Powered by Meta, Instagram has been connecting people all over the globe since 2010—and the biggest challenge for many of its users is how to get more followers on Instagram.
Getting more followers on Instagram can give you access to a lot of things, from visibility to brand awareness and more sales.
In this short guide, you’ll learn how to get more followers using 5 easy strategies.
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How to get more followers on Instagram: 5 practical strategies
Ever heard the saying, “it takes two to tango”?
Well, when it comes to Instagram, you can’t leave your account to chance and expect it to magically gain traction. You have to work on your Instagram account so that it can produce results for you.
Take a walk down our proven strategies to help you get more followers on Instagram:
- Ensure your account is optimized
For your Instagram account to be optimized, it means that it is set up to play the part.
What does “play the part” mean in this context?
Before you try to actively gain more followers, you need to make sure your account is fit to gain the kind of traction you want.
Here’s a litmus test of questions that will help you recognize if your Instagram account is optimized:
- Can your targeted audience easily find your account?
- Does your profile and bio embrace your brand’s message and personality?
- Do you think your account makes people want to take action (interact with your posts, follow it)?
If you think your account could benefit from optimization, come with us; and even if you think it doesn’t need to be optimized, come with us too (you might learn a couple of new tricks).
Here are the best ways to optimize your Instagram account and get more out of it:
- Be strategic with keywords
In order for your account to be optimized for search, you need to be strategic with your keywords. When you use the right keywords, your profile will become visible to your target audience.
But what are these keywords?
These keywords are words or phrases that are unique to your niche and will resonate with your target audience.
Say for instance, you have a business account that sells heels and want to include keywords, you’d use words like, “Heels in [your location]” this is a keyword another user is likely to search if they want to buy heels in your location.
What are the ideal places to include them on your profile?
We recommend adding keywords to your bio, username, or profile name.
A brand that really incorporates this strategy is Simple Skincare. If you go to their Instagram account, the word “skin” appears in their username and bio, and “skincare” in their profile name and bio as well.
What does this mean for them? Their Instagram account is likely to pop up whenever someone searches for skincare or skin on Instagram.
- Add your location to your bio
You might ask how this is important. Well, it’s all because of the visibility. Your location in your bio allows your account to pop up and rank high in search results for your target audience within your locale.
And if you want to get customers to your physical store? This is your go-to.
- Link to the important stuff
Add links to your website, blog, online shop—doing this gives your account more credibility, regardless of whether you’re a business or professional brand. While doing that you can purchase real followers to make your post’ more visible and credible on the platform. Here is our suggestion: Views4You, definitely you should check it.
- Add necessary details to your highlights
Remember those stories you loved so much and wished could remain up for more than 24 hours? Well, with highlights they get to live forever on your profile.
Let’s look at a real-life example.
Crumbl Cookies understands the value of using Instagram highlights to drive the brand message. Their highlights contain an array of different aspects of their business—from their story to their services and flavors!
- Use a befitting profile picture
A clean, high-quality picture that resonates with your brand should be your top pick for your Instagram profile photo.
Your profile picture is a significant part of your brand on Instagram, and of course, we don’t want to mess that up now, do you?
- Create a content strategy that works
Getting more visibility, and ultimately, followers on Instagram starts from curating and posting content strategically.
How do you create an effective content strategy for your Instagram account?
Here are some tips to help you get started:
- Take a look at your competitors’ pages. Find out the kinds of content they post, how often they post, and how their audience reacts to the said content.
- Curate a content calendar and stick to it.
- Schedule posts in advance—this way, you can share posts without being online while still keeping to your content calendar.
- Use reels and short videos… a lot.
- Give your brand a personality with an aesthetic that resonates with your brand message.
- Post regularly.
- Post content that is relevant to your audience.
- Get more visibility
Guess the most organic way to get more followers on Instagram…
If you are thinking of visibility, then you’re right.
When you place your Instagram account in a position to be discovered by others, it’s almost too easy to gain more followers.
What are some ways to gain more visibility?
- Use relevant hashtags in your posts.
- Use relevant keywords in your bio, username, profile name, and captions.
- Partner with influencers within your niche.
- Use location tags to find audiences within your locale.
- Try running Instagram ads.
- Promote your Instagram content on other apps or your website.
- Choose the right time to post
If you’ve never heard this before, you might think we just made it up. But we promise you, selecting the right time to post content on Instagram will make your profile more visible.
When is the right time?
The right time is whenever a significant number of your audience are on the app. So, you need to look into your audience’s Instagram habits.
If your audience is the younger working class, it might be best to post at just after rush hour in the evenings—when they’d be resting after work.
- Focus on content that resonates
On X, Pretty Little Thing, a clothing brand, sometimes posts celebrity news and pop culture gossip.
Seems a little bizarre for a fashion brand to do that, right? But they get away with it.
However, they don’t do that on their Instagram account because it is easy for someone to immediately recognize your brand’s message when they open your profile on Instagram—unlike X, where they would have to scroll to do so.
This shows how crucial it is to prioritize content that resonates with your audience and brand message on Instagram.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Can I buy followers on Instagram?
You can buy followers on Instagram if they’re from a reputable service provider that offers only real user accounts as followers. Avoid buying bot followers.
What is UGC?
UGC means user-generated content and is an umbrella term for any type of content created by users of your product.
Engaging with UGCs will help you capitalize on social proof to improve your brand’s visibility and image.