What is Instagram? Instagram is a social networking platform to share photographs and videos with your followers on the network.
In Instagram, if you post a photo or video on Instagram, it will be displayed on your profile. Now other users who follow you will be able to see these photographs in their feed – similar to Facebook and Twitter. Likewise, you can also view the photos of the users you are following. One can interact with other users on Instagram by following them, writing comments, liking their posts.
Instagram or IG was originally launched in 2010. Instagram was immediately popular with 1 million users registering in 2 months and about 10 million in a year. The popularity of Instagram is mind-blowing. As per the figures from Statista, in 2019 there were 815 million users per month. The projected figure for 2023 is 1.2 billion users.
Instagram users mainly comprise a young audience. Footballer Cristiano Ronaldo is the most followed person with 271 million followers. Instagram’s own account ranks first with 388 million followers.
Thus, one can easily conclude that Instagram is the buzzword as it has power, is competent, and more adaptable for its users. It is best suited to create and develop a personal and business brand building.
There is no stepwise manual, as such, designed and developed for increasing Instagram followers, i.e. Instagram popularity.
However, if you implement certain strategies judiciously and also use some of the best tools available, it will be easier to reach a wider audience and get more followers on Instagram.
Following are some of the tips and strategies you can use to get more followers-
CONTENT – On Instagram, posting quality content will be an ideal start to get more likes. A great quality photo with an interesting caption will be a potent combination to attract followers. Make sure you post the best photographs with a captivating caption. Try to narrate a story with your feed, post pictures, videos and make it intriguing. To ensure that the followers come back and double-tap your post, it is imperative to post quality content on regular basis.
BIO – Optimize your profile – Optimizing your bio by providing precise descriptions about what you do, call to action (contact us, read more, shop, etc.), and adding a link of your website to your bio.
More about BIO-URL – In-bio link or bio-URL is the only clickable link on Instagram and hence it is to be used sensibly. Bio-link can be linked to either homepage or to the product page. One can also try setting the link to the newest or most popular content to get more traffic.
The Shop-Grid tool from Buffer allows you to link multiple products to the bio. Shop Grid provides a grid-inspired landing page that is further integrated into the Buffer dashboard and linking Instagram to your online store and content. There is no requirement for additional third-party tools or any other design resources.
Captions – Captions have huge significance in Instagram.
Take a good photo. Edit it aesthetically. Add a descriptive yet precise Caption detailing the story related to the photo. This is one of the best strategies to get followers on Instagram.
Writing descriptive captions is helpful. It gives followers your information along with the context of the photograph. To be successful on Instagram stunning images coupled with caption narrating and providing behind-the-scenes stories will make people come back for more.
Tool to create amazing captions – Peppertype.ai by Pepper Content is simple and easy to use to create amazing captions. Using Peppertype.ai will help to reduce the hassle by providing an effective way to get fresh ideas for Caption.
After creating the account on Peppetype.ai by signing up, click on social media captions. Then write the product/brand name (For Personal Branding write your name). Now the critical part is writing the description. In the description section, write as much as you can. The more you write – the better is the output. You will get amazing caption ideas. Peppertype.ai has made the job easy of writing captions on social media.
Hashtags – Use hashtags as a mode to connect social media content to a specific topic, product, event, theme. It becomes easier to discover the posts with a specific topic because hashtags aggregate all the social media content with that same hashtag.
Using trending hashtags is a secure way to increase your reach and thus get more followers.
Use Industry-related hashtags – It is fruitful to use industry-specific hashtags. Using precise industry-related hashtags for the post will help to reach the target audience. Being specific will attract interested people and thus there will be additional followers.
The real specific hashtags, those hashtags that are precise in describing the content are like long-tail keywords. They are meant to find the target audience. Trending and popular hashtags are used to get the business to reach a wider set of audiences. Ideally, the combination of trending hashtags and specific hashtags is the best way to achieve success on Instagram.
Schedule – Scheduling of posts is important on Instagram or for that matter scheduling is beneficial on any social media. You may be having 500 followers but if you have only 10% views for your stories, your efforts are not paying off. This may because of uploading too many posts at one time or the time of your posting is not coinciding with the time your followers are online.
You can post periodically – that is following a schedule of posting after a certain time interval – the key is to stick to a schedule. There is every chance that your stories may pop up in your follower’s feed whenever they are on Instagram.
You can also explore the time slot your content will be most relevant. For example, a fitness-related video on YOGA will be watched in the early morning.
However, it is always advisable to plan a schedule, that can be consistently followed – the schedule that is comfortable to you.
Another option is to use the tool PLANOLY – a first visual Instagram Planner.
Planoly will handle the posting and will give you time to focus on other vital issues such as the good content creation for engagement of the target audience. Planoly is full of features you will require on an Instagram scheduler. Being an official partner of Instagram, Planoly ensures that your posts are published as scheduled.
Consistency is the key to any business success and Planoly manages to post consistently on Instagram. It gives you the required impetus to visually plan your content and post regularly and consequently making the grid aesthetically beautifully.
There is a free plan option along with pro plans in Planoly.
Graphics – Posting an image and video without proper editing on Instagram is not advisable. Instagram has filters that help in producing good images. Visually appealing images will always help to get more likes from followers.
CANVA – For photo editing, CANVA helps you to create that beautiful posts and stories for your Instagram account. CANVA helps to create custom images to promote your brand. You can create banners to post on Instagram.
Instead of hiring a full-time designer, you can easily use CANVA to display and put forth your professional brand on Instagram. Canva has multiple templates and a range of helpful features that makes it easy to create designs. Significantly most of these features are free.
InVideo – For video editing, InVideo is the best Instagram tool for easy and effective video editing. You can login to InVideo’s free online video editor and select the template matching the video you intend to edit. InVideo editor has hundreds of easily customizable templates for picking. You can add your media, soundtrack or alternatively you can also select your choice from the range of media library and moreover it is free.
Insights – Instagram as a marketing channel has enormous potential to promote and make the brand a success. The above strategies, tips will certainly give you the growth in followers on your Instagram account. You can try these strategies and then evaluate your performance on Instagram Insights. Instagram analytics or Instagram Insights is accessible on the business account.
You have to switch to Instagram Business Account to go through the Instagram Insights.
Implement the following steps to switch to Instagram Business Account for Instagram Insights –
Profile
Tap Settings
Tap Account
Tap Switch to Professional Account
Tap Business
The following video shows how to use Instagram Insights.
Create a Unique Style on Instagram – It is always strategic to be noticed in social media for brand promotion. Visuals are more penetrative and are remembered more. Instagram provides an ideal stage to display and create brand awareness. Make the best out of it by displaying images with superb captions. Get the best out of yourself, tap your inner creativity to create a unique style, to create an impact by showcasing amazing images with a super caption.
We will be glad to know which tips you tried in the comments section.