Ever since its creation in 2010, Instagram has gone from a few hundred to billions of users and only continues to grow exponentially.
This makes Instagram one of the most popular and valuable platforms for marketers right now. In fact, seven out of 10 marketers use this social platform to grow their online community.
That said, succeeding on Instagram is not that easy— it requires a lot of work. This article shares some tips for growing your Instagram following and online presence.
Engage With Your Followers
Want to achieve organic growth for your Instagram account? Socialize.
Even if you’re using Instagram for business, it doesn’t mean you should create a profile filled with nonstop sales pitches. If you plan to maximize your usage of social media platforms, learning to socialize can help increase your social media engagement.
For instance, if someone takes the time to comment or share their thoughts with you, you need to respond and show them that you’re listening. Doing so can build rapport with your followers and help build a strong community on Instagram.
Organize Contests
One of the most common ways to grow your Instagram presence is to organize contests and give out freebies in return. Getting free stuff is a nice motivating factor for Instagram followers to engage more with your brand.
If you’re looking to get more new followers and increase your comments and post likes on your Instagram profile, consider using this strategy.
For instance, if you want to increase your likes on Instagram, you can create and run a Like-based contest. Increasing likes on your post are important to spreading the word, promoting your business, getting featured on Instagram, and building more connections. If that’s not enough, you can also buy likes on Instagram to start establishing your sales network.
Leverage User-Generated Content
Increasing your Instagram influence doesn’t necessarily mean you need to do everything. You can encourage your fans to do it instead.
User-generated content (UGC) refers to content, such as videos, images, and text created by your users or followers to post on their Instagram account, aiming to highlight your products or brand. It’s an excellent type of word-of-mouth marketing that can drive brand awareness and increase conversions. What’s great about this strategy is that you can use the same content for your own Instagram account.
You can simply encourage your followers to share memorable experiences and moments they had with your brand on Instagram. Then, you can ask their permission to repost their content to your own account.
Also, you can share branded hashtags and ask customers to use them when posting about your brand, services, and products.
Master Hashtags
One of the most important features of Instagram is hashtags. They make it possible for users who are not yet your followers to discover your posts and content.
When using hashtags, it would be best not to use over 5 hashtags, as it lessens the appeal of the content and is confusing to the eye. However, this varies depending on how many followers you have.
Also, you need to ditch the generic hashtags such as #Love, #Art, or #Fashion. These hashtags have billions of posts tagged on them, which makes it difficult for your post to shine. Instead, look for more targeted and relevant hashtags to use.
Consider When To Post
For most people, the time they post on Instagram is something trivial. However, posting at strategic times can bring you far better results than randomly posting your content anytime.
While there are several studies and suggestions from expert marketers, you don’t have to follow them blindly and only use them as guides. What may work for them doesn’t necessarily work for you.
To figure out the best time for you to post on Instagram is to review collected insights. Some of the elements you need to consider include:
- The region most of your followers live in
- The time when you receive most interaction or when your followers are most active
- Your niche and industry
On that account, you may want to invest some time into understanding the best time for an Instagram post. It can take several weeks of A/B testing, but once you discover the best time to post, you can start scheduling your content and get the maximum engagement possible.
Take Away
With more than 2 billion monthly active users, Instagram is definitely a well-loved social media platform. That said, you need to start taking advantage of this popular platform and increase your presence. Having a bigger Instagram following can mean a stronger community for your brand, more views on your blog, and ultimately more sales for your business.
To do that, make sure to follow the 5 actionable tips mentioned above to help grow your Instagram followers.