How to Get Real Instagram Followers (Fast Growth Tips)
Download Free Checklist to Get More Real Instagram Followers (Includes 15 Tactics for Beginners, Intermediates and Advanced Users) Click the below button to get it.
Back in 2010, when Instagram was launched, no one could have predicted its 100x growth of user base. Today, Instagram is the fastest growing social network in the world with over one billion monthly active users:
For businesses of all sizes and shapes, this means huge sales potential, and having a solid following is a great way to monetize your Instagram account. The more followers you have, the more potential customers you can get. At first blush, the idea is simple.
But here’s the deal:
If you’re just starting out, cutting through the noise is difficult: Since there are 25 million business accounts on the platform, it’s hard to get followers on Instagram fast unless you’re a popular brand like Starbucks or ASOS.
While there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to attracting new Instagram followers fast, there are some proven ways to understand your target audience’s needs. Once you know your potential followers, you can optimize your business account for discovery, post content that attracts attention and solves audience’s problems, spread the word about your account with influencers, and therefore give a reason to follow you on Instagram.
1. Create Your Instagram Bio
Here comes the ugly truth: You have just seven seconds to make a first impression. And if you want to get more followers fast, you have to create a great Instagram bio that helps first-time visitors understand more about your company without spending much time.
Depending on your Instagram bio, visitors can decide whether they are interested in learning more about your brand or not. And to attract the right audience, you need to write the best Instagram bio that’s not only made specifically for your target audience to tell more about your company, but that’s also a bio that draws potential customers’ attention and makes them want to follow you on the platform.
Here’s an example of a great Instagram bio by Switch Box Coffee. For first-time visitors, it’s easy to understand more about the company: what it is, what services/products it has, opening hours, and extra information.
And if you want to stand out from the crowd, you can stay creative and make your bio more eye-catching. For example, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf works in the same niche, but the company uses emojis and keeps its bio short and sweet:
To create a killer Instagram bio, you need to remember the following things:
- choose a relevant username
- fulfill business information (pick a category, add contact options)
- use your target keyword
- inform visitors about the work hours
- add a branded hashtag and profile link
- insert a website link
- customize your bio with emojis and fonts
2. Publish Eye-Catching Useful Posts Daily
Once your Instagram bio has interested visitors in finding out more about your company, they will be more likely to scroll your feed before making the final decision to follow you or not. Believe it or not, a cohesive Instagram feed design matters.
Why? We are visual creatures: 65% of us are visual learners and 40% of people respond better to imagesthan branded text.
For brands, sharing brand message means nothing until they can hook Instagram visitors with beautiful images. Let’s take TacoBell, for example. Not only does Taco Bell create a cohesive and eye-catching Instagram feed, but the company also promotes its product on the platform.
To keep your audience engaged, it’s not enough to share an image once a week. You need to give your followers a reason to visit your page, so posting daily is a must. Obviously, developing and following a successful Instagram content plan takes time, effort, and knowledge. Moreover, creating beautiful visuals requires hiring experienced designers. So, learn how to make smart hires or outsource it to a business that offers this service.
But before you have a huge social content team, you can use graphic-design tools to make Instagram posts that hook visitors. Working with ready-made Instagram templates, everyone can make great images for your business.
So, here’s how to create a cohesive Instagram feed:
- Develop a content plan
- Choose a theme style and grid layout
- Stick to a color palette
- Plan your feed in advance
- Publish posts daily
3. Optimize Your Posts and Stories for Local Search
Instagram is not just about selling ecommerce products; it’s also about promoting local businesses that want to gain exposure. And if you want to attract the right local Instagram followers fast, you need to optimize your posts and Instagram Stories for local search in two simple ways:
- add a geolocation/geostickers
- use a geo hashtag
When you add a geotag, you provide your followers with more information about your brand and increase your chances of being discovered by random Instagrammers with the help of the search bar. Once a person is interested in the specific area, it’s easy to tap on its geolocation or geo hashtag to find a unique gallery of posts.
With over 130 domestic locations, Shake Shack uses its Instagram to promote restaurants and announce new openings. Since it’s more comfortable for customers to visit the closest restaurants, it’s no wonder followers are interested in the specific location.
And here’s how the company uses Instagram Stories to build buzz for its new restaurant opening:
Once you add a geolocation or geo hashtag, you provide your visitors with additional information on where to find your business offline. And if you’re a local business, you may want to learn more about local business profile pages a new in-app feature that allows companies to add more basic information about the business (address, business category, hours, price range, etc.) which can also help to attract new local customers.
The sum up? Optimizing your Instagram content for local search helps people in your area find your business with ease. Thus, it’s easier to gain the right followers who can become customers with time.
4. Spread the Word about Your Instagram Account
According to Business Instagram, 60% of people discover new products on the platform and 80% of users follow a business. For companies, this means your potential followers are on Instagram, and you need to spread the word about your company to let them know how to find you.
No matter what your business size is, whether you’re a large or small company, you must have a customer base. To get real Instagram followers fast, you can inform your customers that you’re on the platform. For example, The Retail Data Partnership (TRDP) has used its Twitter account to tell its social media followers that the company is on Instagram:
If people follow your brand on other social media channels, they will be more likely to support your company on Instagram, too. Thus, spreading the word about your Instagram account is a must to attract new followers fast.
Here are other effective ways to advertise your Instagram handle within your community:
- Design website popups to inform about your Instagram account
- Add social media buttons to your mailings
- Ask your team to share information on personal social media profiles
- Reach out to your professional network to ask for shoutouts
[Also Read: How to Get Free Instagram Shoutouts]
5. Give Instagram Stories a Try
If you are just starting out on Instagram, using short-lived Instagram Stories isn’t the most obvious way to get new followers fast. However, the numbers speak for themselves: Instagram Stories have increased the amount of time people spend on the platform from 15 to 32 minutes a day and over 500 million people use Stories every day, so it’s no wonder that 96% of US marketers plan to continue using Stories ads.
So, how does Instagram help you get new followers with Instagram Stories?
- It shares accounts that use stories often on the explorer page.
- It shows up accounts in the specific location’s stories when they tag a location in Stories.
Thus, it’s no wonder big brands like Sephora post useful Stories every day: from new product announcements to how-to videos and tutorials, the company provides its Instagram followers with valuable information that can hook potential customers, too:
Luckily, there are many ideas for developing short-lived content on Instagram for businesses of all sizes and niches. Thus, it’s important to implement Instagram Stories into your social media content strategy to engage your followers and attract new ones.
6. Listen to Your Followers and Interact with Them
Having many Instagram followers means nothing until they are engaged. If you don’t focus on building authentic relationships with your followers, you won’t get very far. Why? Customers want to communicate with brands on Instagram. What is more, they are ready to spread the word about your company if they are satisfied with this communication: 71% of people who have had a positive experience with a brand on social media are more likely to recommend the company to friends and family.
The solution? Listen to your followers and interact with them.
Let’s take ASOS, for example. Although the company has over 9 million Instagram followers and receives hundreds of comments per each post, it tries to communicate with people via comments. As a result, people feel valued and they are more likely to return the favor and follow the brand.
And if you’re not a big brand, replying to comments won’t be enough to establish long-term relationships with followers. You need to proactively engage with followers, seeking out opportunities to establish a connection with them.
Here’s how to do it:
- reply to their comments on your profile
- like and comment on their posts
- watch their stories
- publish user-generated content and tag authors
- deliver excellent customer service
7. Collaborate with Niche Influencers
Today, showing off your product isn’t enough to attract potential customers. People crave authenticity, so they seek out genuine recommendations before making the purchase decision. As specified in one study by Reevoo, 70% of people trust online peer recommendations more than professional content and copy.
And if you’re focused on growing the number of your Instagram followers fast, working with niche influencers is a must. Since these people have amassed a loyal following around a particular subject of interest, they can help you attract the right audience fast.
Case in point:
In 2018, Dunkin’ Donuts ran an influencer campaign to spread the word about the company and generate positive engagement. In partnership with nano-influencers, the company entered highly engaged communities and got the word out about its products without spending much money. Just take a look at one post from influencer Madeline who has 996 followers on Instagram:
With 339 likes and 49 comments, Madeline achieved an engagement rate of 38.9%. There’s no need to get math help to understand that working with nano- and micro-influencers, opinion leaders with less than 10,000 followers, can drive great results, too.
If you want to give influencer marketing a try, pay attention to the following cost-effective options:
- Use platforms to get free Instagram shoutouts
- Turn your loyal followers into brand ambassadors
- Find niche micro-influencers to offer the collaboration
8. Run a Giveaway
Have you ever wondered how some new Instagram accounts seem to grow their Instagram following like crazy? It’s like their accounts explode overnight and it looks so easy.
So, what is the secret? They must know the power of giveaways on Instagram!
It’s in our nature to love free stuff: free things are hard to resist and giving away branded freebies can increase sales by up to 2000 percent. Thus, giveaways work well on Instagram.
Here’s an example of an Instagram giveaway from Passion Planner. Since Instagrammers have to take just two easy steps to enter the contest, it’s obvious that the primary goal of this giveaway is to build the number of followers fast.
When you give away branded freebies, you kill two birds with one stone: you encourage visitors to follow your brand for a chance to get something for nothing and you give your followers an opportunity to try out your products without buying them. As a result, you can both new followers and potential customers.
In a Word
Instagram marketing is on its rise, so more and more brands want to jump on the bandwagon and promote their products on the platform. Although it seems difficult to cut through the noise, there are some proven ways to get more Instagram followers faster. How do you grow your Instagram following fast? What has worked best for you? Don’t be greedy to share your tips in comments below.
Download Free Checklist to Get More Instagram Followers Fast (Includes 15 Tactics for Beginners, Intermediates and Advanced Users) Click the below button to get it.
If you want to use shoutouts from influencers to get followers, you should give Shoutcart a try. You can get started for as little as $10.
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Author bio:
With over 6 years of digital marketing experience, Hugh Beaulac is a content manager at MC2 Bid4Papers website, freelance social media manager and guest contributor to marketing blogs. Follow him on Twitter to stay tuned for more.