Nothing feels good than having a huge number of followers on Instagram. Having thousands of comments and likes on your posts even feels better.
Having hundreds of thousands of followers or even millions is a great achievement since, if you are in business, you can create awareness of your business among several people without spending a penny.
And even if it’s not a business account, you can create money through advertising for businesses when you have such a huge following. But how do you get here? It’s easy to get such a following if you do the following.
1. Create Quality and Engaging Content
People are on Instagram for different reasons. Some are there for fun, others for business, and others to learn and get information.
When creating an Instagram account, you should target a certain group and create content that will make them stay around. If you intend to educate people on a certain topic, you must stick to that because that’s why they are there.
You must also ensure you are active and post daily.
2. Be Up-To-Date
People are more likely to follow you and remain your followers if you post relevant information. You should be on the lookout for emerging issues online and trending news.
Check the trending memes and see what they are talking about, then create unique content on the same issue but still within your field.
There are people who are very busy, and they only log into their Instagram for updates on current affairs, so if you are famous for such posts, such people will follow you, and they will log into their accounts just to read your posts.
3. Engage Your Followers
Your followers will comment on your posts, and you must always reply to them to encourage them and show them how you value their time.
Even those who post negatively are important to you and look for a positive way of answering them without being offensive. Showing a high level of maturity will make more people follow you, and it’s a good way to retain your followers.
If you are busy and rarely get time to be online, you should employ a professional social media manager to manage your account.
Time also matters, so you should reply to your followers as soon as possible to keep them engaged.
4. Know When Your Audiences are Active for You to Post
It’s good to know people don’t spend all their time online or on Instagram since they have to work. But there are specific times when a massive number of followers are online, and this is the right time to post.
Check your list of followers to see when they are most active. Creating content when audiences are online is essential since this is the time they will see the content and have time to read and comment.
You can try different times of the day or night until you know when most of them are active.
5. Be Consistent
You must remember that people follow you to read your posts, so if you don’t post as expected, they will leave and won’t even encourage others to follow you.
You must also ensure you are not too much; a post per day is good if you want people to take good time in your post and participate in the comment section.
Posting several posts per day will bore your audiences, for they will wonder which post to read and comment on and which one not to. If you post many posts daily, you will realize that most don’t get likes or comments.
Posting a single post every day will make your readers eager to see your post the next day.
The good thing is that there are tools you can use to schedule your posts, so if you are a busy person, you can create posts for the whole week and schedule the time each post will be posted.
Some of these tools are free, so you can use them to increase your Instagram following. Being consistent is one way to make your posts be seen in people’s feeds, increasing your probability of more followers.
6. Use Good Captions
When sharing a photo or video, include a captivating caption. A nice photo or video will attract people to read the caption.
You can use up to 2 200 words to describe your video or photo, so take this opportunity to create a good description.
Don’t forget to use keywords in your caption to make you searchable online.
7. Use Appropriate Hashtags
Hashtags are in a position to make you be seen by people that are not your followers. But you must research the best hashtags on your Instagram, and you can know the right hashtags for your field using tools like AutoHash or Display Purposes.
The good thing is that you can use up to 30 hashtags in a single post. But you don’t have to use all 30 hashtags; use the hashtags that will make you more discoverable without stuffing your post.
8. Advertise Your Instagram Account Across Other Social Media Networks
There are several other famous social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, etc. if you have accounts on these platforms, encourage people to follow you, and most of your friends will follow you. How to promote your Instagram on other platforms:
Link your Instagram account to Facebook and Twitter so you can post on all three platforms simultaneously.
- Insert your Instagram photos in your blog posts and newsletter.
- Include your Instagram link in your email signature.
- Put your Instagram handle on other social media pages’ bios.
9. Follow Your Competitors
The people who are famous in your niche can add some followers. Pay close attention to their content; you can be more creative and post such content on your account. When they post, comment on their posts, and you can even respond to their followers in that post.
This will make their followers develop an interest in you and follow you to see what you post.
10. Pay for Sponsored Posts and Product Reviews.
Search for people who sell the same products or services as you and see their following. Choose the ones with a massive following and look at their level of engagement.
A massive following alone is not enough, so ensure they have considerable comments and likes from their followers. Even though you will pay for these services, it’s worth it since you will likely get many followers.
11. Giveaways and Contests
You can encourage people to follow you through contests and giveaways. People love free things, and you can be sure when you put simple rules like following you and inviting or tagging a friend to win something, they will turn in numbers.
Let people know what they need to do for them to win.
You will get so many followers just for this event. However, keeping them will depend on your hard work, and you must post what they want to retain them.
Getting many followers on Instagram is easy, but it doesn’t happen overnight. You must be patient and consistent. Be ready to be an active Instagram user and learn different ways to create quality and engaging content to win more followers.