Instagram is an incredible way to showcase your self, your brand, and your work in a creative and engaging way for your audience and potential customers. BUT…sometimes getting (real!) followers can be a little tough. But have no fear! I have put together a list with the 5 strategies that will help you get more organic followers on Instagram while saving you time and effort on the other methods.
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Focus on these 5 strategies when working on your Instagram to get more followers in an organic way that strengthens your brand.
Curate your profile to your brand
An issue I see with a lot of starter bloggers and brands on social media is their lack of a curated brand aesthetic, which leads to confusion in your audience about what exactly you do.
– Make sure your bio is up to date and makes it clear what you do or what your focus is on.
– Make sure your content is tied only to your brand communication pillars, and avoid posting random content (i.e if you are a branding coach, don’t go posting about fashion, unless there is a story or transformation your coaching clients can learn from). This will position you as a serious expert in the fields and convert potentials who stumble onto your profile into followers because it is clear what your products or services are and positions you as an expert in the fields.
– Your posts should always follow your brands visual aesthetic, to not only make your profile more visually appealing, but establishes a look for your brand and makes your content easily recognizeable when shared.
Research the right hashtags
Do some research to find the most popular hashtags that your audience uses based on your individual communication pillars (don’t use the same hashtags for every post). Save them to the Notes app on your phone for easy copy-paste access and update as go along. These hashtags will help your posts show up and rank higher in searches. Instagram has a limit of 30 hashtags per post – use them all (but place them as a comment so you don’t weigh the post down).
Be active
Engage with your audience and your community! Find people with similar interest and engage with them on their posts. Respond to your follower’s comments and comment on other posts. This engagement not only builds your brand image, but effects the algorithm and gets your posts ranked higher on the Discover page, leading to more views and followers.
Promote your best posts
Find your best posts and get them out to the world! You just have to spend a little money…but not a lot. Promoting your posts through Instagram’s paid advertising platform will get your best content to the right people, even if they don’t follow you. And if interested, they will check out your page, see the beautifully curated content, and follow for more of the same content. Make sure you target your posts as specifically as possible to your audience profile to get the best results and engagement! (Click here for help defining your audience profile.)
Use instagram stories!
People are consuming more and more Instagram’s story by the day, so don’t miss your opportunity to engage by focusing only on your posts. There are TONS of creative ways to use Instagram stories – showcasing your work process, behind the scenes, highlighting results and more! – so check out some popular profiles in your community to see how they are leveraging their stories. Make sure to add a hashtag and location to your story to push it to the Discover page and reach more of your target.
Don’t forget about utilizing Live Stories at the right times, as people are more invested in seeing products or behind the scenes in real time. Also, Instagram Story Highlights is a great way to get your best stories front and center. Don’t brush those off.
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There you have it. Focus on these 5 strategies and your brand will hold a strong presence you will get more followers on Instagram in an organic way.
And if you have any questions in general on strengthening your digital brand presence, give me a shout below!