1. Focus on quality (followers)
Table of Contents
Why do people buy followers? A teenager with some money can buy them to appear more popular. They don’t know how to grow Instagram followers naturally. But they want to reap the rewards perceived by popularity. Companies buy followers for the same reason, although the end goal is likely to be different.
They understand that having a lot of followers can really attract more followers because you look “popular”. People turn to buy followers when they don’t know how to grow their Instagram followers organically. Or they don’t try.
Buying a few initial followers may make sense at the moment. But it’s?
It looks like you’re “buying” an audience of people who can appreciate your work. But is this really what you are getting?
Social media software company Hootsuite decided to put this theory to the test. They wanted to know for themselves. What is the difference between a “bought” follower and an organic follower?
What they did
First, they created a fictitious account. They needed to see it in the same way that many companies do. You are growing followers from scratch. They needed to imitate that. Having his name respected and associated with him would be a flaw in the study.
They then explored the options. They found sites that sell 100 followers for just $ 3. But other sites were selling followers for up to $ 1,000. For the test, they decided to buy a package somewhere in the middle to make sure they weren’t just getting a bargain product because they paid a bargain price.
The company presented itself as a reputable company with reviews from real customers. It promised “quality followers”.
What happened
After 2 hours, they had 400 followers. In terms of Instagram, the posting was something that would normally receive a few double clicks and comments.
No reply. But maybe it was too soon.
They waited 24 hours and now had 1,000 followers. Nothing yet. They waited a month and continued to post. Not a single double touch.
So, who were these 1,000 followers? Who really “chose” to be sold as a follower?
Browsing the accounts, they found what appeared to be:
Very old and inactive accounts
Adult content accounts
Accounts belonging to silly teenagers taking selfies
Accounts that have never been active (no posts)
In other words, most likely not real people at all.
This experiment is not isolated. They did not simply choose poor service. It happens again and again. You can increase this price. You can try one of the seemingly harmless secondary strategies, like automating the tracking and enjoying getting followers.
It makes no difference.
Purchased followers are not engaged, followers. They are not your target customers. In most cases, they are not real people.
Hootsuite had one more thing to test before finishing the test. Would having 1,000 followers help them gain momentum on Instagram to attract real followers? They left the account open and continued to post.
The follower count remained at or below 1,000 followers at all times. In fact, it seemed that the false followers were somehow scaring the real ones. How could it be?
Most people can tell if an account has acquired followers. There are even tools now that identify accounts that buy followers using an algorithm that analyzes the following accounts. There are some signs of fairy tales. Yes, it scares people.
What doesn’t scare people is to use Instagram as it should be used to learn how to grow Instagram followers organically.
That is what this article is about.
2. Focus on Quality (Posts)
Instagram is a beautiful virtual world. People are very visual creatures. They appreciate visuals that elicit an emotion or tell a story.
People don’t come to Instagram to read long images or product descriptions. They rarely get into deep conversations. They usually don’t follow accounts that post low-quality snapshots or selfies. They like images that carry them.
Put the images first
Instagram is not the place where you want to say something. Then you find an image to complement it. The image is the message. Start with a high-resolution image that delivers a message.
There is a reason why YouTube and Instagram are 2 of the top 3 social media platforms. People love the look. Giving people what they want from these platforms is like growing Instagram followers organically.
Make it stand out
Images that simply blend into a news feed will be viewed, even if they appreciate your brand. Use bold colors, images, and contrasts to get noticed.
Choose a theme
Grasses that adhere to a single color theme or pattern receive more attention. As a person is browsing the feed, they instantly recognize your posts because of the topic.
Every time they see a post from you, they instantly think about your brand. This creates a repetition that keeps you always there when they need your product or service. This is the primary psychology behind the brand and Instagram itself.
Stay light
People come to Instagram to escape all of this. This is not the place to call competitors or engage in in-depth conversations. The grandmother must provoke positive feelings through visual aids.
How about a funny picture of you struggling with your son, with whom you now run a business? Depending on your brand, this is a great way to keep things light.
Tell a story
Keep them involved with the stories. Tell stories with visuals. Or create a narrative video that will help them on a day like this on how to deal with toxic people.
Finding out how to grow Instagram followers organically is not that difficult. Be yourself.
Use the editing tools
Yes, Kim Kardashian receives criticism for photoshopping every selfie she posts. But despite the apparent hatred that people feel for modified images, they love them en masse.
Keep it simple. You don’t want to appear inauthentic or overproduced. Don’t make products look different than they do in real life. But use filters and editing tools to bring out the best in your images. Make the colors stand out. Improve lighting. Give the image a warm or cool touch based on your brand.
3. Publish consistently
Want to know how to grow Instagram followers naturally? Be present. Be there every day. This is difficult for many companies. There just aren’t enough hours in the day. Some days are worse than others. Some weeks you may notice that you haven’t posted anything for 5 days.
Instagram has the most active followers on any platform. People see. They play twice. They do this day after day. Hour after hour.
A single post can make you stand out. But it is the accounts that remain consistent that generate results. In addition to appearing consistent with followers, Instagram is judging you too.
4. Publish on a timeline
Like so many social media platforms, time is important. People are more likely to see your posts if they look while browsing Instagram. The time depends on your audience.
Busy professionals are more likely to check Instagram on their lunch breaks. If your destination tends to travel by train, you may want to catch peak times.
For a restaurant, you will want to post during lunch and a few hours before dinner service to pick up people who are deciding where to eat.
Post every day at the time you think best. Test 2 to 3 different times to find the best time or times to post.
5. Know who “they” are
Knowing when and what to post is essential to discovering how to grow Instagram followers organically for your unique business.
That number doubled in 2018. Trying to attract everyone will not make you attract anyone. But making it clear who you want to attract will help you create images and videos that your specific type of customer appreciates.
Search. Learn as much as you can about your target. Write 2 or more personas written to build your content around them.
6. Run tests and learn
An Instagram strategy is never immutable. Yes, you must develop a strategy to provide a consistent experience. But if you are paying attention, you will continually learn how to do better.
You write down the times that get the most engagement. You’ll see which posts generate the most clicks back to your site. You will begin to make clear connections between posts and recipes.
A non-optimized social media account will include a lot of wasted time and money. But investing some time to do the research and run the tests reduces waste to maximize your return on investment.
This is an area where having a dedicated account manager is very important. Managing Instagram is not something you can do in half. It takes commitment to growing followers and achieving lasting business results.
7. Be sociable
Instagram is not a place for long conversations. Most companies are happy with this. When people comment on a post, they try to interact with you. This is exactly what you want. Interact back or that person goes somewhere else.
If they say something simple like “Beautiful”, a simple “thank you” will do. But if you take the time to share your feelings or experiences, be ready to provide a more engaging response.
Treat it like a warm lead. They may not be a viable hot trail. But, with some care, they will make this transition.
Leave them hanging. And that leadership cools.
See, interaction is one of the most economical ways to increase your followers. Think of it like this: after you leave a comment on someone else’s post, their followers will see it. Some will even like it. Other users will see these tastes and will eventually check your profile.
The more you interact on social media platforms, the more you increase your social network on the web.
8. Have a comprehensive hashtag strategy
Be honest. When you post something on social media, how much time do you spend considering hashtags to be added? Have you ever invented a hashtag that doesn’t exist on the site?
In that case, you may be missing out on hashtags. Hashtags are extremely important to learn how to grow Instagram followers organically and build your strategy. They are not something to be considered just as an afterthought.
Social media filing system
This is what hashtags are. They are like file folders on your computer. If you are looking for last year’s tax returns on your computer, you are probably looking for the “taxes” folder. If you are really organized, you will probably have everything broken down by year, so that all documents and receipts for that year are in one place.
People use hashtags to find things. But on social media, certain content can fall into several very relevant categories. Placing it in each category “folder” helps people looking for that “folder” to find their posts.
This is how people who are not yet your followers find your content. This is one of the main direct methods to get more followers.
Types of hashtags
There are several types of hashtags that you need to know about. Each serves a specific purpose. Researching the best in each type helps you reach as many customers as possible on each post.
Industry tags – this is a high-level tag. You need high-level tags to reach people who are unsure about a specific brand, service or product to be searched. #Realestate, #Restaurant, #Blogger, #Digitalmarketing are examples of industry brands.
Brand tags – A brand tag can be the real name of your company. It may be the brand of a product or equipment related to a service that you offer. It can be a tag you created for a contest, event, or another brand term. This term should always be well researched to ensure that you know if and how it is being used to avoid an embarrassing hashtag blunder.
Community tags – people want to feel part of something. What communities do your target customers belong to? Create posts around those communities. How about a nonprofit community, for example, #ScoutsofAmerica, #BigBrothers. A company is also a community. If your post is related to a specific company or position, add a community hashtag like #NorthsideHospitalAtlanta, or #Girlboss. Sports fan hashtags can also fall into the community category, for example, #GoHawks. If you’ve built your own community on Instagram, create a community tag for it.
Place tags – a place can be an entire metropolitan area. Or it could be a neighborhood. #AtlantaRestaurants
Event Tags – Have you organized an event? Create a hashtag for him. You participated in an event, find out what the official hashtag is, and use it. Is the most highly relevant to a particular event? So it’s okay to use the tag there too. But be selective to avoid looking like spam. # EarthDay2019
Event type tags – #WeddingDay #BirthdayIdeas, #EngagementSeason, etc.
Difficulty using Hashtags
If a hashtag has more than 1,000 posts associated with it, it is a difficult tag. If you have a few hundred, the difficulty is low. When someone searches for a highly difficult hashtag, your post is likely to be buried. But if it is of low difficulty, it is more likely to appear near the top.
People can see and find your posts in easy hashtags. These will be more niche tags.
So, why worry about the difficult ones? Because as you gain strength with low-difficulty hashtags, you move up the ranking in the most difficult. But this only happens if you include a good combination of both.
9. Organize contests
Entertainment is one of the top three reasons why people are on social media. This is no different for Instagram.
Social media contests serve several purposes:
Engage your existing followers. If they are real, quality followers and you’ve built a contest with them in mind, you’ll see incredible participation.
Reach new people who follow your followers. People tend to be followed by people with similar interests and values. In other words, they are likely to be targeted customers. Instagram contests encourage people to share photos that somehow relate to your brand so that followers of your followers see them too.
Start a chain reaction.
The followers of your followers will also want to participate. This means that your followers also see your brand and contest. The current can continue indefinitely. By running a contest, you can allow people to vote for the winners.
Reach people looking for certain hashtags. Another way for the contest to reach people is through hashtags, so think carefully about this strategy.
Get many, many new followers.
If they see that you organize fun contests, they want to know when the next one will be following you directly.
Get new customers. When you have a strategy for effectively converting Instagram followers into paying customers, you’ll see direct revenue from contests.
How to set up a contest on Instagram
Choose a prize. Ideally, the prize should be something valuable to your followers. The more valuable the unique, the more targeted the contest will be.
Write the rules.
The simplest competitions are usually the easiest. Ask people to take a picture of something relevant to your brand and tag it with a hashtag.
Create an attractive design. You need to get their attention first. Use a design that aligns with your visual Instagram brand, but also stands out.
Track your performance. Learn from previous contests to continually improve.
What do you think works so well with this contest? Here’s what we found.
The prize is enough to get excited. You may have trouble offering a $ 500 service. But when a contest is done well, it pays off many times. This salon understands that. Some audiences may be excited at about $ 100. For some, $ 1,000 may be required. Consider your audience.
The prize is targeted. It is a hairstyle and a makeover. This mainly attracts women who want a new hairstyle and professional makeup. And since 64% of Instagram users are between 18 and 34 years old, they are naturally aimed at women of Generation Y and older Generation Z.
The design draws attention. It follows a light color scheme with strong colors.
The contest is fun. They are invited to photograph themselves enjoying the summer.
Just look at those happy faces. Although one seems to be showing that he is not having fun because he needs a makeover. This is a strategy to be used in a contest like this.
10. Reward your followers
Give people a reason to follow them. Post tips and hacks that they will really appreciate in images and videos. Inform them about limited-time offers for exclusive content on your site.
Sometimes, a simple “thank you” is a reward. Share a lovely image and express your thanks to the main actors and fans.
Showing appreciation when you can while engaging followers is like growing Instagram followers organically, because they will want to share your posts with others.
11. Get people back to your site
You can think of Instagram as a party where you meet people. You interact with them. Yes, you know them to some extent. But if you want to meet someone, if you want them to meet you, invite them over for coffee or lunch.
Your website is a space where you have more control over the experience and the conversation. Bringing them back to your website allows you to build a stronger connection with your brand.
You cannot include links in your posts. This is one of the ways that Instagram has kept much of the spam off its website that other social media platforms deal with. You can, however, add a link to your profile that will probably never be clicked unless you ask people to click on it.
Create a personalized Instagram landing page on your website. Add that link instead of simply linking to your homepage. Put a call to action (CTA) in your posts. Encourage people to click that link.
Try to avoid appearing openly salesman with him. But making clicking on the link has value to the person. Test different CTAs and landing pages to see what works best to get people to click on your link and do the action you want after doing so.
This action can be:
Download a free app
Sign in for the chance to win an Instagram contest
Get a free e-book or report
Collect the email in return. Then, you can encourage them through email marketing. That’s how you turn a fan into a paying customer.
Here is another great example of a post that takes the follower back to the site.
12. Integrate other channels
The best digital marketing strategies are comprehensive. Don’t spread too much trying to be on all social media platforms.
But strive to strengthen your followers on Instagram and other channels. Here are just a few ways to intertwine your Instagram with other platforms.
Become a guest author on a popular website to reach new fans. Add your Instagram identifier to the bio.
Send a press release about something remarkable happening in your company
Add Instagram hashtags to your posts on other platforms
In your email campaigns, invite people to follow you on Instagram
Create a dynamic SEO site where you can take your Instagram fans to a great user experience site
invest in Facebook Ads and Instagram Ads for your Instagram contests
That’s how to grow Instagram followers organically.
Learn more about Business and Small Business at Digital Business Grow.
