Reaching 500 millions users during 2016, Instagram has quickly become the second most popular social networking site. Originally created in 2010 and developed by Facebook since 2012, Instagram is an online social networking service that allows users to ‘follow’ each other whilst sharing photos and videos.
On Instagram, like all social media sites, being popular has become extremely relevant – especially for brands and small businesses. So to help everyone grow their Instagram following I’ve put together this article of 6 tips for getting more followers on Instagram.
1. Interact With Your Followers
This is one of the easiest ways to get new followers. Not only because of the fact that it will make your account visible to more people, but because when other users see that you interact with your following they’ll be more likely to follow you. I mean who doesn’t want a little more attention?
At the start, doing this while you grow your account should be easy as you don’t have many followers. It will get harder as your popularity starts increasing though. However, it won’t be long until your followers realize that you won’t have time to reply to every comment or message.
2. Post Exciting Content
One of the keys to gaining a lot of followers on Instagram is to post awesome original content. People often use the internet to get away from their own lives for a little.
So you have to be there to excite people and make them laugh. Ultimately, let them take a step out of reality for a short period of time. Try to post interesting photos or videos that your followers aren’t likely to see anywhere else. You’ll be surprised how many followers you start getting just by posting original content.
3. Post Regularly
If you’re wondering why you don’t have many followers on Instagram but are only posting maybe once or twice a week, then we may have found the problem. Regular posts are what keeps new Instagram users coming to your page. If you aren’t posting quality content consistently.
You will find some of your followers may get frustrated or bored waiting for your posts, no matter how good or rare they are. If you have to, write down a schedule and try to stick to it so your followers know when to come back to check for a new post. However, be careful not to post too often or post poor content as this will make people unfollow you.
4. Use Effective Hashtags
Hashtags are what generally draws new users towards your account. They may seem simple but using them effectively and consistently over time is crucial if you want to increase your success on Instagram. Generally choosing hashtags that are shown in or described in the picture is a solid strategy.
However, be careful when using really popular hashtags, as you’ll likely go unnoticed. For example, #dog is used so often you’re likely going to get lost in the crowd using it. Instead, you should try and choose a hashtag that is still popular but has a specific audience or a niche waiting to view your photo, in this case #dogsofinstagram is a better choice.
You may have to do some research to find out which hashtags are relevant to your niche or type of account, but there are a few hashtag analytics tools out there, like Keyhole, that will help you find them.
Also be wary of adding too many hashtags, as this just comes off ‘spammy’ and needy, and may end up causing you to lose followers. A good technique is to post your hashtags as your first comment. That way your post will still get noticed in the explore feed using the hashtags but your profile won’t appear spammy as they’re not in the caption.
5. Give Back And Be A Follower
Don’t just expect to get followers, go ahead and visit other people’s accounts and become a follower. It’s one of the best ways for them to notice your account as you’ll pop up in their notifications.
If you’re following our other tips, they’ll more than likely be impressed with your account and will happily follow you back. Of course, you can always unfollow them later, but be careful, if they find out they’ll probably return the favor.
6. Buy Them
This is one sneaky little hack that I think most Instagram users are now probably aware of but only a few decide to try. Regardless, it’s certainly the quickest way to add followers to your account. I’ve tried it myself and got some followers from an Instagram service, Gramlike, and the process is pretty simple.
You just pay, give them your username and they add more followers to your account. However, it should be noted that the followers you get aren’t actually real, they’re fake followers who won’t like or engage with your content! But they are useful in helping you attract new followers via the principle of social proof. As the more followers you have the more important you must be, right? Nonetheless, it’s a nice little shortcut though it is probably more suited to businesses and high profile people with money to blow.
Whatever way you choose to grow your followers on Instagram, just be sure not to neglect your old ones or you’ll end up taking two steps forward and one step back.
Featured photo credit: StockSnap via stocksnap.io
