influencer requires you first to understand the needs of your followers.
Once you imagine yourself in their shoes, it’ll be easier to identify the perfect Instagram influencer to promote your brand.
11) Don’t Post Excessively 11) Don’t Post Excessively
While you certainly want to be visible to your followers, this doesn’t mean you overdo how many posts you upload during a day. Otherwise, followers will become increasingly annoyed with you and quickly unfollow you for some peace of mind.
For example, users don’t like it when you post ten Instagram stories and skip after viewing the first four. If you keep repeating this trend, such a follower eventually gets bored and goes ahead to unfollow you.
Conclusion Conclusion
With Instagram today the cornerstone of promoting your brand’s social media presence, your goal shouldn’t only be growing your number of followers but, more importantly, retaining them.
If doing this proved to be a challenge, this guide has detailed valuable tips and tricks you can employ to keep hold of your Instagram followers. This way, you’ll retain your competitive edge in today’s digitally-driven marketplace.
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