Introduction
We have all been there, anxiously examining your stagnant Instagram follower count trying to figure out where you are all going wrong! Well, fear not as many finds themselves in this predicament, constantly gaining an extra few followers, just to find them gone 3 days later. The fact of the matter is that Instagram growth is not as simple as it used to be as it is was a year or two ago. Instagram now has over 1 billion active monthly users, increasing competition and making it almost impossible to stand out from the crowd to attract fresh waves of followers.
In this blog, the team here at Umi are going to let you into every secret that we have come across while working in the social media sector, helping you to reach your social media goals! If you have any questions regarding the following blog, be sure to get in touch with the team who will be more then happy to have a chat!
Who are you targetting?
The first step that any business will have to consider when trying to increase their follower count is to ensure you have a clear goal of what you want to offer your followers, from dog-related content to french doors, it is crucial you understand exactly what you will be offering your followers. Once you have figured out what your Instagram “USP” can be while outlining exactly what you are looking to promote it will make the process of gaining Instagram followers much easier and faster, as you will be able to target a small niche who will be more likely to interact with your Instagram profile.
Complete Your Instagram Profile
One of the easiest ways to attract new followers is to ensure your profile as a whole is looking as professional as possible, as us, humans are fickle by nature and will often decide in seconds whether to follow a page or not without taking any attention to the Instagram page or content. This is where ensuring your overall profile aesthetics are at a certain standard can deem extremely useful! Add a funky bio explaining what you can offer your users, with an array of different emoji and links!
Using Hashtags & location tags
While posting content onto Instagram it is very important to remember the power of hashtags and the potential reach that they can provide, remaining as one of the most effective means to receive more engagement from users. Any post with at least one hashtag on average receives 13% more engagement than one that doesn’t! As hashtags work by organizing photos and videos to the certain topics listed, pre-chosen by users. Simply placing some hashtags at the end of your Instagram post or story can see the total number of engagements rise hugely, helping to attract more profile visits.
Paid Advertising
One of the more direct means of obtaining more Instagram followers is to invest some time and money into the benefits of paid advertising, or as it is more commonly known “Promoting”, where users can place a certain budget behind a picture to help increase its overall reach. This can be great for hosting small giveaways or promoting a flash sale summer deal, helping to increase the brands overall reach and reputation.
Posting Times?
Although it may sound slightly silly and pointless, the times of your Instagram posts can have a large knock-on effect on the overall performance, from the number of engagements to the total number of likes. A great time to discover the best times to post on Instagram is to check out your Instagram pages “optimization section”, this is where you will be able to view all of the best times for you to post your posts.