Taking advantage of your Instagram account to gain followers
Posted by Andres Aguerrevere on
Growing the number of followers in Instagram can bring hundreds of benefits for businesses. Through the app, there is a myriad of forms to interact and engage both loyal customers and potential clients.
Have you an idea of how much users are active in the app each day? According to DMR, on average, 500 million users spend a percentage of their time scrolling in this popular social media; this huge number makes Instagram an incredible place to advertise and gain followers.
With around 800 million active users each month, Instagram is one of the most popular sites on the Internet. People are able to use both in computers and mobile devices which makes it even more reachable.
In addition, new features are constantly being added which creates a perfect space for interaction, innovation and, of course, sales.
What we have for sure is that Instagram is much more than a place to upload images and comment other’s photos. Instagram is, in fact, an app wherein both previous images and real-time content can be shared.
There is a feed of images and videos, there is an option to transmit streaming videos and there is also the chance to record short videos that last 24 hours in the feed before disappearing. All these features are accompanied by filters, stickers and much more.
To sum up, Instagram is such a place wherein people can spend lots of time without getting bored and that is an important thing brands have to take and make a profit from it. Moreover, growing the number of followers on Instagram takes time and dedication.
In order to have a good number of followers in this giant social media, there are several activities every entrepreneur needs to do; this task is not impossible to do, anyone can do it but, it will take time, money and effort from you.
Moreover, when asking yourself how to get more followers on Instagram, there is always an expert willing to help you to boost your business to the next level; putting your Instagram account in hands of a professional will be always a smart idea. On the other hand, once the profile is created, it is time to start working on it.
Developing a profile on Instagram is completely free, the app does not ask for any payment in order to sign up which means anyone can do it, but the best option for brands is to create a business profile.
Setting up your business profile
Having a traditional profile is okay but, having a business profile will bring the brand much more benefits. It is pretty simple to do so we actually cannot see a reason not to do it.
To switch to a business profile, the person just needs to go to the setting section and pick the option of Business Profile. Among the advantages a business profile has, we can find:
- There is a contact button; users can get to you easier just like in a website. There it is possible to put an email address, external links, contact number, etc.
- Sponsored Ads: in this mode, brands are allowed to create sponsored or paid Advertising without needing other tools such as Facebook Ads Tools.
- Easy to measure: Instagram also includes a section for brands to measure their statistics. Using those tools to track the metrics is a smart form to see how much the account is growing or decreasing.
Using high-quality images
Images are the main attraction in this platform, using images and videos are the best and barely the only ones to succeed on Instagram but, there are certain things to have in mind when posting pictures and images.
First of all, they have to be strictly related to the brand. Posting cats and donuts, just because they are cute, in an Instagram account dedicated to a clothing brand sounds a bit out of logic. Having clear topics is extremely important.
On the other hand, the images you are planning to post must be high-quality ones. Blurry pictures, those who look like taken with an old phone camera may not work as well as an edited and optimized image will do.
Luckily for entrepreneurs, there are experts that dedicate their time to optimize other’s images. Improving the quality of your Instagram images will help to bring your account to the next level.
In addition, Instagram offers some other tools such as filters, and stickers; they can work for you, it will all depend on the target market but, a wise advice: do not abuse from filters, and emojis.
A great photo needs a good caption
Even though Instagram is a platform that completely focuses on visual things like images, GIF’s and videos, words have their space in there too.
Captions can be right under the image and, it is true this space was determined to add a short description of the image but, people tend to write down almost any type of texts there.
Inside this huge universe of possible captions for Instagram’s posts, there is a type that has gained considerable ground: quotes. Quotes used in captions are very useful to get more likes.
Moreover, using the correct quote is not as simple as picking one randomly and writing it down. The success or fail of the quote depends on several factors: audience, relevance, topic, etc.
In order to select the most suitable one, do your research; look after popular topics related to your target market and choose from:
- Motivation quotes.
- Inspirational quotes.
- Funny quotes.
- Influencers quotes.
- Self-created quotes.
Live Streaming is perfect to interact
They are a great opportunity to share with viewers the human face of the brand. As they are shown in real time, there is no need of expensive production or fancy scenarios.
Actually, live streaming videos are very versatile, they can work really well for many different types of brands. For instance, backstage for concerts, fashion runways or product launchings.
From behind the scenes to daily activities, live streaming is good to engage people, to give them extra information about the brand and include customers in the brand’s activities. Also, it is possible to do exposition and tutorials through streaming, which is incredibly important for content marketing.
In addition, these type of videos are useful to get in contact with clients, and also to have an average number of the people who see your content. On the other hand, Instagram counts with an option wherein streaming can stay there for 24 hrs so people who were not able to watch it in real time has the chance to do it later.
Boost your views with stories
While the feed is for those images and videos you want to stay there forever, the stories tool shows a more spontaneous side of the brand. In there, it is possible to show those things that look more relaxed or those that need special attention from viewers.
Moreover, Instagram Stories are versatile to perform different types of activities:
- Showing what is the brand doing, include employees and real processes.
- Asking for opinions, with the poll tool, is possible to include viewers into decisions. They can be small but, they are very helpful, the brand gets real opinions and the audience feels taken into account.
- Including tags, using them is very clever to be part of the trends or create yours. Also, using geotags helps to create niches and reach other locations too.
- Another incredible way to use Instagram stories is to show fans photos and this place is the perfect one; they will not last forever but they are enough time online to be seen.
Paid Ads are your allies
Just like occurs in other social networks, it is possible to pay in order to have an Ad being shown in users feed. However, once again, this app is all about images and videos, so this is the type of advertising any brand can have in here.
There are three manners of Ads on Instagram: Photo Ads (just one or carousel collage), and Video Ads. Also, the advertisement can be posted in the feed or in the stories.
By using this paid Ads, the range of people that can see your posts grows enormously. With traditional -free- posts, only those users that follow your account will see the post while sponsored ads are shown to people no matter if they are your followers or not.
With this technique, it is possible to call people to action, create awareness about the brand, invite them to follow you which means the number of followers will grow considerably. In here, it is smart to create campaigns related to emotions and sensations in order to create engagement.
Partner up with other brands and influencers
Influencers are trendy in these days and they are for good reasons; having influencers showing that they follow you, they know about you, use and love your products every single day of their lives is by far one of the best advertisements a brand can have.
In addition, both other brands and influencers may have thousands of followers, and a big number of them may not follow you, which means that they will probably start following you by knowing about the brand through others.
On the other hand, influencers are the perfect combination to match with live streaming; one of them showing all the wonders he is able to do with your products is a great form to sell.
Keep in mind that this partner up can be very beneficial; actually, some of them will not include money, you can exchange products or recommendations so you help each other to grow.
What not to forget
There you have, all the main Instagram growth hacks have been said but here we have some other tricks up the sleeve to help you grow your Instagram followers and having the fortune of enjoying all the benefits they bring.
In our Instagram Growth Services, we take care of every single detail in order to offer the most efficient service we can; having an expert doing the hard job for you so you can focus on other matters and gain Instagram followers effortless.
Perfect timing for posting
It is crucial to study at what time the target market is active in the app; knowing it and is possible to post the photos and stories to have more reach among the followers.
Going local
Creating niches in specific locations, using geotags and keywords to attract people based on their location.
Interaction
Giving love back, answering comments, publishing happy customers photos, and so on. For users, the more they know about a brand, the more in touch they feel, the more confident they react about the brand.
Hashtags
These words are perfect to reach people, and Instagram developers know it. Hashtags are important but knowing how to use them is even more; creating yours to share with your followers or use the most trendy ones without abusing.
Reward your followers
Nothing catches more attention than giveaways, people will run to follow you for the chance of winning something from you.
Instagram insights
Using all the tools the app offers in order to measure the growth of the account. These tools are completely helpful to get to know better your audience and how they behave about your posts.
Instagram is such a great place, inside the 800 million users we can find almost everything; for brands, they have for granted they can find their target market there. Also, Instagram is not a new app but its popularity has not decreased at all.
Even after the huge scandal where the app owner Mark Zuckerberg was involved, the reputation of Instagram was not strongly affected. Actually, Instagram seems to be taking advantage of the moment with the announcements of new updates.
If looking for a place to show the world what the brand has to offer, increase sales, generate traffic, interact with users, reach some others, etc. Instagram is without any doubts a wonderful place to grow.
