It takes hours to plan and create content for Instagram. After you click “Share,” everything is fine for a moment. You are confident that you have published something amazing.
Radio silence. You might get a few comments and likes from your followers. If you don’t publish great content, how can you increase your Instagram followers?
Instagram growth is not a step-by-step process. Some best practices can help you reach more people and win new followers.
These are 12 ways to increase your Instagram followers.
1. Optimize your bio
Use those 150 characters to your advantage. Your Instagram bio tells your potential followers who and what you are.
Include these words in your Instagram bio:
- A concise description of your work
- Your personality touches
- A call to action (shop/read more, contact us, etc.
- A link
Your in-bio link will be your only clickable link to Instagram. Use it carefully. While some businesses provide a link to their website as a default, others update it frequently to reflect new posts. You can make your life easier by using link-in-bio tools like Start Page, which allow you to transform a single link into an entire list of links.
CoolStays covers all the essential aspects of an Instagram bio.
Include a branded hashtag.
2. Find the best time to post on Instagram
Notice that we didn’t say “Find the best time to post on Instagram”? There is no one right time to post on Instagram. There are many ways to determine the best times for followers.
To find out the time your audience is online, first use Instagram Insights. Tap the “Insights” button on your Instagram profile. Scroll to “Your Audience” and then tap “See All.” Scroll down to the bottom of the page to see your audience’s most active times.
Instagram Insights can help you determine the best time to post.
It is important to consider the best times for your content to be most useful. A step-by-step video recipe might be more popular outside of work hours, as people are more likely than ever to be cooking. If people are feeling tired, a post about a coffee shop might be more popular around 2 p.m. Track engagement by trying different times of posting.
3. Post regularly
An average of four Instagram posts per week by businesses in 14 industries was found in a 2021 study. We recommend that you post at least one time per day. Instagram accounts that are consistent with posting to Instagram will see better results. A Tailwind study found that Instagram users who post more often gain more followers if they post daily.
Consistency is key to getting your posts noticed with Instagram’s algorithmic timeline. Instagram’s algorithm will show your posts at the top of your followers’ feeds if you share your posts regularly.
Quality is more important than quantity, of course. Higher engagement rates don’t always mean you should post more often. Make sure you create content that resonates with your target audience. More information is available in section 9. Engage with your audience.
You can schedule Instagram posts to save time and avoid posting every day directly from the app. How To Schedule Instagram Posts to Save Time and Boost Engagement will show you our top Instagram scheduling tools, both free and paid. We also have scheduling tips.
4. Find out how Instagram works
Many Instagram users panicked when the timeline switched from chronological to ranked. Despite this, the average post has been seen by half as many followers since the switch. Don’t worry about how to beat Instagram’s algorithm. Instead, learn how to make the system work for you.
Six factors determine what will show up on a person’s timeline. These are timeliness, interest, relationship, frequency, and following.
Let’s take a look at what each factor means:
- Interest How much Instagram believes a person will enjoy the post based on previous activity
- Timeliness: When was the last post?
- Relationships: Accounts are people with whom a person has a relationship regularly
- Frequency How often an individual uses the Instagram app
- Followers: Posts taken from an individual’s accounts
- Time spent on Instagram
Instagram’s algorithm seeks to present the best content to each user. Although the six factors might seem overwhelming, creating high-quality content is the best thing.
5. Try different types of content
Instagram is more than just photos. Instagram has added many new ways to share content over the years. Mixing different content types with your Instagram account is a great way to increase your followers. It allows you to connect with more people.
Remember that the algorithm considers interest and tries to show people the content they are most interested in. If one person comments and likes Instagram Reels more than any other post type, it’s likely that they will see more Reels on their Instagram feed. Conversely, someone who interacts with carousel posts more often will see more of this content type on their timeline.
Each content type has its advantages. Instagram Reels, for instance, have an advantage because they are the most recent content type. Instagram also constantly updates its features. Reels were launched in 2020 by Instagram. The app moved the Reels button to the center of the menu bar, making them larger than the Explore page’s photo posts. 200,000,000 people visit the Explore page each day. This extra visual real estate can have a significant impact on how many people you reach.
Instagram TV (IGTV), videos appear 4x bigger than photos on the Explore page. This type of video is great for long-form videos because IGTV videos can last up to 60 minutes.
Instagram Reels, IGTV, and IGTV occupy more space on the Instagram Explore page.
Instagram Stories disappear after 24 hours. However, they also have their advantages. 57% of brands think Stories are “somewhat effective” or very effective as part of their social media strategy. You can also add Instagram Swipe Up links for Stories to drive traffic to specific pages if you have a verified Instagram account and at least 10,000 followers.
Carousel posts, which can contain up to 10 images/videos within a single post, have the highest engagement rates of any post type. Carousels can be thought of as a teaser or mini-story to a longer-form piece, such as a blog. Text images, photos, or video can all be used in one thematic blog post.
DLC Anxiety uses an animated carousel to show how to reframe anxious thoughts.
Are you confused by the many arguments for different types of posts? People love what they like. While studies can help you determine the average engagement rate for each type of content or advocate for one, it is best to use multiple types. Mixing your Instagram content can help you reach people with different interests and increase your Instagram followers.
6. Create unique content with your brand voice
People don’t follow businesses on social media to see their sales pitches. People follow you because they like your personality and the content that you create.
Even if you are in the same industry, what works for one business may not work for your brand. Juggling Daisies Hobby Farm, and Such & Such Farm both consider themselves unique farms. Juggling Daisies is about funny stories, cute photos, and wholesome content. Meanwhile, Such and Such Farm has a more rough-around-the-edges style that includes curse words and humor.
Consider what tone you would like to use. Funny? Informative? Playful? Cynical? What are you passionate about? Such and Such Farm is a firm believer in sustainable products and many of their Instagram posts discuss their farming practices. What topics should you cover in your Instagram content? Your brand’s personality should be reflected in everything you post on your business account.
Your business account should be viewed as a person. You can create a persona for your account and branding guidelines to ensure consistency. Your brand’s colors, fonts, and tone should be included in branding guidelines.
7. Create great captions
Great Instagram captions will keep people’s attention with great photos. Captions allow you to give more context and details about the image or video that you are sharing. You can also use keywords to captions to help you rank in search results.
Instagram captions can exceed 2,200 characters. Not every caption has to be written like a blog post. You can experiment with different lengths. Some photos look great with a simple caption and a few emojis. Others might be better off with something more thoughtful.
While Instagram captions are getting longer, most brands don’t exceed the 2,200-character limit. The 2020 average was 405 characters, an increase of 142 characters in 2016.
When should you go long and when should you keep it simple? There is no one-size-fits-all rule. Mixing content types is a good idea. These two posts are by Andrea Jones from OnlineDrea. The captions for the first post are brief, while the captions in the second post provide more detail.
8. Use hashtags to research and learn
We’ve discussed hashtags a lot over at the blog. But it seems that Instagram is where they are most important. Instagram users aren’t suffering from hashtag fatigue as they don’t seem to feel the need to use hashtags to expose their images to a targeted audience.
Find hashtags that appeal to your target audience. Use free Instagram tools such as Display Purposes or AutoHash to find the most relevant hashtags for your Instagram photos. Display Purposes is a tool that allows you to simply enter a few words about the image and it will suggest the best hashtags.
Use hashtags to increase your Instagram followers. Use hashtags to make your content searchable or filterable when people tap on the hashtag in another post. You can follow your favorite hashtags to see the top content from that hashtag in your Instagram timeline.
You can use up to 30 hashtags in an Instagram post. However, you shouldn’t add extras to make it more than 30. TrackMaven recommends nine hashtags for maximum engagement. You shouldn’t use the same nine hashtags repeatedly. Instead, you should group your favorite hashtags by category to make it easy to add relevant hashtags for each post.
Hashtag Manager allows you to build a list of hashtag groups that will help you get more reach for each Instagram post.
9. Engage your audience
Growth on Instagram is dependent upon engagement. Many brands focus too much on comments and likes without taking into account the people behind them. Engaging your followers in conversation is the best way to increase your Instagram followers.
Remember that even though someone has seen your content, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they follow you. You should always take the chance to meet a potential follower if you get the chance. Each comment can be a chance to gain a follower or keep one you already have. So make sure to respond to every comment. Don’t panic if your fingers are already tingling from the idea of tapping away on your smartphone.
Don’t wait for your followers. Create engagement opportunities. You can use Instagram stickers to ask open-ended questions or polls in Instagram Stories. In your captions, ask questions. Encourage friends to tag you in the comments. Use prompts like “Tag your best friend who would invite you on this cruise!” and “Tag your wine-loving friend with whom you’d go wine tasting.”
10. Collaboration with others
Collaborations or influencer campaigns are another great way to increase your Instagram followers.
Blume‘s brand spotlight is an excellent example. Blume has access to Kobe Digital’s following via the original Instagram Story as well as the accompanying Highlights. Blume will also share the spotlight with their followers, which brings Kobe Digital’s audience closer to Blume. It’s a win for all.
Influencer marketing is another option to increase your Instagram followers. You can also pay content creators to promote the brand if you have the money. If you want to make it easy (and affordable), micro-influencers (1,000-10000 followers) are a good option. The engagement rates for content created by micro-influencers are higher than content from larger accounts. It is possible to find micro-influencers and re-share user-generated content (UGC) by searching.
Remember the branded hashtags that we discussed in Section 1: Optimize Your Bio? You can tap once on your branded hashtag to access a whole library of content.
Collaborations allow you to express your values and personality by being associated with other people. Your brand is reflected in the people and businesses you support and align with. Local businesses can also benefit from partnerships. Partner with your neighbors to reach a highly targeted audience.
11. Link to Instagram from another place
Make it easy to find your Instagram. To find your Instagram account, no one should need to search through pages on your website.
To link to Kobe Digital’s social media accounts, we use the footer of our website.
Add your Instagram account link to:
- Email footers
- Your website’s sidebar and/or footer
- Other social media platforms may also require bios
- Team members post social media posts
12. Analyze your data
You can use your existing followers to determine how you can get more followers on Instagram. With Instagram Insights, you can track several Instagram metrics in real time. You can also use third-party analytics tools like Kobe Digital.
Do not obsess about vanity metrics like comments and likes. Instead, look at what the metrics are telling you. If you are testing a new hashtag, metrics like new followers and reach can tell you more than likes from current followers. If you are experimenting with different posting times and impressions can help you determine when your content will be most popular. The most important metrics will depend on your end goal.
Analyzing your data will help you spot trends and determine what content resonates well with your audience.
Keep an eye out for trends. Is there a particular type of image that gets more engagement or impressions? See how your followers react if you post more of these images. Are certain hashtags more popular than others? These hashtags should be used more often, and you should keep an eye out for new followers.
To learn more about Instagram metrics, and how you can use them to fuel your marketing strategy, read our Instagram Analytics Guide.
How can you manage your Instagram marketing?
You must provide quality content to your audience regularly if you want to see steady growth on Instagram. For businesses, it is better to be strategic than do small-scale social media. While all of these strategies will help you increase your Instagram followers, they are not easy to do. It is important to stay on top of your social media content strategy.
Planning and scheduling posts take time. It can also be difficult to manage engagement. Kobe Digital allows you to manage all aspects of your Instagram marketing strategy from scheduling to analytics.
