How do I grow my Instagram following and get more likes? This question is the most asked about by Instagram users.
Should I just post cool pictures and see what happens, or is there a way to get the right targeted audience needed to grow you Instagram account?
I will help you understand a few things that will set you on the right track to growth.
Here are 20 tips to get you started with promoting your Instagram organically:
Do NOT buy Instagram followers/likes
This is a capital offense in social media, don't waste your time buying followers, this won't last and you won't get any results. I can tell when an Instagram buys followers or likes. In most cases, there will be some fake accounts that follow you, since there are no filters.
Fake or spam accounts usually will end up just being deleted once Instagram figures it out and there goes you followers. Faking your following- especially when you need the engagement to continue to grow is worthless, they don’t help your brand, just the perception of having these followers.
Growing your Instagram organically is a more strategic approach, so you can gain the followers that truly bring engagement and interaction to your page.
Effective Content Creation
Before you post anything for business. Understand your audience and what you are promoting. For example, If you’re a tech blogger, then you need to keep your Instagram specific to your niche. You shouldn’t be featuring 100% fashion or travel photos. You need to understand what works, and keep doing that over and over again with few twerks.
Ask yourself this....Why are people following you?
Stay close to your niche and understand your social audience carefully, this could make a big difference. Take clear photos and keep a consistent look of filters and overall feel to you page. Instagram images need to look nice but also stay true to your brand image, so you stay consistent with your content.
Be Consistent with your content
Stay consistent with your Instagram posts. Get a clear commitment, and stick to it based on the following.
For example, check out a commitment strategy below;
Photo 1: Promoting my business blog post for the day
Photo 2: Daily outfit photo or what I’m doing (Actionable post)
Photo 3: Promoting my business blog post again/Motivational quote
Photo 4: Post about an event/product/service/lifestyle
*Confession: I might post once or twice every other day, because that works for me based on the fact that - I do minimal Instagram content. In 2017, this will much improve
However, these changes a working on campaigns or sponsored posts that have deadlines, so you can also promote your content on Instagram using Facebook ads. A content calendar helps keep everything organized and is a total lifesaver!
Instagram Management Tools
Use Instagram tools that analyze your Instagram statistics and lets you know which photos had higher engagement (like/comments) and at which times they were posted (among various other data they offer, but I won’t get into that now).
Instagram posting times is a huge part of your Instagram growth (Includes all social media platforms). You will gain followers by having others like and/or tag their friends in the comments and the best way to do that is to post at times that most people (for your region) are on Instagram. I've used Instagram tools like; AgouraPulse.com and Schedugr.am to great results for clients. These tools cost a monthly fee!
You can use them to analyze which times work for you and to make sure to get the most out of each Instagram post. There will be moments where you can't resist posting something cool that falls out of posting times but your growth will be better when you stick to popular times for your followers.
Use Hashtags in all Postings
Use hashtags to a minimal and also place them as a second comment to your photos, not before your text. You can also use AgouraPulse.com and Schedugr.am to analyze your most used tags and top hashtags currently on Instagram. make sure your hashtags are related to your post as to get the right followers, likes and interest.
Targeted Outreach
Start reaching out to similar pages like yours. Find others in your niche and engage with them daily. If you are hoping others will engage with you, you need to be willing to put in time and become a productive member of the social community through the use of positive comments, likes etc. There are also places to submit your photos to be featured, which is another form of promotion.
Make Your Instagram Account Look Welcoming
While an interesting description and a cool profile photo can help your account, it’s far more important that your photo feed looks welcoming and organized with the flow of images and how you post content, because that’s what people will look at when they make a decision about following your page. Before they start following you, people will look at your page feed and ask themselves - Do I want to see photos like this on my Instagram feed?
So you should be answering this question too with what you are posting and what your target audience wants.
Leverage Your Existing Social Media Channels
Once you have updated and re-arranged your page to look good, it’s time to let the world know about it, and the easiest way to get started is to leverage your existing social media channels and platforms.
If you go to instagram.com/username you’ll get a direct link to your Instagram profile, which you can share on Facebook, Twitter, your blog and other platforms you may have accounts on.
You can also go through your email contacts and send a quick email telling people that you’ve signed up for Instagram, explaining what kind of content you’re going to post, and asking people to follow you if they’re interested.
Keep Your Followers Engaged with your Content
Social media takes a lot of time and patients to see explosive results. It's pointless in building a following on Instagram unless you keep your followers engaged, and the most important thing you can do is post high-quality photos on regularly that connects with your primary audience. You should try to post every day, but also remember that quality always beats quantity.
Keep it simple and flawless. If you post multiple photos at once, there’s a good chance that you’ll annoy some of your followers who will un-follow. To make sure that doesn’t happen, you should spread out your posts evenly and never post more than one photo within a 5 hour period.
Conclusion
Always respond to comments on your post, as to keep the interaction going. This also lets your followers know - you are real and not a bot. Even a simple gesture like; “thank you” for positive comments will make your followers happy and engaged. Try this tips and let me know how it goes!
Also see social media marketing strategies
Divine Tumenta is an entrepreneur and professional digital marketing expert based in Los Angeles. He has worked in digital marketing for more than 8 years. He is currently founder and CEO of backlinkfy.com and a go to consultant for startups and small businesses in the USA.
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