Wondering how to get 100K followers on Instagram? Follow this easy guide to grow your Instagram engagements by a lot in a year.
Instagram is one of the best social media platforms to heavily implement in a social media marketing campaign. Especially as an advertising and promotional tool. However, to get to your target audience and beyond, you need to generate lots of followers. Which takes time and effort. The result is definitely worth it though. If you manage to get big on Instagram not only will you make profit but the sponsors will start flocking in as well.
The question is: how do you get lots of followers on Instagram? First of all, what does “a lot” mean? Given the Instagram algorithm that would be 100K followers within a year. Might sound unrealistic, but there are a variety of effective strategies (some of which won’t even cost you anything) you can implement in your Instagram growth campaign. Let’s look at them closely.
Creating an Account
And this step is not about signing up on the platform and uploading a picture. You have to do this according to what your end goal is. Do you want to become an influencer of sorts? Or do you want to do it to grow your business? If the latter is the answer you need to create a business account.
Some things that you should take into consideration is that you shouldn’t operate business accounts the same way you would operate a personal one. Meaning, frequently uploading personal pictures and selfies, for instance. You CAN post a picture of yourself of course. It could be with an important collaborator, staff or from a conference. You get the idea.
The same way, bio and information you provide on your profile should be different from a personal account. List down your company name, main concepts and relevant links. For the rest, like product and customer reviews, upcoming schedules and events, giveaways or holiday sales, announcements and participation in important events, use other features. We will get into this in more detail in an instant.
Branding
Creating an account you want to grow is directly connected to branding. Every single detail on your feed is in fact a part of the branding strategy. For example, a company account should try to incorporate company colors as much as possible. This way, followers and visitors will start to associate the color with your brand.
One smart tip here is to change up the palette in accordance to the particular product you are trying to promote at a given time. Let’s say, Coca Cola came out with a lime cola because of the World Cup taking place in Brazil (look up the Brazil flag, you will get it). Their brand colors are red and white, everybody knows it. But the smart thing to do, would be to start posting in lime green and yellow. To promote the particular product that is relevant to the broader concept. A bit of situational marketing going on here.
Another great way to enhance your branding strategy is to have your social media manager make a template for each post. Meaning, what will the caption look like, certain emojis they can add at the end of every new post, particular hashtags, maybe a company slogan. Such things make people remember you.
If you take care of your account and adjust it according to your plan, you will definitely get the initial follow base. Now let’s move onto some actionable things you can do to increase the following.
Regular Updates
If you have been on any social media, you would know. Each new post brings some kind of engagement. A tweet with zero retweets or likes might have been viewed more than 1000 times with 50 people visiting your profile. Obviously, there’s a chance some of them will follow. It’s even easier on Instagram. Especially for business and influencer accounts.
Is your content interesting or relevant to someone? 90% chance they will follow. Just know how to present yourself (see everything discussed above). And having to see your latest update being a week ago will not leave a good first impression. They will think you are inactive.
This is not to say you have to post a picture or a video 2-3 times daily. If you do, good for you and your business. However, for startups 2-3 daily posts is a necessity. You have to get somewhere, you have to offer people visiting your account at least something. Rarely anyone wants to follow an unknown account with only ten pictures.
Regular updates on Instagram can take the shape of a Story, Reel and Live. Out of this, Story is where you should focus first. One thing about Story is that it disappears after some time so it’s not overbearing. It’s also the quickest way to check out what everyone is doing. The absolute majority of Instagram users check Stories even if they don’t scroll through their timeline.
Story
Use Story for announcements. Especially those that users think will benefit them. Giveaways, for instance, or sales. Maybe an opportunity for a collaboration for creatives. Don’t forget to post the full experience. Post when the winner is announced and when they receive the prize. Ask them for feedback and post that too. Pin customer reviews at the top of your account and archive them. Regularly add new ones.
Video Content
Reeles, videos and lives are another great features using which you can attract more followers. Go live once or twice a week but make sure you have something useful to say to your viewers. Interact with them and answer their questions.
Lives are especially useful after a big announcement as you can engage with your future buyers. Through them you get the idea of what the post launch experience is going to be like. In addition, it’s a good way to create even more buzz.
Tagging
Hashtags and geotags are basically the top two ways to get more followers on Instagram. Bear in mind that you can’t skip over local audiences and jump straight into the global market. Focus on building local authority first and expansion will automatically happen little by little.
For starters, tag every post. This way your business shows up on the most recent posts feed when users type in keywords that you used in your tags in the search bar. So however you tag your posts should be relevant to your niche. And keep it short. Nobody searches for log tail keywords on Instagram, this is not Google.
As you grow and establish your brand you can stop tagging. Or stop using multiple tags. It just looks more aesthetically pleasing when the caption is short and not heavily tagged. You need the tags though. So one smart way to keep things clean but don’t lose the benefits tags give you is to post them in the comments. Lots of businesses and influencers do this.
Follow for follow
One of the oldest ways used on social media to gain followers. This is, however, an unprofessional one. So if you decide to use it, only do this in the beginning of starting your business account. And you can do this through direct messages. Maybe do it with relevant accounts (your competitors or influential people and those interested in or working in your niche).
Be aware though. There are lots of influencers who do follow for follow but they unfollow once you complete the mutual. Track such people and immediately remove them from your following. You should track your follower count in any case by the way. Use Instagram analytics or similar free digital tools to do so.
Following everyone who follows you is another way to increase your follower count. Anyone would agree that this too, just like F4F doesn’t “look” professional. Imagine if ZARA, for example, had as many followings as followers. So stop doing it once you reach a certain number. The ratio of 1K to 100K doesn’t look bad.
Content
Of course the key to gaining Instagram followers at all is your content. You may be offering the most useful product in existence. But nobody will look at it twice if you don’t know how to present it in an attractive way. This is especially true for visual social media, like Instagram. It’s all about visuals here. Make sure you get them right.
If you are a startup on a tight budget, or you simply can’t afford to hire a professional at some point, make sure to do your best with what you have. Great equipment and editing tools give better results. But a good quality smartphone could work too. The picture resolution should be of high quality. Clear images (unless you are going for a blurry aesthetic for a particular campaign) are important.
The same way, if your Lives can’t be heard because your mic doesn’t work as it should, you will likely lose already existing followers. You should look and sound professional when operating a business account. Doesn’t mean it should be no fun. The quality of everything you post needs to be high. That’s literally it.
As for the information you provide under your posts or in your Stories, make sure it’s precise and to the point. Guaranteed people will still ask questions, but if you put relevant info in your captions or comments, even if you don’t reply to everyone, you won’t be the one to blame. They will most likely scroll up and find what they need anyways.
Bonus Tip:
In short, offer your followers and visitors interesting, well put together content. Post BTS of a product development to show how much work goes into creating something. People love seeing what goes behind the scenes and it will also make them appreciate the product more.
One more thing, if you are a startup business account posting your products, indicate prices in product information. Tons of customers have complained about the absence of prices. The majority of Instagram users say that “DM for a price” makes them lose interest.
Photo by Ashkan Forouzani
Collaborations
Establishing yourself on any social media platform means forming “digital” relationships. One, it’s with your followers or potential followers. Two, it’s with your competitors and those that can help you promote your business.
You need to literally link up with household names in the field you operate in. This will be difficult given they are probably somewhat of a celebrity. So before you do it, it’s better to wait until you have grown to a considerable amount. There will likely be lots of new, interesting names you can use as a startup. Just make sure the collaboration creates something unique and useful.
Reach out to important accounts (people) through DMs or emails if they have it provided in their bio. If they agree to collaborate with you, post the entire journey. Imagine someone with tens of thousands of followers promoting your product and working with you. Each post with them will give you lots of engagements from THEIR audience as well as yours.
Timing
One last thing we are going to discuss here is the time of posting and engaging with your followers. A simple rule to follow: observe and determine when the majority of your followers are active. Then post at that time. If it somehow inconveniences you, schedule your posts beforehand. In fact, you should be doing this in any case.
Lunch breaks and evenings are the most optimal time to update your account. The majority is relaxing and probably on their phone checking social media. Post more regularly during national holidays and especially during holiday seasons. Everyone is looking for gifts so the demand for your product, whatever it may be, will definitely increase.
Conclusion
Gaining 100K followers on Instagram might sound impossible. Especially when you’ve been on the platform for some time and are aware of how difficult the follower growth process is. But through implementing the above discussed methods into your strategy, you will definitely increase your follower count.