Instagram is one of the biggest and most followed social media platforms in the world.
While many businesses focus solely on Facebook and LinkedIn, Instagram has proven to be one of the hidden keys to online social media success. If you have created your own Instagram and started posting photos, you’re off to a good start, but that is only half of the battle. You need to start gaining more followers. If you want to know my best tips for gaining more followers, here is my advice on how to start securing even more Instagram followers.
1. Captions need to captivate and motivate.
The right captions can go a long way, so you need to make sure that you are using them to your advantage. Decide if your niche or subject matter requires a long or a short storied caption, then be consistent with your messages moving forward.
When writing a caption, it needs to do four things: captivate, motivate, inspire and give the user an experience to live through your photo or video. Posting motivational content on social media may sound cliche, but it drives massive engagement and if you aren’t motivating your followers every day, they will go to another account that does.
Some people use short clever captions coupled with supporting hashtags to further their caption style, while others may take a longer approach their captions. Ultimately, consistency should be your focus.
2. Don't over-post
Consistency is everything when posting on Instagram. Most people make the mistake of not posting often enough. However, there are some accounts that make the mistake of over-posting far too much which can turn people off. It’s important that you get your frequency correct and then keep it consistent. Above I mentioned that you need to be posting one to two posts per day when you are first starting. This seems to be the optimal number, so if you go too far over this, you will run the risk of overwhelming people. Starting with two per day and spacing them out with one in the morning and one at night is a good strategy.
As your account starts to grow and you continue to gain more followers try adding in more posts, such as one more afternoon post per day. Here is a great formula that will help you determine how many posts you should be creating per day:
1-1000 followers, one post a day.
1,000-10,000, one to two posts a day.
10,000-50,000, two to three posts a day.
100,000-500,000, three to five posts a day.
500,000 to 1 million, five to eight posts a day.
Of course, these can be a mixture of posts and Instagram stories.
3. Use hashtags
Hashtags are undoubtedly another important part about posting on Instagram, but it is important that you know how to use hashtags and that you use the right hashtags with your posts. Be strategic about which hashtags you use. Studies and statistics prove that using three to five hashtags is optimal on the social media platform.
Your hashtags need to be descriptive and they need to actually represent the photo or video (don’t add irrelevant hashtags just to reach more people).
Contrary to what many think, using hashtags that already have millions of posts already will reduce your chances of your photo being viewed and thus attracting fewer users. If you use more descriptive two-word hashtags that have fewer posts, it will help you get your photo views by people who are actually searching for specific hashtags.
I recommend using three to five hashtags in each caption.
4. Engage with users
Creating an Instagram account and just posting pictures and videos isn’t enough. You need to actually engage with your followers by asking questions in your captions and then responding to their answers. This helps you create more personal relationships with your followers and a stronger group of supporters. The more people you can actively involve and encourage to comment on your photos will increase the attractiveness for others who want to contribute or comment on your photos as well.
If you really want to start getting more followers, engage on other people’s accounts who have followers that you want to attract to your page. Leaving useful comments on other account posts will help others get interested in what you have to saw and encourage them to visit your account and ultimately follow you if they like your content.
The key is to ask your followers questions like where they are from or what they like or don’t like about your content. Add positive comments to other people’s accounts to entice their followers to check you out.
5. Influencers
Although people don't like to admit it, when it comes to navigating the Instagram world, it is important to remember that influencers play a big role in who people follow. Consider paying influencers if you want to gain more followers and exposure. Find the best-priced accounts that are large and have the type of users you want on your account. Pay bigger accounts to promote you by posting your photos or videos and a simple caption to check out your account and what you provide.
Almost any large Instagram account will list a contact email for advertising and promotions.
If you need support with your Instagram channel then get in touch with me for a chat today!