The latest lifestyle, fashion and travel trends
With 1 billion monthly users worldwide, Instagram is one of the biggest social networks alongside Youtube and Facebook.
Brands, content creators, publications and individual users are all trying to make their voices heard on the platform – and at times, it can feel oversaturated.
Yet there are ways to stand out in the sea of users and increase your Instagram numbers – without buying followers.
1. Quality content
One of the most important (and obvious) ways to increase followers on Instagram is to keep the content you post at a high quality. Planning out a feed that looks cohesive, posting high resolution images and thinking carefully about your captions are all useful ways to make your account look and feel as attractive as possible to potential followers.
It’s a better tactic to aim for quality rather than quantity – it’s not always the best practice to post multiple times a day if the quality of post isn’t there.
2. Engaging with your community
If users are engaging with you on your account, it’s not only good manners to respond to them, but will also get you more noticed.
Like and comment on posts that resonate with you or your brand, or with accounts associated with your own. The more you engage, the more you’ll be seen across the entire platform, and new followers will start to flock. Avoid over-commenting and spamming though; Instagram will notice this and doesn’t take kindly to it.
3. Post regular stories
The purple ring around your profile picture that you get from a recently posted story tells potential followers one thing; you’re active. It will also make your profile appear at the top of your existing followers’ feeds, making sure your profile stays relevant to them. Stories are a good way to post unfiltered and more creative content than what’s on your Instagram feed, and when a brand or user is posting regularly, followers can then experience both sides of their content output.
4. Use tags all the time
If you tag other users within the image itself as well as the caption, they will be almost guaranteed to see it – and then engage with it. This in turn will make it more likely to be seen by their own followers; the same applies to Instagram stories. Make sure your posts are as interlinked as possible by tagging other accounts, hashtags and locations so that people can find them easily.
5. Pay attention to your analytics
If you have a business profile, click on your analytics and have a scroll to see what’s doing well, and the demographics of who’s following you and what time they’re active on Instagram. Not only will this help you cater to your existing followers, but it will let you know the kind of accounts that you’ll be associated with on the platform. If, for example, you are a fashion brand with a following of mainly 18-24 year olds, Instagram will group you with similar accounts, and you’ll be more likely to be found by their followers. You can tailor your content to appeal to potential followers (or perhaps move away from them).
