Social media is fast becoming a cornerstone for many brands, the perfect place for them to be more visible, engage with customers and potential customers, and of course, grow conversations.
Instagram encompasses this perfectly, with Instagram influencers among the most popular people on any social media platform. These influencers often get to that point through growing a large and engaged social media following.
The engaged part is critical and organic followers will interact more with a post, which is what many brands look at when seeking to work with influencers.
So, how do you grow your Instagram following and get a piece of the influencer cake?
Optimize your account
This might sound complicated, but it basically means that you need to have a bio in place, along with your profile picture and a proper user name that identifies you or your brand. This is the foundation of your brand identity.
Have a schedule for posts
If you want to grow your Instagram audience organically, post more at times that will get more engagements. Tools like Sprout Social help you schedule when your post should be sent to optimize reach and engagements, meaning it will select a time when many people are active on the platform to post it.
Be consistent with posts
Closely related to scheduling posts is how often you post them. the worst thing you can do on Instagram is to post at random times, which could make users forget they even follow you.
Have select times when you will be posting and how many posts you will do in a day. Also, don’t post too many posts in a day to avoid spamming.
Promote your Instagram page
Instagram can be linked to both Facebook and Twitter. So, to build your following on Instagram, make your account more visible outside Instagram. Link it on your Twitter bio or connect it to Facebook, which owns Instagram.
If you have a blog or website, add social media buttons on it, where readers can click and be redirected to your Instagram page.
Satisfy your followers
Post content that your followers want. I get that this may not necessarily be popular and the page is yours and is personal. But if you find your Instagram audience engaging more with a particular type of post on your page, then post that content more. If, for example, you get more likes on your food pictures than your selfies, post for food picks.
When starting out, you can even try out different content, post times, captions, filters, all these add tiny changes that could be important in the long term.
Also, keep your ears on the ground and be up to date with the latest Instagram trends.
