Whether you’ve just created an Instagram profile or have had one for several years, gaining real followers can be hard. You can’t rely on that one post or video to go viral and cause a sudden influx of followers for your business. While that sounds nice, it only happens a small fraction of the time.
The hard truth is that growing your Instagram following takes a lot of time and effort. This may be frustrating, but it doesn’t have to be. There are several tips and tricks you can take to help improve your business’ following over time. After all, buying followers looks fake and will be extremely obvious. Here are just three steps your business can take to start gaining real followers on Instagram.
1. Use & promote creative hashtags
Using some generic hashtags that pertain to your industry isn’t a terrible idea. In fact, it can help garner attention and followers. But you want some of your hashtags to be unique while they, again, pertain to your industry. These hashtags should help tell the story of your business and what you do so that someone who’s unfamiliar with you can understand you with ease. Plus, it helps make your business interesting and fun, depending on the tone you wish to take.
2. Utilize influencer marketing to your advantage
To achieve this, you’ll need to do some research on the Instagram influencers in your industry. Creating a list in a spreadsheet is a great way to keep it organized so that you don’t miss out on any influencers you should be following. Once that’s done, turn on post notifications you all of them so you can always stay up to date on their posts. Whenever an influencer you’re following uploads a post, like and comment as soon as possible. This will make it more likely for the influencer to interact with you, and that could possibly lead to a collaboration in the future.
3. Make your Instagram feed stand out!
You may think that fitting in is the way to go on Instagram. But that’s arguably one of, if not the biggest mistake your business could make. Standing out is so important because you want to show potential followers. Maintain a consistent colour scheme that fits your brand, upload various kinds of posts (memes, photos that inspire your business, etc.), and dabble in video content, too. The main point is to keep your Instagram feed interesting while also standing out in your own way.
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As previously mentioned, growing your business’ Instagram following takes plenty of time and effort. Sometimes it may even feel as though it’s not worth it. But if you work hard and keep at it, you’ll slowly but surely see an increase in followers on your business’ Instagram profile.
xo,
Elizabeth
Elizabeth Sarah Larkin 