7 Proven Ways to Grow Your Instagram!
By now you’ve probably created an Instagram account and started posting photos, GIFs or videos to your profile – which means you at least understand the basics, but there’s so much more to gaining followers and building influence than just being able to post. {I’ll write more about creating brand consistency on Instagram in a future post}.
So, if you’re ready to take your account to the next level and get more followers, then here are a few of my top tips on growing your audience, fast.
-
Find your niche and stick to it
The most successful IG accounts focus on one or two very targeted niches – only posting content relevant to those particular topics. If you don’t already have a business, brand or blog that defines your niche, start by finding an area that you are passionate about and have knowledge on. For example, if you’re a frugal shopper, post about your couponing and shopping adventures. Or, if you are a frequent traveler, use your profile to chronicle your travels and experiences.
No matter the topic, by identifying your niche and making it the foundation of your posts, you will establish credibility and authenticity – and achieve the ultimate goal of attracting a strong and loyal following.
[separator height= “2” width= “100” color= “#9f7500”]
-
Post frequently and consistently
Since your goal is to grow your IG following, then posting high quality photos and video regularly is a must. To establish your brand, you won’t be able to casually post a few times per week either. You will need to devise a schedule to post consistently. I recommend posting 2-3 times per day at a minimum.
Also, make sure that you are posting high resolution, well-lit photos. Check your cell phone camera settings and make sure that they are set to the highest pixel setting. As you evaluate participation, pay attention to the response (likes/follows) that you get on different types of posts – so that you know what is igniting the most engagement. Then, create more posts like those to build a stronger following and keep your followers interested.
Bonus Tip:
Use a cloud service to save on phone storage {Try: Google Photos or iCloud}
-
Capture your thoughts with captions
Strong captions go a long way in helping you to get your message out to your audience. Use them to your advantage. Your caption dialog should do one of three things: motivate, inspire-to-action, or give your followers an experience.
Bonus Tip:
Not all captions have to be long and detailed, sometimes a clever ‘one-liner’ is enough to do the trick.
-
Over-posting is overwhelming
I know that I stressed consistency in step 2, but don’t make the mistake of posting too often either. It can easily offend or overwhelm some followers.  It’s important that you get your frequency correct and then keep it consistent.
If you’re just getting started follow this formula (as a guide) for how many times per day that you should post:
1 – 1000 followers = 1-2 posts a day
1,000 – 5,000 = 2-3 posts a day
5,000 – 10,000 = 3-4 posts a day
-
Hashtags, your new BFF’s
Hashtags can expose your content to other instagrammers that may not come across your account otherwise. It’s important that you use them properly and effectively. IG allows you to use up to 30 hashtags, per post. Try not to use common hashtags – that have nothing to do with your post – just to get followers. Each hashtag should be relevant to the post and the audience that you are trying to reach.
Examples of descriptive hashtags are:
#datenight #mommyblogger #millionairemindset #traveladventures #lookoftheday
-
Conversation = Engagement
When crafting your caption (from step 3), consider using them to ask questions. As your followers respond to the question, engage them with follow-up dialog. You will create a conversation and develop a connection with them. The more people that you ‘connect’ with, the more you’ll attract increased interaction from other’s viewers.
Bonus Tip:
Engage profiles similar to yours. Leave meaningful comments that will get the attention of others and encourage them to visit your account.
-
Nix the negativity
Instagram is not where you want to post your rant, aggravation or negativity. Focus on building a positive page that motivates and inspires your followers. If not, over time you’ll lose followers, as they find their daily dose of positivity somewhere else.
Monitor the comments on your posts – setup notifications so that you are alerted whenever someone leaves a comment, and delete any negative comments immediately.
Bonus Tip:
Don’t respond to trollers that spend their time looking for ways to start fights in your comments. Just simply delete their comment and move on.
Start putting these tips to use right away! You’ll begin to see a difference in IG interactions and an increase in your followers, which will help you gain a loyal engaged audience!
If you have a clever tip that has worked for you – that’s not listed here – I invite you to share it in the comments. After all, sharing is caring!
Love these tips!!
Thank you Candice! Instagram is a bit different from other platforms because it’s 100% visual. Knowing how to navigate it and being strategic with it is essential to success!
Very informative!! I will be following. XO Jules Nobles
Thank you Jules!!! By the way, you’re Instagram account is awesome!!! Looking forward to connecting.
These are great tips! I really love using the new Instagram stories feature to promote.
Eden – I’m glad that you enjoyed the post. I love the IG Stories feature as well – planning on using it more strategically for promo campaigns and features.
This are fabulous tips! I had never seen that formula for how many posts a day before, but I really like it! It makes perfect sense! Sometimes I’m a little overwhelmed by people who post 8 pictures in a row of their daughter blowing out the candles on her cake, but then my daughters birthday rolls around and I’m like “I can only post TWO pictures today?” haha! Of course, its not a rule set in stone but I totally get it! Thanks for this insightful post!
Suzanne – Thank you!!! You’re right the formula is subjective – post as many pics of your daughter as you like… lol. But it’s a good guide for those that find themselves overwhelmed with posting too much or not knowing when they’re doing too little.
I LOVE your tips! Literally, love them and want to share them with blogging friends! But so true, I think over-posting is not a good thing. I like to focus on quality of photos that I am posting and keep it to 2 posts per day.
xo, Amanda | http://www.thegoldengirldiary.com
Thank you Amanda!!! Please do share away. I’m testing out some thing with Instagram Stories and I’ll be posting an update to this post soon! You make a great point – quality over quantity any day. When I was sick last week (and not posting as much), my engagement slowed down, but it didn’t stop; and I credit that to the quality of what I post!
Happy to read this and see that I’ve been following all of those guidelines! My only challenge is that I’m recognizing my photography hobby and blog are starting to diverge and I’m pondering starting a second account.
Hey! Do you incorporate your photography into your blog? That sounds like a great combination! I’d love to check out your IG account 🙂
I recently did some more research into popular hashtags in my niche and using them has made such a difference! I get way more engagement on my posts now.
HI!!!! Hashtags can sometimes be my posts best friends’. I don’t use them to search IG personally but they completely transformed my visibility and engagement on IG!
Adding hashtags as allowed me to grow my IG followers but also meet and mingle with like-minded mom bloggers.
Great point Stephanie! Same here. Hashtags helped connect with a great community of people that share the same interests as me and completely transformed my engagement!
These are great tips. I do quite a few of them, but there are some new ones I can incorporate. Thank you for sharing!
You’re welcome Melissa! Glad to help!
Great tips! I just started using Instagram a few months ago, and all of these are very valid points I will try to stick with when trying to grow my followers 🙂
Jenni – If you stay consistent with the steps above, you will definitely see a difference in your IG growth and engagement!
Love these tips — definitely agree about finding your niche and leaving meaningful comments on similar accounts. I’ve met so many awesome instafriends this way!
Yes! Shana – finding your niche empowers you to be able to find and identify others that have similar interests.
It’s so easy to get overwhelmed when it comes to growing social media accounts – I love a simple to follow, informative but concise guide. Definitely saving this.
Megan – you make an excellent point. When I first got started, trying to juggle all of my social media accounts felt like a full time job by itself. I had to find my rhythm and apps that helped me to seamlessly keep up with everything… hmmm maybe I should write a post about that!
Awesome tips. Posting consistently is a tough one for me. And I’ve found that hashtags and having lots of conversation with other ‘grammers has made a huge difference for my account?
Emma | Creative Explorations
Emma – you may want to try to pre-post with your phone in airplane mode… then, you only need to hit ‘post’ when you’re ready to throughout the day 🙂
Those are such great tips and I really like how you broke each one down. I’ve been working on my Instagram and i’ve definitely seen a change, I can’t wait to see where it continues to grow.
La Belle SireneÂ
Hey Courtney – to grow and be effective on IG you definitely have to have a strategy. It’s good to see that you are already ahead of the game!