How To Get More Instagram Followers

Many business owners strive for that magic 10k follower mark so they can use the swipe up feature on Instagram Stories.

That target can seem a long way off for people marketing their business on Instagram, but it doesn’t need to be. With some time and dedication you can grow your followers on Instagram over the course of 12 months to 10,000.

Over the years, I have worked with many businesses and their Instagram marketing. I have formulated a strategy of what works and I am sharing with you my 11 top tips to growing your Instagram account.

1. Be you.

Being unique is what will set you apart from all of the other accounts on Instagram and make you memorable.

Don’t be afraid to share your stories, your views and your opinions.

Yes not everyone will agree or be attracted to your vibe, but you will engage a group of super followers. These super followers are way more valuable than heaps of luke-warm followers. And in time, this group of people will be the ones who share you and your work with others, will engage with everything you post and won’t be able to wait to purchase from you when you put an offer out there.

2. Take Good Quality Images.

Taking photo’s with your iphone camera is fine, just take pictures in bright areas with plenty of light (natural or artificial). Nobody likes looking at dark, grainy, low resolution pictures.

There are plenty of editing apps and tools available (a lot for free) if you need to lighten up your photo’s or edit them slightly which can make the world of difference.

Showcase yourself, your brand and your personality through your pictures. Just make sure they are bright and inviting.

3. Know Who You Are Talking To.

Before you can start attracting followers you need to be very clear on who those followers are.

Align your messaging with that audience.

Write captions and use images that that audience will relate to.

Those people will then quickly press that follow button to hear more from you.

Don’t worry about excluding some, even though your message will be for one specific audience you will still attract others, however if you are speaking to one particular niche market, and they feel that you are talking directly to them, then this is how you get those super followers I mentioned earlier.

4. Be consistent.

Yes, I know you have probably heard this one before but to get results, you need to be consistent and in most cases, that means daily interaction on Instagram.

Your audience needs to know that they can count on you to deliver content regularly and every day is preferable.

You need to do this so that you are always top of mind with your followers. There is so much happening on Instagram and if you don’t post regularly you will be forgotten. Sorry, but it’s true!

Instagram’s algorithm also tends to favour accounts that post consistently and will increase visibility for consistent accounts. So post more and Instagram will help you get more reach with your posts.

5. Use hashtags.

Instagram revolves around hashtags.

Using relevant, targeted hashtags on your posts and stories is still one of the best ways to get discovered by new followers.

Hashtags work by organising and categorising photo’s and video’s by having searchable feeds for each hashtag. You can search a hashtag and all the posts that have used that hashtag will appear for you to search through.

Using the right hashtags can put you in front of your ideal audience, even if they have never heard of you before.

You can use up to 30 hashtags on a post and 10 on a story.

Ideally you want to be using hashtags that your ideal audience are using to search on Instagram. There is no benefit if you aren’t getting in front of your ideal audience.

6. Post more video.

You can use video on your feed, stories and on IGTV.

Views and engagement on IGTV at the moment are incredible and it is predicted to boom even further in 2020.

Video has been predicted to be the the future of Instagram and long-form video content on IGTV is bringing massive results to the businesses that have embraced it.

While videos on Instagram feeds are capped at 60-seconds and Instagram stories at 15-seconds, IGTV is our longer-form video option on Instagram allowing up to 60 minutes in length.

IGTV videos have their own feed which is searchable plus a snippet can also be posted onto your regular feed to give your followers a glimpse of your IGTV video which will hopefully capture their attention and move them over to finish watching your full video on IGTV.

7. Use longer captions.

Research is showing posts with longer captions get better engagement and reach.

Longer captions allow your audience to learn more about you and your business on a deeper level.

What is considered a long caption? Around 405 characters or 65 to 70 words is considered a good long caption. (2,200 is the maximum characters allowed in an Instagram caption)

However, when posting longer captions, ensure it is easy to read. Break up the sentences with blank lines and emojis. Just one big block of text isn’t easy to read and people will skip over the content.

8. Have a clear bio.

Have a clear bio that tells people exactly what you do and who you work with. When people visit your profile you want them to know straight away whether your account is worth following or not and if you can actually help them in the content your provide.

There has to be a benefit for someone to take the time to follow you.

You also want to appear in the related accounts suggestions on Instagram and this comes from the pages you interact with and the keywords in your bio.

When someone follows an account on Instagram and list of other accounts pop up underneath as other suggestions for accounts you may like to follow as well. I know personally, I have found new accounts to follow with this exact feature. So include keywords in your bio that clearly explains what you do and interact with other accounts that target your audience (without being spammy on competitors accounts) to increase your chances of showing up in these suggestions.

9. Include keywords in your name.

Separate to your username (or handle), the name field is searchable in Instagram.

You can customise the name field in your Instagram bio without changing your username or handle.

The words you include in your name field are actually searchable. If someone searches for the service you offer in the search section of Instagram, those account with that service in their name section will be shown in the results. So include keywords that your ideal audience may use to find you and what you offer to increase your chances of being found.

You have a maximum of 30 characters to play with in this section

10. Engage with your audience.

Show your followers that you appreciate them by liking their comments and acknowledge them by replying to your comments.

It will also show people that check our your account that you are active and like to engage.

You can do this by not only responding to comments people leave on your posts, you can also go to their page and like some of their posts. Take it a step further and leave a comment on their post as well.

Commenting will also help boost the Instagram algorithm in your favour because it show that your page has good activity and commenting as soon as possible after the comment is made will help even further – for both your followers and the algorithm.

11. Don’t buy fake followers.

Just don’t it!

Any followers you buy will be inactive accounts that won’t engage on your posts and most definitely won’t ever do business with you.

Having a good engagement rate is going to boost your reach with the algorithm. If you have hundreds or thousands of followers not engaging with any of your posts, your engagement will be low and will in turn harm your overall reach.

Plus it is against Instagrams policies and it isn’t too hard for Instagram to see if you have purchased fake followers. If you get caught you will be penalised by not showing up in hashtag searches, not showing in people’s feeds or even worse, having your account permanent disabled.

I hope my top tips have given you some fresh ideas and inspiration to use Instagram as a marketing tool more effectively.

However, I want to stress that the number of followers should not be the benchmark on how you determine your Instagram marketing success. Instead it should be engaging with your ideal target market and growing your business through those connections.

I have seen accounts that achieve success and obtain new clients through their Instagram marketing with just a few hundred followers. I have also seen accounts that have over 10,000 followers and their Instagram account isn’t bringing them in any business at all.

You need to ask yourself what matters most?

That number in the followers box or the number of clients you are working with every week?