8 of the Best Ways to Get More Instagram Followers

Instagram is one of the biggest social media platforms. According to Statista, there were about 1.13 billion monthly active users on the social media platform in 2021.

To easily get tens of thousands or more prospects and customers for your business, you must have a strong presence on Instagram. And in particular Instagram Stories.

Image via Statista

As a result, more businesses are using the Instagram app in their marketing strategy. A recent survey by eMarketer showed that about 75.3% of businesses in the United States are expected to use Instagram.

This means that if you are yet to start using Instagram, you’re behind the social media curve.

Image via eMarketer

To help you get started on the right foot and gain followers fast on Instagram, I’ve put together this post for you.

Strategies That Can Help You Get More Instagram Followers

I’ll show you 8 amazing strategies that you can use to get more followers on your Instagram account for your business.

1. Use Hashtags Strategically

One of the best ways to get more Instagram followers is through the use of hashtags. By using the right hashtags on your Instagram posts and Instagram Stories, you’ll be able to reach more people.

And more importantly, you will find people who are interested in the content you’re posting.

To get started with this, use hashtags related to what your brand does in your Instagram bio.

To achieve better results and get more followers on Instagram, you can conduct hashtag research to find the best hashtags in your industry.

This can be done by using hashtag generator tools.

However, to get more followers on Instagram, you shouldn’t use frivolous hashtags such as #followforfollow #likeforfollow or #likeforlike.

Using them will only make your brand appear spammy and desperate.

Always make sure that you use hashtags only when it makes sense. That way, your brand will be seen as real and more people will engage with it in the long run.

2. Create a Great Instagram Bio and Profile

The first thing that people see when they search for your brand on Instagram is your bio. In order to get more Instagram followers, you need to create an attractive bio.

The goal is to capture the attention of the users. This will prompt them to check out your Instagram profile even further and many of them may end up following you.

Recent research by Instagram showed that over 200 million users on Instagram take a look at business accounts every day. In fact, two-thirds of these profile visits are from non-followers.

What this means is that having a convincing profile will help you get more followers on Instagram.

Here are some steps to create a stellar Instagram profile.

• Step 1: Create a username that is memorable and recognizable. Make sure that this username portrays what your brand does. Your username can also be your brand name.
• Step 2: Enter your business name. This is the name that will appear under your profile picture and username when people search for you on Instagram
• Step 3: Add your website to the bio. This is the only place on Instagram aside from the CTAs in your Instagram ads and Instagram Stories that you can include a clickable link.
• Step 4: Choose a profile picture that represents your brand. Ideally, it should be your brand’s logo. This can help in improving brand recall too.
• Step 5: Fill your bio with useful and valuable information about your brand. The bio should tell your potential followers who you are, what you do, and why they should follow you.

3. Join Instagram Engagement Groups

Instagram engagement groups are becoming increasingly popular these days. While this might look like a short-term strategy mostly used by newbies, it’s still worth trying out to get more followers on Instagram.

By joining these engagement groups, you can increase your reach, boost your engagement, and also get more Instagram followers in the process.

In order to get started, all you need to do is find these engagement groups on Facebook, Telegram, and WhatsApp.

After joining these groups, make sure that you read through the group’s guidelines and follow them accordingly.

In groups such as these, you’ll be able to get likes and gain more followers from other members who are interested in what you do.

To get better results, you should also reciprocate by liking, engaging, and commenting on other members’ posts. Also, try as much as possible to join engagement groups related to your brand.

However, pods may not be very helpful for long-term growth so you should have a more concrete strategy to grow your brand.

4. Publish Content Consistently

If you want to get more followers on Instagram fast, then you should prioritize creating and posting valuable content regularly.

The reason is simple.

There are a lot of businesses out there looking to gain the attention of your target audience on Instagram.

So, if you don’t publish some kind of Instagram post consistently, you’re giving your competitors the opportunity to outshine you.

They may end up hogging all the limelight and might end up getting the attention of a majority of your target audience.

However, when you publish content consistently, you’ll not only get more Instagram followers, but you’ll also remain relevant.

One of the strategies that you can use to achieve this is to have an Instagram content calendar. That way, you’ll have an Instagram post schedule that you follow religiously.

When you schedule Instagram posts consistently, you’ll build lasting relationships with your audience.

Not only that, they’ll be happy to tell others about your brand, hence helping you to get more followers on Instagram.

To make this process even simpler, you can use social media scheduling tools such as Buffer and Hootsuite.

This will enable you to post content around the clock without having to monitor it continuously.

5. Cross-Promote Your Posts On Other Social Media Platforms

As a business owner, chances are that you are active on other platforms apart from Instagram. If that’s the case, you can leverage those platforms to get more Instagram followers.

Many of your followers on other social media sites may not know that you have an account on Instagram too.

To get more followers on Instagram, you need to take your promotion efforts outside of Instagram too.

A great way of doing this is by cross-promoting your Instagram content on other social media marketing channels, such as your website, blog post, email list, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

When you do this, you’ll be able to push your audience from these social media networks to become your followers on Instagram.

This is easier to achieve as they already trust your brand and will happily follow you on another social media channel.

Some of the ways through which you can cross-promote your Instagram posts on other channels are:

• Integrate your Instagram feed into your website using a plugin
• Include a link to your Instagram profile at the end of your emails
• Show a glimpse of your Instagram posts in your YouTube videos
• Post your Instagram content on other platforms and include a CTA to follow your Instagram account at the end of it.

I love the way the Schaeffler Group utilized this strategy. When they launched their Instagram account, they leveraged their large following of more than 100,000 on LinkedIn.

They used the same strategy on their Facebook account as well.

Image via Facebook

6. Collaborate With Other Brands on Instagram

There will be numerous brands on Instagram that have similar goals as you do.

By collaborating with these brands, you’ll be able to get access to their audiences and that, in turn, can help you get more engagement and followers.

This strategy is effective because it instantly builds brand trust. When people see a trusted brand recommend another brand, they’ll start trusting the other brand as well.

Not only that, you don’t need to spend a lot of money or resources to get started with this strategy.

All you need to do is look for a brand that has a vision similar to yours and is beneficial for your audience too.

For instance, the popular ecommerce store, Bando, recently collaborated with Starbucks to create awesome cups for the season.

This collaboration led to the creation of the hashtag “#bandoxstarbucks” which currently has over 1500 posts.

This helped both brands generate buzz on Instagram.

Image via Instagram

7. Interact With Other Users on a Regular Basis

One of the best approaches you can use to get more Instagram followers is to treat it like a community. You need to start looking for users and brands who are sharing quality content in your niche.

You should then like their pictures, follow their accounts, and also interact with them by commenting on their content.

The more you do this, the more you’ll draw attention to your business, and also increase your follower count in the process.

There are good chances that those users or brands will end up following you. And even if they don’t, others who notice your brand may start following you.

Also, when you follow anyone, their recent posts will always appear in your feed. That way, you have more opportunities to interact with their content.

Yet another important thing to keep in mind is to engage with your followers. You should reply to their comments and even respond to their messages.

This will help you build a good rapport with them and they may even recommend your brand in their circles.

8. Host Contests and Giveaways

One of the most effective ways of getting more Instagram followers is that of hosting contests and giveaways. Everyone loves winning prizes and getting free stuff, especially if the prize is valuable.

To get started with this, you can publish a post on your Instagram account or as an Instagram Story to announce the contest.

You can ask Instagram users to follow your account, like your post, and comment on it in order to be eligible to win in the contest.

Alternatively, you could ask them to visit your website and fill out a form there or ask them to tag their friends.

You can also come up with a branded hashtag that they can use with their content. When they do so, you’ll get access to loads of authentic posts that you can share on your Instagram account.

This, in turn, can increase your reach even further and help you get more Instagram followers.

Also, you can partner with another brand or influencer for the contest and ask those who participate to follow both accounts.

Now It’s Your Turn to Get More Instagram Followers!

As Instagram continues to become more crowded, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to get more followers on the platform.

This is because Instagram users now have a lot of options and many brands are competing for the same audience.

You should leverage hashtags, create high-quality content, publish consistently, and collaborate with other brands to grow your reach.

Additionally, you can cross-promote your posts on other marketing channels, host contests, and engage with your followers to get more Instagram followers.

Are there other strategies you use to get more followers on Instagram? Let me know in the comments below.