Instagram is a social networking platform that is constantly evolving and expanding. There has been a recent uptick in both the number of companies joining and the level of customer engagement happening on the platform.
Growing your Instagram following might feel like a lengthy and tiresome game because the average monthly growth rate for Instagram business accounts is just 1.46%. You can buy false followers, but they won’t do you any good beyond boosting your ego temporarily.
Read on to discover seven methods for attracting genuine Instagram followers and boosting activity.
Increase your Instagram followers with these proven strategies
Here are a few tried-and-true methods for attracting and retaining genuine Instagram users.
Revise your bio for maximum effect
The Instagram bio is valuable real estate, sitting just under your username. Potential followers will read your bio before following you. You had better get your point through in just 150 characters.
Here is how to write a bio that attracts more followers:
Clearly explain your services in writing.
Make use of your brand’s voice to inject some individuality.
Text encouraging the reader to take some sort of action, such as “shop now,” “read more,” etc.
Clear connection
Like the homepage of your website, your Instagram bio should immediately express that you are the official account for the company and that you often upload new material.
Include a high-quality logo to back up your bio. It’s fine to use emojis in place of bullet points if that’s your brand’s vibe, but you shouldn’t go crazy.
If you want visitors to visit your website or a specific landing page, the only method to do so is through the link in your bio. If you want more people to join up for your event, see your new product launch, or check out your blog when you introduce promotional content, you shouldn’t just constantly link to your site.
If you want to get people’s attention, you may include a branded hashtag that tells them which hashtag to use. And when others search for that hashtag, they’ll see material made by your fans.
Time your Instagram updates for maximum engagement
Reread the subtitle with the word “for you” emphasised; many individuals will tell you that posting at a certain time and on a certain day will bring you the most readers and shares.
Yet, the question “when is the optimum time to publish on Instagram?” does not have a universally applicable response. If you want to know when your audience is most active, you’ll need to test out different publishing times and monitor engagement.
Instagram facilitates this very well. Instagram Insights is a feature of the Instagram mobile app that reveals demographic information about your audience (age, gender, peak engagement hours, etc.) and how well your content is performing.
Maintain a constant and engaging presence
The average number of Instagram posts shared by businesses each week is four, according to a recent survey that looked at 14 different sectors. This is a reasonable goal to go for.
More posts are better than fewer posts if you want to increase your audience and interaction. You’ll get far better results if you can manage to share at least one post per day. The more material you publish, the more likely it is that some of it will become viral.
But, quality should never be sacrificed for quantity. Consistent output is more important than sacrificing quality. However, it’s generally accepted that sharing aesthetically appealing material is the key to Instagram success; if you want to stand out from the crowd, don’t upload boring, uninteresting photographs; use professional photo editing software to make something truly spectacular.
Create a timetable that allows you to post at least four to five times each week without sacrificing quality. Increase to once every day as you get more popular.
In addition, vary the forms of your material. Stories, IGTV, and Reels are just a few examples of how the platform has grown and changed over the years to accommodate new forms of content distribution. Consider Instagram Reels as an example; Reels is one of Instagram’s newest content kinds, having been released in August 2020.
Since its release, Reels have dominated the Explore page and dwarfed regular photo submissions in size. More than 200 million people use Explore every day, so increasing your visibility by even a little may have a huge impact on your reach.
The Instagram algorithm is something you should get used to
While you may find full-fledged tips on bypassing the Instagram algorithm, at its heart, the Instagram algorithm fundamentally prefers material that fulfils the following six signals:
A user’s preference for a post based on their previous interactions with it is measured by their “interest.”
Timeliness: The post’s recency
Relationship: The accounts a user often connects with
One user’s content-specific follower count looks like this:
How long does a person spend on Instagram in a single session?
As much as possible, the system will only display each user material that they are likely to find interesting. The more attention (in the form of likes, comments, and shares) your current piece of content receives, the greater the chance that it will be seen by new fans.
Make your brand’s voice heard
One of the main reasons why consumers follow businesses on social media is to gain insight into their character, while learning about the latest sales and promotions.
Instagram is not the place to spam people with ads; if that’s all you post, no one will follow you. You should instead consider the tone of your business and highlight that in your Instagram posts.
If you haven’t done so before, try to imagine your brand as a living, breathing person. Are you able to tell if it’s witty and sly? Is it instead uplifting and simple? Maintain that tone across all of your content promotion, whether on Instagram or a company blog.
And whatever tone of brand voice you choose, your material should convey your company’s dedication to its cause.