Want to learn how to grow your Instagram?
You should! Instagram has reached 2.4 billion monthly active users, and is increasing by about 100 million every 3 months.
And they’re not just broke college kids: 60% of active Instagram users earn $100K and above.
Of course, you won’t be alone in trying to reach an audience on Instagram. 71% of U.S. businesses market on Instagram, including 90 of the world’s top 100 brands.
80% of IGers follow brands – but how can you stand out and get them to follow your business?
Follow these top 11 ways to get more Instagram followers – organically!
Disclosure: Some links below are affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission if you make a purchase.
What do IGers see when they visit your account? Your bio!
Is it clear what you offer, and why they’d want to follow you?
As they say, you only get one chance to make a first impression. When someone visits your profile, they’ll decide in seconds whether or not to follow your account.
Make sure your Instagram profile picture matches up with your other accounts, so people recognize you.
If your business name isn’t well-known like IKEA or Nike, add a few keywords to your name to clarify your niche.
You only have 150 characters for your bio! I recommend bullet points that communicate at a glance.
Feel free to set them off with emojis. An emoji can communicate a lot in a single character.
Want to learn more about this step?
Know what else IGers see on your profile?
Your last few posts!
Instagram is a highly visual platform, and users are discerning. You can’t just post any old thing that you might get away with on another platform.
Because of the grid gallery on your profile page, it’s critical that you develop and follow a themed look or style. This gallery is going to communicate at a glance what your account is about – or just look like a mishmash of swiped content and reposts.
Who crushes this for graphics? Elevate It Now .
Check out Mónica’s consistency in colors and feel.
Now take a look at Kyoko Lily ‘s purely photography-based account.
Her followers grow by leaps and bounds due to her gorgeous consistency (plus she is generous with engagement, see tip 11).
For fabulous graphic+photo branding, see Nicte Creative Design .
Note the consistency of colors, plus a fun and energetic style that helps you decide instantly if this account fits your style.
And don’t forget to brand those Stories Highlights, too! You can see these gals haven’t.
Don’t know what to post on Instagram?
Not familiar with Reels? They’re 15 to 30 seconds clips that are set to music. They can be shared in the Stories and Explore Feeds – plus there’s a new dedicated Reels tab.
Reels are the newest feature on IG – and Instagram loves to maximize reach for its latest additions.
In fact, they’ve even been advising IGers who want to grow their accounts to use them 4 to 7 times a week.
With the trending and popular accounts feature, you have a chance to reach a totally new audience. They’re also easy to access in the same way as IGTV.
Stories are a fun and effective way to stand out.
Instagram pushes Stories out, both at the top of the home page, and again throughout the feed.
They don’t want IGers to miss them, so take advantage!
Your Story will be bumped to the front of the line each time you add to it, so keep those updates coming. At least a couple a day – even better, every couple hours.
Don’t forget to curate your best Stories into themed Highlights you’ll show on your profile, under your bio.
Don’t know how to use Stories? Find Instagram Stories ideas for business here:
I can’t overstate the importance of using hashtags with your posts and Stories. Hashtags really help your account get discovered.
But they have to be the right hashtags! Use a mix of brand-specific, industry-specific, and trending hashtags.
Should you use 3 or 30? In the caption or a comment?
You’ve got questions, I’ve got answers.
Here’s another way for your posts and Stories to be found! If you’re at a popular location, tag the location. IGers perusing that geotag will find your post there as well.
Posts with a tagged location result in 79% higher engagement than posts without a tagged location.
That’s the easiest engagement you’ll ever get!
Now that you’ve got an awesome post or Story, be sure to get engagement on it, or it’ll just fizzle away.
Tell followers about your experience on a topic, and ask theirs.
Post an inspirational quote and ask if they agree with it.
Ask questions that encourage comments.
And don’t forget to respond to those comments! If you don’t want to engage on social media, you’re in the wrong place.
Ready for more caption inspiration?
Check your own analytics to see what works best for your account. Every account and audience is different!
As a general rule, the best days to post on Instagram are weekdays, with posts published on Tuesday and Wednesday getting the highest engagement.
Posting to Instagram from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. results in good engagement for brands.
Interactions on posts peaks between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m, with a lot of audience activity between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. when people get off work.
Want the deets to figure out your own best times?
Wish it were easier? Try Tailwind!
Tailwind will analyze your audience engagement and pick the best times for your account.
Just decide how many times you want to post per day, and let Tailwind set up a Smart Schedule for you.
Load your photos and videos with your captions. Use Tailwind’s Hashtag Finder to add the perfect array of hashtags to attract your best audience.
Sit back and let Tailwind post to Instagram at the best time, every time!
• • • Click here to try Tailwind for Instagram Forever FREE Plan • • •
Disclosure: If you upgrade to a paid plan, I’ll earn a referral fee.
I know this can be tough. You’ve got a lot on your plate.
But you really need to post daily or your engagement will suffer.
Poor engagement means IG will show your posts less often.
Less new people will discover your posts, and it’s all downhill from there.
Check out the free post ideas linked above, or use a tool like my Your Social Plan to come up with a content plan.
Set aside a day to create a couple week’s worth of posts.
Schedule it up in an approved scheduler that posts to Instagram directly for you.
Then, just return to engage with your comments.
Tailwind app studied over 100,000 Instagram posts to uncover how successful different accounts were when they changed the number of times they post to Instagram each day.
Those that increased their rate of posting over the three month study saw a significant increase in their engagement rate, and enjoyed higher follower growth rates too!
Optimal: post at least once daily.
Tailwind for Instagram offers a Free Forever plan with no credit card required.
• • • Click here to try Tailwind for Instagram FREE • • •
Running out of post ideas? Get your audience to help!
Encourage your followers to create videos, photos, and GIFs with your products, or post a testimonial of your services.
Create a branded hashtag that can showcase all user-generated content for your brand. You can feature this on your bio too!
It’s a smart way to increase your brand awareness and get more content too.
Buffer grew their Instagram following by 442%, largely by sharing user-generated content. They posted relevant photos that their followers had clicked along with their Instagram handles.
Take the best user content from around the web and feature it on your own Instagram while giving credit to the original creator. (Best to get express permission first).
Tailwind app can help you with this, too!
Regram photos immediately from anywhere with their browser extension.
Try Tailwind regramming for free now!
This should be obvious, but it isn’t.
Get social with your followers, and those you hope to become followers, posts!
It’s quite amazing how often I see accounts of mediocre quality with hundreds of likes on their posts. Even into the thousands!
And how did I find these accounts in the first place? They dropped by my gallery and “liked” 10 or more of my posts.
Or maybe they liked a few and left a genuine comment on one.
THIS is truly the best way to make people aware of your account, and get new followers.
Why? Because it’s social media!
People are there to be social, and to engage with people who show an interest in them – not just in selling stuff to them.
So, go find the followers of your competitors and get engaged.
Want to kill your Instagram account?
Automate liking, commenting, and follow/unfollowing.
You know all those irrelevant “cool!” “awesome!” “check out our profile!” comments you get on your posts?
Or the insistent following and unfollowing by certain accounts?
Those are brought to you by bots.
They’re not only super annoying to users, but they also violate Instagram’s Terms of Use and could get your account shut down.
And even if you don’t get caught – these followers are much less likely to engage, crushing your posts in the Instagram ranking algorithm.
A few years ago I tested a service that followed targeted IGers manually with real VAs.
My engagement rate tanked and never recovered. I eventually abandoned that account.
Followers aren’t the be-all and end-all! Engaged followers are.
Please use the top 11 tips above. They are proven to increase engagement and followers! You really need both.
Theories and myths abound on how to grow your Instagram.
The 11 tips above have been proven by research to actually work!
Pin the reminder infographic to Pinterest, and revisit this post to review.
Make your Instagram marketing easy by using Tailwind!
You can try Tailwind for Instagram now , no credit card required.
Grab their FREE Guide to 10K Instagram Followers!
It’ll give you the tips, tools, and templates you need to get real followers in 2024.
Disclosure: If you upgrade to a paid plan, I’ll earn a referral fee. Got more tips, or questions on how to grow your Instagram? Let me know in a comment!