We’ve been talking lately about how exactly to boost your organization marketing with Instagram. Contrary to what many people still believe, Instagram isn’t only a fun app where one can post food, holiday and family pics.
Instagram has turned into a powerful brand-building, audience-building and content-marketing tool for businesses. It has over 200 million active monthly members sharing 60 million images and 1.6 billion likes per day.
A note of caution: there are plenty of people on the market who promise to cultivate your Instagram followers by the thousands, but beware. Most of them use fake accounts developed by bots to inflate your numbers.
These kind of followers have zero value. Actually, they can even be dangerous, attempting to steal your password or photos or infect you with a virus.
Based on the data security company Imperva, these bad bots take into account 28.9 per cent of bots on Instagram.
The ultimate way to build your Instagram followers is by being authentic to your brand and your audience.
Here are 3 ideas to help you get real Instagram followers:
Tell a tale with Hashtags
It’s great to use your business name as a hashtag, but you have to think beyond that.
If you want to use your Instagram posts to get followers, use other hashtags that tell the story of the image you’re sharing. You want to start a conversation when you’re sharing posts for things such as:
Events
Promotions
Contests
Product launches
A good example of a brandname would you this well is @Tostitos. They utilize the hashtag #GetTogetherAlready to encourage people to gather and share their chips, and also to use the hashtag when they share photos of these meetups.
Through the use of engaging, relevant hashtags, you could be discovered in Instagram searches and hopefully build up followers on Instagram.
Get Creative
Instagram is all about photos, so many people think about the caption being an afterthought.
Don’t neglect the image caption! You can generate engagement and promote sharing by using descriptive words which will engage, inspire and entertain your followers.
Here are some suggestions to help you build-up followers on Instagram together with your posts:
Use questions in your caption. Write your question at the beginning of the post so that people see it first.
Get personal together with your post. Tell a story about yourself, or how your product helped or inspired another person.
Ask visitors to tag others. Asking visitors to tag three of their best friends or tagging someone they are grateful for brings other potential followers into the equation.
A great example of a brandname that does personal posts well may be the @NatGeo Instagram account.
They create breathtaking Instagram Stories with informative captions to educate the user on the plight of animals around the world.
Remember in terms of using Instagram posts to obtain followers, it’s about being authentic. Avoid questions in every single post or tell an individual story that isn’t genuine.
Go Local
One of the best ways to build your Instagram followers is to become familiar with your neighbours!
Whether you’re creating Instagram ads or want to promote your event in a specific area, you can see what’s happening near you by visiting the search page and simply clicking the Places tab.
Type in the location to see the geotagged posts for that area. Then visit relevant and recent tagged posts – not those of competing businesses, obviously – and leave a comment and even an emoji and follow the person if you like what you see. Hopefully, this is the start of an organic interaction.
For example, in the event that you offer life coaching services, you can type in your location followed by “entrepreneurs.” Local entrepreneurs may be searching for more work and life balance or help with life goals or career challenges.
koupit followers Similarly, if you have a physical location that folks have checked into on Instagram, comment on those posters’ pictures to be sure they’re aware of your Instagram presence, and then follow them.
These are some of the best ways to build Instagram followers the proper way: no bots, no shortcuts, just old ways to build relationships your audience and turn them into followers!
Susan Friesen, founder of the award-winning web development and digital marketing firm eVision Media, is a Web Specialist, Business & Marketing Consultant, and SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING Advisor. She works together with entrepreneurs who struggle with getting the insufficient knowledge, skill and support needed to create their online business presence.