7 Hacks to Get More Instagram Followers
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could snap your fingers and instantly have a thousand more Instagram followers? Unfortunately, this isn’t reality. The most successful Instagram accounts require a lot of hard work and dedication.
It also helps if you have a few tricks up your sleeve. Here are a few hacks that the pros use to successfully raise their following.
1. Try an Instagram Followers App
An Instagram followers app can help you scour the internet for more followers organically. This isn’t a get-rich-quick (or get-followers-quick, as the case may be) scheme. It’s a useful hack to get real Instagram followers who will stay loyal to your brand without a lot of effort on your part.
The app will provide valuable insights about your follower base as well as track new followers and unfollows. It will also assist with automatic posting and advertising so that you can reach the people most likely to follow you. The data you receive through such an app is integral to growing your audience.
2. Post Regularly
This isn’t so much a hack as it is an essential piece of gaining a loyal following. Instagram users like to engage with brands that are familiar and valuable to them. If you post engaging content regularly, you can create that relationship organically.
Several studies indicate that you should post at least once per day, but optimum engagement for small businesses comes when you post two to three times per day. However, some brands, such as Starbucks, are posting as much as 30 times in a single day.
You don’t want to come off as over promotional, so it’s probably best to start out slow. As your brand grows, you can increase the number of posts you make without becoming spammy.
3. Use Hashtags to Their Full Advantage
A dedicated hashtag can make a world of difference in your social media campaigns, and Instagram is no exception. Hit the drawing board and get creative with your hashtagging. Try to avoid being boring. Use funny, outrageous, ironic, or inspiring phrases between one and three words that will brand your content and keep followers engaged.
The great thing about hashtags is that they can be used outside of the internet as well. For example, they can be used on billboards, print advertisements, radio or television commercials, and at trade shows. Remember that people literally live outside of social media, so reminding them about your presence when they’re not on their phones can bring more people flocking to your virtual door.
4. Follow Instagram Influencers
Following Instagram influencers, or those with at least 10K followers, is one of the best things any Instagram marketer can do. You should be following people who are directly involved in or related to your industry. Identify each one and start following those that are most like your business so that you can keep tabs on the competition and learn from the best.
This simple act will also connect you with new followers. When these influencers post, leave a comment with a hashtag or reference to your business. Their followers will see it, and if it’s something that adds honest value to this particular audience, they’ll follow you, too.
5. Use Vertical Video & Insta Stories Ads
If you’ve been a marketer for long, you know that vertical video used to be a big no-no in this business. That’s because most people used to watch videos when they were on their computer or television, so the vertical video was smaller and low quality.
However, with more than a billion active Instagram users, the platform is bringing back the use of vertical video. The app is accessed exclusively on mobile devices, and Instagram expects its users to be looking at their phone in the vertical position. Therefore, vertical video is where it’s at.
Vertical videos are particularly useful when advertising using Instagram Stories. This relatively new platform has gained a lot of traction since it was unleashed, and it helps businesses insert their advertisements in the midst of their friends’ posts. It’s a much more affordable form of advertising and it often allows you to reach your followers more organically than other methods.
6. Be a Good Follower
Many Instagram account owners believe that the key to getting more followers lies in everything happening on their own page. However, the best Instagrammers have learned the incredible value of being a good follower.
As you interact regularly with your own followers, multiple things will occur. First of all, your name will pop up regularly in that person’s notifications. It will help to increase brand awareness and permanence. Secondly, it will improve your brand image. No one can help but think positively about a brand that’s constantly looking outside of itself to uplift and comment on others’ posts. You should be joining conversations and putting yourself out there in your industry.
With these interactions, people will feel a natural inclination to follow you back. They’re more likely to find your account and your engagement impressive and suggest it to their friends.
7. Edit Your Photos
It’s incredible what a good photo editor can do to boost your business. Visuals are important on any social media platform, but on Instagram, they’re king. Higher quality images will always perform better and engage users better than hastily taken photos that received very little care and attention before they were posted to your account.
If you’re handy with Photoshop, this editing tool is probably the best on the market. However, it’s expensive, and if you’re not familiar, it can be challenging to operate. There are more affordable, simple options that will work perfectly for your Instagram page, like Snapseed, Afterlight, and Pixlr.
Additionally, don’t be afraid to use the Instagram filters provided. You don’t want to overdo it, but a filter now and again can make a drab picture look extraordinary.
Gaining Instagram followers starts with a unique strategy and involves a lot of hard work and dedication on your part. It’s not out of your reach, however, and as you push through, the results will become clearly evident through your steadily rising following.
We hope you enjoyed this promoted piece as much as we did!
