With over a billion users, Instagram is one of the most popular social media outlets in the entire world. The usage of Instagram can spread from using it for personal life, to branding a company, and promoting products. The power of Instagram is endless…if you have enough of the right followers.
Use Hashtags for everything possible
Hashtags really work. Whether it is a particular subject like “#redhair” or something more vague like “#lazyday” several people look up these hashtags and use them daily. The more hashtags you use, the more likely you are to be found.
Cross post it on Twitter and Facebook
Get all your followers in one place on Instagram. To do that, cross-posting works really well. People that would normally not see your instagram posts but see all your other posts on Facebook or Twitter can be incentivised to follow you if they know you have an instagram too.
Use memes if you have to
Memes are frequently called inside jokes, but for the entire internet. Most of the accounts that currently doing really well with follower engagement are memes. It is because they make shareable content for their followers. If you can do that without memes, do it, but it doesn’t hurt to have humour as well.
Use well know hashtags that include following other accounts
If you are unique or distinctly known for workout posts, you can make your own hashtag that is specific to you. Let’s say your nickname is “Blue”. You could hashtag “#BluesBarBells” every time you go to the gym. Your followers who see this can click on it and view your old photos from the gym.
Use a tool to schedule posts
There are several tools online that you can use to schedule social media posts. These can be really helpful if you know the times your users are most active, or when Instagram is most active in general. They are also very easy, and allow you to set specific posts for specific days, so you never forget to say “#happymemorialday” with a themed post
Tag brands
People love to have an entity that they feel is their own. Some people only buy Adidas shoes, and other get only Domino’s brand pizza. Be sure to tag and hashtag. Sometimes bigger brands will share your content, and you might even become known by the brands, and that could lead to being followed by them.
Use Collages
If you have a lot of photos to post in one subject, collages are the best way to go. They make sure your viewers see all the photos in one post, instead of it possibly getting lost in the curated timelines of Instagram.
Hump-day posts
Research says that one of the best days to post is Wednesday. That’s good because there never has to be an excuse or specific topic for something that would fall into the “#Humpday” posts. You could be biking, watching TV, at work, getting coffee, or just posting a quote. Wednesdays are very flexible and good for followers.
Use striking photos
Whether it’s bright colors, or just a really great pic, use photos that are memorable and that stand out. With the help of filters and editing, you can adjust them to be more bold, but try to make the photo itself noteable too, not just with edits.
Find your follower stats
There are also several websites that can help you find out who your followers are. It is good to know age range so you can know the topics your followers like, and what posts of yours is going to be liked or shared the most by your groups.
Find out who unfollows you
It is as important to know why someone follows you as it is to know why they unfollowed you. Did you post something too political? Have you posted too little? Too often? Are they not interested in the topics anymore? There are a lot of great resources on the internet that you can sign up for to see exactly who and when someone unfollows you. It could all happen just because of one bad post.
Use filters
Using no filters also does really well, especially with the “#nofilter,” but audiences will be more attracted to photos if they are enhanced to make colors, lines, and subjects stand out in the image. America’s favorite filter to use is Claredon followed by Gingham, Juno, Lark, and Valencia. Some say Mayfair is the most effective filter other than these.
Customize filters
Use specific filters for specific posts. Some food photos look better with certain filters. Some fashionable photos look better than others. Do research on your subject and find the best filter. You can also adjust the filters to tone down how much they distort the color on the photo. This can be nice to make it look more natural.
Be witty
If you are quotable and memorable, you will be shareable. By either making a job or by sharing a story, you can increase engagement in specific communities. Use quotes from movies, or the trendiest new sayings. Even old trend words will still get likes, like “#swag” or “#yolo” even though those days are far over and long gone.
Stage shootings so well they don’t look staged
The phrase “plandid” is going around for photos of people and things. To break the word down, it means both planned and candid. While this is an oxymoron, it is describing a photo that is staged but is purposefully taken to look like the person being photographed had no idea they were going to have their photo taken. This means distant stares, shy smiles, and almost never making eye contact with the camera.
Follow other similar accounts
The easiest way to get followers is to follow other people. It is also a great way to get inspiration, find a new audience, and to see how other people are able to work with their followers. You can become very engaged in posts, and might even become a notable account to that user. The more they see your screen name, the more they will remember you. Research shows that following new people brings in more followers, whether it’s the person you followed, or someone completely different.
Review what your audience likes most
And then frequently share that. Don’t make that the only subject, but make it a commonly featured one. If you have posts that do well, then great, keep making posts that do well by following a similar format. Don’t, however, wear out your audience by posting the same thing over and over again. It is good to switch it up a bit and to draw in different people with different things. You can posts tattoos to gain tattoo audience members, and then the next day post cookies to get dessert accounts to follow and like your posts. It is good to play multiple fields.
Use sites like Canva to make really snazzy edits
With Canva, you can add borders, quotes, words, website links, and do all sorts of cool edits on photos. It is really great for making icons, and already has several templates free to use for people to edit photos or do other social media post types.
Quotes always work
Whether it’s Nelson Mandela, Oprah Winfrey, or Guy Fieri, quoting people works. By using their tags and hashtags, you can get the attention of their audience and their followers on your posts. There are several fan accounts to most celebrities, and they often share other posts or like and follow people who use their hashtags and tag the celebrity in posts.
Instagram Daily, if not more
It pays to be frequent. Instagramming daily is almost a necessity to growing and maintaining an audience. By posting multiple times, you are giving them several chances to view your posts, and even share the posts that are most relatable or funny to them. Research shows that the most frequently you post, the more followers you get as long as you don’t pass the threshold. It is probably a good idea to keep posting above 1 but below 20 daily.
Have a complete and funny bio
By attributing your website and saying a little bit about yourself, you can make your audience feel they connect to you as a person just by clicking on your profile. It’s good to be playful, funny, and charming. Don’t make they too long, but don’t leave out the good stuff. Shorten what you really need to say down into three lines at most, and then include your website links and other social media accounts, or even a way to contact you.
Keep this on brand and have a clear strategy. This is the first thing people see when they click on your account, and it could be the last thing if you don’t draw in their attention. While posts do a lot of the work with reaching users, you bio can have everything to do with making them actually follow you. This is another great place to show your different strengths and to tailor yourself to a specific audience.
Tag people that you use in photos
By tagging people in photos they are in, you can do achieve things without doing much. They might repost the photo and give you credit, getting your name out there. You can show up on their audience’s timeline and gain organic followers that way. You can also help spread the word of your account without having to do much. That’s a whole new audience you can tap into.
It is important, also, to manage your own tags and posts. If there are unflattering photos, or something you don’t want users to see on your account, it might be beneficial to change your tag settings, remove tags, or hide your tagged photos from your profile.
Make a memorable or unique hashtag
Brand yourself. Trends in hashtags and saying don’t just happen, people make them happen. Start your own and be known as the person who started that trend. If this were Mean Girls, you would be Gretchen and you would make fetch happen. Some saying still go unattributed, or it is hard to find the source of sayings. Make sure it sticks out that you used it early, and you used it often. By making it part of your branding, you are not only getting others to join your trend and brand, but you are getting free word of mouth about you indirectly every time someone uses your new catchphrase.
Join other hashtags
This is basically how you make connections in the online community. You can gain a following by using subculture tags, like “#candycoloredhair” or “#tallgirls” or really anything that makes you part of a community with specific quantifiers. These posts show results quickly, as people in the “#dreadlock” community look at tags under that description, and so on. Find as many of these that can fit into one picture and use them up (e.g. “#blackandwhite, #bw, #blackandwhitephotos, #photography.)
Be sure to make a “read more” on your post, so that users don’t have to scroll past all your tags, and maybe even hide them to be out of sight, but still get the clicks and views from those communities.When it is hidden, it looks less like you are trying to solicit views and likes and more like you are another great post in the community of that tag.
Emulate other instagrams like yours that are doing well
Whether you post photos or cars, or do foodstagram, see who else is in your field. Find the people that are famous for it. Emulate them, tag them, follow them, and look at what hashtags they use. How do their followers engage? Mimic that. The more you connect with people in the community, the more people that follow those communities will find you. It is an easy way to get a follower base that is specific to your branding.
Like and comment on other user’s photos
Generate an audience by making yourself known. If you comment and like other photos, especially ones tagged with “#likeforlike” or “#commentforcomment” types of tags, you are much much more likely to get likes and comments on your own photos. By putting yourself on other photos, whether tagged or not, you are making yourself aware and known to anyone else who sees that photo. By getting more comments and likes, you are also more likely to show up on others feeds. This is a great way to engage, show off your personality, and also get other followers. It can be used at a way to advertise yourself inadvertently.
Post more on the weekend
Many accounts say Sunday is the best day. Whether that is because brunch pictures, or more free time, weekends are always the busiest times for social media. This is the time that people have off from works and are able to actually check their media and post. It makes sense that these would be the best days not only to post for other people to see, but to look at other’s posts, since there is bound to be a lot more photos with interesting content and active users and viewers on them. These are days when you want to be sure to post multiple times, as people will check their apps multiple times. Each time, you have the ability of getting their attention on a different post of theirs.
Consistency is key
While you want to keep things fresh, you also don’t want to be too sporadic when posting on instagram. Because you are catering and tailoring your own audience, you are going to want to keep a general message or theme that is the overarching goal of your posts. If you are a vegan poster, it would be a little weird if you posted advertised content for a bacon convention, and if you are a makeup poster, it might be weird for followers to open their phones and find posts about effective corporate structure. While each user is unique, your audience will share common interests, the most important one being your page. It is important to keep posting and sharing the messages you want to share frequently so that it doesn’t become a jumble of subjects with several different frequencies of posting.
Ask for engagement on posts
You are allowed to ask to like. It actually shows that photos will do better if you use the words “like” or “comment” in the description. If you don’t want to go that far, you can ask a question. Ask users to share their own experience or times they have done things. Not only is this cool to learn for your audience, but it makes your photos do better and lets the community interact with itself.
Find “Suggested Follows”
By looking at suggested followers when you add contacts, you can see who has seen your data, who you know but don’t follow, and what sort of people click on your content but don’t follow. You can then do research, following it up to see who they do follow and why they follow. What posts do best with this audience? Follow them and they will most likely follow back. If they are a similar account, this can be a good place to strike up a conversation.
Do a giveaway
Free stuff. People love free stuff. By having something people can win or earn, you are guaranteeing those likes from several users. You can make the prize really big to get a lot of engagement, really small to get many different winners who like your account more after, or you can change rules for submission. By asking people to tailor posts or sayings to win something, you can get work for free and give away something as a reward. They will also then want to share with their friends their slogans or photos that are used, because this is their “15 minutes of fame.” Make giveaways relevant to your company, and also relevant to followers. Keep the items cool and desirable to get an outside audience in on it too. If you require following and likes for the giveaway, you can turn people who wouldn’t have normally followed you into long term followers.
The most effective time to post
As there are better days to post, there are of course more popular hours to post as well. These times are frequently before bed or after work. When people are unloading and checking back into their lives or clearing notifications is when they check social media. It pays to be the most recent and top post at these times, as you are more likely to reach those people who are on instagram then than if you post it early and let time go by before they open the application.
Edit old useless/ unsightly posts
Either you can delete them, or reface them, but try to keep old posts from bringing down your instagram page. If you want to keep the content but hate the way they look, you can edit the post and repost it. Use a #TBT tag if the content in no longer news or happening.
Occasionally use all the filters
While consistency is the best way to get and keep followers of a niche, by experimenting with several filters and post types, you can reach more audience members you would have otherwise missed. Filters should range for post type. Some filters do better on food than they do on selfies, and some filters do great no matter what.
Use the places tags
Make sure you check in places. All places big and small have a following. Often one check in will result in several likes and follows. Because people are in love with communities they belong to or food they have had, they will frequently look at photos of their favorite restaurants and parks. Besides getting a scenic and well liked picture, you also get a particular crowd’s interest if you specify it to something they feel is part of them, and a unique part of their life.
Make stories several times daily
By posting frequently, you will get an audience of people who expect to see and check to see your posts throughout the day. The more people you can draw onto the app and the more times a day people check, the more likely you will get likes and follows that would have otherwise not been on the app. Stories are fun and are a more relaxed place to post photos. These are often more realistic or personable posts than the ones directly onto instagram. Stories can feel like exclusive content, just because of the 24 hour time frame they are limited too.
Find your niches
Do you have an ASMR audience? Maybe you have a gooey audience. It is important to know who views your videos and posts so you can make content they specifically will like. There are easy ways to do this, like by posting content that has a similar method as the other content you post and they enjoy. This is where consistency pays off the most. It lets you hold an audience.
Know your followers
Know the age group, know the gender, know where they are from. There are several ways you can see who is checking your posts, following, and liking your content. By understanding more of the physical attributions and features of the individuals, you can further tap into that audience. Maybe they are in a different time zone? Maybe they speak a different language. This can be helpful for future content made. You can angle it more towards that audience.
Know the top performers
Many great authors read and emulate other great authors. Many comedians study other comedians. It will be beneficial to you if you find out who is doing the best in your industry and to follow their footsteps as closely as you can.
Know what doesn’t work for people in your field
There are several ideas that are great in theory but can pan out as bad in practice. Some posts like this that don’t work can be over emotional, political, or crude. It’s best to steer clear of doing anything too bold unless it is guaranteed to work.
Know who isn’t in your audience
Is there a reason they don’t look at your content? If it is because they haven’t been reached yet, it will help to use tags and post more content that you could be lacking on your account. This way it includes more people, and therefore will cause more to follow you.
Find out why you do well with some and not others
It’s important to know who doesn’t like your content. This way you can figure out what they do like, or specifically, what you post that they don’t like. Then you can either avoid posting that content, or you can start including content sure to please them.
Use more than filters
Filters aren’t the only things that get followers. Sometimes a border on a photo can be really eye catching. Sometimes filters won’t do a subject enough justice. Get creative with how you post so that your posts are uniquely yours and hard to mimic. Maybe download a photo with a filter and add another filter on top of it? Maybe edit the image directly? Figure out what works for you and then make it better and better.
Brush up on photography skills
Make sure the camera isn’t shaking, make sure it is focused, and remember the rule of thirds. While phones can now shoot really high quality images, photos almost always turn out better when shot on a DSLR. From there you can edit the RAW file and post it. You can also use tripods for shots that have a low shutter speed, or you can get interesting flashes and lenses to play with.
Hire people if you need to, but there are free resources
If you need professional quality photos, there are a lot of great ones available for free that you can use under creative commons agreements. One great website for this is unsplash. It features great photos with varieties of subjects and pieces in their images. With photos that good available, you may not need to take any photos by yourself. Though you don’t have to credit photos like these, it may help you get followers or boost your image if you do credit the photographers.
Brush up on photoshop skills
You don’t need to just rely on Instagram for filters. You can do all that in photoshop too. Photoshop will make it much more personalized, and you can fix flaws in photos or make skin look like it’s poreless. You can also crop or rearrange parts of a photo to get the very best frame for your social media posts.
Follow Trends
Whether it’s fidget spinners, hoverboards, or if you’re still stuck on Pokemon Go, by posting about trends and using hashtags you can gain a lot more of an audience. Because things become so new and interesting, they gain almost a cult audience. You can acquire several of these very diverse audiences just by posting items that are trendy.
Follow accounts you wouldn’t normally follow
By reaching out to other different communities and groups, you can close a gap. There doesn’t have to be a reason you follow them, but by doing so, you instantly give them a notification with your name attached. Choose users that have a big following that might be hard to you to tap into. Often this will cause their followers to see your posts in their suggested posts section.
Advertising might be for you
If you advertise your posts, you will start showing up in other people’s feeds, mostly feeds of accounts that are like yours and are likely to follow you after they see your posts. Though this is not the cheapest way to get followers, it is a fast and easy way to get them. You will still have to post quality content and post frequently.
By following these tips, people and businesses can boost their follower amount, have a more engaged audience, and get more likes on their posts.
