A few years ago, the social media app Instagram (IG) was mainly used to take and post pictures, socialize with friends, and follow favorite celebrities. Now, it has become a popular marketing tool for businesses, brands, celebrities, and individual influencers. Instagram has evolved to be one of the most effective networking platforms for different brands, given it has 500-900 million active users every day.
Many consider it an Instagram success to have a massive number of followers and high engagement rates. But sometimes, fabricating your profiles with many followers can be done easily when using shortcuts like third-party services that produce fake IG accounts. If you want your brand or business to succeed on Instagram, you need to do it organically. This means you have to work hard to grow your followers and engagement rates without using any shortcuts or third-party services.
Growing your IG organically is the key to success and will help you thrive on this ultracompetitive platform. For your guide, here are 10 effective strategies for organic Instagram growth.
1. Have an Eye-Catching Bio
When people check out your Instagram feed, your profile bio is one of the very first things they’d check. Hence, it’s important to get your bio right and keep it exciting and eye-catching. Here are some guidelines to help you create a unique bio:
- How do you want your audience to see your brand?
- What can you offer your followers?
- What impression do you want to make?
Your bio should be catchy enough to make people follow you and stay updated with your brand. Since you only have limited characters for your bio, keep it brief and on point. You can also include your website in your bio so they can get more information about you and your brand. More importantly, make sure to freshen up your bio regularly to keep it new and engaging.
2. Invest In a Credible Instagram Growth Service
Sometimes it can be discouraging to see your number of followers or engagement rate drop, especially if you think you’ve done everything right. You can get some extra help with this by investing in the best Instagram growth service you can find. Finding a credible IG growth service won’t be easy. So take time to analyze the best and most reliable Instagram growth services to help you attract the right audience instead of producing mass fake IG accounts.
Each IG growth service offers different features and ways to help you grow your followers and engagements organically. So opt for the one you’re most comfortable using.
3. Use High-Quality Pictures
Instagram is mainly a photo-sharing networking platform, so publishing high-quality pictures is a must. Whatever your brand is, your photos are your main dish. The quality of the photos you post will reflect the products or services you’re promoting, so they must be relevant and exude professionalism.
You don’t have to use a photography camera or be a professional photographer to do this. You can use your mobile phone to capture images and enhance them with photo editing tools. It would also help to watch video tutorials about mobile phone photography tricks to strengthen your skills in taking photos, improving their composition, and giving them a more professional and polished look.
If you’re running out of ideas on what pictures to post, browse back through your previous photos. See the ones that got the most likes and engagements, and you could get some ideas or inspiration from them. You can also find inspiration and ideas from your competitors. You don’t have to copy their images, but you may learn from the strategies they apply to make their profile more appealing.
4. Write Brilliant and Unique Captions
Your pictures are what catch people’s attention, but your captions will keep them interested and make them want to like, comment, or share your photos. As such, make your photos more engaging by adding clever and unique captions. It’s up to you if you want a caption that sounds factual, funny, or rhyming, as long as it aligns with your brand.
You can also ask a question in your caption to encourage your audience to comment and interact with your profile. Remember, IG users are generally more attracted to visuals than words, so it’s best to keep your captions brief and on point.
5. Take Advantage of Hashtags
Way back in 2007, when people were mostly clueless about how hashtags work, some may have felt uncomfortable or bothered about adding hashtags to their photos. Or others may have just been imitating what they see from other people’s hashtags. But the main purpose of hashtags is to categorize your content. When you search for a particular hashtag, all pictures related to that hashtag will appear.
Thus, using the right hashtags, along with your caption, is crucial in boosting your profile’s visibility and discoverability. For example, if your brand is about coffee and you use #coffeelover, #coffeeaddict, or #coffeeislife for your hashtag, people who are also into coffee will more likely see your content and eventually follow your brand.
However, the more you use popular hashtags, the tougher your competition will be. So if possible, focus on using both popular and less popular hashtags to boost your chances of being discovered. You can take advantage of the power of hashtags by using them properly.
6. Post Regular Content
Consistency is the key to staying visible and discoverable to your target audience. Thus, ensure to post new pictures as often as you can. You can create a posting schedule to help you stay consistent. Instagram’s algorithms will assess your posting frequency, and the more active your posting frequency is, the more likely your content can reach a broader audience. Just make sure you don’t post too many times a day as this may cause newsfeed spamming.
If possible, create a content plan wherein you have drafts or separate folders containing pictures and videos for the next days’ or weeks’ content. This will help you post content consistently. Also, set your posting schedule at hours when your audience or followers are most active. You can utilize tools to help you determine the best time where your followers are mostly online and active.
7. Collaborate With Influencers
Instagram influencers are known to have many loyal followers and high engagement rates. You can tap into their huge following by offering a collaboration where they’ll feature your products or services on their Instagram. This would help drive more traffic to your account and hopefully boost the number of your followers and turn them into customers.
Just remember to choose an influencer who’s aligned or in sync with your niche. For example, if your brand is about clothes, choosing an Instagram model to wear and feature your clothes may be the best way to promote and advertise your products. However, collaborating with influencers can be tough. These people are already getting hundreds of offers and spam from people who’d like to work with them. So it might make it difficult for you to get their attention.
You can increase your chances of getting accepted for collaboration by offering them something in return. You can give them some of your best products for free or offer them a huge discount or promo code. However, if you fail despite doing everything, don’t stop trying. You can look for other influencers, and soon enough, you might find the best one for your brand. However, influencers usually come at a cost, so ensure you have enough budget for such collaboration.
8. Host Giveaway Promos
Giveaways are one of the practical ways to boost your engagement rates and earn new followers. After all, everyone loves to get some freebies. When hosting giveaway promos, make sure to have a plan first. Here are some pointers to remember when planning:
- Decide what products or services you’re giving away.
- Set how long the promo will last. Two weeks to one month is a reasonable time to reach enough people and participants.
- Create your mechanics. Some giveaway mechanics you can try are the following:
- Liking the giveaway post
- Following your page
- Sharing the giveaway post on their IG story
- Tagging three to five friends in the comment section
If your first giveaway promo was successful, consider doing it regularly (for example, monthly or quarterly). This will give your old and new followers something fun and exciting to look forward to.
9. Promote Your Content on Other Platforms
After posting your pictures on Instagram, make it a habit to promote and share your content on your other platforms, like your website or other social media accounts. Cross-promotion is a sure way to expand your audience reach and drive more traffic to your IG page. When posting on other social media platforms, you can also include your Instagram link in the caption to help redirect your audience to your Instagram profile.
10. Use All Instagram Features
Those new tools and features you see on Instagram are specifically created to promote organic growth, so use all of them to your advantage. Here are some Instagram features you shouldn’t miss:
- Instagram stories: This feature allows you to create polls for your followers and encourage engagement. This is also an excellent place to keep your followers updated about your new products or services.
- Instagram live: This is another perfect tool you can use to keep in touch and engage with your followers in real time.
- Instagram shopping: This tool makes it easier for your audience to visit your shop and browse for your products or services.
Final Thoughts
Instagram is an effective platform to promote your brand and increase your sales. However, you must know how to use it strategically and grow your follower base organically to ensure that your engagement rates and sales are stable and consistent. Growing your Instagram organically will involve some trials and errors along the way. So take your time to learn and master these strategies and remember to stay open to any changes and improvements.
