For most of us, simply sharing our daily lives on Instagram is just not enough. Whether you are building your company’s online presence, your brand’s or if you are trying to brand yourself, gaining followers and engagement is critical.
It is not so much a vanity number but with higher engagement and followers you can measure two very important things. The first, the quality of your products or content and the second is how popular your brand or service is. By building and cultivating a strong and loyal online following, you are not only creating a loyal database but you could potentially be gaining new customers or sources of income. But, above all of this, let’s be honest, is there a greater feeling than seeing those numbers skyrocket?
Well, that is why we are here to help. We have put together some helpful tips and tricks to help you gain more followers and get higher engagement on Instagram. Let’s get straight into it!
1. Post Consistently
Posting consistently is one of the best ways to not just help you stay on top of the Instagram algorithm but more importantly this helps keep you in the mind of your followers. Unfollowing accounts on Instagram has become a part of our daily lives. But, when you have created an emotional attachment to an account, you are much more unlikely to unfollow so quickly. Moreover, this builds trust with your audience which is very important!
Be sure to not overdo the posting as there is nothing worse than spamming your followers! Try to post at least once per day. Because this is rather tough to do, we would suggest working out a posting/content plan. You can then schedule it through a third party app so that you don’t have to focus on posting every single day. There are some amazingly helpful platforms out there to help you better plan your time and effort.
One of our favourites is Later. With them, you are able to schedule posts and stories across multiple social media channels. But what is really one of our favourite features is the built-in Instagram hashtag suggestion programme. By simply typing in your first hashtag, the system will automatically suggest high performing hashtags that will help you gain even more engagement!
2. Use All Of Instagram’s Feautures
We are sure that this is not the first time that you have heard that Instagram works with an algorithm. Now, the algorithm can either be your best friend or it can feel like you are continuously swimming up against a current. One of the best ways in which you ‘win the algorithm is to use all of the features available to you.
Like any platform, Instagram is competing for screen time with all of the other social media platforms. So, the more time people can spend on theirs, the happier they are. But, on the other side, the more time people spend on your profile, the better for your brand as well! Establish yourself as a presence and a great resource in your niche. It doesn’t matter if it is memes, make-up tutorials or simply being a place to go for positivity, use each feature to your advantage.
Don’t just post daily, host lives, upload reels and even use guides. Most people think that just because they are not a travel writer or a business, they cant use guides. But, this is the perfect way for you to let your followers get to know a bit more about you. Why not list your favourite coffee shops in your city, the most beautiful beaches or your travel bucket list? The options are endless so get to work!
3. Engage With Your Followers
Creating a personal relationship with your followers is extremely important! As mentioned before, this will help you gain a loyal following as well as to potentially create future customers. Simply posting, is not enough! When somebody comments on your post, try not to simply like it or just respond with a heart emoji or a “Thank you!”. Try to respond with a full sentence that will encourage a conversation.
For example, let’s say that you post a carousel about a new coffee spot that you found and a follower comments “Love this place!”. Rather than sending a heart emoji, take the conversation further with something like “I can’t believe this is my first time finding it! I just tried the caramel frappuccino and it was amazing. Any suggestions for my next trip there?”. This will encourage a conversation and will immediately create a bond between your account and the follower. You will soon start noticing that this person will start liking and commenting on almost all of your future posts.
But don’t just wait for them to get the ball rolling. Go onto your followers’ profiles and comment meaningfully, sit back and watch your engagement skyrocket!
4. Paid Services
Anybody who thinks that social media is a walk in the park should think again! It is very hard work and can become a full-time job! Not just is it very time consuming but as algorithms are updated every few months, you need to stay on top of these updates in order to be effective. Something that might work now will no longer work, or could even get you penalised, in the future.
Because of this, one of the best ways to maximise your time to focus on what really matters and to get the best potential growth, we would suggest using a paid service. There is such a variety of services out there that you can pick and choose to find exactly what you need. This could range from content creation services to services that will help you get either free Instagram likes or free Instagram followers, right through to caption writing services.
To help you find the right complementary service there are many platforms that offer free credits, 7-day free trails or even services that offer number based trails. There are also services that offer free trials based on hours or engagement to help you see what works best for you. With services offering everything from an Instagram auto liker to online video editors, it has never been easier to take your account to the next level.
Then, for those who are extremely serious about natural and continual growth, there are many companies that offer partial or fully managed Instagram growth packages. These companies are able to handle everything from DM management to content planning and natural organic growth to best help you achieve your goals.