Amassing Instagram followers takes considerable time and strategy. But organic growth is absolutely critical for extending your reach, engaging new audiences and ultimately driving conversions. This guide details proven tips, hacks and best practices brands of all sizes can enact to gain real Instagram followers week after week.
Optimize Your Profile
Your profile serves as the homebase for presenting your brand on Instagram. Ensure key elements make the right first impression:
– Profile Photo: Featuring products, services or your logo immediately conveys your brand focus
– Bio: Succinctly explain your core value proposition using keywords your audience searches
– Link: Add a clickable link to your website or landing page to drive traffic
– Contact: Display an email, phone number or other contact info to enable outreach
Crafting an informative, professional profile establishes credibility and gives visitors reason to follow.
Post Shareable Content
Not all content drives equal engagement. Think beyond basic product images by creating thought-provoking, hilarious or helpful posts followers feel compelled to share. Tactics include:
– User-Generated Content featuring customers with your products
– Lifestyle imagery highlighting aspirational use cases
– Infographics, lists and guides with informative or entertaining value
– Cool animations and carousels to catch the eye while scrolling
Diverse, creative content gets more eyes on your brand while positioning you as an industry leader.
Use All the Right Hashtags
Followers search hashtags to discover new accounts. Consistently incorporate a mix of popular and niche tags related to your business to increase discoverability. Some best practices:
– Research hashtags used by competitors and industry leaders
– Try rising trending tags as well for temporary visibility
– Mix ultra-popular general tags (like #instagood) with precise niche tags
– Cap hashtags around 11-15 per post to avoid flagging spam filters
Adding relevant hashtags to both captions and first comments helps new users stumble upon your content.
Run Lead Generating Contests & Giveaways
Promotional contests and giveaways incentivize users to follow your brand for a chance to win prizes. Require visitors to follow you, like a post and tag friends to gain entry into high-value drawings. Make forms, rules and legal requirements clear upfront. Then announce winners to spark future interest.
Engage With Your Niche Community
Having real conversations in your niche feeds engages followers while exposing your brand to their networks organically.
– Reply to all comments on your posts thanking users
– Comment on competitors, influencers and leader posts in your category
– Respond directly to followers sharing or tagging your brand as appreciation
– Ask intriguing questions to spark dialogue
Position your brand as an approachable industry insider through value-driven engagement.
Partner With Micro-Influencers
Micro-influencers are everyday users with engaged small-medium followings (5k-100k range). Their audiences view recommendations as more authentic than celebrities. Pay micro-influencers to feature your products. Request dedicated posts plus IG Stories mentions to tap into their niche communities driving targeted new followers.
Cross-Promote Across Social Channels
Ensure Instagram links to your Facebook, TikTok, Twitter and other social accounts. Share Instagram content previews directing audiences to follow you on IG for the full post. Cross-pollinating engaged audiences across channels amplifies overall brand visibility and followers.
Advertise Strategically With Paid Ads
Once establishing foundational organic presence, invest in highly-targeted Instagram ads to accelerate reach. Geo/interest/lookalike targeting isolates niche demographics inclined to follow your business. Content that evokes curiosity around proprietary insights, insider access or exclusivity converts cold traffic into engaged followers. Let ads supplement organic efforts until achieving your desired community size.
Consistency Is Key
Post fresh Instagram content consistently at least 5x a week minimum to stay top of mind. Curate an enticing mix of product features, behind the scenes, user generated and educational content keeping feeds interesting for returning visitors.
Make following your brand a no-brainer by optimizing your visual social presence from all angles. Humanize your business while positioning Instagram as the insider hub for all things related to your niche. Then develop habit-forming content and engagement keeping new followers hooked week after week.
The influencer era makes organic word-of-mouth essential on Instagram. Take control by enacting the above best practices for converting complete strangers into brand advocates over the long-term. Then watch your community, engagement rates and ultimately conversions scale new heights.