Growing Instagram followers is not a matter of days, infact it requires your consistent effort and dedication to bring the most genuine followers to your Instagram account.
So, if you are serious about growing Instagram followers to raise brand awareness, build relationships, and get more customers to your business. You are at the right place!
Here is a guide to help you know 20 ways to increase your Instagram followers. Also, learn to make the most of current Instagram followers and grow organically.
Let us start by learning the types of Instagram followers!
Types Of Instagram followers
Before we jump towards attracting the audience to increase followers, let us understand the type of Instagram followers. And understand what every type of follower brings to your Instagram account.
#1. Ghost Followers
Ghost followers are inactive users who do not engage with your content and benefit your engagement metrics. These followers are for the namesake on your Instagram account and do not contribute to growth.
#2. Organic Followers
Organic followers are the active audience that finds your profile and then engages you due to their likability towards your content. These are the best types of Instagram followers who actively participate in your content.
#3. Customers
These are the followers from your online store who also avail of sales and discounts. You can highlight your products on Instagram stories and offer exclusive discounts to engage more customers.
#4. Competitors
Some organic followers can be your competitors. They might look into your content strategy and the products and services you are offering. You engage these followers and take cues from competitor content when you're coming up with Instagram content.
#5. Influencers
Influencer followers are there for beneficial partnerships and increased sales for your Instagram business account. To attract influencers, produce consistent, high-quality content for a specific audience.
#6. Fake Followers
These are the followers who are usually from bot or fake accounts. They do not engage with your content or benefit your account. These come in the form of paid followers who increase your follower count.
Now that we have knowledge about what kind of followers one can have on Instagram. Read further to know several ways in which you can gain followers on Instagram.
20 Ways To Gain Instagram Followers
Boosting your Instagram followers can reward your business by making your Instagram account more legitimate and reliable. Now, gain your Instagram followers quickly with the below mentioned 20 proven expert tips.
#1. Optimize your Instagram account
To increase followers, working on creating an Instagram business profile would be great. Complete the bio by entering the details defining your brand identity on Instagram. Take care of the following:
- Have a search-friendly username that is close to your brand or closest to your existing social handles.
- Choose the perfect size for your profile photo, which should look professional.
- Write a bio to help reflect your brand and turn the followers into traffic. It will give a way to social traffic on your sites.
#2. Keep a consistent content calendar
Work on crafting content that provides value and helps to build your audience. Be consistent in posting; for this, you can create a content calendar that helps keep up with regular content posting.
Use Instagram analytics and find the optimal time to post. Use that time to post daily so your followers can track what you are doing and get optimal engagement on your posts.
#3. Schedule Instagram posts in advance
You must schedule your Instagram posts in advance, like Stories, Carousels, Reels, and Posts, so that you remain organized and controlled.
Avoid the last-minute hassle by scheduling everything in advance. You must plan a month prior, start working on it, and then schedule. You can use various online content planners and tools to make scheduling easy and convenient.
#4. Post content that followers want to see
Understand your audience and post the content accordingly. Invest in an analytics tool that will help track what your audience likes about your content. Design the content strategy by analyzing the variables and also analyze your competitors.
Take note of what your competitors are posting that drives engagement. Also, know about the trends and hop on them as soon as possible; don’t miss the opportunities to reach a wider audience.
#5. Find hashtags where your followers hang out
Do a little research while using hashtags, and make sure to use specific hashtags that are relevant to your customers and are trendy. Understand how well a particular hashtag is performing by using hashtag analytics.
Add a maximum of 4-5 hashtags that can bring you traffic and are related to your niche. The idea is to refrain from dumping the hashtags and research them well before using them.
#6. Use geo-tagging to attract local followers
Instagram has come up with the feature of Geo-tagging. It is the feature of making your content visible to the people or checking out where that photo or video was taken.
This feature will help increase followers as your post will pop up if they search for the location mentioned in the photo or video.
#7. Leverage short-form video content
Instagram Reels are fun and are algorithm's gold. Create 15-second reels related to your brand. Think of hooking up with your content for a few seconds.
You can use built-in tools like stickers, cuts, filters, music, voice-overs, and transitions to craft trendy, eye-catching Reels. You can always craft reels about tutorials, product highlights, or even quick behind-the-scenes peeks.
#8. Engage with customers, brand advocates, and influencers
Another best thing you can do to increase your Instagram follower count is to engage with your audience, whether your customers, brand advocates or influencers. Engage by replying to your followers and by republishing their posts.
It will help to keep your audience engaged and increase the chances of reaching a wider audience.
#9. Partner with influencers in your niche
The best way to grow your Instagram followers is by partnering with influencers. So start by finding the right influencers that are relevant to your niche. Look for creators whose values and beliefs align with your brand’s values.
Go for paid sponsorship, Product exchange for reviews, make them brand ambassadors or create collaborative content.
#10. Organize stories as highlights
Organize stories that have attained a massive response, and set them in your highlights. Also, you can organize them by theme, topic, or events, making it easy for your audience to find your stories.
Make your highlights well so that they showcase the best of your brand. It will help you to get quick leads for your brand.
#11. Cross-promote on other social media platforms
Cross-promoting is one of the significant ways to gain new Instagram followers. So be bold in promoting your Instagram handles everywhere.
Here is what you can do to cross-promote your Instagram account:
- You must add social media icons to your website and marketing emails so people can find your business and help connect with your customers.
- Re-share the content of Instagram on different social media platforms
- Have a dedicated Instagram feed on your home pages or product pages.
#12. Make meaningful conversations with your audience
Conversations have the power to attract anyone. Thus, when you initiate meaningful conversations with your audience, you will see the magic of communication. The little initiatives can make someone your long-term customer.
You can initiate the conversation by organizing a question-answer round or, by replying to the comments of your followers or respond to the questions of your followers.
#13. Create your own filters
If you are trying to promote your new products, create your own filters, stickers, or badges to help you reach more audience. Use these stickers and badges on highly shareable posts to reach the audiences, and your users will promote your page.
You can learn to create your own filters from various tools and use them to your best advantage.
#14. Edit photos and posts
Though Instagram brings basic editing features, sometimes these features must be more adequate. You can use photo editing tools to create visually great images. Posting edited photos and videos can increase your following in a significant way.
You can choose an appealing theme for your Instagram pictures and also maintain consistency in those pictures. Add a touch of aesthetic to your photos to make them more shareable.
#15. Go live on Instagram
Make time for your audience and sometimes host live sessions to interact with your audience directly. Live sessions help in creating real-time engagement and build a sense of community.
Also, you can share the live streams so that it helps your followers to catch up with the content they missed.
#16. Connect your Instagram followers through posts
Work on crafting content that brings happiness and provides some value to them. You can create inspirational content, humorous content, storytelling posts, Behind-the-scenes photos and videos, and posts that bring social awareness to society.
Also, ensuring that your content aligns with the brand's voice and values is the most important thing to consider.
#17. Use of social media management tools
If you are really into using Instagram to increase your followers, use social media management tools to make your work effortless.
You can use the best scheduling tool to schedule your content and post consistently without the extra work of logging. Also, use a content calendar to make your work organized and sorted.
#18. Instagram advertising
To promote your Instagram and provoke people to follow you, you can use promotions and ads on Instagram. These ads are relevant in selling your products and effectively make your account known to a broader audience.
You can seamlessly learn a step-by-step Guide to understand Instagram Domination for effective advertising on Instagram.
#19. Apply for a verification badge
A verified badge always attracts more followers to your account as it acts as social proof of the profile's authenticity.
A verification tick serves as an indicator that your content is worth engaging with. Thus, whenever another user comes to your profile and sees the blue dot called a badge will get attracted towards the account due to its authentication.
#20. Avoid fake Instagram followers
There is a vast difference between legitimate and fake followers. So, for the sake of quick growth, avoid getting tempted to buy Instagram followers. Buying followers from an unreliable platform can confuse your potential followers.
Concentrate on bringing real people to your account, as they can share, like, and comment on your posts. These real followers are authentic, powerful, and long-lasting, bringing many benefits to your Instagram account.
How to make the most of your current Instagram followers?
Once you have a strong foundation of Instagram followers, it is essential to make strategies to engage with them, retain them, and grow organically. Thus, incorporate the following practices to make the most of your Instagram followers.
#1. Work on Engaging
Initially, you must follow back your followers. It is the most natural way to draw attention to your Instagram account. Secondly, you can like the posts that they have shared of yours.
You can celebrate your followers by responding and pinning their comments. Also, you can repost their posts. It will create genuine connections and will increase their engagement too.
#2. Offer consistent value
Make your followers feel proud of following you. Give them valuable content that they appreciate and share further. Offer them consistent value by posting and scheduling your content.
Also, bring them something new and trendy so that they are engaged with your content throughout, to grab their attention and enhance your post's visibility.
#3. Show the real you
Followers always love to know about the real side of you. You can create what you eat daily, your skincare routine, or any videos in your life.
Showing the real side will make them feel more connected to you. Thus, their engagement will increase eventually helping you grow and gain more followers.
#4. Hop on trends
Elevate your content by following the latest trends and challenges. These trends have the power to hook the audience and bring maximum amount of engagement to you.
Also, challenge and ask them to tag you once they complete the challenge. It will enhance your Instagram account's reach, and you will make the most of your followers.
#5. Use Analytics
It is always essential to use Instagram data analytics to know what your audience likes and how they react to a particular content.
Analyzing the data helps to design various strategies that can work effectively for the growth of your Instagram followers.
Latest Instagram Marketing Trends to Attract Followers in 2024
Utilize Instagram features and create the best marketing strategy to gain followers on Instagram. Consider following the influential Instagram marketing trends in 2024 to bring new followers to your Instagram account. Here you go!
#1. Instagram stories
This feature of Instagram lets you share engaging content that lasts 24 hours. It is an excellent feature to showcase behind-the-scenes, promoting limited-time offers or conducting live interactions. Instagram stories are the best way to attract followers.
#2. Influencer marketing
Another way to attract new followers is by collaborating with influencers to promote your product or service. These influencers have a wider audience reach and thus will provide visibility and credibility to your brand.
#3. Instagram Shopping
Attract new followers to your Instagram by transforming your Instagram into a retail platform and selling the products directly through the app. It will ease shoppers' browse with simple taps and continue shopping seamlessly.
#4. IG Reels
Instagram Reels are the major attraction to bring new followers these days; they are engaging and only need a little watch time. Reels are short video content that helps to express creativity and engage users with catchy videos.
#5. Use of AR Filters
Attract new followers by promoting your products in a fun and interactive way, and make the best use of Augmented Reality filters. They will surely amplify the way of engaging with potential followers.
Things To Consider While Growing Instagram Follower Count
Growing on Instagram needs your ample amount of dedication and consistent hard work. Here are a few things to keep in mind while growing Instagram follower count:
#1. Buy Instagram followers
If you want to buy Instagram followers, our guide on How to get 1K followers on Instagram in 5 minutes will help to search for a reputable source that brings real followers to your account.
#2. Overuse of hashtags
Sometimes, overusing hashtags can degrade your content; thus, use only relevant hashtags relatable to your niche and the content you post. Research well and then incorporate the hashtags in your content.
#3. Unoriginal content
Another thing to consider is refraining yourself from posting unoriginal content. If you use content that is owned by someone else can lead to copyright issues.
#4. Huge quantity content
Work on bringing the quality of content rather than the quantity of content. It is useless if you post 8-10 posts regularly, but they are of low content. Craft content of high quality that can engage your followers.
Conclusion
There is no sudden solution to make it happen. Your hard work, patience, determination, and dedication toward content creation will take you to heights. Use the above tips to increase followers and put them into action. And eventually, with consistency, you will be able to increase your followers.
The idea is to work on the elements you can control, like creating and promoting content. Craft content that is high in quality as, ultimately, your content is the game-changer. Also, understand data analytics insights, and you will surely build your brand effectively.
Have a happy Instagramming!
FAQs
#1. What are the most effective strategies to increase Instagram Followers?
The most effective strategies to increase Instagram followers are:
- Optimize your Instagram profile
- Make optimal use of hashtags
- Perform Data Analytics and learn
- Edit your photos well before posting
- Engage with your followers
- Work on collaborations
- Invest in Instagram advertising
- Go live often
- Understand your audience
- Use geo-tagging
#2. What are the common mistakes to avoid while increasing Instagram followers?
Some of the common mistakes to avoid while increasing Instagram followers are:
- Do not indulge yourself in buying fake followers
- Avoid overuse of hashtags
- Work on the quality of content rather than the quantity
- Bring content to your Instagram account
- Refrain from precisely copying the content from your admired Instagrammers.
#3. Is it safe to buy Instagram followers?
It is safe to buy Instagram followers, but you need to buy followers from a reputable service provider. A good provider always brings you real followers, which will be a bonus in the growth of your Instagram account.
#4. How can I attract the most valuable followers to my account?
It is easy to attract valuable followers to your IG account organically by practicing the following tips:
- A good understanding of your niche
- Creating content around your niche
- Interacting with followers
- Replying and responding to comments
- Conducting live sessions
#5. Can I quickly increase the number of followers?
Growing on any social media platform is not a matter of a few days. It needs your constant hard work, dedication, and determination.
When you are consistent with the best practices on Instagram, you will gradually see an increase in Instagram followers. Thus, you will attain a loyal base of followers within a stipulated time.
#6. How do I know if my followers are engaged or not?
Here are a few signs that show that your followers are engaged:
- Likes on your posts
- Comments on your posts
- Number of shares on your posts
- Number of followers attending your live sessions
- Forming of community
- Followers sending you a direct message
#7. How do Instagram ads help in increasing IG followers?
Instagram ads are the best way to promote your Instagram account. These ads help you to reach a wider audience. The right ad for your Instagram account can help captivate the audience, drive leads, and increase IG followers.
#8. What type of IG followers are the best?
Organic followers are the best type of IG followers. They are real followers following your account naturally by loving your content.
Organic followers take active participation by commenting and sharing your posts. They help derive more organic traffic to your account and stay loyal.
#9. How can I monitor the number of Instagram followers?
You can use Instagram analytics to monitor the number of Instagram followers on your account and their engagement too.
#10. Can I earn money by having more Instagram followers?
Yes, you can earn money by having more followers. Having more followers will make you a social media influencer. Thus, you will get many brand collaborations, sponsored content, shoutouts, and influencer campaigns, bringing you enough money and fame.