How to 3X More Instagram Followers

With Instagram being the fastest growing social network for brands, it’s where your business needs to be. In fact, the number of brand followers increases at an average of 6-8% every month. But how exactly do you drive that growth in followers? How will you attract more relevant users who would be interested in your brand? And how will you get those users to follow you? This post will give you the best tactics to gain more followers on Instagram.

1. Boost Your Account Visibility

The simplest way to attract new Instagram followers is by making it easier for potential followers to find you. This involves promoting your Instagram account through other social networks like Twitter and Facebook. Your existing fans will then be able to easily find you and follow you.

Promote your Instagram handle along with a simple update about your product or service like how American Airlines is doing it in the screenshot below. You’ll be informing your existing Facebook fans that you’re also on Instagram, where they can follow you too.

Make sure you link to your Instagram account on your newsletters, email signature, and website. You will be promoting your account to anyone who’s in contact with your brand, encouraging them to connect with you on Instagram too.

Better yet, dedicate an entire blog post to highlighting the benefits of following your brand on Instagram. This is what Smarter Travel did and pointed out all the reasons why their readers should follow them on Instagram.

2. Jump In On A Hashtag Trend

Hashtags are a great way to get noticed by people who aren’t already following you and may be on the lookout for posts related to your products. You can find trending hashtags relevant to your business using the Trendspottr app. Or you can also jump in on a more generic hashtag trend like #throwbackthursday or #photooftheday.

Your posts will be visible to people who search for that hashtag. If the photo is interesting or captivating, it could attract them and encourage them to follow you. However, avoid using hashtag gimmicks like #followforfollow or #followme because this will only attract spammers or users who are looking for a follow back.

An excellent example of relevant hashtag usage is how WeWork regularly accompanies their posts with popular hashtags and branded hashtags. For instance, the screenshot below features a post with trending hashtags like #wellnesswednesday, #fitness, #health, etc. This post is promoting the fitness facilities at WeWork, making the hashtags highly relevant.

3. Post Great Content

Even if people do notice your posts, are they interesting enough to make those users follow you? Add value to your Instagram account by posting great content that would sway potential followers. Give your target audience a reason to follow your brand by creating relevant, high-quality images that would engage them. The rule is to make sure the post is useful, interesting, or funny.

There are several ways to post great content on Instagram and one of the most effective techniques is to be funny. You could add funny and relatable captions to high-quality images featuring your products or services. Even a simple pun could work wonders as you can see in the following post by The Honest Company.

The brand also posts funny and honest quotes regarding parenting. This is an excellent idea because their target market comprises mainly of parents. With the posts being funny, they’re showing fans that their brand has a sense of humor. And being honest is in tune with their brand name.

Your posts don’t necessarily have to be funny in order to be interesting. For instance,National Geographic regularly posts captivating photos of landscapes and locations around the world. These images are relevant for their target audience – travelers. And the photos take care to highlight different features and aspects of those locations from a unique angle.

4. Run Contests & Giveaways

Running a contest or giveaway campaign on Instagram can help you boost your following. You can set up the rules for entry in such a way that people have to follow you and like or comment on the post. Since people will have to follow you to enter the contest, you will be growing your following significantly.

You could even give them an option to gain additional entries by reposting your photo with a unique hashtag created for the contest. With more people creating content using your branded hashtag, you could reach more people and improve your visibility. This also increases your chances of gaining more followers as more and more people learn about the contest through their friends.

Some brands also create giveaways in which contestants have to follow them and tag friends in the comments. This will attract those friends to your account and might even encourage them to follow you too. For example, Far Out Sunglasses invited contestants to tag three friends in the comments in order to qualify for the giveaway.

5. Advertise On Instagram

Another option is to use Instagram advertising to target relevant users. This will not only help you attract potential followers but also increase sales. Come up with an ad campaign using an attractive image or an interesting video. Promote this ad to users who are likely to be interested in your product or service. And this will boost your visibility, which could lead to an increase in followers.

Conclusion

So now you have some of the best tactics for gaining more Instagram followers. You promote your Instagram account with existing fans and encourage them to follow you. And you use popular and relevant hashtags to attract a new audience that’s likely to be interested in your products or services. You also create valuable content that gives users a reason to follow and keep following you. And you use giveaways to reach out to a much bigger audience.

These tactics should be able to help you boost your Instagram visibility and engage a new audience effectively. Did you find this post helpful? Which of these tips are you planning to use first? Let us know in the comments below.

^{* Adapted lead image:  Public Domain, pixabay.com via getstencil.com}