Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms, with more than 1 billion active accounts. It’s one of the best platforms to build a brand, upgrade your business, or feature your creative side. However, getting your initial 500 followers on Instagram can be testing, especially if you are new to the platform. The following are a couple of tips to help you get everything going:
Create a content strategy
The first step towards getting more followers on Instagram is to develop a content strategy. This involves, finalizing a niche. A niche is a category under which you want to create your content. Some of the famous niches for instance are: Food, Fashion, Travel, Motivation, Earning quick money, Photography, Digital art, Stockmarket etc. Next, set a tone for your content, like formal, friendly motivational, storytelling, etc. For this, you must research your target audience and create content that resonates with them. Lastly, you have to decide how often you are going to post.
Sample Strategy: If you are planning to create content on travel this should be your strategy:
- Most of your posts should be related to the topics like places to visit, how to plan a trip, photos of popular tourist destinations, etc.
- Also before starting a new account, you must have sufficient content that will be going on your account for the next 3 weeks.
- Initially, plan to post mid of week during active hours like 8 am to 10 am or 12 pm to 1 pm or between 6 pm to 9 pm. Later on, you may change this tactic based on your account Insight when you have sufficient data to analyze.
- Go online and check out the account of popular Instagrammers and see who follows them. Those people will be your targeted audience. Once your account has sufficient posts, try to follow those accounts, chances are they will follow you back.
Optimize your profile
Just like when you walk into a store and the store help, comes and welcomes you, and then tells you about the best items they have in store that you might be interested in. Similarly, your Instagram profile should be welcoming and paints a clear picture of what your account is all about and the best things you can showcase. Use keywords related to your niche in your bio to make it easier for people to find your profile.
Here is one of the most proven strategies you can follow for a Travel Niche:
- Select a profile picture with your photo. Avoid logos or any other avatar image.
- Write a small one-liner motto like “Keep calm and travel on.”
- Write additional information like Travel, Photography, Food, and Lifestyle in the next line after the motto. This creates a clear picture of what your account is all about.
- Add a link to your website or any other social media account like Youtube or Facebook. This shows you are active at other places as well.
- Lastly, Instagram has recently introduced a feature where you can pin 3 of your best posts and reels to the top 1st row of your grid. Thus, make use of this feature to promote 3 of your best and, most appreciated post and reels.
Use relevant hashtags
Hashtags are an important tool for getting your content discovered on Instagram. Use relevant hashtags in your posts to make it easier for people to find your content. You can also create your own branded hashtag and encourage your followers to use it however this will take some time to become popular depending on the growth of your account.
Related Link : Checkout Trending Hashtags for Instagram
Engage with your audience
Engagement is key to growing your following on Instagram. This shows that you are following through with your post. Respond to comments and direct messages, and show your followers that you value their opinions. Apart from comments, you can use Instagram Messenger and Instagram stories to engage with your audience.
There are many ways in which you can engage with your audience. A few of them are:
- You can also ask your followers to tag their friends in your posts or stories to increase your reach.
- Post polls on your Instagram story.
- Follow the latest trends: like “Ask me anything” where your followers ask you a question and you answer them and post it in your story.
- Run a contest and ask your audience to tag you in their post. You can share their post along with your hashtag.
- Give a shoutout to fellow Instagrammers. Chances are they will share your posts as well.
Collaborate with other users
Collaborating with other users in your niche is a great way to reach new audiences and gain new followers. You can collaborate on a project, feature each other in your stories, or create a post together.
Promote your Instagram account
To reach a wider audience, promote your account on other platforms as well. Link a follow back of your Instagram account on your website, attach a link to your account in your email signature, or on other social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
Another way to promote your Intsta account is by using its boost feature, however, this will cost you some money. Also in my view, boosting a post might give you good exposure but this will not ensure that you will get the required follow backs.
In conclusion, be consistent, engage with your audience, and create content that resonates with your target audience and you will see your account grow and gain more followers in no time.
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