Instagram is still one of the most popular social media apps in the world. Despite the increasing popularity of platforms like TikTok, Instagram is holding steady, attracting around a billion monthly active users at last count. Despite controversies surrounding whether it’s good for the mental health of its users and what exactly it does with the data it collects, Instagram is still incredibly popular, and a major force in the social media world.
With that in mind, the reasons to prioritise Instagram as a social media influencer should be obvious. Whether you’re a brand, a business, or an individual wanting to build a following, Instagram should be a key part of your social media strategy. Even still, the platform is fiercely competitive, and getting Instagram followers can be extremely difficult. Here are 5 ways you can attract new followers on Instagram and build your presence on the platform as a result!
1. Pimp out your profile
Your profile is a hugely underrated element of your Instagram presence. Without a great profile, people who land on your page won’t know what you’re about and may decide not to follow you. When we say “profile”, we’re referring to your bio, username, and profile image. What you put in these fields has a huge effect on whether or not people want to follow you after seeing your content.
First, you need to make sure you have a strong, memorable username. It should relate tangentially to the kind of content you’re making, ideally. Next up, write your bio. Explain what you do briefly and succinctly. Pick a good profile image that’s representative of your social media presence. If you’re linking to sites from your content, make sure to update that link regularly to reflect where you want your followers to go. All of these things will help to optimise your Instagram profile and bring in more followers.
2. Reach out to brands for collaboration
As an Instagram influencer, your primary source of income – whether that be financial or followers – is brand collaboration. You don’t need a lot of followers for your first brand collab; try to find brands that have similar follower counts to yours, and ask them if they’d like to collaborate on a campaign where you bring their products to your audience. Any decent brand will agree to it, because the visibility bonus is big, even if you don’t have a high follower count.
Collaborating with brands brings in followers for two reasons. Firstly, people who are searching for the kind of products that brand is promoting will find you, and might follow you if they like your content. Secondly, if people like the product or service that you’re working with, then they’ll be more likely to check out your other content because they’ll find you to be trustworthy. This is why it’s always worth making the first move when it comes to brand collaborations.
3. Cross-promote your Instagram
If you’ve got a big following on other social media platforms but not many followers on Instagram, then it stands to reason you should be pointing these users towards your Instagram profile. Make sure that if you have a Facebook page, you’re directing people towards your Instagram, and try to do the same on any other social networks that support it, like Twitter or TikTok. Doing so will help people find you across platforms.
This is also why it’s important to maintain a website alongside your socials. Not only does a website add an air of professional respectability to your influencer brand, but it also helps people find all of your socials in one handy place. Rather than bouncing around various social media profiles, they can find everything they need on your website. Be sure to build one if you haven’t already; there are lots of free services that can help you do this.
4. Check your analytics
If you have a creator or business page on Instagram, you can check your analytics by navigating to the Insights tab. There, you’ll find…well…insights about what kind of person is clicking your content, as well as who’s visited your profile, how much time they spent there, and various other statistics. It’s incredibly important to check your analytics regularly, because they will provide insights regarding how to gain more followers.
For example, let’s say you’re posting content on a daily basis. You head to your Insights tab and see that while your content performs incredibly well on Tuesdays, it doesn’t do so well on Mondays, and only the videos you post in the morning are performing well. That should tell you that in order to amass more followers, you should focus on posting on Tuesday mornings. This doesn’t necessarily mean you shouldn’t be posting any other time, but that should be your focal point.
5. Talk to your followers
We can’t stress this enough: engagement is key when it comes to amassing more followers. Talking to your followers – taking the time to respond to comments, including calls to action in your post descriptions, and more – means followers will see that you’re on the ball when it comes to engagement. Followers like it when you respond to them, because it makes them feel like they’re part of the conversation and not just passively consuming content.
First, focus on calls to action. Ask your audience questions about the content you’re posting. If you’re posting a beauty tip, for example, ask your audience if they have any tips they want to share with you (and the rest of your followers). If you start getting comments as a result of this, be sure to look through them and answer any that you feel are pertinent. Of course, you don’t need to respond to trolls, and talking to everyone who comments is going to get exhausting quickly. As you build your social media profile, you’ll learn which comments are worth responding to and which ones you can safely ignore. It’s all part of the process!