Master Instagram growth like a Pro: Top 5 Strategies
There are over 1 billion Instagram users, but did you know only 10% of Instagram users have more than 10k followers?
Instagram is grown more than just a photo-sharing app in these decades, and it’s a great place for anyone- influencer, marketer, brand manager to grow a following. and advice such as
- Use hashtags
- post consistently
- use geolocation
is very generic and common. who does not know posting consistently is important to attract future followers and audiences? and do you think you can attract new accounts and gain exposure from tagging Cristiano Ronaldo?
In this blog post, we would learn growth hacks that Instagram agencies use to grow their client accounts quickly. whether you have a business page, personal page, brand page, These techniques work for all for them- of course, the Instagram algorithm does not depend on if your page is personal or a brand.
#1 YOUR INSTAGRAM AESTHETIC AND FEED
What’s the first thing someone notices when they click on your page?
-yep, you know it! your theme! you do not need to overthink it, The best themes are the ones that use consistent and solid colors, including good typography, and contribute successfully to the page’s purpose. Your theme might be a deciding factor if someone chooses to follow you or not
Have you ever come across a page filled with some random selfies, dog videos, random poetry, food pics, celebrities images here and there and you have no fucking clue what’s going on? that’s exactly what we do not want to do. your page may not have similar colors, but your content should be consistent and should deliver your page’s message (overall purpose).
over here, we see consistent and solid colors, with the same typography. This is what we are talking about here.
- OPTIMIZING YOUR BIO=your bio is a very important part of your page. make sure you keep it friendly and engaging. your bio should reflect “what your page is about” “who are you in one word”, and “what you do” in a fun manner, avoiding it to be boring at any cost. you can add links and a CTR (call to action) to appear more professional.
here are some examples from which you can learn how to format and write one for yourself, again, do not overthink it and have fun trying to come up with one!
2. INSTAGRAM STORIES
stories can be used as a medium to gain exposure, you should put stories every 24 hours and use interactive stickers and polls to allow your followers to engage with you. having the “red circle” around your profile picture shows that you have been active on Instagram, and helps to attract new followers. no one likes to follow pages that appear dead whatsoever. you can use hashtags on your stories to promote them to a wider audience, but do not appear spammy!
WHAT CONTENT SHOULD WE SHARE ON STORIES?
that highly depends on your niche, but you can always share your post on the story, ask your audience questions, Make polls for them, add quizzes and use it as an opportunity to stay in touch with your followers without officially posting anything.
#2 USE FOLLOW FOR FOLLOW TILL YOU REACH 1K
There have been many debates, on this “follow for following” strategy. some people say it does not work because those who follow you only do it for a follow back, and do not engage. if that’s the case, it means there is an issue with what you are doing. see. the key is not to “follow everyone” the key is only to follow those who have already engaged with content similar to yours.
- go to your competitor’s page you are following, look for their recent post, go to the likes section and follow accounts who have engaged with their content.
- To increase the chances someone will follow you back, try leaving “thoughtful” comments and feedback on their content rather than pasting emojis.
you can stop using this strategy once you reach 2000–5000 followers, cause one of your posts can go viral.
However, if you are still under 1k follows, you should never unfollow those who have followed you back. Once you reach 10k follows (you can hit that amount in around 6 months, but that depends on your niche and strategies) you can start unfollowing those who have followed you back. by that time, people should follow you regardless of you follow them back or not because of your content.
#3 BE THE FIRST TO COMMENT ON LARGE ACCOUNTS
The reason you should comment on pages with a large following on your niche is that their audience is wider, and thousands of people consume their content. commenting on their posts as soon as they put them out, will help you to promote your page to a bigger audience, the possibility of someone clicking your page depends on the quality of your comments, so write thoughtfully rather than spamming with emojis!
You can turn on their post notifications, to get notified each time they post.
#4 COLLABORATE/WORK WITH MICRO-INFLUENCERS IN YOUR NICHE
you can work with “micro-influencers” on your niche who have a following of more than ten thousand but less than a hundred thousand.
Before reaching out to them and dropping a DM asking about rates for shoutouts/advertisements, Make sure that they are getting at least 10% engagement on their posts. for example, if someone has 10,000 followers, they should be getting at least a thousand likes to prove that they have an engaged following.
The other effective thing you can do is collaborate with them to reach their larger following. The key here is to provide their audience something 10x more valuable than what you are asking them for.
Do you have a paid ebook that you are willing to give to their followers for free if they let you post something on their page? Will you offer discounts for their followers on your products? Are you willing to give free consultations to their audience?
This can be a win-win situation for both parties. you are offering one of your services/products to their audience that will help them to get more engagement while you will gain more following.
#5 MAKE USE OF ANALYTICS TO OPTIMIZE ENGAGEMENT
Are you aware of your most well-performing piece of content? if not- it’s very easy to find out!
go to your homepage, insights, and content interactions. you will be able to find out your comments/likes and saves on each piece. after going through the data, take notice of some most occurring themes.
did a post with a long caption perform better than the ones with h short caption? did a post with your face in it get more engagement than the other ones?
after you have done the research, start producing more of what type of content is getting more engagement and shares and take notice of what is less desirable and not working.
FINAL WORDS
Instagram success does not take place overnight and you should not expect it to happen. All the 5 tricks mentioned above will increase your engagement as well as your following. Implement the above strategies right now to see significant changes in your growth as you move forward to keep providing valuable content to your followers.
and remember……..
“Knowing is not enough, you must take action”.
