Gaining Instagram followers for your business can open the door to incredible opportunities. The more followers you collect, the more likely you are to increase conversions, sales, and brand loyalty in a competitive industry. However, learning how to cultivate followers isn’t always easy.
Instagram currently stands as one of the most popular social media networks in the world. More than 2 billion active users leverage the platform to not only interact with friends and loved ones, but connect with organizations and brands too. 50% of all Instagram users say they use the platform to discover new products, brands, and services, and 2 out of 3 people say the network helps foster more meaningful connections with companies.
While Instagram is clearly an excellent tool for reaching your target audience, companies need to ensure they know how to outshine the competition in their industry if they want to succeed. Today, we’re exploring some of the most effective ways to gain your first 1000 Instagram followers.
- 1- Optimize Your Instagram Profile
- 2- Use An Organic Growth Service
- 3- Use Industry Hashtags
- 4- Run Instagram Ads
- 5- Take Advantage Of The Power Of Reels
- 6- Run Giveaways With Similar Brands
- 7- Work With Influencers In Your Niche
- 8- Use Geo-Tagging
- 9- Post Consistently & At The Right Time
- 10- Cross-Promote Your Instagram
1- Optimize Your Instagram Profile
The first thing you need to attract Instagram followers is an optimized profile. Your profile is the first thing customers will see when they discover your business, so it’s crucial to ensure you include all of the right information. Start by switching to a “Business Account.” This will give you more freedom over what you can customize with your profile. Plus, it also provides access to crucial insights.
To switch to an Instagram Business account, visit your “Account Settings” on Instagram, and tap “Switch to Professional Account.” Once you have your business account:
- Choose the right name: Make sure you use the same name customers would search for when looking for your business via Google.
- Add a bio outlining the benefits of your business: You can also implement a branded hashtag here, to encourage people to share user-generated content related to your business.
- Include a link to your website or a “Linkin.bio” URL: This will allow you to drive traffic to relevant pages elsewhere online.
- Use the right profile image: A high-quality image featuring the logo of your business, or the face of your CEO will help to attract more followers.
It can also help to apply to have your account verified with Instagram, so customers know they’re following the right person or company. You can learn how to request a verification badge here.
Other ways to optimize your account include adding CTA buttons to your page, so customers can quickly contact you or download your product, and creating a highlights section with snippets from your Instagram Stories relevant to your business.
2- Use An Organic Growth Service
People are more likely to follow Instagram accounts when they already have a large number of followers. During the initial stages of developing your Instagram presence, it can be difficult to attract fans quickly on your own. That’s where an Instagram growth service can help.
Growth services work with your brand to engage potential followers and drive them to your profile. Crucially, you’ll need to focus on working with a service focusing on focussing on real Instagram followers. Organic growth is crucial on Instagram, as the last thing you want is for your account to be filled with spam bots or fake accounts.
Real followers are more likely to engage with your business, and connect with your company through transactions and comments. What’s more, with real followers, you’re less likely to have to deal with damage to your brand reputation, or the risk of being penalized by Instagram.
Related: Instagram Profile Picture Viewer: Inspect And Download Anonymously
Most organic growth services work by allowing you to target specific fans who might be interested in your company and “like” their posts. Liking someone else’s content makes them more inclined to check out your profile and follow you in return.
3- Use Industry Hashtags
Hashtags are one of the most powerful tools on Instagram for both growth and marketing. They improve the visibility of your posts, allowing customers to find you when searching for specific topics. The right hashtags can also provide insight into the context of your content.
Related: Top Instagram Marketing Stats
While it’s often tempting to use trending hashtags like #InstaLove or #TBT to find a wider audience, the key to success on Instagram is usually focusing on specific groups of followers. Industry hashtags highlight what kind of company you are. For instance, if you’re selling tech products, you might use the hashtags #Developer, or #Technology.
You can also narrow your focus even further by focusing on specific niche tags connected to a certain type of audience. While these tags will have less of a broad reach than some more commonplace hashtags, they can assist you in finding followers who have more of an intent to buy from your brand.
For example, you might list #GlutenFreeBakery alongside hashtags like #Bakery.
4- Run Instagram Ads
Although it is possible to attract a wide audience of potential Instagram followers through organic content and growth strategies alone, you can give your business a significant boost with advertisements. Instagram ads are extremely powerful for connecting you to your specific audience.
Related: Instagram Ads: The Definitive Guide
They use the same targeting tools as Facebook ads, so you can get focused with who you want to reach. Instagram also allows you to showcase your ads in a range of different ways. You can promote posts on the “Explore” page, or advertise in Stories and direct messages.
When you’re running your Instagram ads, it’s important to keep a close eye on your Insights. The “Insights” section of Instagram will help you to understand who your promotions are reaching, which ads generate the most return on investment, and more.
Watching your analytics should ensure you can invest in the right campaigns for your business going forward. You may also learn more about your target audience, so you can upgrade your customer profiles, and enhance your targeting methods.
5- Take Advantage Of The Power Of Reels
Reels are one of the most exciting features offered by Instagram today. They’re ideal for attracting the attention of younger audiences, and they’re excellent for reaching more customers, because they give you a valuable way to appeal to people who prefer video content. Instagram Reels generate around 67% more engagement than standard videos.
Related: Instagram Marketing Tips For Business
Instagram Reels are easier to leverage than most people think, thanks to their fast-paced nature. Plus, people expect to see more “authentic” content in Reels, so you don’t have to go over the top with your editing methods. You can use these miniature videos to highlight recent achievements, draw attention to customer testimonials, or simply provide useful information.
Cisco regularly uses Instagram Reels to highlight their employees and demonstrate the human side of their business, which makes the company more engaging to customers.
As with all forms of Instagram content, you can track analytics about your Reels to determine which campaigns are most effective for your campaigns. Reels can also significantly improve your impact on the Instagram algorithm, helping your business to rank higher.
6- Run Giveaways With Similar Brands
People love an opportunity to get something for free. Running giveaways with like-minded companies is an excellent way to draw attention to your profile, and generate more Instagram followers. By working with other companies, you can connect with audience members you might not reach on your own, and highlight your credibility.
Related: Best Instagram Influencer Marketing Strategies
Giveaways can also help you leverage the power of your audience for connecting with new customers. When you host a giveaway, you can ask people to @mention a friend they want to share their prizes with, to expand your reach.
You could also use customers to share user-generated content of them using one of your products or services for a chance to win, which you can use in your future content strategy. Plus, you can ask your followers to follow your profile or like your post as part of the entry process.
To really make the most of your Instagram giveaway, consider following up with the people who win your prizes, and sharing their unboxing videos on your account.
7- Work With Influencers In Your Niche
Working with other companies in your industry to expand your Instagram presence is an excellent way to boost reach. However, there are other partnerships which can be just as beneficial. For instance, working with an influencer is one of the best ways to increase your credibility, and connect with customers from a wide range of backgrounds.
The key to working with influencers to increase your Instagram followers is finding the right professionals. You’ll need to focus on connecting with specialists who already have a strong presence in your industry. For instance, if you’re in the technology space, you might choose to work with influential software developers or thought leaders.
Related: Affiliate Marketing Name Ideas For Instagram
You can ask influencers to run competitions on your behalf, or consider sending them free products so they can do a how-to video on using your items.
Take advantage of your influencer’s expertise and ask them for advice on the kind of campaigns which generate the best response. It’s also important to make sure you draw attention to the content your Influencer posts on your own profile. @Mention your influencer and share snippets of their content on your profile to boost your reach.
8- Use Geo-Tagging
When you’re working on attracting more Instagram followers to your profile, it’s important to think carefully about the kind of people you want to reach. If you’re working in a specific area, or only offer your products and services to some countries, then it helps to work with geo-tags.
Geotagging essentially connects your posts to a specific location, giving your followers another way to find you. It also allows you to attract the attention of people who want to support a specific community. Adding a geotag to your content gives people more information about your business, where it comes from, and who it serves.
If you’re serving customers all over the world, you can use your Instagram Insights to see where the majority of your followers are located. This gives you an excellent opportunity to expand your presence in certain locations.
9- Post Consistently & At The Right Time
Attracting Instagram followers is something you’ll need to work at constantly to improve your chances of success. This means you need a regular posting schedule, so you can consistently connect with your target customers, and expand your reach online.
Start by determining the best time to post on Instagram for your audience. There are various articles and reports online suggesting the most effective times to post on Instagram for each industry. For instance, Lategramme suggests the best time to post is between 2am and 5pm.
However, you’ll generally get the best results when you pay attention to the activity of your specific followers. Your Instagram Insights will show you which times your customers are most likely to be active and engaging with your content. You can also use competitor analysis to determine when other, similar businesses get the best results from their posts.
Once you’ve decided when you’re going to post, pick a consistent frequency for your publishing strategy – such as one post every day. It’s also worth experimenting with different kinds of content, from Instagram photo posts, to quotes, Instagram Stories, and videos.
10- Cross-Promote Your Instagram
Finally, one of the best ways to generate more Instagram followers for your profile, is to make sure you’re attracting attention from all over the internet. If you already have a following online through your email marketing strategy, Facebook, and Twitter, it makes sense to pull attention to your Instagram profile in these environments too.
Related: How to Use Fancy Instagram Fonts To Make Your Profile Catchier
Most email marketing tools will allow you to add buttons to the bottom of your messages highlighting your social profiles. You can also automatically choose to share content on Facebook from Instagram at the same time, pulling more of your Facebook followers towards your account.
Consider adding insights into your Instagram presence on your website, too. You can create a feed on your site where people can check out your latest posts, and any posts which might have been shared by people @mentioning your company or using your branded hashtag.
You can use your Google analytics account to track how many followers you get to your site from different avenues, and keep this information in mind when deciding how to cross-promote your posts.
Conclusion: Collect More Instagram Followers
Instagram followers offer massive advantages to online companies in search of rapid growth. The more you commit to growing your Instagram presence, the easier it is to attract an engaged community of potential customers and fans.
While collecting many Instagram followers will take significant time and focus, the benefits are well worth the effort. As your Instagram presence grows, your conversions and business opportunities will evolve, too. Good luck attracting the most Instagram followers possible.
