Use these 10 methods to increase your Instagram followers and expand your target market.

Use these 10 methods to increase your Instagram followers and expand your target market. 

In order to generate profitable traffic for landing pages, increase conversions, and cultivate an engaged audience, Instagram has emerged as a key component of many brands' social media strategies.

It might be time to discover how to hone your techniques for gaining actual, organic followers on Instagram if your Instagram presence isn't nearly as strong as you'd want. You have more chances to interact with users and provide them with distinctive experiences as your audience grows.

The organic distinction is crucial since some firms opt for the quick fix when attempting to increase their Instagram following. There are numerous sites that charge for likes and followers, but they are never worthwhile because the Instagram algorithm routinely detects them.

Not to add, the size of your Instagram following is ultimately meaningless if it does not reflect an active fan base that supports your company by making purchases, visiting your landing sites, and sharing your content with their friends and followers. With this advice on increasing your Instagram following, you can begin to establish your presence in the appropriate manner.

10 techniques to get more Instagram followers

1. Improve your Instagram profile

One of the most crucial stages is to have your account well-optimized before you start researching how to increase your Instagram following. Consider the Instagram bio for your company as the "homepage" of your profile.

How would users know the account belongs to your brand without a bio, image captions, a suitable username, or a profile picture? Although it may seem apparent, the pillars of your brand identification on Instagram are your bio and image. Optimizing your account is crucial since the link in your bio is the only place you can direct Instagram users to your website.

Try marketing or product pages that are related to particular keywords, hashtags, or campaigns on your Instagram account if you're unsure where to connect. It's acceptable to link to your homepage, but why not provide consumers with a seamless transition from your bio to a website? Due to this, IG link landing pages and posts with "link in bio" have become increasingly popular. These sites host pertinent links to the most recent content that has been discussed on a brand's feed.

Keep your username as close to your genuine brand name as feasible to make it as search-friendly as possible. If your company name is lengthy, abbreviate it to something your target market would understand. Keep your username free of digits or other special characters, and if at all feasible, keep it consistent with any social network accounts you currently have. 

Making and implementing an Instagram marketing strategy is the greatest method to enhance your account. To get going, download our free guide.

2. Remain committed to your content calendar

Posting content at haphazard, erratic times is the worst thing you can do while trying to gain Instagram followers. If you're fortunate enough to get followers early on, you don't want to lose them by doing something that would make them regret doing so.

Adhere to a regular publishing schedule to combat this. Brands should often limit their posting to a few times per day to prevent spam, but regardless of your cadence, be consistent. Since there are 200 million daily Instagram users, you may consider sharing a few times throughout the day to reach a larger audience.

In reality, our own analysis of the ideal moments to post on Instagram identifies the most advantageous moments.

In fact, our own research on the most effective times to post on Instagram identifies the ideal times to publish for a variety of sectors. Alternatively, you may read below about our study on the most effective hours for all topic areas:

Maintaining a routine can help you give your followers a consistent experience and keep them informed about your business. But if you're concerned about remembering to publish during these various times of the day, Sprout's scheduling and optimal times features have you covered. Read on for more information.

3. Plan ahead to publish on Instagram

Posting at the right times can still increase your posts' visibility by boosting their overall interaction, even though the Instagram algorithm has evolved to show users more stuff they like.

There are many things your brand can do to increase visibility, and one of them is scheduling Instagram content now that Sprout Social is available. With the aid of our most recent tools, we can assist your brand in easily scheduling Stories, Carousels, and Feed articles.

Your team may more effectively see campaigns and timetables by arranging content in advance. Building out material in advance is always a good idea, and using our Instagram scheduling tools, you can simultaneously target your audience and keep up a steady stream of content.

Use Sprout's proprietary Viral Post function as an alternative and let us do the work for you. Viral Post uses computational analysis of your own account's interaction history to determine the best times for you to post.

4. Encourage brand supporters and partners to share your content

Knowing the worth of your audience is crucial while learning how to increase your Instagram following. The more followers you gain naturally, the more interested clients and buyers you will attract.

Being visible and getting in front of clients is the best approach to attract them to follow you. Being active on both your own and other Instagram accounts is essential. To get your brand in the feeds of consumers, consider sponsoring user-generated content. To spread the word about your brand to more people, you can also run Instagram contests. These kinds of marketing increase social proof by demonstrating that your audience care enough about you to share your content or produce original UGC.

Get your name in front of a bigger audience as an alternative. To share your material with their audience, try collaborating with larger Instagram accounts in your sector, such as well-known influencers in your field.

Just be careful to offer something worthwhile. Making a strong sales pitch is the last thing you want to do. To increase your Instagram audience, look for marketing partnerships and co-marketing strategies with other companies.

5. Be wary of phony Instagram followers

The difference between an Instagram account with false followers and one with real followers is significant. Even though buying Instagram followers could appear alluring, the negative effects outweigh the advantages of organic follower development.

Usually, fake Instagram followers:

The credibility of the account will be lowered if consumers visit an inactive Instagram feed with tens of thousands of followers. People shouldn't be duped into following you. Develop enduring relationships based on trust to increase participation.

Have no ROI: Although paying followers can appear more convenient, neither your acquired bot nor your unmanned new followers will be making any purchases. People follow brands on Instagram because they enjoy the content you share or your business in general. These customers actually spend money and add financial value to your company.

Little to no buzz will be generated if you have 10,000 false followers. How many of them will share, comment, and enjoy your content? The likelihood is that Instagram will deactivate these bots or false accounts, which will make your posts appear to be engagement graveyards.

Your Instagram posts have the potential to be shared, liked, commented on, and engaged with by actual people. Additionally, these users appreciate responses from the other side.

For instance, Lush Cosmetics takes the time to address a variety of product queries, which encourages users to return, follow, or perhaps share with others. A group of inactive followers will never be as valuable as these conversations.

6. Make Instagram visible everywhere

If you don't advertise your Instagram, how will people find an account? Make sure your website and other social media platforms have your Instagram account displayed.

One of the best methods to be noticed is to raise visibility and awareness. Give them your location if you want to gain more Instagram followers. To encourage social sharing across all of your networks and to let people know where to reach you on Instagram, you may add social media buttons to your website and blog.

Cross-promotion across all of your social media platforms is a wonderful concept as well. Twitter is frequently used by the Museum of Modern Art to promote its Instagram account. You may effortlessly direct folks to your Instagram by utilizing your other social networks.

Make sure, though, that you're not merely requesting a follow. Instead, focus on promoting original material on Instagram to give users a reason to follow you there. Fortunately, you have a fantastic opportunity to increase your following through original content thanks to Instagram's addition of a tonne of new video capabilities including Stories, IGTV, and Reels.

Post stuff that your audience wants.

It's a good idea to discover what content your followers are interested in, even though this is easier said than done. On Instagram, you'll see right away that some material performs better than others. Because of this, testing is crucial.

The smallest element, whether it be filters, captions, content kinds, or post times, can have a huge impact. So that you can share content that is well-liked, keep an eye out for new Instagram trends.

Your company should get Instagram analytics tools to advance your analysis. Tracking, comparing, and analyzing Instagram material across accounts will be simpler as a result.

Be assured in your content strategy by researching various filters, captions, and other factors to see what engages your audience the most. If you're not sure where to begin, consider researching your rivals.

While you shouldn't imitate your rivals verbatim, it's a good idea to observe what they're doing or posting that generates interest. Even a little competitive research can make a big difference. To find out what's working for other brands in your sector, use our Instagram Competitors report.

8. Start the conversation.

The conversation is one of the best strategies to promote your Instagram to users. Consumers desire to engage with visual content like photographs (68%) and videos (50%), followed by text postings (30%), according to the 2020 Sprout Social Index. Instagram is the ideal platform for reaching this group since it combines eye-catching photos with equally interesting captions.

People continue to use social media as a means of getting in touch with brands, whether it's for casual talk and questions, important customer service issues, or to express gratitude for their favorite brands and goods. Additionally, you must engage in conversation and support your brand on Instagram.

As many questions or comments as you can, try to answer them because it might help you gain a new customer or follower or strengthen your rapport with your audience. Our Index research also shows that 89% of consumers will make a purchase from a business after following them on social media, so it's critical to get the interest and adherence required to turn a profile visitor into a follower.

9. Look for hashtags that work

Using hashtags is one of the tried-and-true methods for growing your Instagram following. Hashtags have long been a vital discovery tool and a way for us to reach a wider audience on social media. You want to grow your community as a marketer by collecting followers, and hashtags help you do that.

Start by looking for hashtags that are not overused. This notion is supported by the fact that the hashtag #love has more than 184 million photographs associated with it, as noted by Social Media Examiner. It's challenging to draw attention to your Instagram content in a sea of millions of images and videos. 

You need to identify hashtags that your target market is likelier to check. These folks are more likely to follow your account if a pertinent connection is made. One method to organize postings around content that is really relevant to your business and campaigns is with custom, customized hashtags.

For instance, M&Ms does an excellent job of directing hashtags to an event in which they are taking part. The company raises awareness and more directly targets its audience where the spotlight music event takes place by using hashtags like #mmspotlight.

Using hashtags effectively on Instagram requires understanding how they work. Additionally, you may directly access hashtag performance and usage data with Sprout Social's hashtag analytics tools to determine which hashtags are most effective.

10. Be kind to your Instagram fans

Last but not least, you witness an increase in audience size when you make your Instagram followers pleased. Put the advice we've provided you for content planning and brainstorming into action in a way that feels true to your brand voice. Avoid coming across as desperate, opportunistic, or robotic.

For a lot of accounts, this entails throwing in posts that are genuinely intended to make followers smile and foster business partnerships. Don't forget to share stuff with your followers on your personal feed as if they were your friends. This could involve posting memes, motivational content, or simply reposting eye-catching images or artwork (with full credit, of course).