How to get more followers on instagram

Get more Instagram followers with these 10 tips to grow your real audience

Published on July 20, 2021

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Instagram has become a cornerstone of many brands’ social presence, driving profitable traffic to landing pages, growing conversions, and building an engaged audience.

If your Instagram presence isn’t quite as robust as you’re hoping, it might be time to learn how to sharpen up your strategies for getting real, organic followers on Instagram. The larger your audience grows, the more opportunities you have to engage with users and create unique experiences for them.

The organic distinction is important: sometimes brands take the easy way out when trying to get more Instagram followers. Pay for likes and follower sites are everywhere, but these shortcuts are never worth it, as the Instagram algorithm regularly gets updated to weed out paid, low quality accounts and interactions.

Not to mention, the number on your Instagram following ultimately means nothing if it doesn’t represent an engaged fan following that makes purchases, visits your landing pages, and advocates for your brands with friends and followers. Start building your presence up the right way with these tips on getting more Instagram followers.

10 Ways to increase Instagram followers

1. Optimize your Instagram account

Before you set out figuring out how to gain followers on Instagram, one of the most important steps is to have your account fully optimized. Think of your brand’s Instagram bio as the “homepage” to your account.

Without a bio, image captions, a proper username or profile image, how will people know the account belongs to your brand? It might seem obvious, but on Instagram your bio and image help form the foundations of your brand identity. The link in your bio is your one spot to drive Instagram traffic to your site, so optimizing your account is essential.

If you’re uncertain where to link, try marketing or product pages that relate to specific keywords, hashtags or campaigns on your Instagram account. Linking to your homepage is OK–but why not give users a cohesive experience when moving from your bio to a site? This has led to the popularity of IG link landing pages that host relevant links to the last few pieces of content mentioned on a brand’s feed, and “link in bio” posts that help direct audiences to those links.

Additionally, keep your username as search-friendly as possible, which usually means sticking close to your actual brand name. If your business name is longer, shorten it to something your audience would recognize. Don’t add numbers or special characters to your username, and if possible keep it in-line with other social media handles you already have.

The best way to optimize your account is to create and follow an Instagram marketing strategy. Download our free guide to get started.

Instagram for Brands: A Guide to Instagram Marketing Strategy

2. Keep a consistent content calendar

The worst thing you can do when trying to get followers on Instagram is to post content at random, haphazard times. If you’re lucky enough to get users following you in the beginning, you don’t want to make them forget they followed you in the first place.

To combat this, keep to a regular posting schedule. Typically, brands shouldn’t post more than a few times a day to avoid spam, but whatever your cadence, keep it consistent. Approximately 200 million Instagram users log on daily, so to cast your net even wider, try publishing a few times throughout the entire day.

In fact, our very own research on the best times to post to Instagram pinpoints the top times to post for multiple industries, or you can follow our research of the best times across all topic areas below:

Sticking to a schedule will help you build a consistent experience for your followers and keep them in the know of your brand. But if you’re wondering how you’re going to remember to publish at these different times in the day, we’ve got you covered with Sprout’s scheduling and optimal times features–read on for more details.

3. Schedule Instagram posts in advance

While the Instagram algorithm has changed to show users more content they like, posting at the right times can still give your posts more visibility by increasing the overall engagement they receive.

There’s a lot your brand can do to raise visibility, and now with Sprout Social, scheduling Instagram content is one of them. With our newest tools, we can help your brand schedule content through an easy process.

By scheduling content in advance, your entire team can see campaigns and schedules more efficiently. It’s always smart to build out content in advance and with our Instagram scheduling tools, you can reach your audience and maintain a consistent flow of content at the same time.

You can also use Sprout’s patented ViralPost feature and let us do the work for you. ViralPost analyzes your own account’s engagement history and identifies the optimal times for you to post algorithmically.

Perfect your Instagram content plan with Sprout Social

In addition to scheduling a complete picture of your Instagram content calendar, Sprout offers even more features to perfect your brand’s feed.

Share IG-approved visuals with your team using our Asset Library, or test out our grid preview feature to make sure every aspect of your presence is true to your brand style.

Get a hands-on look at these features and more with a 30-day free trial of Sprout.

4. Get partners and brand advocates to post your content

When you’re learning how to get more Instagram followers, it’s important to know the value of your audience. The larger your follower count grows (organically), the more buyers and interested customers you will have.

The best way to get customers to follow you is to get in front of them and be present. It’s critical to be present on your own Instagram as well as others. Try sponsoring user-generated content to get your brand in customers’ feeds. You can also hold Instagram contests to get your brand

out to a larger audience. These types of campaigns build social proof by showing your fans are invested enough to repost your content or create their own UGC.

Another way is to get your handle in front of a much larger audience. Try to work with larger Instagram accounts in your industry, like notable influencers in your space, to share your content to their audience.

Just make sure you’re providing something of value. The last thing you want to do is seem too salesy. Find marketing collaborations and co-marketing plans with other businesses to build your Instagram audience.

5. Avoid fake Instagram followers

There’s a huge difference between an Instagram account having fake and legitimate followers. It might seem tempting to simply purchase Instagram followers, but the backlash outweighs the perks of organic follower growth.

Fake Instagram followers tend to:

Real people have the ability to share, like, comment and engage with your Instagram posts. Additionally, these users enjoy when there’s someone on the other side responding.

For example, Lush Cosmetics takes the time to answer various product questions, which results in users coming back, following or possibly sharing with others. These interactions will always have more value than a set of inactive followers.

6. Showcase your Instagram everywhere

How are people going to find an account unless you promote your Instagram? Make sure your Instagram account is listed with your website and other social networks.

Creating visibility and awareness is one of the best ways to get discovered. If you truly want to get more Instagram followers, let people know where to find you. You could add social media buttons to your website and blog to help promote social shares across all your networks as well as show people where to find you on Instagram.

Follow #MoMAPrimeTime on Instagram today as we celebrate the last day of Summer Camp for 200 New Yorkers, ages 65+! https://t.co/RNyV7Ibr9y pic.twitter.com/64SvbUaWLL

— MoMA The Museum of Modern Art (@MuseumModernArt) June 23, 2017

Another great idea is to cross promote across your social media accounts. The Museum of Modern Art regularly spreads awareness about its Instagram through Twitter. You can easily leverage your other social networks to direct users to your Instagram.

However, make sure that you’re not just asking for a follow. Instead you should try to promote unique content on your Instagram so users have a reason to follow you there. Fortunately, with Instagram adding a ton of new content and video features like Stories, IGTV and Reels, you have a great opportunity to build followers through creative content.

7. Post content followers want

While this is easier said than done, it’s smart to learn what content your followers want to see. You’ll quickly find on Instagram that some content performs better than others. This is why testing is so important.

Whether it’s filters, captions, content types or post times, the smallest detail can make all the difference. Keep your ear to the ground with new Instagram trends so you know you’re posting popular content.

To take your analysis a step further, your brand should invest in Instagram analytics tools. This will make it easier to track, benchmark and analyze Instagram content across accounts.

Be confident in your content strategy by analyzing different filters, captions and more to see what works best with your audience. If you’re unsure where to start, try analyzing your competitors.

You shouldn’t directly copy your competitors, but it’s smart to take notes on what they’re doing or posting that drives engagement. A little competitive research can go a long way. You can use our Instagram Competitors report to get a look at what’s working for other brands in your industry.

8. Get the conversation started

One of the best ways to make users aware of your Instagram is through conversation. According to the 2020 Sprout Social Index, consumers want to engage with visual-first content like photos (68%) and video (50%), followed by 30% who want to engage with text posts. Instagram is the perfect fit for this audience profile, pairing eye-catching visuals with captions that can be just as engaging when you perfect your Instagram caption copywriting skills.

People are continuing to use social media as their contact reference for brands, whether its for off-the-cuff questions and chat, serious customer care queries, or praise for their favorite brands and products. And for your business, you need to be supportive and communicative on Instagram.

Try to respond to as many questions or comments as possible, because it could mean the difference between getting a new customer, follower or improving your relationship with your audience. Our Index research also showed 89% of consumers will buy from a brand after following on social, so it’s important to secure the attention and loyalty needed to convert a visitor to your profile into a follower.

9. Find hashtags that convert

One of the most tried-and-true ways to get followers on Instagram is through hashtags. For years hashtags have served as an essential tool for discovery and allowed us to extend our social reach. As a marketer, you want to build your community by gaining followers and hashtags provide just that.

For starters, find hashtags that are not too populated. Social Media Examiner points this theory out by explaining how the hashtag #love has more than 184 million photos connected to it. Trying to highlight your Instagram content in a sea of millions of pictures and videos is not an easy thing to do.

You have to find hashtags that people in your target audience are more likely to check. If a relevant connection is made, these users will be more likely to follow your account. Unique, branded hashtags are one way to group posts around hyper-relevant content to your brand and campaigns.

How to Get Instagram Followers: Ultimate 2021 Guide

Onlypult blog author and editor. 10 year experienced professional copywriter, is interested in social media and e-mail marketing.

Nowadays, it is very hard, if not impossible, to find a person that doesn’t have an account on Instagram. Soon enough, marketers understood that this is an incredibly powerful tool for the promotion of goods and services. The number of followers became a measurement of success – the more active users you have, the more goods or services you will be able to sell.

That has left the question of gaining followers wide open, so we decided to compose a simple guide on how can a company can get lots of Instagram followers: what strategies you should apply, what basic points you have to understand, and much more.

Prepare for Instagram Promotion

Before launching any type of Instagram campaign, one has to pay attention to some preliminary actions. There is no use in rushing into anything without having a proper plan and understanding of how things work.

Develop a Thoughtful Strategy

For example, the basis of absolutely every marketing campaign – is a strategy. You have to know from the very beginning what is the purpose of your Instagram account, and what are you trying to achieve by growing your audience?

Mostly, there are three main goals that any public account is aiming for: to increase sales, boost traffic, and to let more people know about you. They are all interconnected, as the more traffic you have, the more leads you have; more leads – more sales. More sales – increased brand awareness.

However, even before you launch your campaign, you need to know what strategy to draw interest to your company you should choose. Let’s take these two strategies as examples.

Something Is Coming

The name speaks for itself. You need to make your profile literally shout that there is going to be something very exciting coming real soon! Create an informative and engaging bio, use your logo or your brand colors as the profile picture.

Any links that can show users more of you and your company are a must-have on this page. Accounts on other social media, e-mail, contact form, website – all of it can help your potential followers to remember you better.

Add several multiple links to Instagram instead of one — to your goods and services pages, promotional campaigns and special offers, or other social media accounts.

By the way, even if you do not have a website just yet, you should still place a link to it. Showing people that you are serious about this, that you will create a website for them, is important. Place something funny on the home page – so people will know that something is coming soon and will have a fun moment looking at your page.

Speaking of an informative bio, be sure to mention every bit of info a user might want to know about you and your company. Of course, you have a limited amount of letters there, so think wise.

After you are all set with the profile, it is time to come up with the first post that will present your business to the public. This post will be your business card, so pay a lot of attention to it.

To gain new followers at this stage you may try looking for other business accounts that operate in the same field as you. Take a look at their followers, check if they are really your target audience and real people. Then start following them.

By doing so, you declare your existence to the people who are potentially interested in your services or goods. Engage them by giving away some bonuses or offering a discount for the first 10 people to subscribe. And that is the reason why all of these people might follow an “empty” account.

A Rising Star

This strategy works along with the previous one just fine. You still have to make the appearance of your profile appealing and informative. And the advice about following your target audience is still very useful. So what is the difference?

Unlike the previous one, your visitors won’t join you because you have promised them a bonus or a discount. They will do so because they like your feed. What feed may you ask? The one you have been making before-hand!

Before you start reaching out to people, you have to create at least ten posts. Thus, people who land on your company account will have enough content to make their decision about whether or not they should follow you and use your services.

Post every couple of days to make it more natural, and don’t you ever forget about hashtags! They are an extremely powerful tool for gaining Instagram followers. You can increase the number of followers just by using the right hashtags.

Define The Target Audience

It is absolutely crucial to identify your target audience correctly. If you do it wrong, you will just end up wasting money trying to attract people that do not care or do not need your services and products. There is a classic technique that will help you do this. You should be able to answer these questions:

How to Get Your First 100 Instagram Followers: Basic Optimization

Let’s say that you have completed all the previous steps, and all the preliminary work is done. Now, it is time to carry on account optimization. Here are a few steps that will help you.

Fill in Bio & Profile

First things first – the “face” of your account. Your name, bio, links, and all the necessary information. Let’s take a closer look at what you should have there.

Starting with the name of the account. It should be no longer than 30 characters and preferably have a keyword in it. Then your username. Better have the same one as you use on other social media, so your followers will not have any trouble finding your accounts.

Your bio, as mentioned before, should be as full and informative as 150 characters allow you. Any new visitor should be able to understand what’s he dealing with in no time. And don’t forget to include a link to the website!

Keep Content Consistent & Develop Your Own Instagram Style

The overall look of your account is quite vital too. There should be a noticeable brand style. All of your content has to be published in the same way, no standing out from the other posts. It’s better to have a unique design that will make you stand out from other companies out there.

How to Get Your First 1,000 Instagram Followers: Content

The content is an extremely important part of your plan to get a lot of followers. Think for yourself – if the content of your account is not interesting or appealing to users, why would they follow you? We are going to look through the basic rules of content and make a few recommendations on how to optimize it.

Post at Right Time

You may have the most interesting posts and the most popular hashtags ever, but if you are posting at the wrong time, you will still lose a lot of potential views that may transform into leads or followers. How so? Let’s elaborate.

The very goal of any social media is to bring together people from all around the world, and Instagram is no exception. Your followers do not always live in the same city, country, or even continent with you. Sometimes, when it is morning for you, it is a late-night for them. That is why it is essential to gather data on your audience first. You need to know where the majority of your audience is located and post at a time that is convenient for them, even if that means that your posts will be released at midnight for you.

Nevertheless, it’s still not enough to just post when the people are not sleeping. In our previous article, we completed research that allowed us to indicate the perfect time to present your content to users. On the screen below, you can see the most lucrative hours for brands to post.

Schedule Instagram Posts

The most efficient way to produce content is to have a plan for it. What type of post are you going to present today and tomorrow, and when exactly? All of these things require a plan.

The content plan is an organizer for your posts. Generally, it looks like this:

Do you see it? Each day of each week has its own theme. Post it at the right time and get the highest feedback. That is why you have to plan every publication – so you will always know what and when.

However, this task is quite hard for beginners and requires a lot of expertise and time in the field. Onlypult has both of them. We can help you set up a perfect content plan for your business and help you with publishing it when the time is right.

With Onlypult, save time you spend on SMM tasks — posting to all social media, analytics, multiple links, micro landing pages, web monitoring. All in one place.

Share Images People Can Relate To

Please, check your Instagram and visit the profiles of the most hyped and famous people you follow. Most likely, the photos in their feed are very attractive and eye-catching. Well, that is your goal.

When people visit your company page on Instagram, the first thing they see is your bio and your feed. If the photos are beautiful, unique and there is a neat structure, the chances that the user will stay on the page are much higher!

Show them something they want to know about your business, like making of a video, guides, behind the scenes, and photos of your office and staff (maybe don’t use the photos from the corporate party). This will help the user get to know you a little better. Who knows, maybe this will become a crucial factor.

For example, take a look at these two photos from the Instagram account NissanUSA:

As you can see, the photos in both accounts are made in a certain unique style. Nissan does not post cars exclusively; there are people’s stories, interviews, etc. IKEA does not just show you products from the catalog; there are completed rooms, different options for you, and information.

Write Longer Captions on Your Posts

The times when you can take a photo of yourself with a banana and add a caption “gonna eat this banana!” are long gone. Such photos and descriptions do not do any good today. In the caption, you should provide information to your followers according to your content plan. For example, tell your followers why your product is useful, and why they should buy it, like the company on the picture below did:

Or you can tell your followers about the possibility to win something if they follow simple steps:

Post More Videos

Did you know that in just eight hours after Instagram has added a video onto the network, people have posted so many videos, that the overall length of all of these videos combined was more than one year? That is how much users love this type of content.

The popularity of videos on Instagram confirms the long-term trend of increasing the importance of visual content. Users have an opportunity to watch the video on Instagram on smartphone screens, which successfully “gets” into another trend: the growth of mobile traffic shared to the brand sites and social networks.

Share More Selfies

The important thing about getting close with your followers is for them to get to know you and to know the people behind the brand. Selfies are the best way to introduce your employees to each other.

This may seem hard for people who do not like to take photo or who don’t feel confident in front of a camera; however, studies show that, first, selfies get 40% more likes, and secondly, being honest and even shy (at first) shows your followers that you are all real people. That makes it easier for users to connect with you.

Use Popular & Relevant Hashtags

Hashtags are vital to the promotion of your personal brand. They allow people who don’t follow you yet to find you when they are looking for a particular niche or product. If this instrument is used correctly, it can result in a boost to your followers. Let’s see how to do it:

Use a Branded Hashtag to Create an Instagram Community

Your own unique hashtag is a powerful tool. However, it is even more than that. You can form a community around your brand with these hashtags! People will be able to find exactly what they need, plus make contact with other users who are also interested in the topic.

For instance, all major events have their own hashtags, like #SuperBowl. This is a grand event, and people can find anything they want that is connected to it in no time!

Find Hashtags That Convert

However, the hashtag situation is not always the same. Like anything in our fast-developing world, hashtags can get old and out-of-date pretty quickly, or the people just stopped using it. All of this can happen, so a wise decision would be to monitor closely which hashtags are more popular, which gives you more likes and reposts.

Create a Custom Filter for Your Brand

Always keep your hand on the pulse of modern trends. Today, the big boom in Instagram are the filters. Yes, this funny thing with puppy ears has grown into something much bigger. Brands and influencers are creating their own unique filters, and this is a wonderful marketing opportunity.

If you have the possibility to hire a designer to develop your own filter – do it. If this thing goes viral, you will get thousands of new followers in no time.

Create Memes

Today, memes are a big part of Internet culture. Every social network has accounts that are dedicated exclusively to memes. Instagram is no exception. By taking popular memes and adapting them to your business, you can attract a lot of new users, and increase the number of likes and reposts.

Ask Questions in Photo Captions

The next method to increase the activity of your users, get more likes, and shares is to ask questions in the photo’s caption. People will start commenting, and they will get engaged. You can also ask them to tag their friends who might be interested in your services. They will get to know about you, and if they are pleased with the content, they may become your followers.

Use Instagram Analytics Tools to Gain More Instagram Followers

Everything you do on Instagram should be analyzed. You need to know whether you are getting enough likes and reposts and how many active users you have. Watch the growth of your audience. Instagram offers its own services for this. There are many tools you can use. For instance, Instagram Insights

Or Sprout Social

All of these tools (there are actually much more than that) help you to monitor your situation, correct the strategy, and provide you with the most useful information.

Onlypult posts to all social media platforms, collects analytics data, allows creating micro landing pages and multiple links, and helps monitor what people say about your company.

How to Get 10k Followers on Instagram: Promotion inside Instagram

We have now discussed the basic ways to promote your Instagram account. Now, let’s proceed with more complicated approaches, though much more resultative.

Create an IGTV Series

When IGTV was first implemented, many people were quite skeptic about it. However, the time has shown us that this format is not only living, but it is also booming! Influencers and brands are using it for their profits very successfully. And what is more important – it is not an expensive tool at all! Even low budget IGTV series can bring you a lot of followers.

The thing with IGTV is that you need to develop your own style with it. Your series should be recognizable and authentic. Use brand colors or logos, or maybe start each video with push-up info about the employee that is in the video.

Choose your format according to your niche. If you have a beauty products firm, consider making some make-up tutorials on IGTV. There are a lot of variations you can use. Be informative, like Vox:

Or make it fun and get tons of views, like Netflix:

Work with Micro-Influencers

Like any big social network, Instagram has people who have an enormous number of followers. Such people are now called an influencer. Their marketing opportunity is limitless. Imagine your sales, if, say, Kim Kardashian would promote your goods? That’s right.

However, it is unlikely that you will be able to fit Kim in your budget. But there is actually no need to worry about this, as Instagram is full of other influencers. Bloggers with 0-25k followers have the highest engagement rates. If you build a good and long-term partnership with them, their audience will trust you as well.

Moreover, you can always create some kind of special project with this influencer. It may be a clothing line or special offers. The main goal is to get the influencer’s followers engaged with your account. For example, Uber Eats made this campaign involving famous Australian comedy duo Hamish & Andy.

Appear in The Related Accounts Suggestions on Instagram

Instagram has one more extremely useful feature: suggestions. It appears when you visit someone’s account. It is called “suggested for you.” If you visit the page of IKEA USA, you will see that Instagram offers you accounts like H&M Home or HomeGoods.

The algorithm understands that all these companies work in the same industry and think that you might be interested in them as well. Appearing in the suggested section can bring you followers at no cost!

Unfortunately, there is no way to know how you can guarantee your presence there. There is no magic button for this. You have to set the keywords in your page name and bio correctly and somehow interact with the companies that have a similar business. The rest is up to the mighty Instagram.

Treat your Instagram Profile Like a Homepage

If you want your Instagram profile to represent your company as good as a private account represents a person, then you have to treat it like one. People should see that a lot of energy, effort, and soul were invested in it.

The first thing to do is to make sure that your feed, your stories, your highlights, and bio are giving brand realness to the user. So your entire account image is telling your followers that this is your company’s account. Brand colors, logos, correct name – every detail is important.

The feed should look neat and aesthetic, with no messy posts. Give proper design to your stories highlights and work on your IGTV style.

Grow Your Following by Partnering with Another Brand

Another good way to get new followers without any expenses is to partner with another brand. No need to work with your direct competition, you can choose someone who operates in the sphere that is close to you. This way, both of you can get new followers pretty easily!

Participate in Massively Popular Conversations

New trends and hashtags are going viral every day. You have to monitor this and be ready to implement new hashtags or discuss something that everybody’s talking about. By doing so, the account will have more chances to attract new followers.

Don’t forget about the advice below-concerning memes. If you see that a meme goes viral, use it to your advantage. For example, tons of companies got new followers and led after they used #tossacointoyourwitcher. The TV show by Netflix had a huge public response and attracted an enormous amount of users. Why not use it?

Get Instagram Followers by Joining Instagram Engagement Groups

Okay, that sounds suspiciously easy, but it is working! There are lots of such groups for any niche. Join one and get new followers. Even though they might not be interested in buying your products or using your services, they will make your page look more credible.

Repost Others’ Content to Gain More Instagram Followers

Reposting what other accounts post is not always a bad thing! For example, if you repost something from your company-partner, both of you can win! More people will know about the company, and you will get content and likes! Obviously, there is no point in reposting something that is not bringing any likes or commentaries.

Ask Customers to Share Their Photos to Build Instagram Followers

Another way to increase the number of followers is to work with your customer’s photos. For instance, if you ask a micro-influencer to take a photo in say, your clothes, and promote them, it will bring you lots of new users! Repost this photo to your feed and stories, be active in comments, and engage even more people!

Follow People Who Like Competing Instagram Pages

Look for your competitors who have a lot of followers. These are all people who are potentially ready to be your clients as well. Check the comments and search for active users. You need to start interacting with them.

Do not get too carried away and do not try selling them your goods right there in the comments. Just provide answers to their questions, like their comments, and communicate. If you manage to get their attention, they will check out your page. Who knows, maybe they will become one of your loyal customers?

Host Giveaways to Build Your Instagram Followers

A giveaway is a classic method of gaining new clients. There are many ways you can run it, but the one thing that remains unchanged – you will get new followers. People will start sharing with each other, and more users will be eager to participate in your event and possibly get something for free!

You can always set certain terms, like “subscribe to the account and repost our latest post to win a gift.” Though it is important not to set terms that are too intimidating– people may decide that it is not worth it and leave.

How to Get 20,000 Followers on Instagram: Account Promotion on Other Platforms

There is a certain limit for brands in gaining followers exclusively via Instagram. It would be enormously hard to exceed the figure of 20,000 followers. To do so, you have to promote your account on other networks too.

1. Answer relevant YouTube comments

YouTube is a mastodon of video content. Millions of people use this site every day. Find relevant channels, leave comments there, so your potential target audience will know about you.

2. Help people in relevant Reddit subreddits

Reddit is also quite an important source. There are a lot of people all over the world. Find the relevant topics and enter the discussion from your business account.

3. Answer relevant Quora questions

Quora is one of the people’s favorite sources of information. Once again, look for something that is connected to your business and participate in it.

4. Talk with people on relevant Facebook groups

Facebook itself is a great promotion tool. There are many groups dedicated to almost anything. You can always enter groups that are about your sphere of business.

5. Post content on relevant forums

Forums are still a force that needs to be acknowledged. Lots of people prefer communicating there, asking questions, and getting answers. Use that to your advantage.

6. Write articles for blogs that your audience might follow

Sharing your expertise on your website in the format of the blog is a fine way to gain people’s trust. They will also think of you as of expert (which is always good). Just don’t forget to leave links to your Instagram account somewhere on there.

7. Get Promoted on Buzzfeed to Grow Your Instagram Followers

Buzzfeed is a world-famous portal with highly-developed social media. Everyone can post any content there (according to the rules, of course) and get it seen by millions! You got to use everything you can, right?

Instagram Followers FAQs

People think that you need more than a million followers to start earning something via Instagram, but that is not entirely true. Influencers with 5k followers can get money too! It all depends on the “quality” of your fans, whether they are active, are they real (100k fake users won’t do any good). Brands do not usually get paid by Instagram. On the contrary, they often pay influencers to get a promotion.

How to get more Instagram followers: 12 free and paid ways

Article summary

How to get more followers on Instagram? This is one of the biggest challenges for marketers. Searching for answers on how to grow following, we analyzed recommendations in the Instagram guides and discovered the recipe for success. Follow these steps to speed up your Instagram growth and attract more followers.

20 minutes read

Are you dreaming of a million or 5 000 active followers on Instagram?

Here are 12 legal ways on how to get more followers on Instagram. You can click any tip for more details, or read the whole article to improve your promotional strategies or create a new one from scratch.

1. Create a content strategy for Instagram and keep it

Without a clear Instagram marketing strategy and having a bunch of unique or specific ideas up your sleeve, you do not have much of a chance to grow your following.

Answering these questions, you will learn how to get more subscribers on Instagram.

By signing up I agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy

For quick insights into your audience, you can use any social listening tool, for example, Awario. All you need is several keywords that describe your industry, brand, product, service, or even some feature.

Awario searches for your keywords all over the web, including social media. After a while, you will get the portrait of your potential customers — every person who mentioned you, or your brand is subject to research — based on such metrics as Age, Gender, and Countries. Additionally, you can estimate Sentiment of their posts.

Once you have identified your target audience, it is time to create an Instagram content plan. You need to define:

Clarifying these points, you can specify your visual and text style, create branded hashtags, prepare and schedule an Instagram post through specific tools. It can encourage you to be consistent when posting on Instagram, which users will appreciate.

For example, this bridal dress store team created a branded Instagram hashtag encouraging the clients to replicate it under their photos. As you can see, this tactic works really well.

2. Optimize information in your Instagram account

Last November, Instagram upgraded search options for users in six countries, including the US, Canada, the UK, and Ireland. Now they can use not only hashtags but keywords for searching on the platform.

To bring relevant results, the Instagram algorithm considers the quality and the type of content, and the time when it was posted. It means that you should optimize your brand page to attract more followers.

If you want to see your page in the top results on the Explore tab, you need to optimize your Instagram profile:

Pro tip

Do you know how to add multiple links to your Instagram profile? Use services as Linktree that allows packing several links in one, which you can post in your bio. Clicking this link takes your followers to the page with other ones. It is a really great solution for holiday campaigns and several webpages promotion on Instagram.

As a business Instagram account owner, you can tag your location, share your contacts, and indicate the type of business as well.

For instance, this Instagram profile’s bio contains two keywords — ceramics and pottery. The first one helped me to find the page very quickly. Think about what queries your potential followers use to find your content and add them to your Instagram bio.

When you get started on the page optimization, do not forget about adding keywords in Instagram captions and hashtags, too.

3. Dress up your Instagram account in a branded theme

Instagram is about aesthetic and high-quality content. On this social media platform, users want to see beautiful photos similar to pictures of famous painters, not random blurry shots. Do not forget that you are competing for their attention with professional photographers and videographers. If your page looks like a big family album with photos of all times, formats, and colors, you will lose the war.

On the other hand, using glossy content can answer your question how to get more followers on Instagram. There is a plethora of themes for your home page. They are differentiated by composition, style, color, formats, and so on. Instagram relies on visuals almost completely, thus creating your own style and knowing how to wear it post by post, you undoubtedly contribute into followers’ growth.

Imagine your Instagram grid is a store showcase. It should be stylishly decorated and attractive for your viewers. You can take your brand stylebook as a basis. Use branded colors, drawings and mark all content with your logo. There are no strict rules for you! Just choose your style and stick to it. It helps you to get more Instagram followers who will fall in love with your visuals.

4. Experiment with Instagram content formats

Your Instagram feed can contain different types of content. The platform provides every feature for creating enticing visuals, improving them year to year.

The Instagram algorithm evaluates your experiments positively, pushing your posts to the top of the Feed or Suggested Posts where potential users can see them.

What types of Instagram content you can use to attract organic followers:

For example, this bakery company shot a short story of its business and earned tons of likes and comments.

Also, you can run a contest, post a meme, or infographics — all that users want to share with their friends by DMing, tagging their accounts in comments, or when they publish in their Instagram Stories.

Sponsoring user-generated content (or UGC) around your brand through a viral challenge is another way to attract new followers to your page.

Use Instagram analytics tools to measure your results and define the best formats for your business goals.

5. Make custom stickers for Instagram Stories

Nearly 500 million users create and check at least some Instagram story every day all over the world. Using this format is an answer to the question «How to get new followers?» because many Instagram users prefer to follow Stories updates rather than Feed. You can observe this even among the members of your followership.

Add stickers to their Instagram Stories, many people like this feature. Businesses try keeping up with them and provide Stories with trending and relevant additions, too. And don’t do it once a week, remember that story is better to be posted every day. You can use not only ready-to-use embedded stickers but also create your own pictures and GIFs. For example, you can digitize your printed set of stickers for Instagram.

GIF stickers work even better because the searchable Instagram Sticker library can include them. Other users can find and add them to their Stories, increasing your brand awareness.

To make a GIF sticker, you need to use a special service — Giphy. Check this step-by-step lesson on how to create one.

6. Work with influencers

Top bloggers can help you to grow your Instagram following as well. I bet, on Instagram, there is a group of influencers in every business niche and category. Partnering with brands that are not your direct competitors can be fruitful, too.

Of course, you can run a paid campaign featuring celebrities as your marketing budget allows. However, collaborations with micro-influencers with 10-30K followers on average work just as good if not better.

To find influencers on social media, you can seek help from social listening tools. Usually, they select suitable accounts by estimating their audience and the number of mentions. Awario shows the sentiment of their messages — positive, negative, or neutral — around your keywords as well.

The number of followers on Instagram and the engagement rate are important criteria. However, searching for influencers, pay attention to the feel, tone, and what they value in their posts. You need to find a voice that complements your brand. The best one can reach your target audience and build trust.

Also, the Topic Cloud tab in Awario helps you discover popular topic around your subject or product. By clicking them you can see who speaks about them, thus finding new influencers who might be helpful in your strategy.

Awario has dedicated Influencers reports which can be found in the Reports tab. Here you can see the list of influencers rated by the application in accordance with your settings for each of your alerts within a chosen time period. The accounts will be ranked by the size of audience, number of mentions and sentiment giving you the overall picture to pick the ones who you can collaborate with.

7. Map out your hashtag strategy

On Instagram, hashtags design the navigation system. Your task as a marketer is to integrate your posts into it. Then, Instagram users will easily find your content by clicking on relevant hashtags in other posts or searching by hashtags that they have interest in.

Instagram allows adding up to 30 hashtags to a post but do not overuse them. Try to avoid generic words like #spring, #city, #business. It is better to choose the trending ones. Creating Instagram hashtags, focus on your topic, brand, and industry.

For example, this computer museum describes its niche with topic hashtags. Potential followers can find this post by searching for them.

Here are some tips: tricks like #followforfollowback and #tagforlikes can work on Instagram, too. However, you can’t be sure in advance that Instagram followers attracted by them are your target audience.

Remember to always check if hashtags you intend to use are not banned, choose proper and popular ones, update this list all the time.

Awario can help you find suitable hashtags for your Instagram posts. Type in some keywords related to your niche or brand. After a while, go to Mention Statistics to analyze Topic cloud, an illustrative hashtag report. By the way, you can add new keywords to your alert already created and keep the results you have received earlier.

The Topic cloud shows the most frequently used hashtags and keywords on social media and the web. On Dashboard, any word in the cloud is clickable, so you can study all posts, tweets, and articles where people mentioned it.

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8. Be active

If you want to grow a successful Instagram account, you need to be social on the platform. People are always interested in the personal, human side of brands. Your task as a marketing specialist is to find a unique brand voice, define its tone and the emotions that it is filled with.

Feel free to engage with your followers on Instagram, responding to their questions and replies. Take a look at how Nestle does it.

Also, you can follow other accounts — pages of your competitors or customers — to leave comments, like posts, and share user-generated content related to your brand with Instagram Stories. Tag people, for example, an Instagram influencer you want to cooperate with, or interesting Instagram profiles in your posts. Mentions always draw attention!

People will appreciate your activity if you show that your brand has a human face. However, this Instagram strategy doesn’t work when you have an over-promotional account cluttered with monotonous content.

To avoid this, try to use the abovementioned user-generated content created by your followers as often as possible. That’s what social networks are made for! Speak with people and share their content to encourage their future endeavors, as it creates opportunities for more activities. The campaigns comprising user-generated content are undeniably successful as they make customers part of their brand not just in a commercial but in a soulful way.

Remember to turn notifications on to provide followers with your immediate response when needed.

Answering users’ comments is great, but putting some effort into visiting their pages and liking their posts or giving some shout-outs is precious and will surely be valued by your followers.

9. Try Instagram ads

In 2020, Instagram’s potential advertising reach was 1.16 billion users, as Hootsuite said. One of the best formats for showcasing your product or service is Instagram Stories with a strong call-to-action. They perform better 89% of the time.

Scheduling Instagram ad campaigns, you can also choose Photo, Video, Carousel, Collection, Explore, IGTV, or Shopping ads beyond Instagram Stories. Each type of ad has a lot of CTA buttons and helps to achieve various marketing objectives, including the increasing reach of your Instagram posts among potential followers. As a result, any business can successfully promote Instagram accounts through ad tools.

10. Improve Instagram content distribution

Thinking of how to grow your Instagram following, you need to take care not only of good (and good looking) content but also decide on a distribution tactic. You content should be self-selling, informative or funny enough so that the followers whose attention it grabs hold of would want to share it naturally. It’s not an easy task to do but possible, set your imagination free and animate your content’s concept.

First, try to promote your posts within the social platform. There are a lot of free ways to grab attention beyond ads. For instance, scheduling Instagram posts, do not forget to use an opportunity and announce a new one on Instagram Stories or Instagram Reels. Also, you can collaborate with popular accounts and experts for mutual promotion.

Second, having other social channels will be a helper. Synchronizing your Instagram account with a Facebook page is one of the ways to gain more Instagram followers. You can share Instagram Stories or posts across linked pages in a matter of seconds. Adding a link in bio of your account on Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn, Twitch, and other social media works well, too.

Additionally, you can use your blog to embed your Instagram posts in the articles as examples. Sharing a link to your account via your website or your email signature is a good idea, too. Also, you can announce new posts to your followers in your email newsletter and mention how to find your page via the Instagram app during online events.

Offline marketing materials also come in handy for this task. Put your Instagram nametag or QR code in your PDF presentations, printed leaflets, brochures, business cards, and even branded packaging. In the end, you can print and hang it up in your store!

11. Be honest

Some SMM “specialists” may advise you just to buy fake Instagram followers. They justify it by saying that a potential follower won’t take a look at the page with few subscribers. This is not the best of the tips, yet it’s one of the highlights among bad advices.

Yes, you can get lots of Instagram followers without efforts within several days. However, instead of achieving success consistently, this dangerous Instagram strategy leads to poor results in the future and reminds us that having a close friend who you can count on is better than having a number of those who simply don’t care:

There are tons of pages packed with bots and fake followers on Instagram. People have learned how to spot cheaters. Boasting with lots of Instagram followers is not a social proof for them if your posts have low engagement rate.

For example, this sofa store has 3 800+ followers, but its post gets just 5 likes and no comment at all on average. This is not the result you want to get, isn’t it? Real followers would bring a much more responsive reaction, and everyone will realize it straight away.

How to Get More Instagram Followers: 30 Proven Strategies

Everyone has big dreams when they start an Instagram account for their business.

But getting more Instagram followers—especially at the beginning—isn’t as easy at it seems. How do you get more Instagram followers?

Paying for Instagram followers doesn’t work. You end up with inflated follower counts that actually don’t provide any results to your business.

So how do you build an authentic Instagram following that’s relevant to your business?

Here are 30 ways to get more followers on instagram.

1. Start By Strategizing

Social media can be a huge time-waster if you don’t have an action plan. Far too many businesses go straight to posting on Instagram without any idea of why.

The harsh truth is:

Growing your Instagram follower count will require thoughtful, strategic action. Making it up as you go along won’t cut it.

Set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Timely) goals that relate back to your business plan.

Your goals may be related to:

Try to set a specific, realistic goal with a deadline. For example, increasing online sales by 10% within 12 months.

By establishing your goals up front, you give a purpose behind each post.

If your goal is to grow brand awareness, you may steer more towards lifestyle content.

Want to increase sales? You may post more product shots.

If you want to boost your website visitors, you may post contests or promotional offers.

As a bonus, if you have a team of multiple people managing your account, clearly defined goals means you’ll all be on the same page.

2. Research Your Competitors

There’s no need to reinvent the wheel. You just have to make yours shinier and faster.

Start by making a list of your top competitors and then checking out each of their Instagram profiles.

Ask yourself questions like:

Take detailed notes as you go through this process for each of your competitors. By the end of it, you’ll have a great starting point from which to build off of.

For example, you may find none of your competitors are working with influencers, exposing an opportunity in the market.

But don’t stop there.

By using a social media analytics tool like Keyhole, you can look at the hard data to easily compare the successes and failures of your competitors.

You can unlock insights like which types of posts get the engagement, who has more share of voice, and which accounts have the most positive user sentiment.

3. Define Your Audience

It’s much easier to get more Instagram followers if you tailor your content to a specific audience.

Establish exactly who you’re trying to reach with your posts:

The more specific the better. Come up with 2 or 3 ideal customer profiles (fictional or based off of real followers) and post everything with that user in mind.

For example, if you were Nike, you could target a fictional persona “Can’t-Stop Corey”, a hard-working finance expert who goes to the gym every morning, eats healthy, and watches sports every night.

Corey may be interested in health tips, inspirational quotes, and would likely be persuaded by famous athletes.

4. Consistent Branding & Aesthetic

Surely you’ve heard the cooking expression, “You eat with your eyes first.”

Well the same goes for Instagram. People like pretty content.

Establish a consistent design aesthetic that reflects your brand and appeals to your target audience. Use consistent brand colors, photo filters, iconography, and photo styles.

Take Pantone, for example. They post several videos and images using the same color scheme to create appealing visual consistency.

Check out Pantone’s color consistency!

Pro Tip: There are many Instagram template tools out there to help you make beautiful posts every single time.

5. Optimize Your Instagram Bio

Your Instagram bio has to be your strongest sales pitch.

When someone sees one of your posts and clicks through to your profile, now’s the time to impress.

The perfect Instagram bio is made up of several key elements:

Keyword Optimized Name:
Your profile name is searchable, so target it to the most relevant keywords to your brand. That might be your brand name, but it may also be keywords that help people find you.

For example, if you were a nail salon called Chic Nails in New York, you could make your name “Chic Nails | NY Nail Salon”.

Persuasive Bio:
Tell your potential followers exactly who you are and exactly what they will get out of following you.

Call-To-Action Link:
Give people a link to click and a reason to click it. If you’re a SAAS company, that may be a free trial. If you’re an eCommerce business, that may be a link to a sale. Try to get more creative than just linking your website.

6. Use Relevant Hashtags

Using hashtags is all about gaining visibility.

You can post on general trends like #MondayMotivation, but you’ll gain more traction if you post with hashtags that are relevant to your product or audience.

For example, Project UROK helps spread mental health awareness by using hashtags like #mentalhealth, #mentalhealthresource, #mentalillness, and more.

Using a hashtag analytics tool like Keyhole, you can research hashtags that are used most often by your audience or are most relevant to your brand.

You can then build a list of hashtags and use them in each and every post.

Pro Tip: Posting on social media “holiday” hashtags will also put your content in front of more people. Here’s a great list of social media holidays from HubSpot.

7. Create a Branded Hashtag

Creating your own branded hashtag is even better than using someone else’s.

If your hashtag catches on, people will be creating content for you.

And anyone who clicks through to the hashtag on someone else’s post will be more likely to see your content in the search results or their feed.

Not only does that help with your brand awareness, it also makes them more likely to follow you, because you’re the source of the content they loved.

Reebok used #ClubC to celebrate their 35th anniversary by encouraging people to post their Reebok-inspired style.

Now, their fans and influencers are sharing their own Reebok shoe photos, which dramatically increases Reebok’s brand visibility.

Pro tip: Keep your branded hashtag short and easy to remember.

8. Post Great Captions

Instagram isn’t just about great visuals. Your captions matter too.

In a world where authenticity is key, long-form captions will help your audience learn more about you and your unique message.

Plus, there’s evidence that longer captions result in more engagement.

Here are some great ways to keep your captions captivating:

Experiment with caption length to see what gets the best results for your brand.

Pro Tip: Keyhole has an “Optimal Post Length” feature that will tell you the post lengths with the best engagement.

9. Post Consistently

It doesn’t matter how great your content is if your posts are few and far between.

Posting regularly will not only give you more opportunities to get your content in front of people, it also shows potential followers that you’re a great source for regular content.

Pro Tip: Aim to post at least once per day.

10. Post at the Right Time

Depending on your industry, when you post might be just as important as how often you post.

Keyhole’s social analytics tool will tell you the best time of the day to post for each day of the week based on typical post engagement.

11. Post Beautiful, Professional Photos

Instagram is first and foremost a photo and video platform.

That means you’ll gain followers much quicker if you have beautiful, professional photos and videos.

If you have the budget, consider hiring a professional photographer.

If you’re taking the photos yourself:

Even if your brand is focused more on day-to-day authenticity rather than super polished shots, you’ll still receive more engagement on nicer-looking photos rather than drab, out-of-focus photos.

Pro Tip: Check out this list of 29 Instagram photo hacks from the Huffington Post.

12. Post Real People (and Selfies)

As it turns out, people really like faces! And people love authenticity.

A study from Georgia Tech found that Instagram photos that feature faces are 38% more likely to get a like and 32% more likely to receive comments.

And not only that, photos and videos of real people make your brand more relatable and personable.

Think about it: would you rather have a photo of a product or a video of someone showing you how great that product is?

Authentic photos of your team, or selfies from your influencers are a great way to get free Instagram followers fast.

13. Ask People to Tag Their Friends

People love tagging their friends in content that helps them connect.

If you post something inspirational, funny, or relatable, ask your followers to tag their friends directly from the content.

BossBabe often posts inspirational quotes about women empowerment, asking their followers to tag friends that are also a #BOSSBABE.

Pro Tip: Use this technique sparingly, as using it too often can come off as spammy.

14. Tag Your Location

Tagging your location is another tool in your toolbox for making your posts more discoverable.

You can tag your posts or stories with your location—either with your city or the event venue where you took the photo or video.

Just like hashtags have their own feed, so do locations and events. You can tap a location or event name to see all photos and videos that were tagged with that event.

By tagging yourself at a location, you’re opening the door to new local followers.

Pro tip: To tag your Stories with a location, use the location sticker. Add a location tag in your post too!

15. Engage, Engage, Engage

People use social networks to be social.

So when in Rome…

Find an Instagram community that’s relevant to your brand, and then start liking, commenting on, and sharing content from members in that community.

There are three main reasons why you should be proactive with engagement:

This is really important:

Keep your posts authentic.

If you’re engaging with a community, talk like that community—as long as it’s consistent with your brand.

People are pretty quick to sniff out a brand that’s engaging in self-promotion, so make sure you’re actually contributing to the conversation.

If you’re a smaller brand, you may want to target users with fewer followers, and then work your way up to bigger accounts.

If you’re a larger brand, you may be able to target higher followed accounts right out of the gate.

Pro Tip: Don’t limit engagement to your marketing team. Your Customer Service / Success team can also interact with people directly on Instagram.

16. Share User Generated Content

Sharing user generated content has so many benefits.

First of all, it’s free content. Your users create it for you.

Secondly, it encourages people to engage with your brand, because they know there’s something in it for them (more exposure). This means more exposure for your account or branded hashtag.

The wide majority of AirBnB’s Instagram photos are credited to their users or hosts. They’re using their existing network as an extremely effective way to scale up their Instagram content and grow their follower base.

On top of that, every time you’re sharing someone’s content, you’ve earned a fan of your brand for live.

17. Follow Relevant Accounts

By following accounts that are similar to yours, it makes the Instagram algorithm more likely to recommend your account as a similar follow.

Or, you can follow key influencers, or accounts that are aligned with your target audience. Ideally, they’ll check out your feed to decide if they want to follow you back.

If you’ve followed our other tips above, it’ll be a sure thing!

Pro Tip: Don’t follow too many accounts at once. A strong follower ratio makes your brand more credible.

18. Steal Your Competitors’ Followers

This tip takes a bit of tact.

Your direct competitors are the most likely accounts to have the followers you want.

So, follow tip #15 and start liking and commenting on the photos and videos of your competitors’ key followers.

Or follow tip #17 and actually start following your competitors’ followers. You’re bound to get a few free Instagram followers out of it.

There’s a chance you can win over their brand loyalty if you come off as authentic and relevant to their interests.

That said, you have to be subtle as to not ruffle any feathers. Don’t engage with any of their content directly relating to your competitors.

19. Work with Influencers

Instagram influencer marketing is popular for a reason: it works.

Working with influencers is the fastest way to create a positive association with your brand.

For example, Walmart works with fashion influencers to give a more stylish feel to their clothing lines.

You can use hashtags to identify the best influencers for your brand, or you can use a tool like Keyhole to identify users with the most influence.

If you’re new to influencer marketing, micro influencers are a great place to start. They’re more affordable, more amenable to partnerships, and most likely to be able to sway their close network.

20. Collaborate With Other Brands & Accounts

Every other brand is trying to grow their following too.

So look for opportunities to partner with non-competing brands that are a natural fit.

One of the most impactful collaborations was Barbie and AirBnb. They collaborated to create an actual Barbie Malibu Dreamhouse, which served as cross-promotion for both brands.

If you’re looking for collaboration ideas, you can participate in Instagram Stories takeovers, tag each other in content, co-host Instagram Live videos, or execute full marketing campaigns together.

For example, if you’re a local business, you could collaborate with a travel account who’s going to be in your area. From your account, you can share pictures and stories from their visit, and from their account, they can promote your business.

21. Contests & Giveaways

Contests and giveaways are a surefire way to boost engagement quickly.

Instagram contests are easy:

Ask people to follow you, comment on your photo, and tag a friend for a chance to win free products or services.

The cost of the giveaway is often far, far less than the cost it would have taken to grow your follower account through organic marketing.

You need to keep your target audience in mind. Winning empty followers that only follow you for giveaways won’t boost your business long term. Keep the giveaways relevant.

Keep running contests on a regular basis so that users don’t feel compelled to unfollow you.

Pro Tip: Collaborate with influencers or partner brands to extend the reach of your contest.

22. Post Videos

After launching in June 2013, video content has found its place on Instagram.

While videos receive fewer likes on average, videos receive more comments than images.

Another consideration: many businesses simply don’t want to go to the effort of posting videos, so it’s a chance to stand out from the crowd.

Here’s an example from Jamie Oliver, who turns a simple book launch into a nice-looking promotional video:

Need a few video ideas? We’ve got you covered:

Pro Tip: Start small. Even simple videos can help you stand out.

23. Post Stories

After their success on Snapchat, Stories launched on Instagram in 2016, and now, 500 million Instagram users post at least one Instagram story every day.

The most successful influencers typically post 6-7 stories per day.

So while stories can feel temporary and fleeting to businesses, users love them. There’s also evidence they produce results. According to Instagram, 1 in 5 stories results in a direct message.

For tons of Instagram Stories tips, check out this blog post.

Pro Tip: Turn your longer pre-produced video content into multiple stories to increase engagement.

24. Use Story Highlights

You can pin your top Instagram Stories to your profile.

Some accounts take the route of using their Story Highlights like a website navigation: to highlight their key products, services, or content categories.

Take Huda Kattan for example, founder of Huda Beauty, who uses her Story Highlights to showcase what type of content she puts out.

Others use their Story Highlights screen space to highlight their most recent campaign.

Nike, for example, uses their Highlights to showcase their most recent influencers.

Pro Tip: You can set covers for your Instagram Story Highlights to create a consistent aesthetic. Prada does a great job:

25. Use Instagram Live

Here’s a great tip for any social media platform:

When a platform adds a new feature, they really want you to use it. Because of that, they’re likely to reward your use of their new features in the form of increased algorithmic visibility.

Instagram is making a huge push for video, so use video!

Yes, Instagram Live was launched in 2016, but their push towards video isn’t slowing down.

Instagram Live is a feature of Instagram Stories that lets you stream live to your followers. A ring will show up around your profile picture to let your followers know you’re live.

Instagram Live is great because there’s a sense of closeness with your followers. They can ask you questions while you’re live and you can answer them in real time.

Need some Instagram Live video ideas to get you started?:

26. Start an IGTV Series

IGTV is basically Instagram’s answer to YouTube. It’s available within Instagram or as a standalone app.

Whereas Stories are for short-form content, IGTV is long-form videos from a few minutes up to an hour in length. It’s designed to be a modern take on the traditional TV experience.

You can post vertical and horizontal videos, so you get more of the traditional YouTube feel.

It’s still early days for brands on IGTV, so it’s a great chance to stand out early on.

IGTV, like Instagram, is primarily an entertainment platform, so you’ll have to create content that is funny, educational, or downright addicting.

So Yummy has a great IGTV channel where they post 1-4 minute food recipes with stunning visuals.

27. Promote Your Instagram Content on Other Channels

It’s crazy how many brands skip this step.

If you’re making great content on Instagram, promote it on your other channels!

Don’t just add a tiny Instagram icon link in your email newsletters, actually showcase your Instagram content like you would promote a blog post or a landing page.

Don’t just include a link to your Instagram in your blog, embed your Instagram content in your blog posts.

Sending your customers from other marketing channels to Instagram is perhaps the most underutilized follower growth hack.

28. Create Custom Camera Filters

We’re getting into high-effort territory, but creating a custom camera filter is a fast way to get tons of engagement and promotion for your brand.

Using Spark AR by Facebook, you can create your own AR (augmented reality) filters that are directly tied to your brand.

Then, users will use your filter, along with your branded hashtag, and you can re-post their user-generated content as your own. It’s like a self-sustaining content engine!

Gucci creates filters and asks users to share with the hashtag #GucciFilters, which they share back on their profile.

29. Instagram Ads

While everyone’s looking for free Instagram followers, the paid route isn’t always a bad option.

But don’t buy followers. Pay to promote your content instead.

If you’re looking for fast, efficient exposure, Instagram ads may just do the trick.

30. Use an Instagram Analytics Tool

Today’s marketer has to be data-obsessed.

No matter which of the above tips you decide to follow, it’s smart to always be evaluating whether or not your strategy is working by using data.

Using Keyhole, you can create:

It’s fast, accurate, and easily shearable.

To get the data you need to grow your Instagram following, start your free Keyhole trial today.

How to Get Followers on Instagram: From 0 to 10k Followers

Your first 10,000 Instagram followers are the hardest to get. Why? No one knows who you are yet.

You’ve still got to prove yourself as a successful brand and influencer. But that doesn’t mean it’s not possible.

If you follow this guide on how to get followers on Instagram, you could hit 10,000 Instagram followers in as little as six months. No jokes or tricks!

How to Get More Followers on Instagram

#1. Get Instagram Followers by Joining Instagram Engagement Groups

Ever wondered what people who get Instagram followers fast do differently?

They join engagement groups (aka. Instagram pods ).

While it can be tempting to join the biggest Instagram engagement groups, the truth is you’ll get a more targeted list of Instagram followers by sticking to your niche.

This tactic is best for entrepreneurs just starting to learn how to get followers on Instagram.

You can find engagement groups for travel, beauty, fashion and more.

In these groups, you can get followers and likes from people who have shared interests.

But if you’re serious about getting their attention, you should also return the favor by following fan pages for people who join the group.

I’ve had friends get 2,000 new followers in only a couple weeks using this strategy.

While it might not help with immediate sales, it helps you gain credibility early on so your Instagram page doesn’t show that you only have a handful of followers.

Remember, this is more of a short-term strategy for your first few weeks on Instagram, not a long-term one for getting loyal Instagram followers.

#2. Repost Others’ Content to Get Free Instagram Followers

When I was starting out with social media marketing and building my store’s Instagram following, my entire posting strategy revolved around reposting other people’s content.

While doing this, I made sure to credit the original poster in my descriptions, every time. It’s the only way to gain free followers without getting flagged.

One of the biggest home runs I had was when I re-posted a video that amassed 52,862 views, got 1264 comments and 9,147 likes. At the time, I didn’t even have 10,000 followers so this was a big freaking deal. The best part? I didn’t run ads or anything. I got Instagram followers free.

Why’d I repost other people’s content instead of posting my own?

Because I knew that it was easier to repost content. Plus, my visual and video content would never be as good as someone else’s. Hey, at least I’m honest about it!

How did I know what to repost? I’d peek at the numbers.

Hashtags are a great way to get new followers. I was pretty active on Instagram so I’d browse the list of hashtags I came up with and used daily to find the top performing posts that weren’t posted by other fan pages (so not my competitors) but by individual people.

I’d then watch the videos and look at the pictures to see which ones I had the biggest reactions to. If I felt the urge to share someone else’s post, I knew I had to repost it onto my page.

So if you’re just learning how to get followers on Instagram, this high-impact strategy is simple enough for a beginner.

Important: Instagram has now updated their policy and you’re required to ask for permission before reposting.

#3. Get Featured on Buzzfeed to Grow Your Instagram Followers

To get that Instagram followers boost, you need to find a way to tap into a massive audience. And no one embeds Instagram posts into their content as much as Buzzfeed.

So if you want to experiment with Buzzfeed, head over to its Community section where anyone can post their own content onto their platform.

Of course, you’ll need to follow their guidelines to get visibility and build trust.

Is Buzzfeed not right for your niche? That’s cool. You can also use a tool called HARO where you get emails three times a day filled with requests from reporters who’re looking to get content and expert quotes for their stories.

Most HARO reporters allow a website link and social links. So you can hit two birds with one stone by including a link to your store and Instagram account.

#4. Ask Customers to Share Their Photos to Build Instagram Followers

If you’ve never had a customer before, reach out to influencers in your niche with under 5,000 followers. I know the number seems low but influencers with few followers on Instagram want to monetize their accounts and will be willing to take pictures with your products at a much lower rate.

You can also offer them an affiliate deal where they’ll get a commission for every sale they score with their customer referral link.

If you’ve already had a couple of sales, reach out to customers and offer a free gift or cash incentive for taking quality images with the product they purchased.

As more customers start seeing customer photos on your Instagram, they’ll naturally start tagging you in posts when they receive their products.

In a nutshell, if you comment on customers’ posts, repost their content and follow them, you’ll likely get them to follow you back.

Though some will follow you after tagging you in their post on their own. Get that word-of-mouth going!

#5. Gain Instagram Followers by Having a Consistent Style

I know this sounds like one of those ‘blah, blah, blah’ ways to gain followers on Instagram. But it isn’t.

Here’s why: people don’t follow you because of the content you’ve posted but because of what they think the future content you’ll post will be like.

Say you have a corgi fan page, every day you post cute corgi pictures and videos without fail.

If Instagram users keep seeing your posts,they’ll eventually realize that you always post the cutest corgi content.

So they follow you with the expectation that your account will always be more of the same type of content.

Having a consistent style or theme is more than just a branding play, it’s about creating an expectation for your Instagram account that your followers or potential followers can count on. They want to see more of the same type of content, every day.

If you can maintain that consistency with every post, you’ll gain followers on Instagram fast while fostering confidence and trust in your brand.

#6. Use Hashtags to Get Followers on Instagram

Many experts will tell you to only use 5 or 11 hashtags or some other arbitrary numbers. But when I was building my store’s Instagram account, I ignored their advice and ran wild with it.

I’d copy and paste a list of hashtags from my phone onto my app. Then, I’d sometimes switch it up to try different hashtags. And eventually, I figured out which ones were right for my brand.

Truth is, you add all those hashtags in the first comment. And as your page engagement grows, no one will ever see the first comment because they’re too busy tagging their friends in your post.

Sure, when you’re starting out people might see it. But if the goal is to increase visibility, the easiest way to do it is to add more hashtags. As you gain followers, your posts will rank higher for those hashtag keywords, giving you even more visibility.

If your hashtags are niche specific, you’ll increase your likelihood of being found by a relevant audience, which will help you grow your followers on Instagram as well.

So avoid generic hashtags like #love or #picoftheday if you’re selling fashion, for example.

#7. Use Location Tags to Get Followers from Your Vicinity

Did you know that it’s possible to make your Instagram Stories and posts discoverable by tagging your location? The “location tag” reveals the city you’re in or the venue where the video or the image was captured. Plus, it allows your posts to be categorized with all content tagged for that specific vicinity.

So if you’re a local business, you can use these geotags to make it easier for people to find and follow your Instagram account. Locations also have their own distinct feed, Story, and hashtags – you can contribute to these by using a location sticker in your own Stories.

#8. Embed Your IG Feed On Your Blog to Grow Instagram Followers

If you have your own personal or business blog, you can embed your Instagram pictures on your website.

You’d then go onto the Instagram website on your desktop, go to your page, click the post, click the ‘…’ icon and click Embed. Then you copy that link into your blog post’s code section.

Over time, more people will be visiting your blog and will be more likely to check out your Instagram account too.

I know that this is more of a long-term game. Especially if you’re not getting traffic today. But adding your Instagram posts right from the beginning gives you a higher chance of visibility.

Start doing this, and six months from now, you should really start seeing massive returns.

#9. Follow People Who Like Competing Instagram Pages

To get that Instagram followers increase, you need to find people who follow brands.

Who are your biggest competitors on Instagram? Note them down. Then, browse their posts to see who’s commenting on their posts. Follow them and engage with them.

Keep in mind that when choosing competitors on Instagram, it’s better to go for the smaller brands.

Why? Because if you were selling makeup brushes and trying to engage people who comment on Sephora, there’s a good chance that they’re not the right audience despite being in a similar niche. Bigger brands tend to have more customer loyalty.

However, if you have a competitor who has 100,000 followers on their account, they may not be as loyal to that brand.

When commenting on posts of those you follow, try to not sound salesy

And never use the same comment for every person you message.

If they ask a question on their post, give them an answer.

You can also look at the types of comments others are posting for ideas and inspo..

As you keep following and engaging with people, you’ll start to build Instagram followers organically.

#10. Work With Influencers to Get More Insta Followers

Another way to increase Instagram followers is by getting an Instagram shoutout for having an influencer do an account takeover.

If an influencer has a loyal following, they can give you a shoutout that’ll result in new followers for your account and possibly a few sales.

Be sure to write up a contract that prohibits the influencer from sending fake traffic.

We once worked with an influencer who gave us a shoutout and the result was 2,000 non active Instagram followers on our account. It was obvious she used a bot.

When you get a sudden rush of fake followers on Instagram, you risk getting your account banned. No one wants that.

#11. Host Giveaways to Build Your Instagram Followers

If you host giveaways on your website and provide visitors with an option to follow you on Instagram and other social networks, you’ll have a much bigger reach.

If your audience size is small, you can post your giveaway in certainFacebook groups. Getting featured on giveaway blogs might also help spread the word about your promotion

When I first started working in marketing, I’d reach out to giveaway blogs. I’d send them some free products in exchange for a review post.

Most agreed to it for the free product though some did ask for payment as well. They’d do a product review post filled with pictures and their experiences with the product.

In the end, their audience would enter to win the product under the condition that we send that customer the product. The result? Hundreds of new followers on all our social accounts.

This is a great way to get new IG followers if you don’t have an audience. But it might not be as targeted than if you were to host a giveaway on a relevant niche blog.

If you’re just starting out, giveaways can help you get more followers on Instagram. However, if you do them too often, you might not get the type of audience you want.

If your goal is to get sales, giveaways won’t necessarily help you get more of them. But if you’re only looking to get Instagram followers fast, this strategy can work quite well.

#12. Organically Grow Your Instagram Following Via Partnerships

If you’re just learning how to get followers on Instagram, it might be best to partner with another brand. This can be a quick way to grow your follower base organically.

A trick I learned while working on my case study was to take my own product photos. Instead of reposting other people’s content, other brands reposted one of my photos crediting me. One of them had nearly 300k followers, so I ended up getting a few new Instagram followers from their audience.

I didn’t have to do any upfront work aside from taking my own photos. I didn’t even have to reach out to get new followers on Instagram. They reached out to me. And they weren’t the only brand to do so.

#13. Create Instagram Guides That Attract New Followers to Your Account

Instagram Guides are a new way to share educational and fun content with your followers. The content format gives users a simpler way to consume useful tips and recommendations. In an IG Guide, you can add an introduction, title, text, headers, and even curate videos and images (that you’ve published on your feed).

You can create a Guide about:

To get started, click the plus symbol in the upper right corner of your Instagram profile, choose Guide, and tap the appropriate option.

Instagram allows users to share Guides in DMs and across Stories, so if you manage to publish a few high-quality Guides, those who see them will be naturally inclined to share them with their social circle.

And because the Instagram algorithm favors posts with high engagement, if many people end up sharing your guide, it may even appear in more people’s feeds. As a result, you can potentially gain a lot of new followers by creating an Instagram Guide.

#14. Use Instagram Analytics Tools to Gain More Instagram Followers

Instagram analytics can give information to you about your following, but there are many free tools in the marketplace that can give you more interesting information.

The best Instagram analytics tools in the market right now include:

All these Instagram analytics tools provide valid and highly informative information that can help you better understand your audience.

And they can also highlight the right content that you can use to get your Instagram followers to increase.

Instagram Followers Apps

When I first started building my store’s Instagram account, I used an app called Instagress to increase my Instagram followers.

It worked really well at first, which allowed me to easily build up the first few thousand Instagram followers.

Eventually, I stopped because I didn’t need it anymore. Unfortunately, Instagress and other tools to increase Instagram followers usually get shut down. That’s because they are designed to artificially engage people through likes and comments. People who use them can get their entire Instagram account shut down. While they might work, they just aren’t worth the risk.

Additionally, you can use these free Instagram apps to improve your follower count:

1. Followers Plus (iOS)

Discover Instagram accounts that have unfollowed you, those who haven’t followed you back, and similar accounts you should be following through Followers for Instagram. This Instagram follower app is perfect to understand how to make your followers happy and what content to post in order to get more followers on Instagram. Reach out to those who unfollowed you to find out why and start to improve your Instagram follower metrics today.

2. Unfollowers and Ghost Followers (Android)

Inactive followers are a much talked about topic within any social media platform, and Instagram is no different. Inactive Instagram followers could be spam accounts or accounts from people who no longer engage on the platform.So if you are looking to grow your following and engagement level, it would be a good idea to trim your list of inactive followers. Crowdfire identifies your inactive followers, recognizes when people unfollow you, and helps you find new followers.

3. Followers Track for Instagram (iOS)

There aren’t any effective tools for Instagram unfollowing or following accounts in bulk. Tracker for Instagram gives you this option in their app. The app also provides analytics so you can analyze how followers engage with your account. You can also use it to identify ghost followers: those who followed you but never interacted with your posts. You can then block them to reflect the real number of Instagram followers your brand currently boasts.

Want to become an Instagram master? Sign up for the free Instagram course taught by Instagram guru Gretta Van Riel.

How to Get Followers on Instagram According to Three Influencers

What’s been your secret to getting over 26k followers on Instagram?

Engagement makes a difference. It’s important that your followers know that you appreciate them just as much as they do you.

For increased engagement, you should search the hashtags used to attract followers, find users that stand out, like a few pics and comment.

You’ll gain the curiosity of those you’ve engaged with, they’ll follow your page, and tag their friends on your posts.

Did you use any apps to increase Instagram followers?

Initially, tools like Instagress were useful for engagement, but with the ability to target followers and sponsor content, they’re no longer needed.

What advice would you give someone who asks you how to get followers on Instagram?

Post, post, post! The more users [you have seeing] your content, the more familiar they’ll become with your brand, causing them to like, follow, and share.

The more you post, the more users feel like they know you.

Imagine if you woke up at midnight to a noise in the kitchen. You run downstairs to find Oprah drinking a cup of coffee.

Most people wouldn’t call the cops, why? Because they’ve seen so much of her content, they feel like they know her. Some would even feel privileged to have her in their kitchen.

That’s the effect that constant content provides for influencers.

If you had to name one thing you do differently than anyone else on Instagram, what would that be?

My account encourages, inspires AND informs. It influences my followers with a brand voice that relates and educates. It attracts the “SHE-E-O” and the girl next door.

What’s helped you grow your Instagram followers to a six figure number?

I listen to my audience and give them what they ask for. It shows that I’m invested in them and in return they give me their time and attention.

Also, consistency. I show up every single day with valuable content in posts and in stories that helps them instead of just talking about myself.

Lastly, I pay close attention to the changes to the platform. Using new features like story highlights and understanding the changes to the algorithm helped me grow too.

Have you used any tools to help you grow the number of followers on Instagram you have?

I don’t use any tools outside of the analytics within Instagram. They’re great! Analytics are important because they help you figure out what’s working and what’s not.

We often get asked how to get followers on Instagram, what should someone starting out focus on?

When you’re starting from 0 or less than 1,000 followers, don’t pay attention to the number so much. It’s going to go up and down and it’s going to be slow. Instead focus on ways you can connect with and help others and get them talking about you.

What do you think separates your Instagram account from others out there?

Well, my account isn’t that different from many out there, but I don’t post any pictures of myself. It’s not about me it’s about my audience! I also use stories as a vlogging channel which my followers love.

What steps did you take to get over 37,000 followers on Instagram?

I take a lot of time to engage with my followers through Instagram, emails, Facebook, and Pinterest.

I take time each week to respond to as many followers as I can as well as I make sure to engage with my followers on their posts as well.

Through collaborations, I have been able to cross-promote with many bloggers or brands that I feel fit my brand and this has really helped grow my following.

What’s had the biggest impact on increasing your Instagram followers?

I work really hard on building authenticity on my blog to create a more authentic relationship with my followers.

To do this, I only promote brands and products I truly believe in.

Through five years of blogging, I really realized how to pick the brands that fit my blog and style best as well as the brands that my followers enjoy seeing, which has contributed to my success.

If someone asked you how to get followers on Instagram what advice would you share?

Be yourself and don’t lose confidence in yourself. Building a blog took years of hard work, and if you are able to maintain a brand and stay true to yourself, your followers will take notice of that.

I would also advise someone to not get discouraged in the beginning, because it takes a lot of time and practice. No [influencer] was an overnight success.

What’s the one thing your Instagram does differently than other Instagram accounts?

One thing my instagram does differently than other accounts is I really try and give followers insight into my real life.

While a lot of my content is sponsored, I really try to post real, authentic content as well to help my followers get to know me better and give them the content they are asking to see.

A lot of bloggers get caught up in the business aspect and while a blog is a business, it is important to not lose your authenticity and to stay real with your followers.

How to Get Followers on Instagram FAQs

How to get more followers on Instagram?

You can join engagement groups based on your niche, repost others’ content (but don’t forget to ask the content creator permission and give them credit), ask customers to share their photos, use hashtags and location tags.

Who should I follow on Instagram to get more followers?

Another strategy to get more followers on Instagram is to follow people who like competing pages. Check your competitors’ posts and engage with people commenting on them. People that already like this niche may be interested in your profile and may follow you back!

How to make your bio on Instagram?

Be creative and explain to your audience what your profile is about. Don’t forget to use your niche-specific keywords and add a link to your website.

How to Get Followers on Instagram Summary

Figuring out how to get followers on Instagram is the hardest in the beginning.

Once you’ve passed your first 10,000 followers, you’ll need to continue using some or all of the strategies in this article to keep growing your account to 100k or even beyond one million.

At the end of the day, you’ll need to put yourself out there more than you ever have before.

Maybe posting on Instagram three times a day every day of the week is hard to fit into your schedule But eventually, all that effort will pay off. And you’ll have gained an Instagram following you can be proud of.

Summary: How to Get Followers on Instagram in 2022

#1. Join Instagram Engagement Groups

#2. Repost Others’ Content

#3. Get your Instagram Account Promoted on Buzzfeed

#4. Ask Customers to Share their Photos

#5. Have a consistent style that hooks people in

#6. Hashtags to Get Followers on Instagram

#7. Use your Instagram Posts in Blog Posts

#8 Insert Location Tags in Posts and Stories

#9. Follow People who Like Competing Pages

#10. Work with Influencers – How to Get Followers on Instagram

#11. Host Giveaways

#12. Partner with Another Brand

#13. Create an Instagram Guide

#14. Use Instagram Analytics Tools

How many followers on Instagram do you have right now? Comment below!