How to Grow your Instagram Account

Ever since Facebook changed their policy for businesses, Instagram is the new hub for gaining visibility in the virtual world. From a local, family-run businesses to large global brands, everyone is growing their Instagram account.

There are more than 500 million active users on Instagram every day. Out of this, 80% of accounts follow at least one business. So it’s only natural that marketers want to make money off their Instagram accounts.

But for that, you first need to form a strong community of followers. You need more views on your posts, and you need to get your audience engaged. So how can you grow your Instagram fan base? We’ve got some tips to help you get started.

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1. Post Creative Content

There is no substitute for creative content. If your content is great, people are going to like and comment on your posts. Instagram is all about great visuals. So include vivid colors and frame your photos well.

Instead of just posting about your products and promoting them, you could create stories around them.

Airbnb does a great job of weaving stories in their niche. They want to promote traveling and want people to discover different cities around the world by staying with locals.

So to create curiosity among users, they posts snippets of the lives of their hosts from around the globe.

Image via Instagram

Their caption talks about the host’s interests or what sort of an experience they can provide to travelers. Along with this, they also showcase different travel destinations. They connect with users through real-life stories. So users don’t feel like they are only looking at promotional content.

2. Post at Regular Intervals

A 2017 study conducted by visual marketing tool, Tailwind, showed that consistent posting is key to growing your Instagram outreach. They analyzed over 100,000 Instagram posts for a three-month period.

The study found out that the social media handles who posted more often saw a significant increase in engagement rate. Additionally, their follower growth rates also increased.

Image via Tailwind

So it’s a good idea to post at least once every day on your Instagram account. Do not expect results right away; you will have to be patient.

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3. Use the Right Hashtags

The purpose of hashtags is to reach out to an audience that isn’t following you. It’s important to use the right hashtags if you want to get noticed by the right crowd.

Let’s say you’re creating content related to a FIFA match, you shouldn’t just use #football because the term is too broad. Instead, use #FIFA, #FIFA2018, #FIFAWorldCup or #FIFAWorldCup2018.

Specifically for events, try to use variations of the same term. These hashtags are generally trending and everyone is searching for posts related to them. So you have a great opportunity to cash in on the opportunity.

Before using a hashtag, also check out the search volume for it. You risk getting lost in the flurry of posts if your hashtags have search volumes that go into the millions. Also, analyze which hashtags are giving your posts more engagement, and try to use them more often.

Image via SproutSocial

Instagram allows usage of upto 30 hashtags in one post, but it is advisable to use only nine per post. SproutSocial found in a study that posts with nine hashtags got the highest engagement rates.

The exact number of hashtags to be used has often divided digital marketers. But everyone agrees that overusing hashtags isn’t a good strategy.

4. Encourage Your Followers to Create Content

Posting consistently can leave you dry with content ideas if you haven’t planned it well in advance. But even if that is the case, you can use it to your advantage.

Instead of giving your audience content to consume, get them involved in the content creation process. Your followers’ content can help you grow your Instagram account.

Encourage your followers to create videos, photos, and GIFs with your products. Create a branded hashtag that can showcase all user-generated content for your brand.

This way you are increasing your brand awareness and also getting more content. This is a smart way to get your followers to become advertisers for you too.

Buffer’s Instagram account saw an incredible growth of 400% by using user-generated content. They posted relevant photos that their followers had clicked along with their Instagram handles.

Image via Instagram

This shifts the focus from the brand onto the followers, which actually encourages users to post more for the brand...

Read the full post on Shane Barker's Influencer Marketing blog.