Instagram may be a highly targetable visual marketing platform for your brand and a chance to develop a devoted following that expands with your company.
In reality, more than 500 million people use Instagram daily, making it one of the platforms with the most active user bases.
We’ll teach you how to develop your Instagram follower profile, boost interaction, and amass a sizable following over time—one that’s made up entirely of real people, not bots or phony followers—in this guide.
How to Increase Instagram Followers
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1. Reels should be part of your content mix.
Reels are entertaining videos that you may share with your instagram viewer. They have tools for creativity, audio, and effects. To reach new audiences, you can publish them publicly in Explore and on your feed.
For brands, reels are uncharted territory. Kristie Dash, the manager of Instagram’s beauty partnerships, said in a Glossy forum that Reels are still a relatively new format for content creation and that there isn’t a single recipe for success. She does, however, provide the following advice to get traction:
- Keep your writing original and trend-driven. Put your own take on popular Instagram and TikTok trends. This raises the possibility that your Reels may become viral and be seen by more people.
- Make content basic and relatable. Every Reel does not have to be a production.
- Low-quality films can function just as well as highly created Reels, if not better.
- Inform the audience. In your Reels, strike a balance between pleasure and information.
- Your current top priority should be reels. It’s a great location for potential customers to learn about your brand.
Trilce Jirón Garro, owner of TBS Marketing, concurs with this statement. “Avoid promoting your goods through Reels content. cite data. Give advice on the sector you work in. Viewers should be amused, she says.
Trilce recommends that all brands, young and old, include entertaining Reels in their Instagram strategy. “Anyone may use reels to connect with new target audiences. Since Reels’ content is low-fi, there is no learning curve. Additionally, producers can create community-driven content that gradually increases followers, sales, and trust.
The Instagram Insights Tool that Reels introduced is also a favorite of Trilce’s. “Reels are now a crucial component of every Instagram marketing plan. Analyzing data and tracking metrics to determine whether your Reels are effective is now simple thanks to analytics tools for Reels. You can now precisely determine your audience’s preferences, the best times to post Reels, and the most effective calls to action.
You can identify patterns and different interaction peaks that affect your visibility on the platform with Reels Insights. By doing this, you may produce material of a higher caliber that attracts more followers and engagement.
Need assistance developing a Reels plan? For additional information, see Why and How to Use Instagram Reels to Market Your Shopify Store.
2. Content cross-promotion
Cross-promotion entails publishing related information on numerous social media platforms. It’s a time- and resource-saving strategy. Additionally, it works well for expanding an Instagram audience and improving brand recognition.
Video and entertainment apps are gaining popularity among mobile users, with video content on social networking platforms seeing the highest rise in usage. You want to increase the reach of your Instagram post, whether it’s a quick instructional or a detailed one.
The holiday dance challenge by Justin Bieber is a fantastic illustration of cross-posting done right. The Canadian artist shared the same dance challenge over the 2020 holiday season on Instagram and TikTok. His TikTok video clip garnered 9.8 million likes. On Instagram, the identical material earned 4.8 million likes. The simple act of sharing the same video on two separate platforms allowed him to reach a larger audience.
TikTok naturally crosses over to Instagram and YouTube, according to Nadya Okamoto, the creator of the lifestyle brand August. As we’ve grown on TikTok since August, we’ve also grown to 175,000 followers on Instagram, she claims in an interview with Modern Retail, adding that actively posting on multiple platforms has “affected our overall cost of acquisitions to be super effective,” enabling the brand to veer away from paid media as its primary acquisition channel.
You can cross-post on other channels outside TikTok as well. The YouTube Shorts and Pinterest Stories formats are both good fits for the Instagram Reels format. It’s vital to know that Reels with a TikTok watermark won’t be promoted by Instagram’s algorithm. In order to avoid promoting a rival platform through watermarks, make sure the content you cross-post from Instagram to other channels is of a good quality.
3. your profile grid with care.
The majority of your followers will stick with you because of your future posts, not because of anything you’ve posted in the past. Your audience is curious as to what they will receive if they click the Follow button.
Like many of the other growth techniques we’ve discussed above, having a feed with a regular theme and publishing schedule can help you gain more followers. Any pattern, no matter how basic, can draw in new followers as long as it is obvious to everybody who visits your profile right away.
Your first impression on Instagram should be based on your bio and the previous nine posts. Do their personalities, filters, colors, or layouts successfully convey some level of consistency? Does the clickable link always take users to the same home page? Or do you only connect to interesting and engaging content?
The design of your grid is a frequently overlooked option to experiment with the aesthetic of your feed while also giving your publishing strategy a rhythm and consistency that are worthwhile to adhere to.
In reality, by concentrating on turning visitors into followers, producing text graphics or other content with a quicker turnaround, and streamlining the overall production of their Instagram content, many accounts who use this strategy are frequently able to spend less time on content creation.
The style and layout of your feed may be easily planned out and scheduled using a tool like Later. A prime example of how creative some companies can be with their Instagram layout is Letterfolk.
Your feed acts as a brand’s advertising billboard. It embodies the essence of your brand and is a customer’s initial point of contact with you.
4. collaborating with brand ambassadors
Don’t want to spend a fortune hiring a famous influencer to promote your business? works with brand ambassadors who have a following of between a few hundred and a few thousand. Ambassadors are those that sincerely believe in your business, support it, and will spread the word to others.
With over 500 women participating in its brand ambassador program, upscale shoe shop Sarah Flint reports success. Each ambassador gets a special discount code that, after being used by five new buyers, entitles them to a free pair of Sarah Flint shoes.
Holly Hollon and other brand ambassadors attest to the excellence and comfort of the company’s footwear. Regular Sarah Flint customers can relate to and identify with her postings. This increases the brand’s sales and Instagram following.
5. Obtain subscribers for your loyalty program
Retailers are introducing loyalty programs more frequently, urging customers to choose their brand over rivals. Brands like Blume and Sephora have found success with it. Brands are using loyalty programs to their advantage by giving Instagram followers prizes.
Following Rebecca Minkoff on Instagram allowed customers to earn points when the premium retailer’s rewards program, RM Rewards, was introduced. A lot of companies, including Blume, see the usefulness in rewarding Instagram followers. Instead of Facebook or Twitter, program participants can gain Blume Bucks by adding each other as friends on Instagram.
6. Promote using your individual Instagram account.
Growing your personal account is another well-liked strategy for boosting your Instagram following—basically, make yourself the influencer. Utilizing both your personal and business accounts can boost revenue, follower numbers, and brand recognition. Pro tip: To increase your numbers, use this plan on TikTok as well.
It’s a strategy that has been successful for fashion house ANINE BING, whose founder also fosters interaction and publicity through her personal Instagram page, which has more than one million followers.
Followers are invited into Anine’s design studio, guided through the design process, and even given the opportunity to provide input. Anine also discusses her own accomplishments and life milestones, offering fans a glimpse into the private life of their favorite designer.
7. Sign up for feature accounts.
Pages that curate the greatest content in a certain category are known as feature accounts on Instagram. They are comparable to an industry’s “best of” photo journals. Many people follow some feature accounts. If you are featured on the account, new Instagram followers may follow you.
Every specialized area has feature accounts, including travel, fashion, photography, and more. For its more than 6.1 million followers, @discoverearth, for instance, selects adventurous travel material from all across the world.
8. Use appropriate hashtags
Your objective on Instagram should be to regularly engage your current audience while also gaining more actual followers. The first criteria will be met by posting fresh, intriguing, and engaging images, however hashtagging your images is crucial if you want to start growing. Using hashtags makes it simple for users to find your photos when they are looking for particular terms.
What hashtags should you thus use? Users on Instagram favor some hashtags over others, much like they do on Twitter and other social media platforms. Utilizing popular Instagram hashtags increases your chances of being found and reaching new users.
Using hashtags is one thing; choosing the appropriate tags is quite another.
You’ll probably get more engagement and likes if you use popular tags like those mentioned above. They won’t, however, result in more sustained engagement, new, enthusiastic followers, or, most crucially, revenue.
Find and use the most pertinent hashtags if you want to properly tag your images. This entails conducting the necessary research to ensure that the hashtags you use not only accurately represent your business but are also commonly used on Instagram.
You should start by using a free online tool like IconoSquare or Webstagram to locate relevant hashtags.
In the example below, I utilized Webstagram to uncover popular, pertinent, and related hashtags for my men’s accessories company by looking for relevant, essential hashtags.
For instance, by using the hashtag #MensFashion as a search term, I was able to retrieve the following list of other keyword hashtags, along with the frequency of use (i.e., their popularity).
If you conduct a direct search for any of your target keywords in the Instagram app, you may also discover more pertinent hashtags and information about their popularity.
You should repeat this exercise, experimenting with various phrases that accurately describe your company and its offerings and expanding your list of hashtag keywords as you go.
Remember that each Instagram post can only contain a maximum of 30 hashtags. Additionally, the words that are in demand will alter over time, so check back on your hashtag keywords every few months to ensure you’re utilizing the most appropriate phrases.
You can also copy hashtag ideas from rival accounts or comparable accounts with a following similar to your target audience, but in the end, you want to come up with your own hashtag groupings that are relevant to your particular account.
First expert advice: This is a tactic I employ for my e-commerce ventures. I’ve done research on the most popular associated Instagram hashtags for each product and product category in my stores. I created five to ten common tags that best define my business and product offering, as well as 15 to 20 popular hashtags for each type of goods I sell. Last but not least, I also compiled a list of well-known regional hashtags relevant to my brand.
For instance:
hashtags for brand names
Men’s fashion, accessories, and apparel are all included under the hashtags “#mybrandname” and “menswear.”
Hashtags for product category keywords
#socksoftheday #sockgame #sockswagg #socksofinstagram #happysockday #sockwars #funsocks #happysockday #bugatchisocks #happysocks #corgisocks #socks #swag
location-specific hashtags for keywords
Toronto fashion, Toronto fashion bloggers, and Toronto fashion
These various collections of keyword hashtags are all kept on one Evernote page. This makes posting a fresh Instagram image that is optimized for the most pertinent keywords convenient and effective for me when I’m on the road.
You may quickly open my Evernote and copy the typical hashtags for my favorite brands, products, and locations to share with each image. For storing your hashtag groupings, several Instagram scheduling apps also let you save caption templates.
Researching, gathering, and collecting the most relevant and well-liked hashtags in advance will save you a ton of time later on, boost your interaction, and help you gain new followers.
Pro tip #2: If you’ve been utilizing hashtags to increase your audience on Instagram for some time but feel like you’ve missed out, don’t worry. As the likes and follows pour in, you can still go back and write a remark using your updated hashtag keyword lists.
Instagram stories hashtag usage
It’s standard practice to hashtag Instagram posts, but you should also utilize hashtags in your stories to increase the likelihood that people who follow that particular hashtag will see your content.
For a chance to be featured in a hashtag story, you can use hashtag stickers (which can be found in the Instagram Stickers option when creating a Story) or just hashtag directly in your descriptions.
Because users may now follow hashtags, your Instagram Stories may be seen by both those who are following that hashtag and others who are simply browsing it.
9. Post when appropriate.
You should think about the time of your posts in addition to applying the best filters and the right hashtags to increase your Instagram following.
Analyzing what has and hasn’t worked for you in the past is part of a targeted approach. You can get a thorough analysis of your posting history vs engagement by going to IconoSquare’s optimization area. The ideal times of day and days of the week to post will also be highlighted in this report.
The dark circles show your typical posting times for media. The pale gray circles indicate instances of community interaction. The optimum times for you to post are indicated by the largest light gray circles.
Instagram analytics for business accounts, which are located in the Followers area, can also provide you with a ton of valuable information for no cost.
When your audience is most active on social media, you might want to think about employing a scheduling tool for social media.
10. Steal the clients of your rivals
Finding and connecting with the audiences of your closest competitors’ Instagram accounts is one of the finest strategies to grow your following. By following your competitors, these folks have already expressed some interest in the things you carry.
So how do you successfully gain followers from your rivals? by talking to them. You may interact with Instagram users in a variety of ways, and the more effort you put into it, the more followers and frequent interactions you’ll gain.
On Instagram, there are three different ways to interact:
- Track a user
- like a picture
- Remarks on a picture
Use a few emojis to give your content some personality by using them.
11. Paid advertisements and product reviews
Even though all of this optimized posting to your account is fantastic, influencer marketing can help you reach a larger audience and grow your Instagram following.
So, how do you go about doing that? First off, unlike the methods for increasing Instagram followers previously discussed, this one is typically not free. However, it has value if done properly.
You must compile a list of influential accounts in your niche before you can begin. For instance, if you offer cosmetics, you should look for prominent profiles from cosmetics bloggers.
If not, you’ll need to locate the accounts you might already be following. Using Webstagram, which was stated previously, to look up some of the nearby hashtag keywords you found at the start of this post, is one of the best ways to do this. Not only will it provide relevant terms when you search for your keywords, but it will also display the top Instagram accounts that use those keywords.
A few things to check for in the profiles results include:
- huge audience, typically between 20,000 and 200,000
- a profile’s email address
If a profile contains an email address, it typically indicates that the account is available for sponsored posts or shoutouts in sponsored Stories.
You should write them to inquire about the cost of sponsored posts. I’ve discovered that the typical rate ranges from $20 to $50 per post, depending on the size of the audience.
However, if you’re selling an original and distinctive product, you might also want to think about sending the influencer your item for review and posting. The engagement and response are typically higher when the image appears more authentic and less like an advertisement.
To gain more Instagram followers, you don’t necessarily need influencers with a sizable following; instead, you can go for those that have a high engagement rate (the ratio of likes to comments to followers), which is something that many influencer marketplaces can offer.
12. Geotags can be used to increase local search
In addition to using hashtags, you can increase the visibility of your Instagram posts and Stories by adding a location tag. This location tag can be either the city you’re in or the place where the image or video was taken.
When you apply the location sticker in your own Stories, you can add to the hashtags that a location has created in addition to its own Instagram feed.
By routinely publishing to these feeds and participating in postings from potential consumers who are physically nearby, local companies may maximize the usefulness of location tags.
13. Highlight your Stories in an orderly fashion.
You only have a limited amount of time to persuade a visitor to your business profile to follow you.
Utilizing your profile’s Highlights feature to arrange your Instagram Stories in a way that clearly conveys the purpose of your account is one approach to achieve this.
Highlights can be used to extend the life of Stories, which have a 24-hour lifespan, and persuade others to follow you so they won’t miss out on future Stories.
Increase your Instagram following by using Story Highlights by:
- Creating teaser trailers for your account’s content
- Creating themes for your Stories (such as the places you’ve traveled to for travel accounts)
- describing your goods using images and videos
14. Request additional supporters
Don’t be afraid to occasionally ask your audience to follow you, even though it seems clear.
You can invite viewers to follow you for additional content in the same manner that YouTubers do at the conclusion of their videos.
Sometimes people may truly like what you post on Instagram, but they require encouragement before following you.
You can also incorporate this into your content by pitching what your audience will receive if they follow you on Instagram or by making hints about upcoming posts they won’t want to miss.
15. Run a contest
When a user tags a friend in a comment, it’s one of the finest kinds of comments you can get on any social media post, not just Instagram. Not only do these comments increase the engagement of your post, which benefits the Instagram algorithm, but each tag also exposes you to a new audience member who found you through a recommendation and who you might be able to convert into a follower.
Posting relatable content that calls for 1:1 sharing is one method to promote this behavior (e.g., a gym meme that asks you to tag a friend who skips leg day). But a more dependable strategy is to hold a contest that motivates your audience to follow your account and tag a friend.
For operating an Instagram competition that complies with local laws in your operation country, follow Instagram’s promotion guidelines.
Here is an illustration of a fruitful product giveaway from Philip Kingsley that encourages users to follow the brand’s account and tag a friend in order to enter to win a collection.
16. Make user-generated content available
User-generated content (UGC) is any kind of content that you gather from fans or followers, including videos, images, reviews, audio, and more. It’s a crucial component of your marketing toolkit if you want to increase your Instagram following. UGC fosters a more trustworthy relationship with potential customers by humanizing your business through the use of real people and their authentic tales that demonstrate your product in use.
Including them also encourages more sales in your online business. Your audience loves their 15 minutes of fame on your Instagram feed. Consumers nowadays are 56% more likely to make a purchase after seeing a picture of a product posted by other customers, according to research by Olapic.
Take Fashion Nova as an illustration. The Instagram account for the online shop mainly utilizes user-generated content.
With the help of user-generated content, Fashion Nova has access to thousands of images from around the globe that it can publish with its audience. These images both highlight the brand’s principles and encourage followers to interact with its posts and purchase the garments that actual people are wearing.
Start by encouraging customers to share their best experiences and photographs with your products when developing user-generated content for your online store via:
- establishing a custom hashtag feed where users can upload photographs
- Improve your Instagram profile by include a call to action
- holding a competition
- contacting decision-makers
- Incorporate a packaging “ask” for user-generated content.
Keep in mind that UGC aims to present a real perspective on your items. Use any lower-quality images that some clients offer you if they still show off the best aspects of your merchandise.
17. Utilize Instagram Live.
Running a successful marketing campaign on any social media site requires live video. You may interact with your followers in real-time while streaming videos to them using Instagram Live.
A ring surrounds your profile image in Instagram Stories to alert followers that your brand has begun a live video stream so they may watch it. When you begin a live video, followers are also notified. After your broadcast is complete, you have 24 hours to upload it to your Story.