When you’re first starting out on Instagram, the whole platform can appear a bit daunting. You post a few pictures and wait around for those likes to show up, but what if they don’t? What do you do next? How do you find followers and increase their engagement with your posts? Never fear, my friend, let me show you five easy steps to start building up your Instagram following!
How to Grow Your Followers on Instagram in Five Easy Steps
Step 1: Your Bio
Instagram only gives you three lines for your bio, so you need to make them count.
Use an emoji for each line, it can help really help you stand out.
You only get one link, so use it wisely. A great solution is to use linktr.ee or to link directly to a mobile friendly page where fans can find you wherever they congregate.
Step 2: Find Your Fan Base
No matter what your job or hobbies might be, there are probably people on Instagram with the same interests.
The easiest way to build your fan base is to search out the top 10 to 20 Instagram accounts in your niche and follow them.
Top accounts might not have a million followers, but the followers they have are posting comments and engaging with the creator. Those are the accounts you want to follow.
Look at what they’re posting and what fans are eagerly responding to.
Make sure you start commenting and actively participating in their comments and if your contributions are noteworthy, their fans will head over to your profile to check you out. This is your chance to shine!
Step 3: Create Quality Content
Use the ideas you’ve gained from following top creators to turn your posts into conversation starters that new fans will want to respond to.
Try to post daily, but if you can only post once a week, start with posting on Wednesdays. Demographics show that Wednesday at 11am is when Instagram is the most active, but this is a very generalized statistic. Once you have a steady flow of viewers you can check your insights and see which days you get the largest response from your target fan base.
Keep a folder on your desktop or a note on your phone and write down ideas for future posts when you run across something that you think your followers might appreciate.
Step 4: Hashtags are Still Important
The algorithm has advanced. It can now read your post or listen to your video and pull out the keywords to determine what the post is really about. For this reason, you need to be sure that your hashtags match your content so you don’t appear “spammy”.
Prioritize relevant keywords in your texts and comments which relate to your hashtags.
Step 5: Don’t Forget the Reels
After the explosion of TikTok, Instagram has started giving more weight to reels. You absolutely need to be uploading reels whenever you can.
Upload unique reels directly to Instagram, don’t try to share from your TikTok or Facebook page. Instagram wants unique content; it doesn’t want to promote competitors.
That’s it! As you gain likes and comments, Instagram will promote you more and you’ll gain more and more fans. Now get out there and start building your empire!
