We’ve all read a tonne of articles and watched heaps of videos on Youtube on how to get followers on Instagram. And chances are if you are reading this you’re just starting out and don’t know how to grow. See, I was one of these people and now I have 8,000 followers in just over two months. I’d never been on IG before and signed up mid June 2017 with zero knowledge. I watched and read all I could as I wanted to grow my Instagram account to make a move in the social travel world.
You may have come to this article from my IG account and you’ll note I am not an “influencer” or “instafamous” by any means. However, I was an absolute newbie to IG and went from zero to 3,000 followers in my first month. After two months I was at 7,000 followers. This started to spark up other IGers to reach out and ask how I grew my account so quickly!
Below are my tips that I use that will help you to grow your following on Instagram.
- Instagram insight tools
Change your account from personal to a business account. This is easily changeable if you go into your settings and Change to Business Profile. From here you can check the activity on each post and information of profile visits. You can see which photos performed the best and where your followers are from, their age and gender in percentages. It gives me an idea of what my followers are engaging in (ie. fashion bloggers – black dresses, interior designers – pendent lights, nature photographer – sunsets) and I can continue to bring that content into my gallery. It also shows you when your followers are active. From here you can work out when it is best to post to reach majority of your followers!
2. Follow accounts that are smaller and in your niche
Let’s face it, if we go adding random accounts from anywhere, and they follow you back but one’s a video game blogger and you are a handbag reseller – are either of you really benefiting? Someone is likely to unfollow the other or you will never engage on each other’s content.
Stick to people in your niche or similar, for example a photographer may follow wedding venues, or a Mum blogger may follow children’s book authors, or a wine connoisseur may follow cocktail bars. From this you know that people in the same game will be more likely to engage in your content. This is what you want and need to grow followers.
Following smaller accounts gives you more of a chance of people to follow you back – if you go adding Justin Beiber, do you think he will follow you back? (Bit extreme, but you get my point) I suggest adding bigger accounts if you like them or their content. You will find big accounts will add you and then most likely unfollow you later. So hitting “Follow” back straight away is not worthwhile – I always look at the account and see what their gallery is about and if I would enjoy it as they post in the future.
3. Engagement in your niche
Get commenting and liking on content in your niche! I cannot stress this enough. It is the number one tip!! Discover other profiles that are out there. Use the hashtag search function (#beards, #hairdressersinlondon, #puppylover, #hikers), search locations you want to sell in or visit. You’ll find that a lot of people out there actually go through and like you back or leave comments if you do to them.
4. Get involved or create a Pod
Pods are handy group chats where it can be anywhere from a few to 15 people (recommended max) where there are a set of rules for the group. It involves engagement, where you upload your latest post to the group and they go to your page and start liking and commenting. You should have people who are in a similar timezone. As the first 30-60 minutes are vital for viral. You can also follow each other and do shoutouts if it’s beneficial (ie. a chef may shoutout new cookware from supplier). When you get to know people through engagement (Tip #3) you can start networking.
5. Loyalty to your current followers
Don’t forget your base! Please remember to keep checking your feed for your followers. You must try as much as you can to go through and see their posts. Don’t just spend time looking for new followers. You can easily find yourself losing your old followers while searching for new ones if you do not engage. It is impossible to stay in touch with everyone but go through your feed every time you go on Insta to keep active with them. Another way is when they like your photo, go and like one (or more) of theirs. Especially those who comment on your photo, make sure you respond on your post and be kind and go comment on their latest.
6. Hashtags, tags and captions
I know, sounds like a lot to put into one, however I find it is a joint process. It sometimes took 30 minutes putting my next photo together in the beginning. This is because my account is a portfolio of my travels and I want to create a “masterpiece” (I try, haha) for each post. I research before each post – look for accounts to tag (ie. fashion accounts – labels, model agencies, fashion magazines) in the hope of having your content featured.
Hashtags that will capture engagement (#amazingweddingdresses #bluefurcoats #instafashion). You can have a max of 30 hashtags per post. Instead of adding all of these in the caption you can post the photo and quickly comment on the photo with the hashtags.
Captions should capture your audience, use a personal story, state an interesting fact, and then leave a call for action at the start or end. A call to action can be ‘Do you like this dress?’ ‘Have you visited this city before?’ ‘What was your favourite song in 2016?’ If you have a call to action it will increase the chance of engagement where your audience can respond. An coming post on How to post the perfect photo on Instagram goes into detail of the above and more tips not mentioned in this post. Be careful of long captions, people can become bored. Harsh, but true in some cases.
Be sure to head to my Instagram page and check out my last photo!
This covers a few that I use. A magician cannot reveal all her tricks ; ) HOWEVER, I do! If you subscribe, you can get bonus secret tips on how to get followers on Instagram. Let me know how you go!
Make sure to check out more of my (some upcoming) posts on Instagram featuring How to post the perfect photo on Instragram, Stay Away from These 5 Things on Instagram and How to Get Followers on Instagram Part 2.
Good tips, Tracy! Totally agree with you!
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