6 Surefire Ways to Grow Your Instagram Followers | SMMSUMO
Instagram has over 200 million active users, it’s definitely a well-loved social media outlet (for comparison, the population of the US is about 300 million…!). Having a larger Instagram following can mean more sales for your business, more views on your blog, and a stronger community for your brand. But how in the world do some people have thousands of Instagram followers? Today, I’ve got 11 actionable tips to help you grow your Instagram followers. There’s also a bonus at the end to help you meet more entrepreneurs and hustlers from the TNC community…heck yes!
1. Like photos in your niche.
I attended an online conference where Susan Petersen (CEO of Freshly Picked) talked about how she grew her Instagram to have almost 400,000 followers. She said that in the early days, she would spend hours liking other people’s photos each night. Her suggestion? Go through and like 5-10 photos on someone’s account. It would also help to leave a genuine comment and give them a follow. This helps to get your name out there and allows other users to discover you. I’d also suggest doing this primarily to users in your niche. How to find users in your niche? Check hashtags, or view the followers of your favorite Instagrammers. Overall, be authentic and not spammy — ain’t nobody got time fo’ spam.
2. Create a theme for your photos.
Cool, so if you followed #1, people will naturally start to notice your username and may check out your account…give them something to fall in love with! I’ve found that it really helps to create a theme for your Instagram. Write down a few words that you want people to associate with your account. For mine, I hope people glean that it’s bright, artistic, and full of love. Which words would you use for your account? Once you’ve settled on a theme, try your hardest to stick to it!
3. Socialize.
It ain’t called social media for nothin’! Respond to the comments you receive and leave comments of your own on others’ work. Rather than something stale like, “cute dress,” try to leave genuine comments that encourage them to post more photos.
4. Create a hashtag and encourage others to use it, too.
This is a great way to build community and gain new content for your account. First of all, create a unique hashtag (make sure it’s not already being used!) and ask others to use it. It works best if the hashtag has a specific purpose. For example, A Beautiful Mess encourages followers to use #ABMLifeIsColorful on all of their colorful, happy photos. Once people start using your hashtag (and YOU use it, too!), then you can repost images from your followers (giving them proper credit, of course!). Not only does this build community by showing your followers that you appreciate their photos, but it also gives you content for your own account.
5. Run a contest.
If you have something you’d like to give away, try running a contest. Some ideas? Have users repost a specific image and tag you in the caption. Or ask them to use your hashtag on their own images. You could even try a loop giveaway, if you want to collaborate with other Instagrammers.
6. Ask your other followers to follow you on Instagram!
If you have a blog, Twitter, or Facebook, then you might assume your people are already following you on every platform. Hint: they probably aren’t! Share a quick tweet encouraging them to follow you on Instagram…it will reel in more followers than you think.
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