Behind Facebook, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, Instagram is the fourth app with the most users in the world. According to figures from Statista, the number of active users amounts to more than 1 billion per month, so Instagram has become a must-have for every brand in terms of marketing.
All brands want to position themselves on Instagram, and everyone who creates a personal brand wants to become the next influencer in their niche. However, to make this possible, you must first know how to gain followers on Instagram, because the number of Instagram followers determines how many people can see your content, and this affects the interactions and results you hope to obtain.
In addition, the followers work as a kind of social proof so that more people follow you when they see that others have already decided to do so. So it’s important to know how to get more followers on Instagram.
How to Get Followers on Instagram
The methods are very varied, they can range from the various types of alliances with other brands, to “hacking” the Instagram algorithm, creating and applying a relevant content strategy or paying for advertising in various ways.
As you can see, almost all tips to get more followers on Instagram require you to give something in return. In most cases, adding value is key, although it is also possible to “take shortcuts” to grow the number of followers.
If you are wondering how to gain more followers on Instagram, here is the most complete list of strategies to achieve it:
- Create organic content on Instagram
Success comes with preparation, rarely improvisation. If you’re wondering how to get followers on Instagram, this is the most organic option of all: create your own organic content.
What does it mean to be organic? Well, most of those followers will really follow you for what you share, because they are interested in your content, no matter it’s photo or video. But right now it’s an age of videos, videos can attract more attention, so it’s important that you know how to make a good video content. Then what you need is a suitable video editing tool, our recommendation is FilmoraGo for iPhone. This iOS video editor has all basic video editing features, like split, trim, copy, add text/music and PIP, and it also has some professional functions called AR Camera and Double Take, so great for making creative tutorial videos.
- Become a master of #Hashtags
This point will be simpler if you know your audience and recognize the value of your brand, because you will know which are the keywords that you can use in the form of hashtags.
Instagram allows you to add up to 30 hashtags to each post, but many brands use much less of that in each post to avoid visually hindering those who read the most valuable content.
Tags are viewed in two ways, chronologically or by popularity. The most popular content that uses the tag will be displayed first in the order of popularity. The chronological order allows you to be in the first positions for a certain time, until new publications are made, on some labels it will be for days, on others only for seconds. That is why it is significant to try to gain likes and use labels with few results in the first places for a longer time in the chronological order.
Notably, some Instagram experts argue that likes and comments are no longer the only important thing for their algorithm. And at some point, hashtags like #likeforlike and #followme were really effective, but today with them, you will only attract bots or accounts that will follow only to use the unfollow button in no time.
- Create an attractive profile
According to data from Hootsuite, two-thirds of visits to business profiles on Instagram come from accounts that follow them. That means a good profile has a better chance of getting them to press the “Follow” button.
In an Instagram profile there are four relevant elements that will help you figure out how to get followers on Instagram:
- Username: some know him as “the @”, user or username;
- Name: the name that is shown to others;
- Profile picture: your image before everyone;
- Biography: a space for a description
- Advertise on Instagram
Before it was much simpler to get followers on Instagram, you only needed to create content of value that was pleasant to look at and the followers came alone, but today the competition is fierce.
Some genuinely believe that the algorithm has been designed so that paying is the only way that posts from new brands and content creators are displayed. We can’t say if that’s true or not, but what we do know is that advertising on Instagram is effective. Create stories, IGTV, reels, because now is the age of videos, but videos can convey more content and emotions, then we have to mention FilmoraGo for iPhone again as a good tool for video creation.
You can do it in several ways though:
- Ads in Stories,
- Ads with a photo,
- Ads with a video,
- Ads with a sequence,
- Collection ads.
- Establish collaborations with influencers
Many brands that wondered how to gain more followers on Instagram, found their best allies in the so-called influencers.
The definition of “influencer” could change depending on who gives it, especially since it is more than a profession or career, it is a title that is given to certain people who stand out in the digital environment. But they have something in common: they are people who have developed great authority in their niche and can influence the decisions of others.
By engaging with influencers, you will reach new audiences (mainly their followers) and you will also give a friendly face to your business brand or add value to your personal brand. Brands have become humanized because people prefer to deal with other people when doing business and making decisions, so collaborating with influencers is an effective strategy.
All in all, no matter what method you use to develop your Instagram account, the most essential thing is persistence. Only by continuously outputting good content can you retain old followers and attract new followers. Thanks a lot for reading!