Gaining followers on Instagram is the crux of the matter. We try to be original, we fight for influencers to like us, we look for the best photo… However, sometimes it’s more a question of luck and a post going viral than of working daily on engagement and defining the profile’s style. However, it is not true that we should leave everything to chance. We are going to show you that there are essential tricks to gain followers on Instagram.
It’s no secret. We all know that you can make money on Instagram, hence the word “influencer”, people with the power of persuasion and who are able to influence others, either consciously or unconsciously. In one way or another, all Instagram users want to have that power of influence.
The statistics of this social network are overwhelming. According to the latest data, Instagram has around one billion users. The figure is outrageous. Even more so if we tell you that this is more than a tenth of the world’s population.
Therefore, it is normal that brands, nowadays, rely on hundreds, thousands of influencers, to bring their products to a new audience, or to their usual target. There is no better showcase than the most influential creators of a network that brings together a billion people.
In reality, making money with this social network is directly related to the number of followers. At least in the eyes of the gallery, as some of the least recommendable options are buying followers, which Instagram is already beginning to penalise.
Therefore, the best thing to do is to follow honest practices that cause your followers to increase thanks to your work, to what you show on your account. Here are a few tips that will help you to increase the number of followers.
1. Clearly define your message
What is clear is that the worst thing you can do on Instagram if you want to be influential is to post for the sake of posting. Defining our message for the social network is primordial, essential and basic. We can’t imply that we’re going to talk about cats and post content about travel or fashion. Because this would penalise us deeply. We run the risk of losing a large number of followers if we do that.
This is why defining what we want to communicate is very important to take our Instagram account seriously and start posting content in line with our message to achieve our goal: gaining followers.
2. Interact with similar accounts
Followers don’t come on their own unless you are a well-known public figure. So you have no choice but to go out and find them. One of the most recommended and most used methods is to comment on posts from accounts similar to yours, follow them and chat with them.
This will arouse the curiosity of many followers of the account we have commented on, increase our visibility, and reach those who otherwise would not have known about us. We cannot forget that Instagram is a social network and socialising is one of the keys to this tool.
3. Switch to “Creator Account”.
Having a creator account on Instagram will help us gain more followers, as it has certain tools focused on influencers or to interact more dynamically with the community we are creating.
The creator account, although it may seem so, is not exclusive. Access to it is open to all users of the social network, regardless of the number of followers they have. Basically, it is just a normal public account, but it has certain details that make day-to-day management easier. The perfect tool if you want to grow and, incidentally, earn a little money with your publications.
4. Share your published content on other social networks
Creating on Instagram doesn’t have to mean staying exclusively on Instagram. Sharing the content that you consider most interesting or that you want to reach more people on other social networks is an option that usually gives very good results.
It is likely that you have followers on Facebook, for example, who do not know your Instagram account, or that your content may reach a person on Twitter who finds it interesting as a result of a recommendation. Don’t forget the other networks. They can be very important in the organic growth of your account.
5. Use the right emojis (and don’t abuse them)
Emojis are sometimes a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it is true that they generate greater emotionality, that they manage to provoke emotions such as tenderness or a sense of humour in a very effective way.
But, on the other hand, there are some Instagram accounts that abuse them. And this is by no means a good option. Our written content should be based on traditional language and complemented by emojis.
Oh, and another thing. Be careful with spelling mistakes. Many followers don’t accept that you mistreat your language and, even if they like what you say, they may abandon your account if you make spelling mistakes.
6. The power of hashtags
The pioneer of hashtags is Twitter, but on Instagram, using good hashtags or key hashtags separates us from having more or fewer views, and there is a fine line between having a certain number of likes on Instagram.
In fact, there is a secret/trick that very few people know, and that is that you can camouflage tags and hashtags in Instagram stories. It’s an option that usually gives very good results.
Stay away from “#Follow4Follow” hashtags, as it’s not a good strategy to go around begging people to follow you.
It is important to use hashtags that are actually related to your photo or video. Although it may seem otherwise, betting on hashtags with millions of followers is hardly going to give you visibility, it will be a waste of time that will not lead you to anything. Use descriptive hashtags, but don’t abuse them. According to studies, the ideal number of hashtags per post should be between 3 and 5.
7. Only real followers
In social networks, there is something really important, and even more so on Twitter and Instagram, and that is engagement, that is, the interaction we get with our publications.
Why do we say this? Because, if the followers we gain are real, they interact with us, they will like us, post comments, respond to our stories, share our content, etc. However, if we choose to buy followers, comments, likes, etc. our engagement will be very low or non-existent. In a way, this purchase is nothing more than a lie. And honesty must be the key to our account’s growth.
At the end of the day, what a brand is looking for is to build loyalty, and if we want to professionalise our Instagram profile and gain followers, then we must avoid such stale strategies as following so that they follow you.
In order to earn money with Instagram, it is also important to show brands our level of engagement, the number of followers, the average number of likes per post, etc. One thing to bear in mind is that if we have a lot of followers, but they don’t comment, our profile will be suspect. And the value that we show in ourselves is the absolute key to them buying our creations.
8. Homework for home
When we are starting to gain followers, it is important to leave some breadcrumbs. That is to say, we can play with our audience and give them riddles, give them an image with a sandwich for them to fill in in the comments, give them a riddle, for example, ask them to guess which city we are going on a trip to, ask them to help us name our adopted puppy or kitten, etc.
It is important that our followers feel that they are also part of our account, that they contribute content, that their opinions and knowledge are recognised. Surveys and these games that we were telling you about can help them to visit us more often and draw the attention of people around them to us.
9. Always try to surpass ourselves
It’s a lot of pressure, we know, but if we are accustoming our audience to a specific profile, for example, a very careful profile, with edited photos, or an Instagram profile where we show our work, the day to day life of a family, exercise routines, positive phrases, art, etc, we must always keep ourselves in that line and upload better content every day.
The competition on Instagram is extraordinary and it is normal that the moment we lower the quality or change the subject, we can lose engagement, followers and credibility. Or simply, as is often the case, our followers may choose another account, forget about us, and we’ll be left with our noses to the grindstone.
10. Take care of every detail of the images
Quality is the key to any creative activity. And so is an Instagram account. No one is unaware that the fundamental part of the publications, the one that makes us stop at one and not another, are the images. That’s why we have to make an excellent treatment of them so that they shine for their quality.
If you follow these two tips, we are sure that the photographs you publish will be much more shared by your followers.
Give texture to your images: Figures show that photos that have a defined texture get up to 80% more likes than those that do not.
Light and bright photos: If your image is dark if the details are not visible, it is possible that it will go unnoticed. Don’t upload photos for the sake of uploading. Only add images to your profile that you can be proud of and that offer value to your account.
11. Location
Yes, we know that we always criticise location permissions and encourage not to leave them active, but in this case, using location in our publications helps us to interact with local content.
Everyone tends to find more interesting what is closer to them, what they know, what they can see with their own eyes. Content that is close in space can bring you followers, who don’t know you and who are close to you, and that makes them feel more likely to interact with you.
12. Direct on Instagram
It is crucial for our growth on Instagram that when we have a mass of followers we go live every few weeks or every few days.
We have to bear in mind that people are interested in knowing who is behind the account and in dealing with topics of interest to our followers, such as the app we use for editing, what city we live in, what we have studied, what countries we have travelled to, etc.
However, it’s best not to go into topics that could be very controversial such as politics, religion, etc. You will probably get a few new followers, but many more will leave your side, either because they feel uncomfortable or because they disagree with you.
13. Posting times and days
With practice, we are seeing at what times we receive the most interactions on our Instagram profile. Posting times vary depending on the subject matter, but it has been proven that lunchtime and late afternoon tend to get a lot of likes in just a few minutes.
In fact, experts say the best times are 7am to 9am, 1pm to 4pm and 7pm to 11pm. And the best days of the week to post are Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. Although in this, as in almost everything in social networks, there are opinions to suit all tastes.
But as we say, it also depends on the day (whether it is a working day or a holiday), our audience, the subject of our content (photos of food at 2 pm are not the same as videos of pets and puppies at 6 pm), whether it is a video or a photo, etc. We can draw our own conclusions by looking at the statistics of our Instagram account.
It is clear that we all want our creations on Instagram to have an impact, that our efforts are rewarded in this way. To achieve this, we have to try to reach as many people as possible. If you follow these 13 tips to increase your Instagram followers, it is more than likely that you will see your number of followers increase progressively.