How To Gain More Instagram Followers For Your Business

Instagram is more than just a social media platform. For businesses, it’s a platform where there are many opportunities to reach out to their target audience, whether they focus on local or global audiences.

While most users are from the United States, Instagram has a massive presence worldwide with huge user bases in countries such as Russia, Brazil, India, and Indonesia.

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If you’re a business owner and you want to take advantage of Instagram’s millions of active users, you should know how to gain more followers. This way, you’ll get more exposure to your target audience and connect with them effectively.

Fortunately, there are many ways to gain Instagram followers for your businesses. Other than using Instagram growth service, here are some other ways to do it:

1- Have A Plan And Set Your Goals

To make the most out of Instagram and gain more followers effectively, you need a plan. Besides, gaining followers doesn’t happen overnight. It needs to be a part of a bigger plan to enhance your social marketing objectives and business strategy.

That said, start to outline the reasons why you want to gain more followers on Instagram. It would be ideal to set your goals if you want to drive traffic to your official website, increase brand awareness, and maximize product sales.

Staying focused on those business-oriented goals can help keep your Instagram account consistent. It’ll aid in building your brand and convert usual browsers to loyal followers over time.

2- Know Your Target Audience

Before you start putting effort into gaining more Instagram followers for your business and figuring out the best time to post, you should start by identifying your target audience first. To get started, ask yourself the following questions:

• Where do they live?
• How old are they?
• What do they do for a living?
• How and when do they use Instagram?
• What are their challenges and pain points?

Answering those questions can help you create relevant Instagram content to gain followers and reach the people who will likely follow your account. It’ll also keep you focused on your target audience’s needs, so you can consistently deliver the kind of content that makes them want to keep following you for a long time.

3- Learn How Instagram Algorithm Works

If you want to gain followers on Instagram successfully, you need to learn how its algorithm works. To make your posts appear in other users’ timelines, there are some factors to remember, and these include the following:

• Usage – It refers to how much time a user spends on Instagram.
• Following – Posts from the accounts the user follows.
• Frequency – How often do users utilize the app.
• Relationship – Accounts users engage with regularly.
• Timeliness – How recent the posts are.
• Interest – How much the platform thinks a person will like the posts based on previous activities.

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The current algorithm of Instagram aims to highlight the best possible content for every user. So, while the above factors may seem like a lot to worry about, the perfect solution is to create quality content consistently.

4- Optimize Your Instagram Profile

To gain more followers on Instagram, you have to optimize your profile. Think of your Instagram bio as your account’s homepage.

Without image captions, a bio, profile image, or proper username, how will users know the account belongs to your business? This might seem obvious, but on Instagram, your image and bio help form your brand identity’s foundations. The link in your bio is the best way to drive Instagram traffic to your website, so optimizing your profile is critical.

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If you’re unsure where to link, try product or marketing pages related to certain hashtags, keywords, or campaigns on your Instagram profile. It’s much better to give users a great experience when your bio directs them to your website.

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Moreover, keep your username easy to remember and must be relevant to your brand name. If your brand name is long, shorten it to something that your target audience would recognize and mentally retain. Never add special characters or numbers to your username. If possible, keep it in line with your other social media profiles.

5- Determine Your Brand Voice And Post Unique Content

Instagram users don’t follow your business on social media because they want sales pitches. They follow your business because they enjoy the content you make and your brand personality. However, it’s crucial to remember that what works for other businesses may not suit your branding.

Related: Instagram Advertising Guide

If you’re still figuring out what’s suitable for your business, it would be best to reflect on it based on your personality and values. From there, you’ll be able to determine whether you want to be informative or entertaining in showing off your brand’s beliefs and character. Always keep in mind that in implementing a content strategy, consistency is key.

6- Experiment With The Different Types Of Instagram Content

Instagram is more than just a photo-sharing app. Over the years, it has introduced other ways to share content. Mixing up various content types is an excellent way to gain more Instagram followers because it provides you the opportunity to connect and reach a wider audience.

Related: What Are Hashtags?

Take note that the Instagram algorithm keeps the users’ interest in mind and strives to show them the content types they interact with most often. Therefore, if someone comments or likes Instagram reels more often than other content types, they’re likely to see reels in their feed. But, if users frequently interact with carousel posts, they’ll see more of it in their Instagram timeline.

Every type of Instagram content has different benefits. For example, Instagram reels have the advantage because it’s the newest type of content on the platform. IGTV or Instagram TV, on the contrary, is perfect for those who want to watch long-form videos.

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Your business may also benefit from using Instagram Stories. Even if they disappear after a day, brands utilizing this feature can quickly grow their following base because they can easily add links and other interesting photos or videos.

If you’re confused with the different content types to consider, you might want to experiment and try all of them. Besides, people like what they want or prefer. Mixing up your content will help you reach people with varying preferences, enabling you to grow your Instagram following organically.

7- Use Popular Hashtags

Like Twitter, Instagram is hashtag-driven. So, make sure to use the right hashtags to make your posts more discoverable. However, be sure to double-check the hashtags you prefer before using them and ensure that they suit your brand image.

Often, the most popular hashtags change from time to time. This is why keeping an eye on the latest trends and statistics are crucial.

8- Write Creative And Compelling Captions

Good photos can catch people’s attention. However, excellent Instagram captions also attract users the most.

Captions can give you the opportunity to provide more details or context about the video or photo you’re sharing. In addition, using keywords in captions may help you appear in Instagram’s search results.

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Unlike other social media channels, captions on Instagram can be up to 2200 characters. Of course, not all captions need to be like blog posts. Several photos pair nicely with a witty and short caption with some emojis, while others could benefit from something more reflective and longer.

There’s no ideal length for Instagram captions. Although most businesses don’t go anywhere near the limit, it’s a good idea to experiment with the length of captions to ascertain what works best for your brand.

9- Have A Consistent Content Calendar

When trying to get followers on Instagram, you should avoid posting content at random times. Instead, have a regular and consistent posting schedule.

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Usually, businesses must not post more than a few times a day to avoid spam. However, since there are millions of users on Instagram, you can try publishing several times throughout the day to reach a wider audience as long as you keep it consistent.

Related: How Can I Create Shoppable Videos?

Sticking to a regular schedule will help build a consistent experience for your current followers. If you don’t want to forget publishing at different times in a day, it would be efficient to use tools for post scheduling.

10- Collaborate With Brands And Influencers

Collaborating with similar brands and like-minded influencers is a win-win. You can benefit from the brand association as you’ll be able to reach a new pool of potential followers.

Related: Influencer Marketing Guide

The good news is that collaborations don’t cost much. Some effective partnerships are mutually beneficial and simple. For instance, if you’re a beauty retailer, you can partner with a luxury retreat travel destination to provide their community with the chance to win your products.

11- Promote Your Instagram On Other Platforms

These days, almost all people are active on various social media platforms. If your business is present on other social media channels, let your current followers know about your Instagram profile. If they like your content, they’ll follow you and recommend it to people they know.

Related: Facebook Video Ads – Complete Guide

If your Instagram account is linked to Facebook, share your Instagram posts on your Facebook page as well. This will provide your users a sneak peek of what they can expect on your Instagram feed.

Related: Best Image Types For Facebook Ads

Bottom Line

Growing your Instagram following base may seem like a challenging task. However, it’s never impossible to achieve if you follow the right strategies and techniques to get more Instagram followers. The key is to combine posting quality creative content and tapping into the new trends and features of Instagram to target the right audience for your business.