Gaining more followers is a common Instagram milestone that businesses work towards when building a brand. To some, reaching this tier demonstrates you have the potential to be a serious online influencer in your industry. However, with influencer marketing on the rise, Instagram users sometimes purchase lists of potential followers in the hopes that they'll get at least a portion of these people to pay attention to their account.
But particularly in a B2B business setting, buying a list can lead to poor quality traffic to your website along with unintended consequences like a higher bounce rate, less time spent on pages, and bad-fit leads. It's a much safer (and more rewarding) route to grow your social following organically. Below are 10 simple tips for getting more Instagram followers without buying your way there!
1. Compare and Contrast Your Contents
If you’ve been posting on Instagram for a while and you’re not getting the social traction you're looking for, switch it up! Change the type of content that you’re posting, and strike a different tone in the captions. Then refer to the analytics, and see what content people are connecting with. You can also look at brands that you'd like to emulate on social media, and incorporate a few new ideas. Once you’ve identified the content and voice that resonates with your viewers the most, publish more posts like that!
2. Stick to Your Brand’s Guidelines
It's true that too much experimentation can disrupt the growth of your following. But that said, many of us are guilty of going "off-brand" every now and then. It is important to establish a solid brand guideline and maintain it consistently. After following you for enough time, people come to expect something specific from you—something that they enjoy! While peppering in new types of content is important, once you find your niche, don't deviate too far from it without a well-thought-out strategy.
3. Be active but Not Spammy
Being active on Instagram isn't just about posting photos, it is liking other people’s photos, commenting on them, and engaging with their content regularly. This is a great way to start to get noticed, especially if those posts are closely followed by people in your target market. That said, if you are too active, you can actually look like a spammy bot to Instagram's algorithms, and they might ding you. So the key point here is to keep a frequent—but socially acceptable—level of interaction going.
4. Don’t Fall for Follow for Follow
It’s tempting, but don’t do it. If you see someone with 7,450 followers but they follow 7,500 people that usually implies their content isn't actually high-quality and they’re just trying to pad their follower count by clicking every follow button that they come across. Building an engaged audience does take time and patience. If you truly have a social media strategy for your B2B brand, following others for the sake of them following you back isn't going to bring you the results you want.
5. Be Real and Honest with Your Audience
Don’t be afraid to be authentic and create content that people can relate to. Highlighting the quirks of your business can win people over. While it's still going to be curated to a certain degree, posting user-generated content, third-party content, or even employee quotes will also shed light on what your brand values and prioritizes. Using the Instagram Stories tool is also a great way to showcase your company culture or your unique personality; if you're comfortable with video, give it a try!
6. Don’t Load Your Page with Promotional Contents
So you've won an award. That’s great, and you should definitely post about it. Just avoid making accolades, certifications and reviews the only type of thing you post. Along similar lines, don't spend too much time talking about your product or service and why it's amazing. People aren't following your Instagram account for solely promotional content. They want to see a side of you or your organization that makes you appear human. They want to be inspired creatively, and they want to laugh!
7. Publish Contents That Are Timely and Trending
Staying on top of current events, industry news and pop culture is going to help you boost interactions with your account. Keep an eye out for what is up-and-coming or trending and how you can leverage it on your page. Is there a new meme that's going viral? See how you can personalize it to fit your brand or specialty. Did something happen in the media that impacts your industry? Write an article on your blog with your own spin and promote it on your social channels (including Instagram!) Capitalizing on current affairs and online trends can help get more eyeballs on your content.
8. Interact with Influencers that Are Top in Your Field
Find the top influencers in your respective area of expertise, and follow them. Keep an eye on what they’re posting and what people are saying in the captions. Then join in the conversation. The people following and interacting are most likely in your target audience as well, and if you respond to something they say, you might just get a new follower out of it!
9. Don’t Forget About the Aesthetics of Your Page
One thing that sets Instagram apart from other social media platforms is that it is aesthetically pleasing and that is why it is important to pay attention to it. Take a step back and get a quick look at your Instagram as a whole. What’s missing? Does it look cohesive? Make sure that all of your images look good and on-brand, that you have Instagram highlights set up, that all of your bio info is updated with hashtags and a current link to either your website or relevant c
If you already have a decent following on another social platform, make sure those followers hear about your Instagram account, too! You should also drive people to your Instagram by promoting your channel on your website! A few ways to cross-promote include:
Follow these tips and keep them top of mind, you’ll be on your way to authentic Instagram growth. If you want to learn more about social media marketing, then get in touch with us now!