Instagram is a fun, visually exciting social media network where you can uniquely express yourself and build a community.
The platform also continues to be a valuable way to connect with your audience and boost your business. With over 1 billion active users found there each month, it is a gold mine of opportunities for you to grow your following.
Yet, a common dilemma involves deciding how to grow your Instagram followers organically.
Do you stick with reposting the content of others or spend time creating new and original content to share? How do recent changes to the algorithm affect you?
Whether your goal is to gain more Instagram followers or go all the way and become a dynamic Instagram influencer, you’ll have to dedicate the time and effort needed to purposefully position, create, and engage.
So, if you’re ready to begin growing your Instagram followers organically, then dive into the steps we discuss below.
Master Your Instagram Positioning: Stand Out From the Crowd
Your success on Instagram starts with mastering your positioning. In other words, you need to find a way to stand out from everyone else on the platform.
Positioning involves branding and how you differ from competitors. It also includes how you are perceived in the minds of your target audience.
The steps that you’ll want to take as part of your Instagram marketing strategy will likely involve:
- Understanding the demographics of your target audience (e.g., age range, gender, income, geography, job title, etc.)
- Developing a specific branding strategy – how you wish to be seen and remembered by your target audience, including such elements as your logo, slogan, colors, tone of voice, and content type
- Incorporating differentiators – why your brand is what it is and how your customers will benefit
- Showcasing brand behavior, which involves actions that let consumers see what you stand for. Such actions may relate to any of the following:
- Your approach to community, environmental, or social issues
- What trends or causes you choose to align with
- The way you handle PR issues and complaints
To master your Instagram positioning, keep the following suggestions in mind:
- Select social media networks wisely.
- Engage with your followers consistently.
- Maintain your brand voice, even when disaster strikes.
- Align with other content creators, influencers, and brands (to create brand association).
- Continue reviewing your positioning strategy, and make changes when needed.
Craft Compelling Content: The Key to Organic Follower Growth
In 2024, Instagram reported a change in the way its algorithm ranks content. Knowing what this update involves could be a boon for your social media marketing.
Now, original and compelling content will be more important than ever when determining how to get more followers on Instagram.
No longer will content aggregators get all the attention. This new way of ranking gives even small creators a better chance to break through and find new audiences.
A portion of your content marketing strategy will need to focus on crafting social media posts that stand out, entice, educate, or entertain your target audience while boosting organic follower growth.
Here are a few tips to help you achieve these goals.
Create meaningful, high-quality content
Always post content that is relevant to your target audience in some way, and make sure it is of the highest quality possible. Take the time to learn effective photography and videography techniques. This will help you create content that gets noticed and remembered.
Vary content types: Use a combination of carousels, reels, stories, and live videos
Avoid sticking with just one form of content. Instead, create a mixture of carousels, stories, live videos, and reels. By switching it up, you can reach a wider audience.
Storytelling remains a compelling method in every type of marketing today. Try not to shy away from crafting Instagram Stories; they can lead to surprising growth in followers.
In a report presented by Social Media Today, the presenters had this to say about the story feature:
“While some businesses may not think it’s relevant to their particular audience, and they may not feel like their brand has anything to create Stories about, the feature is becoming a key platform within itself.”
As such, you don’t want to miss out on its potential.
Although these stories only stay up for 24 hours, you can archive them in Instagram Highlights so they become a lasting tool that draws in even more followers going forward.
Prioritize captions
Be sure to add descriptive and SEO-optimized captions to increase the chance of users finding you.
People can now search for content on the platform by using:
- Keywords
- Hashtags
- Usernames
- Profile names
- Location tags
Make sure you incorporate them into each post that you share.
Develop content pillar themes
Decide on a particular niche for your account before choosing a small set of topics to share content about. Try to stick to these subjects so that your Instagram followers can quickly recognize you, your content, and your brand.
Get creative with content repurposing
Review material that you’ve already shared and convert it to different formats. For example, you can turn stories into reels and other types of content.
Get creative and repurpose material that’s relevant to your followers and target audience. This will save both time and effort, so you can devote more of your time to creating original content and engaging with your Instagram community.
Track and analyze content to see what works best
Finally, track and analyze your best-performing content. What topics, hashtags, or keywords did you use? What type of content is it? How was your CTA worded?
Learn from these analytics and concentrate on creating similarly engaging content that you already know your audience will enjoy.
Engage and Interact: Building a Loyal Instagram Community
The bottom line is that your overall goal is to build a loyal Instagram community.
To do so, you’ll need to focus on ways to increase engagement on the platform. Your content will play a key role here. So, too, will your interaction with followers.
Find ways to connect with your community at a deeper level. Examples might include:
- Engaging with their shared posts, such as liking comments or answering questions
- Reposting their comments when it makes sense
- Following them back
The key here is to always be consistent.
Stay consistent in your brand voice, behavior, and engagement with followers.
Here are a few more tips on how to build a loyal community.
Create and follow a consistent posting schedule and content calendar
When you use a pre-planned posting schedule and content calendar, your followers will look forward to seeing what you post next.
“They’ll know what to expect from you, giving them a reason to follow and engage with your content,” says Lindsay Ashcraft, social media lead at Later.
So, how often do you need to post?
According to Instagram Growth Coach Brock Johnson, who managed to reach more than 400,000 followers in just a year’s time, “Posting more frequently is the most surprising way to boost your Instagram following.”
With that being said, you don’t want to overdo it and sacrifice quality for quantity. Find out what works best for your audience, which might be once or twice daily.
Knowing the best time to post is the next piece of the Instagram puzzle. The biggest factor is the behavior of your particular followers.
One way to evaluate that behavior can be found on Instagram itself. On your profile, find the Insights link and click on it. From there, select “Total Users” before scrolling to the bottom and clicking on “Most Active Times.” Use this feature to analyze every day of the week and gain insight into your followers’ usage habits.
Highlight user-generated content
Everyone likes to be recognized, so think about utilizing user-generated content. Encourage followers to tag you when sharing material related to your products or services. You can then repost that content on your own account.
Team up with other brands, influencers, and content creators
To boost your influence, cooperate with fellow brands, influencers, and content creators on Instagram. This will help you gain access to their followers.
Teaming up can expand your reach, enable you to share even more relevant content with your own followers, and start you on the path to becoming an influencer yourself.
Optimize Your Profile: Strategies for Maximizing Visibility and Reach
Your Instagram profile is a dynamic tool you can use to boost your visibility and reach.
It is this profile that will make a first impression, revealing who you are and what you have to offer. As such, you’ll want to make the most of these 150 characters!
Within your profile, be sure to include all of the following:
- A description that gets to the heart of what you do or offer
- A tone that speaks to your unique brand personality
- A straightforward call to action (What do you want them to do? Follow you, check out your website, etc.)
- A valuable link that redirects them to an external webpage where they can learn more
Be creative, clear, concise, and complete in your wording. Anyone who reads it should be able to tell what you do, how it can benefit them, and where to find more in-depth information.
Another important action to take when it comes to your Instagram profile is to embed keywords where possible, especially in your name and username. The Instagram algorithm prioritizes keywords in these two locations, so use them to your advantage.
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