How to Grow Your Following ORGANICALLY
Is it even possible to ORGANICALLY increase your Instagram followers anymore?
While Insta is definitely one of the best places to show your brand visually and connect with your audience, it’s no longer solely a social network. With the launch of Instagram Ads, IGTV and Business Accounts, Instagram has transformed into a playing field for influencers, marketers and promotions for businesses.
Today, people use Instagram not only to connect with their friends but also to connect with their favorite brands and shop online. Studies have found that the majority of consumers use Instagram to search for a brand and 80 percent of them follow at least one brand on Instagram.
Creating an organic Instagram account with genuine followers takes patience, consistency, and time. If you’re ready to organically increase your Instagram following, let’s dive in!
5 Steps to Organically Increasing Your Followers:
Create Engaging Content
Instagram users LOVE to share and comment on posts that they are engaged in. In order to catch your audience’s attention, the first rule is to create content that is ENGAGING. The more engaging your content is, the more likely people are to share it with their followers.
Tips on creating engaging content and boosting your engagement rate on Instagram:
Upload more video content - Video posts are proven to get 38% more engagement than photo posts.
Be clear on which audience you are trying to engage with and reach, and release content based on that.
Use proper hashtags - Check out Bonne Media’s recent blog on Hashtags 101!
Get your team and community to comment on your posts! This shows that you are involved and really truly interested in what you are putting out there. Do your best to like all comments and reply when appropriate - occasionally reply quick, this catches your followers pleasantly off guard. Maintain a tone of voice that is polite and kind, it results in a very pleasant community of followers.
2. Collect a List of Related Accounts Within Your Niche
Becoming familiar with other accounts within your niche is very important. Compile a list of all competitors and major accounts on Instagram within your niche, this will help you become familiar with them and show you others that speak to the same audience as you.
Use your competitors accounts to grow your following. Check and see how often they post? Which posts are getting the most likes? How often do they post? These are things to ask yourself when checking through other accounts.
If you want to GROW your following and expansion on Instagram, this is one of the most important aspects of what you can do. With a clear niche, you are more likely to drive the engagement that people want to see to choose you as a supporter.
3. Post Multiple Times a Day
Even with a clear cultivated list of hashtags, no Instagram account will gain a following unless you post a consistent amount of content.
Scheduling posts for entire weeks ahead of time allows you to ensure that you will remain consistent and helps you get the work done all at once. If you get into a good habit of doing this, you will have the beginnings of a good follower base.
Hot tip: Set up different time slots for posting and aim to post 1 feed post 5 times a week, with 3-5 story screens a day. This regularity will ensure you stay on users’ radars. If someone doesn’t follow you the first time they see a post from you, they might see the fourth or fifth.
4. Post What Your Followers Want - Not Just Ads
Let’s be real - we all know how annoying it is when an Instagram profile posts nothing but sponsored content or advertising. No one wants to see constant ads, so you should therefore avoid doing this with your store’s account.
You want to create a profile that reliably provides the type of content your niche WANTS to see. In doing so, when you post the occasional ad or when you do post your products, your audience won’t mind because you’d already built up a good relationship. This is why it is so important to CONNECT with your niche!
If you aren’t sure what your audience actually likes, be sure to do some serious research. Once you have a good grasp on the type of things your community likes, be sure to post a lot of that content with just a couple of ads mixed in between. You don’t want to overwhelm your audience.
5. Repeat and Be CONSISTENT
If you truly want to expand your following organically, and really get your name and brand out there in the Instagram world, be CONSISTENT. By following these steps and maintaining a routine, your audience is bound to grow. This is all very achievable, stay relatable, stay consistent, all while building a true and engaged audience!
If you are looking for assistance in building an AUTHENTIC and engaged audience that’s more likely to connect with your brand, fill out our contact form! We would love to help.
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Bonne Media