Finding followers on Instagram is one of the most frequently asked questions for any person or organization starting a strategy on the platform. Starting from scratch on an app to amplify the reach of your content is not easy. That’s why we created this guide on building followers on Instagram from a range of tools, tips, apps, and actions to help you succeed on Instagram.
First of all, if you have started to grow your Instagram, look at what you have done so far, see what metrics you have, what volume of engagement, how much interaction you have, what content works best for you, and from there, define the goal you want to achieve in the next 6 months, in the next year. However, you still have the choice to buy IG followers.
We must set real goals to determine whether we meet the organic growth on Instagram that we have set ourselves if we are getting closer.
So, if we are going to achieve it before that period, we can change the objective to be more ambitious in the next phase; on the other hand, if we are not, and we have gone too far and have set objectives that are too broad, too ambitious, and that we are not going to achieve in that period, we can adjust them at the right time.
Set up Your Account as a Business
Under the Settings section of your Instagram profile, you can change your account type by scrolling down to the bottom. Business or professional accounts enable you to access the statistics of both your profile and your Instagram posts and stories. With this data, you will be able to better define your positioning strategies, as you will discover what attracts people to your profile. Additionally, more information about your business or brand can also be added, such as website, address, or contact information.
Even so, we recommend downloading the Statigram app for some Instagram analytics. A tool to manage your activity on Instagram that will give you all the information you need to study yourself and be able to control what you are doing well and what you are not.
Create a Strategy to Grow Instagram Followers Organically
Instagram was created in 2010 as an app to share photos of a user’s most special moments. Over time, it became the social network of choice for the Millennial generation and, little by little, for Generation Z. At the beginning of 2022, it was confirmed that the app has 1.393 billion monthly active Instagram users and is no longer just an app for sharing photos, today it is an effective Instagram marketing channel.
Every business has objectives and goals, whether you have a company or a personal brand. For this, an Instagram marketing strategy is defined. As you have probably already realized, Instagram is one of the acquisition channels within your strategy (Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Twitter, etc.). That’s why the content you generate within the app has to be aligned with your main objectives as a brand but, at the same time, adapted to the platform.
Whether one of your objectives is to raise the profile of a specific product or service to generate more sales, Instagram is a channel that could help you achieve this by enabling you to reach a much larger audience. Building a following on Instagram is a goal that aligns with the one we said at the beginning: to raise the profile of a product or service. Notice how they’re related? Examples of how to define your goals, aligned with your follower growth:
- Increase awareness of your business and your offer.
- Get your audience to interact with your content.
- Attract visitors to your profile.
- Sell products or services from your Instagram or website.
How do you define your objectives and goals on Instagram? Think about the following questions:
- Why do you want to have a presence on Instagram?
- How will Instagram help you achieve your brand marketing goals?
- How much time and budget are you willing to invest in the app?
- Does Instagram offer you something different from other social media platforms?
For any definition of goals, it is important to think about the SMART approach. This allows you to align your actions (publish more posts) to reach your goal (get more followers) and to know if you are succeeding by measuring metrics.
Make Calls to Action
In the same way, invite your users to go further. With a call to action, you can get them to go to your bio and click on hyperlinks to your website, your blog, or your shop. Learn how to upload YouTube videos to Instagram to promote channels on other platforms as well. This way, they’ll start to get to know your brand better and you’ll quickly gain real Instagram followers. Suggest any related sites that can benefit you. Tell them and they will do.
Comment on Similar Accounts
You are, after all, just another user who also needs to participate. If you want your audience to trust your brand, it’s good for them to know that you are like them. This is a very effective way to get new people to get to know you. But above all, the more you comment on related accounts, the more your algorithm will locate where you want to be, and the more people you will reach quickly.
How to Get Organic Instagram Followers by Using Hashtags
Hashtags are tags that archive our posts in separate, public folders on the network. It is the most basic and essential way to reach more followers. Think of keywords related to your post and add as many as you can, always taking care that it doesn’t end up looking like spam.
When you type a hashtag on the keyboard, suggestions will automatically appear with the most active hashtags, along with the number of people who have currently used it. Choose generic hashtags with a lot of engagement, but also more relevant hashtags to narrow down your niche.
Create a Hashtag for Your Brand
Choosing one or more branded hashtags is an interesting trick to get engagement from your real followers. This creates a much stronger identity. Ideally, choose a general hashtag to accompany all your posts, as it will encourage a very concentrated activity around you and give users a sense of being part of something. Strong branding is undoubtedly one of the best organic growth strategies for gaining not fake followers on Instagram for free.
Use Stories on Instagram
Although the video in Stories is only 15 seconds long, this time can be used strategically to grab the audience and keep them watching. A good strategy for Instagram stories is to show behind-the-scenes videos. People like to see the making of a job, the daily routines of the company, or the process of performing a service.
It is important to do it sparingly to keep people out. Among the elements that can be used are polls, gifs, and icons, which should be used to interact with Instagram users and receive information about the content they are looking for in their profile.
How to Organically Get Followers on Instagram by Offering Rewards
Offering rewards works well to increase engagement and get your brand out to more people, so get your new followers to participate in engaging campaigns and contests. Choose giveaways, services, products, or exclusive user-generated content. Then, draw up simple rules for participation. It is essential to ask participants to nominate their friends in the comments to compete for the prize.
A successful strategy to increase your follower count is to ask for your post to be forwarded to the profile of those who want to win the contest, as this increases the chance of reaching them within the application.
Your Brand Image Helps to Grow Instagram Followers Organically
Develop a recognizable brand image on your Instagram account organically, a type of content associated with your brand. If you achieve this and aesthetically differentiate yourself from the rest, especially from your professional sector, you will gain brand visibility on Instagram for your business.
You don’t need to differentiate yourself from everyone else, but only within your professional sector, so your content stands out more. Thus, when people, your followers, enter Instagram from their mobile phones, they will see more and more of your content directly without needing to know who published it because they know it’s you.
There comes a time when you are positioning yourself in the search niche and Instagram as a prominent account, a brand that occupies part of the searches of that professional sector. You’re going to differentiate yourself from the rest of the accounts. You’re going to create brand branding, a brand culture that your real followers will see as recognizable and that your competitors on Instagram will not be able to replicate because you’ve already created your style.
Keyword Research and Search Terms
To continue organic growth on Instagram, another organic Instagram growth strategy that works is to do a sweep of content that your target audience might be interested in on Google and see what content is most consumed on that.
With that information, prepare some content proposals to increase your follower count. You can then make a video, a carousel on Instagram, a Reel, a story, whatever, but that responds to your target audience’s searches. If they demonstrate those needs by searching for content on Google and YouTube, they try to replicate it later with related content that responds to those searches on Instagram.
Give Likes and Comments Daily
Another point to improve your organic growth on Instagram is that you will have to work an average of 10 minutes a day, leaving likes and comments on other accounts, other profiles, and with those we have as a target audience.
With those tags or hashtags we are tracking in the Instagram search engine, we will see who posts about what we do. In those contents, we are going to leave likes, and we are going to leave some personalized comments in the accounts that we consider most important and in the most relevant Instagram content.
What do we get out of it? This will force the Instagram algorithm that if we interact more with some accounts and spend more time on Instagram, we will attract more and not fake followers. If I am on Instagram account A, and I interact more with Instagram account B, over time, B will be more likely to see my content in their feed.
Micro-Influencers
When you have already grown and have a certain social proof on Instagram, you can relate not with influencers but with micro-influencers. Relevant accounts are less important than influencers but are very important in a small niche you are interested in positioning yourself.
If you do this type of action with micro-influencers on Instagram, you will see how you increase the reach of your message; you reach many more people, thanks to them. In exchange, you must agree with these micro-influencers that you give them your product or service.
But once they do the action and make a mark for you, you will see how much more you will grow in organic followers. Organic growth on Instagram shoots up promptly.
Conclusion: Organic Growth on Instagram is Not a Secret
Organic growth on Instagram is not a secret, and it’s not magic. It’s simply perseverance. It takes a lot of work because you need to learn some Instagram insights.
But it is true that in the medium and long term, you will see how this is a roller, and your organic growth will go forward in terms of new followers; you will also notice this increase, and if you are doing it right, you will notice an increase in engagement.
Featured image provided by cottonbro studio; Pexels; Thanks!
Internal images provided by RDNE Stock project, Pixabay, and Ron Lach, Pexels; Thanks!
