Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms that you can take advantage of to boost your business’s online presence right now.
That said, while it’s easy to make an Instagram account for your business, growing your page and expanding your followers are not easy, especially if you don’t know where to start. In this article, you’ll learn five strategies to help expand your followers and establish your presence on this increasingly competitive platform.
- Take Advantage Of Instagram Services And Tools
There’s a variety of services and tools that can help in expanding your Instagram following and presence, like organic growth services or activity automation.
Some tools can help in managing and automating your Instagram posts. Others can help in measuring and monitoring Instagram marketing analytics. You can even find geo-based follower-building tools, which allow you to buy followers from a specific country—for instance, Korean Instagram followers.
That said, make sure to do your research before using this kind of service. Most online websites offering you Instagram followers have shady techniques such as using bots to increase your Instagram following, but this could shut down your account.
Always think about your Instagram marketing process and decide where you can use these tools to streamline your efforts.
- Time Your Posts
Experienced marketers know that posting at the right time can bring you better results in engaging the audience. This also helps in expanding the reach and follower base more than randomly posting anytime.
There are several studies and recommendations from expert marketers that you can use as guides. However, you don’t have to follow them blindly. What works for them may not work for you.
To determine the right time for you to post on Instagram, you’ll need to review your analytics. This should provide you with insights into the time when you receive the most interaction or when followers are most active.
One of the most important elements you need to consider when timing your post is the country or region where most of your followers live in. This is particularly true if the majority of your followers are international users. For instance, if you’re a US-based business and have numerous followers from Korea, you’ll want to consider the 13-hour time difference and plan for posting.
In general, it can take some A/B testing to determine the best time for an Instagram post. However, when you find the perfect schedule, you can start scheduling your content and getting the maximum engagement. With higher engagement, you’ll have a higher chance of followers sharing your content and thereby increasing reach and your follower base.
- Be Strategic With Hashtags
Hashtags are one of the most proven tactics to get more followers on Instagram and increase brand awareness. The right hashtag can make it possible for users who don’t know or follow you to find your content and posts.
When using hashtags for your campaign and posts, forget about generic hashtags such as #love or #cooking. These hashtags have millions of posts, making it difficult for your content to shine. Instead, choose a more relevant and targeted hashtag for your post. In addition, unique, branded hashtags can help group your posts around content relevant to your marketing campaign and brand.
Also, while you can use numerous hashtags in a single post, you shouldn’t use over five hashtags at a time. The more hashtags you include, the more confusing and less appealing your posts look.
- Steal Your Competitors’ Followers
One of the most common ways to find and get new followers is by spying on your competitors’ Instagram pages and posts and engaging with their users. In general, these users have already shown interest in products and services similar to yours.
Engaging with your competitors’ followers allows you to gain their attention and potentially steal them. You can engage a competitor’s followers by following them, liking their photos, or commenting on a competitor’s post. Always add some personality to your comments to make you more engaging, but don’t be too intrusive and make it too obvious that you’re stealing followers.
- Take Advantage Of User-Generated Content
Expanding your Instagram follower base doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to exert effort in everything. Instead, you can take advantage of your existing followers and encourage them to do the work with user-generated content (UGC).
UGC refers to posts and content featuring your brand or products that your users, customers, and followers post on their Instagram accounts. It’s a form of digital word-of-mouth marketing that helps drive brand awareness and boost your following.
You can encourage followers to share memorable moments and experiences they have with your business or share a review of your products on Instagram. Then, you can use their content for your posts. Just make sure to ask for their permission to repost the content. Also, you can use branded hashtags and let customers use them when posting about your brand, products, and services.
Takeaway
There’s no doubt that Instagram is one of the best social platforms for marketing your business and its offering. However, succeeding on this platform isn’t easy, especially with a limited number of followers and presence.
With the right strategy, you can expand your Instagram following, allowing you to have a stronger community for your brand and improve revenue for your business.
