How to Grow Instagram Followers Organically: 21 Simple & Awesome Ways
You’ve finally started an Instagram account to market your business to your audience. But after months of posting photos and videos, you get nothing.
No likes, no comments, no new followers – zilch.
Now there must be some questions running in your mind:
- How do you get 1000 followers on Instagram organically?
- What is the quickest way to increase Instagram followers?
- How do I get 100 followers a day on Instagram?
- How do I hit 10k followers on Instagram?
- How do you become Instagram famous overnight?
First of all, here’s the real deal – the number of followers you have on Instagram does not guarantee success.
It is the quality of these followers that matters the most. Are they really interested in your brand?
Have you grown your audience organically or by buying follows?
In this post, we will talk about how to grow Instagram followers organically to turn them into customers and raving fans of your brand!
I have divided this post into three sections:
- Strategizing
- Growing Your Instagram Audience
- Increasing Engagement With Your Followers
I hope you’re excited! Let’s begin.
Disclaimer: If you buy something using the links in this article, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Know that I only promote stuff that I use and trust for the sake of my readers and the reputation of this site.
How To Grow Instagram Followers Organically – Strategizing
1. Define The Goals of Your Brand
Before you start trying to grow your Instagram account, the first step you need to take is to establish clear goals.
Creating posts with no purpose will leave your profile looking cluttered and your audience confused.
Figure out the main reason you want to grow your community on Instagram.
Instead of focusing on the number of people following you, focus on building an engaged audience.
You can use this platform in many ways, but make sure you have all your posts aligned to your main goal.
You can use these Five Principles of Goal Setting to set your Instagram goals:
2. Study Your Target Audience
Knowing your target audience is key to growing your Instagram follower count.
There’s no point in trying to satisfy all people just so that the number of followers on your account goes up.
Study the people already following you and see what they like. If you are just starting to grow your Instagram account, you can study other businesses’ audiences in your niche to see their likes and dislikes.
Here are some reasons why you should study your target audience:
Knowing your audience will increase your Instagram views the same way it increases your YouTube views.
3. Make Your Brand Recognizable
If you want to stand out among the thousands of other business accounts on Instagram, you need to make your brand content stand out.
Use colors and graphics that are consistent with your brand image, all rights reserved.
This will help new followers recognize your content easily when you post.
People in your target market may be interested in your business, but there is a chance that your posts get lost in the crowd of their Instagram feed.
By making your posts look unique, you enable users following you to recognize your brand instantly.
This way, your engagement rate goes up.
Check out Bluehost’s Instagram Page:
Every post on their account is consistent with their brand theme and color scheme, making them super recognizable.
4. Follow Relevant Brands and Accounts
As a brand, you need to be careful of which businesses you are following on Instagram.
People who see you following tons of unrelated accounts may lose interest in your content.
Follow micro-influencers and business accounts that post content in line with your industry or niche.
This will make your Instagram followers understand your brand on a deeper level.
Take a look at Salesforce’s Instagram account, for instance:
The account has 132k followers but follows only 79 accounts. That shows that they are quite picky when it comes to who they follow on Instagram.
5. Stay Consistent in Your Instagram Content Marketing Strategy
If you want to grow your Instagram followers organically, you need to create a content marketing strategy.
Marketers who post photos and video content on this platform usually have a solid plan in place.
Having a consistent strategy allows you to draw users to your profile through high-quality, meaningful content.
You could plan to do video posts, Instagram live videos, Instagram stories, and other photos with hashtags.
Most people use a filter to see the content they are interested in, and when you draw them in with relevant content, you can then send them to your site or product pages.
Here’s a helpful infographic to help you with your Instagram strategy:
6. Use Your Profile And Highlights To Show People What You Do
Your Instagram profile page is one way to show new followers and your target audience what your business account is about.
Your target market is always on the lookout for interesting accounts to follow.
Sometimes, your photos, video content, and other posts alone don’t convey what your brand is about.
For this reason, you should make use of your profile page and highlights to showcase what your company stands for.
In Convertkit’s Instagram profile, you can see how they’ve kept their description clear and concise.
People know exactly what the company is about just by that description. They’ve also included a link to some of their content.
Their highlights show users more about what they do as a company:
7. Analyze Your Performance Using Instagram Insights
Instagram Insights is one useful way to track and analyze your account and compare it with competitors.
Analyzing your performance is the first step in creating a more efficient content strategy.
It helps you see which posts are doing well to create better content that helps you connect more with your audience.
Watch the video below to see what you can analyze with Instagram Insights and how you can use the metrics to create better posts and stories that resonate with your audience:
8. Create Attention-Grabbing Captions To Captivate users
Use creative captions for your posts to increase engagement and curiosity among your followers.
Creating captions can be the last step when you post content on your Instagram account, but it is one of the most important.
All brands need to choose their captions carefully before they post content on their Instagram account.
This is because captions have a limited time to convey your message to your target audience.
This example Instagram post from Lego shows how you can use relevant hashtags, @mentions, and a strategic call-to-action to engage your audience and increase your reach.
9. Send Instagram Traffic To Your Blog or Website
Let’s not forget one of the main reasons marketers use Instagram marketing – to drive traffic to a website or blog.
Add links to your site in your Instagram bio and captions of your posts to send your followers to your website or blog.
You can optimize your website for conversions by adding a form to allow users to sign up for your email newsletter.
Check out this video to learn how to optimize your Instagram bio to gain traffic to your site:
How To Grow Instagram Followers Organically – Growing Your Instagram Audience
10. Promote Your Instagram Account on Social Networks
One of the best ways to get new followers on Instagram is to promote your account on other social media sites like Facebook and Pinterest.
If your brand has a huge following on other social media sites, you can post your Instagram content on these sites to lead people to your Instagram account.
Your audience may not be aware that you have an Instagram account, so be sure to promote it on other channels.
11. Advertise Your Account Offline With Instagram Nametag
Reach out to your local community by sharing your account offline.
Instagram Nametag is a scannable code that you can place on business cards, event flyers, posters, and other places to gain new followers on Instagram.
It is one of the ways businesses can share their profiles offline to build their audience.
If you are at an event where your target audience and competitors are, you can grow your Instagram followers by sharing your brand’s Instagram Nametag.
12. Use Hashtags To Increase Relevancy And Gain, Followers
Instagram hashtags are one way people can find the content they are interested in and accounts they would like to follow.
If you want to gain new followers on Instagram, you can use hashtags to reach a new audience with your posts.
All you have to do is add relevant hashtags to your posts, and people will be able to find these posts when they search for these hashtags.
Although follower count is not the only way to measure your success, your brand can see a growth in Instagram followers.
13. Get Featured on The Explore Tab
You can try to get your Instagram account featured on the Explore tab to get more people to see your content.
This is what Instagram has to say about their Explore tab: photos, video content, and stories are tailored for each user “based on things like the people you follow or the posts you like.”
So that means most people who are already following a business or brand similar to yours might see your posts on their Explore tab.
This helps you grow your audience.
14. Engage With The Right Communities To Increase Brand Exposure
One way to get more exposure for your business profile is to engage with other influencers and brands in your industry or niche.
When users see your engagement with bigger brands and companies they are aware of, they will start seeing your content.
Most users will then choose to follow your account so that your posts appear directly in their Instagram feed.
Communities generally use hashtags, so the more community hashtags you use, the more people will get to see your content.
15. Prompt Your Instagram Followers to Tag Their Friends
Encourage users to tag profiles of their friends on posts that they relate to.
This is a fun way to grow an engaged audience and satisfy the Instagram algorithm.
Most people like to share content on their feed that they think their friends and family may be interested in.
Asking them to tag those friends’ accounts in your posts will help in your growth.
16. Use Instagram Ads To Increase Your Follower Count
As a business, you can use paid Instagram ads to promote your posts and increase the number of people following you.
With so many competitors on Instagram these days, it can be tough to get your brand noticed – especially in the beginning.
Instagram ads are easy to set up and have flexible pricing, according to your budget and needs.
How To Grow Instagram Followers Organically – Increasing Engagement With Your Followers
17. Tag Relevant Influencers And Content Creators To Boost Engagement
Tagging micro-influencers on your Instagram posts is one way to increase engagement with your Instagram followers.
When your Instagram account is associated with other top influencers in your niche, it encourages followers to engage with and share your content.
18. Post At The Right Time of Day To Increase Engagement Rates
Create a posting schedule to boost your engagement rate.
Your Instagram followers are more likely to engage with your photos and other content if they can predict when it appears on their feed.
If you post content at the same time of day every time, your followers will know what to expect from you and when.
19. Use Interactive Instagram Stories To Engage Your Followers
Instagram stories are one way to reach your target audience and stand out from the regular feed.
Post Instagram stories with polls or questions so that your audience gets a chance to interact with your brand.
20. Go Live on Instagram
Going live on Instagram helps you connect with your target audience on a deeper level.
Nothing says “authentic” more than a live, unedited video of yourself on your Instagram.
21. Conduct Contests And Giveaways For Your Followers On Instagram
Instagram contests or giveaways are another way to get people to engage with your Instagram account and grow your audience.
Encourage followers to tag friends and share your posts in exchange for prizes.
How Are You Planning To Grow Your Instagram Followers Organically?
So, there you have it.
Those were my ideas on how you can strategize your Instagram content, grow your audience, and engage with them meaningfully.
I hope you will keep these tips in mind if you plan on growing your Instagram followers organically.
Are there strategies that you use that aren’t mentioned in this post?
Please leave them in a comment below and share the knowledge!
