As a brand, getting started on Instagram can be challenging. What should you do first? Increase your Instagram followers quickly.
However, how?
The days of buying followers or employing bots are over. These tricks may temporarily increase your follower count, but they will do you no favors in the long run.
That is because your brand’s most valuable Instagram followers are genuine individuals who care about and engage with your brand. While a fabricated follower count may boost your ego, it will not benefit your Instagram strategy.
Table of Contents
How to increase your Instagram followers without spending a dime
Develop a strategic Instagram marketing plan
To utilize any social media platform effectively, you must have a well-defined strategy.
Increasing your Instagram followers is an excellent place to start. However, followers alone will not guarantee your Instagram account’s success. Increasing your following should be a part of a larger strategy that connects your business strategy and social marketing objectives.
Consider why you want to increase your Instagram followers. What are your objectives? Perhaps you’d like to.
Increase brand awareness, boost product sales, and drive more traffic to your website.
Maintaining a consistent Instagram presence requires maintaining a laser-like focus on these business-related objectives.
Identify your intended audience
Consider the following questions about the audience you’re attempting to reach:
What are their ages?
Where do they make their home?
How do they earn a living?
When do they use Instagram, and how do they use it?
What are their points of contention and obstacles?
By answering these questions, you can create the type of Instagram content that will attract the people on your Instagram account who are most likely to follow you. Additionally, it will make you focused on the needs of your target audience, allowing you to consistently deliver the type of content that will entice them to stick around for the long haul.
Develop a unified brand narrative and aesthetic
Perhaps you want to pique interest by demonstrating how your product is made. Or, to humanize your brand, share an employee’s perspective.
Whatever goal you’re pursuing, it’s critical to maintain a consistent brand personality and appearance.
Your posts should be instantly recognizable. Consider your Instagram grid as a single unit. You can always use your Instagram Stories to share content that does not quite fit your main feed’s aesthetic.
Utilize keywords to increase your visibility in search results
Before you can gain followers on Instagram, you must first be discovered. There is a shortage of searchable text on Instagram. Indeed, only two fields contribute to Instagram’s search results: name and username.
Your username is also referred to as your Instagram handle. It’s a good idea to keep it consistent with the handle you use on other social media platforms, as this makes you more discoverable. Utilize your brand’s name or a variant thereof that people are likely to use when searching for your brand.
Your name may contain up to 30 characters. While keyword stuffing is never a good idea, including your most relevant keyword in the name field can help improve discoverability via search.
Utilize relevant hashtags to attract new followers
We just stated that your Instagram posts’ text is not searchable. However, hashtags appear in Instagram search results. That means that strategically using hashtags can be an effective way to gain free Instagram followers.
By including relevant hashtags, you can aid users in finding your content when they conduct a search or click on a hashtag from another relevant post. Additionally, Instagram users can follow hashtags,
Avoid gimmick hashtags like #likeforlike, #tagsforlikes, or #followme. These may temporarily increase your follower count. However, they will almost certainly be bots or individuals only interested in being followed back. And this will do nothing to assist you in developing a meaningful, engaged audience on Instagram.
Optimize the bio and profile on Instagram
Non-followers account for two-thirds of Instagram business profile visits. Each of those new visitors represents an opportunity to gain free Instagram followers—but only if your bio and profile persuade them to click the follow button. They will not if your profile is unclear, insufficient, or unattractive.
Along with the previously mentioned name and username fields, your profile contains a link to your website (which is clickable) and a bio.
Create a stunning Instagram grid
This may seem self-evident, but it’s critical when considering how to grow your Instagram following. Each post on your Instagram grid should be visually appealing and of high quality.
When a new user visits your profile on Instagram, the content should pique their interest and entice them to explore further. That desire for more is what motivates a new visitor to click Follow.
Compose enticing, extended captions
While Instagram is primarily a visual platform, writing compelling Instagram captions plays a significant role in increasing your reach and engagement. Additionally, as previously stated, reach and engagement are critical components of attracting free Instagram followers.
The following are some critical strategies to keep in mind:
Put the most important words first: If a caption exceeds 125 characters, users will be prompted to tap “more” to view the entire thing. Make the most of those initial words to motivate that additional tap.
Pose a query: This enables your audience to leave a comment quickly. This engagement will assist in increasing the visibility of your account.
Consider emoji: Emoji can assist in capturing the reader’s attention and are suitable for the majority of accounts on this visual social network.
Experiment with various caption lengths: Instagram now supports long-form captions of up to 2,200 characters, allowing you to experiment with more in-depth storytelling if the content warrants it. Additionally, extremely brief captions can be extremely effective when the visuals speak for themselves. However, our research indicates that extended captions are more likely to boost engagement.
Pin your most insightful comments
One of Instagram’s lesser-known features is the ability to pin up to three comments on a single post.
There are many ways to incorporate this new feature into your strategy for increasing your Instagram followers.
One possibility is to use pinned comments to extend your caption beyond the 2,200-character limit by continuing the story in words. This enables you to engage in more detailed and in-depth storytelling, which may be appropriate in certain instances.
Another option is to pin your favorite user comments, particularly if they generate a lot of engagement.
Whichever way you choose to use this new feature, it has the potential to assist you in managing the conversation surrounding your posts, thereby increasing opportunities for engagement and connection.
Spread the word about your Instagram account on other social media platforms.
The most critical way to earn free Instagram followers is to make it simple for people to find you. Your Instagram profile should be simple to find. If you already have a following on another social media platform, inform your followers about your Instagram account.
Kindly share a link to your Instagram profile and encourage your current social media followers to check it out. (For example, a coupon code, event, or contest is only available on Instagram.).