For many businesses, Instagram is a no-brainer for marketing. It offers you a platform where you can connect with your customers in an authentic way and set yourself apart from the millions of other brands.
The problem is that there are so many different ways to use Instagram and it’s hard to know which ones will work best for your business. And no one has extra time to spend on social media if it’s not working for you.
Although it’s more important to connect with your existing followers than to focus on getting a lot of followers, if you want to continue to grow and get seen by new audiences, growth is important too. So here are 10 things you should be doing today to grow your Instagram followers.
1. Utilize your bio
When you want to leave a lasting impact on other people, you undoubtedly do things to enhance your personality. You wear the clothes that compliment you best, or if you’re a business, you showcase the most effective packaging and marketing.
Your social media bios – including Instagram – serve as your digital persona. It is an extension of what people anticipate in real life, regardless of whether the impression they receive is accurate. And it’s where individuals naturally look while attempting to evaluate you (or your brand). It will serve as the initial impression for those that visit your profile page.
Components of a good bio include:
- Give an in-depth breakdown of “what you do.” – A short, sweet bio that breaks down what you do and is easy to read.
- A clear call-to-action – What do you want people to do after they’ve finished reading your bio?
- A link to your website or social media accounts – where people can find more information about you and your services.
- An image that shows off your brand personality (or at least a photo of you).
- A tagline that clearly summarizes what benefits you offer your customers.
- A link to your website or a link tree.
2. Post consistently and authentically
Consistency is EVERYTHING in social media marketing. It does not only mean developing and adhering to a posting schedule (although that’s very important) but it is also essential to maintain consistency in tone, visual branding, and content.
The goal is to establish your brand online so that your audience understands what to anticipate from your business and is attracted to it through your posts.
3. Post at the right time
Reaching your followers at the best time is important. Not just when they are online or on the platform, but when they have time to engage with your content. It’s important to get people to interact with your posts within the first few hours after posting so that the algorithms will show them to more of your audience.
You can learn a lot about your current audience from Instagram Insights. Open your Instagram account, go to Insights, and click on Your Audience. You will be able to see the age, gender, location, and most active hours and days of your followers.
This isn’t a deep analysis, just a quick look at the people who follow your account. Instagram Insights is another way to learn more about your target audience, along with creating buyer personas and looking at the accounts of your followers.
4. Take advantage of all the IG features
If you want more people to see your content in their feeds, you must use a variety of features. The more diverse your content, the better it will perform in the algorithm.
Instagram is much more than just pictures. The app has introduced numerous ways to share content on the platform over the years. Mixing it up with different content types is one of the best ways to gain more Instagram followers because it allows you to reach and connect with a wider audience.
For example: If a person likes and comments on Instagram Reels more than other types of posts, they are more likely to see Reels in their Instagram feed. However, if another person interacts with carousel posts more frequently, they will see more of that content type in their timeline.
5. Use hashtags– but also keywords
Although Instagram is now using more keywords in your posts and your bio to find a relevant audience for your posts, hashtags are still the gateway to content being discovered.
Instagram now recommends 3-5 hashtags per post. I like to use an assortment of hashtags: some very niche with only a few hundred followers, and some larger and more general. I avoid tags that are extremely broad since the chances that I will get discovered using these tags is slim. I also will tag using locations of businesses and cities, or events.
Avoid trying to pull in followers by creating a lot of tags outside your niche. You may be at the zoo and tag a #giraffe, but if your account is about your candle business, you’re unlikely to share the same followers. Plus your tag will confuse the Instagram algorithm.
6. Engage with others
The engagement of your post can mean the difference between a successful post that goes viral, and one that doesn’t even get shared. Engagement is a measurement of how many people interacted with your post. It’s the number of likes, comments, and reposts you receive. So it’s an important metric for Instagram users to see!
When you receive a comment, tag, or message, do your best to answer within a few hours. I know, you’re super busy. But to show your audience that they are a priority, you need to respond attentively to any feedback they may have for you.
For more in-depth conversations, jump into the DMs to carry on a conversation. But keep in mind–don’t start with a sales pitch–nobody likes a marriage proposal on their first date.
7. Share other content your followers will love
If you want to get more followers, you have to be willing to share content from other relevant brands. It’s not a secret that people who follow brands they like are more likely to click “like” on their posts, and when they do, their friends see that activity as a sign of interest and click the “follow” button, too.
8. Create Interesting Captions
Using captions to convey a tale can help to captivate your audience and pique their interest in your brand and message.
I like to use the acronym AID, which stands for Attention, Information, and Direction. Let me explain a bit more:
- Attention: The first line should get your ideal customer’s attention.“This really embarrasses me, but I have to admit it…”
- Information: This is the meat of the post, but make it easy to read and full of GOOD content. “I have been wearing pajamas since Monday. Why? Because I’ve been in full-on focus mode, getting my webinar ready for you!”
- Direction: Let them know what to do next.“Double-click if you can relate and have ever been in a cave working on a project too!”
9 . Share a Variety of Content
I recommend sharing several types of content. I create content using these eight categories:
- Know, like, and trust
- Teach something new
- Building Relationships
- Inspiration & Motivation
- Promotion
- Fun/Entertainment
- Trends
- Community & Culture
Depending on your ideal customer, you may share some categories more often than others. For example, I share a lot of “teach something new” content and I only share promotional content less than 20% of the time. The way to determine what your audience likes is to try it out and check your Audience Insights!
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