Building a big social media following is crucial for your business in this era of the internet and mobile devices. Engaged followers can lead more people to your website, increase your sales, or help in growing your overall brand reach. When it comes to social media, the best social network for businesses today by far is Instagram.
Why Instagram, you ask?
Well, compared with all other social media, studies show that Instagram users show the highest engagement. Now that we made that clear, you must be wondering, if that is so, how can you grow your Instagram following? Fear not, in this post we have got you covered.
Here Are 5 Proven Techniques You Can Use To Grow Your Instagram Following
1. Optimize your profile
2. Use the right hashtags
3. Post a lot and at the right times
4. Don’t slack on your post quality
5. Utilize your competition
Now, let’s look at these five items in detail, one at a time:
Optimize Your Profile
In order to get people to follow your profile, your profile must look appealing to them. Let’s go over how can we make that happen. First of all, make sure your profile is PUBLIC, not PRIVATE. You can change this in Options -> Public/Private switch. This gets more people to see your posts because they can appear on the Discover page.
Next, ask yourself if your username is recognizable. If you can’t make your username to be the name of your business, at least use your business name in the first half of your username. This makes finding your page in searches way easier.
Also, make sure that you add your full business name in Options -> Name. Make sure that your profile picture shows your brand logo. This will also help people recognize your page in searches.
And finally, make sure that your bio is filled with creative and informative info about you and your business.
Use The Right Hashtags
Your goal is to broaden your audience, right? Well, using proper hashtags is probably the quickest way to do so. Using popular hashtags makes your posts appear in the Discover page, as well as in people’s searches.
Some of the most popular hashtags include #love, #instagood, #photooftheday, #beautiful, and #tbt, among many many others.
Post A Lot And At The Right Time
A very important aspect of posting on Instagram is knowing how much to post per day, as well as when to post your pictures. Studies show that, in order to promote your business, you should post a maximum of 3 pictures per day, more than that would be considered spam.
The timing of your pictures is also very important. If you post at an hour when there are not many users around, you will not reach as many people as you would want. If you have not made your Instagram profile into a business profile, you should, as it will show you at what time are your followers most active.
There are also many online tools which can help you follow your statistics.
Do Not Slack On Your Post Quality
Quality posts attract more people, we all know that. So stop slacking and make sure to put more effort into making your posts as good as they can be. Learn a thing or two about photography, learn to apply the right filters, anything that can make your posts look better.
Utilize Your Competition
And finally, see how you can utilize your competition to bring more people to your page. First of all, never forget that people who follow your competition are in need of the same product/service that you provide. So why should you not try to get your competitor’s followers to follow you, too?
Make sure that you are in good terms with your competitors. Collaborated posts can lead to increase in both of your followers. Also, you can start following their followers, or simply liking their posts.
Grow Your Instagram Following – Conclusion
Today, you learned 5 proven techniques you can use to grow your Instagram audience. We talked about optimizing our profile, using the proper hashtags, when you should post, why you should increase the quality of your posts, as well as how to utilize your competitors in order to gain more followers. We hope that you found this article useful! Thank you for reading!