Instagram is undeniably a big player when it comes to successfully building your brand. When used effectively, Instagram can increase your brand visibility, grow your conversions, and create a more engaged and loyal audience.
Instagram has over one billion users and over 500 million active daily users. With those kinds of numbers, there is no denying the potential Instagram has for growing your brand. While we can’t make any promises the following tips will bring you over one billion new followers, we can promise you they are a sure way to grow your numbers and improve your Instagram strategy in significant ways.
The more your Instagram audience grows, the more opportunities you will have to connect with them and introduce them to all your brand offers. So how do you gain real and valuable followers? Let’s get into 12 steps to effectively grow your Instagram followers.
1. Know Who You Are
First and foremost, you must have a clear and deep understanding of your brand identity. Why do you want Instagram followers in the first place? What is it you are hoping to share with them? That should give you a good idea of where to start.
You must have a tight grasp on what your brand’s values are, and they should be consistently reflected in every post, story, hashtag, literally anything and everything to do with your brand. Why would anyone want to follow you if they don’t know what you are all about? Followers are looking for you to provide value to them, so find what makes your brand unique and run with it.
Find more on how to develop your brand identity here.
2. Provide Quality Content
This may seem obvious, but to effectively grow your Instagram following, you must provide quality content. Post content that you are genuinely proud of and that aligns well with your brand identity. Be sure that your videos, images, graphics, or whatever they may be are high quality.
Your Instagram should have a visually pleasing Instagram aesthetic with consistency in your colors, fonts, and overall vibe. Build a feed that will make a user eager to click that follow button.
3. The $1.80 Method
Okay, so you are confident in your brand identity, and you know you have killer content. Now what? Let me introduce you to one of my favorite tips, the $1.80 method. It is practically magic, but in this case, everyone has the power.
The $1.80 Method is an Instagram marketing strategy, created by a man by the name of Gary Vaynerchuk, which encourages users to focus on a set of targeted hashtags that their ideal followers are using. Those users leave thoughtful comments on the most recent posts of said hashtags in an attempt to raise brand awareness to the content’s creator.
How the Numbers Add Up
The idea is you leave your comment, or .02 cents, on the top 9 trending Instagram posts for 10 different hashtags that are relevant to your business. By the end of this, you have not only left your .02 cents–you’ve left a full $1.80 of thoughts in the specific niche that aligns with your brand.
So essentially, you will:
Find the best hashtags to follow
Leave your .02 cents
Continue to like, comment, and engage on Instagram
In order to grow your social media, you must actually be social. The number of Instagram followers you have means nothing if you can’t build a community of people who genuinely care and engage. The most effective way to do this is to be a part of the conversation from the very beginning. The $1.80 method is the perfect way to do just that.
For a more in-depth understanding of the $1.80 method, click here.
4. Utilize Giveaways
Oh giveaways, we have all seen them and been tagged in them. You probably lost count of the number of times you saw a story for David Dobrik’s Tesla giveaway.
Instagram giveaways are a powerful tool for growing your Instagram following, boosting your engagement, and building brand loyalty. People love free stuff. In fact, an Instagram contest or giveaway can help you grow your followers 70% faster in three months than if you didn’t host a contest at all.
Be sure that the giveaway conditions require that the user follow you and tags a set number of friends in the comments. You may want to add some more conditions, but those are the two essentials.
Your Instagram giveaway is also a great opportunity to partner with another brand. That way, you will open yourself open to an even larger audience.
So choose a prize your followers will love, set your conditions, and watch as your followers and engagement grow.
5. No Fake Friends
While it may be tempting to buy followers, this ultimately won’t benefit you in the long run. Not only will your followers and potential followers find it deceiving, but they also do not improve your engagement and do nothing for your brand.
It is relatively easy to tell when someone has bought their followers. When someone has a large number of followers but hardly any comments or likes, it is immediately unattractive to the user. Your brand should foster loyalty and trustworthiness, but this does just the opposite.
The fake followers also have no interest in your brand or business. They will not purchase anything from you or bring any monetary value to your business.
6. Post Content People Will Reshare
Create content that you think will be reshared. Everyone loves a useful infographic, something inspirational, relatable, funny; the options are endless. Just think about what the people in your niche tend to enjoy and share. This is a great way to expand your reach to new audiences.
7. Link Your Instagram Everywhere
You should link your Instagram on your website, other socials, emails, really everywhere and anywhere you can promote it. Let people know where they can find you and make it easy.
Creating brand awareness and visibility is an essential part of growing your Instagram following.
8. Take Advantage of Instagram Highlights
Story highlights are the perfect way to introduce people to your brand when they visit your profile. Fill your story highlights with a bunch of great information and content that will make a visitor want to know more and hit that follow button.
You should also be sure you have cover photos for your highlights. Make them aesthetically pleasing and well suited to your brand. It is one of the first things a visitor will see, so it is important that you make a great first impression.
9. Hashtag Hacks
Hashtags are one of the best ways to gain followers and boost engagement. There are several ways to use hashtags to accomplish just that. Some you may never even have thought of.
First and foremost, use hyper-relevant hashtags in your posts. Using the most popular hashtags may give you a few likes, but they aren’t going to grow your engagement or reach your target audience. You will get the most engagement from using hashtags that are best related to your niche and brand. We also recommend adding a few line breaks between your caption and hashtags for a cleaner look.
Add hashtags to your Instagram stories for a chance to get featured on Instagram’s explore page. When people search for a hashtag on Instagram, if it is popular, they will view real-time stories on that hashtag’s page. This gives people an additional opportunity to come across your page and opens you up to a larger audience.
While adding hashtags to your stories is a great tool, it may ruin your Instagram story’s aesthetic. Well, good news, there is a trick you can use to hide your hashtags.
To do so, start by pinching your hashtag to make them small. Then you can either put a gif or sticker over the hashtag, otherwise you can simply select the color tool from the text option and choose the color that matches the background.
10. Work With Influencers In Your Niche
Partnering with influencers that align well with your brand is another great way to grow your followers and drive engagement. When you partner with relevant influencers, you are putting your brand in front of an audience that is already interested in your niche. Not only that, but that audience already trusts the influencer who is promoting your brand. In fact, 8 out of every 10 consumers have purchased something after having seen it as a recommendation by an influencer.
11. Be Consistent
People follow you because they enjoy your content. The more often you post quality content, the more often followers will interact with your posts. When this occurs, it is excellent for your algorithm and will bring in new followers.
Not only is it beneficial for your algorithm, but when people click on your profile and see that you are an active user, they will see more benefit in following you. If you post very rarely, it will be challenging to build a following because people will feel as though they are not getting much out of following you.
12. Pay Attention To Your Instagram Insights
Instagram analytics is one of the best ways to learn what is working well for you and what is not doing so hot. This will provide you with data impressions for each post like, reach, engagement, and much more. You will also see demographic information about your followers, like age, gender, and location.
Going over this data often will be a key tool for identifying what kinds of posts do the best on your profile and even things like when the best time to post is. Knowing the number is a super helpful way to enhance your Instagram strategy and grow that followers number.
While it may seem challenging now, when you consistently follow these 12 steps and produce quality content, there is no telling how much your Instagram following will grow. A whole new audience of valuable followers who genuinely care about your brand will become part of your reach. When this happens, the possibilities and opportunities for your brand are endless.
Author: Alexandra Jaillet
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