More followers, more success. If you are trying to utilize the power of Instagram, then gaining more followers is crucial to delivering better results.
Opportunities for businesses on Instagram continue to grow, and the platform is gaining more new active users year-on-year. According to The Business of Apps, Instagram will reach 2.5 billion active users in 2023.
How do you increase followers for your business page on Instagram? How do you reach your first thousand fans?
Gaining followers can be a challenge for small businesses. It’s tough to amass a huge following on Instagram unless you are a huge brand. That said, with some some hard work and smart strategies, a business of any size can grow its audience on Instagram.
Let’s take a look at some tips to help you reach the 1,000 follower milestone.
Regular posting
Posting regular updates to your account is crucial in order to keep the followers you have and to reach new ones. Creating content can be a challenge for many SMBs, and as a result, Instagram accounts can become neglected.
To help with this, try creating a content calendar, planning posts ahead around themes and dates, and even trying automation tools to schedule your content so that you post regular updates to keep your audience engaged, entertained, and interested in you. You can also consider hiring a creative agency to handle your social media production and posting for you.
Make your account into a business profile
It’s possible to host your business page on a personal profile and some businesses do. However, you will miss out on several features. Most importantly if you build your following on an Instagram Business account, you will gain access to audience insights.
This will allow you to understand the demographics, region, and habits of your followers and will provide insights you can use to gain more followers for your page.
Engage your followers
You can create great engagement with followers by writing interesting titles, captions, and using hashtags. More than that, when you interact with users make it a two-way street. Follow back, like the content of your fans, and reply to comments on your posts.
To up engagement rates with your posts, publish content your followers want to see. It’s likely certain themes or types of content are popular with your audience and you can use engagement on past posts to gauge which type of content is likely to be successful for future posts.
Diversify your audience
As your followers grow, you will find more diversity within your audience. This is where splitting and segmenting your audience into groups can be beneficial.
This means you ensure you are creating content to serve each audience segment that makes up your total followers. The result is more organic growth as you reach a broader number of people.
Post content that can be re-shared
Your current followers can act as your biggest advocates. If you create shareable content they will happily share your posts with their audience giving your content more reach, and the chance to attract additional followers to your page.
Consider sharing educational content with Instagram carousels, this helpful style of content is something people like to share with their connections. Consider running Instagram contests to encourage engagement, making sharing, commenting, and liking the post the conditions to enter.
If you would like help with your brand messaging, advertising, and digital marketing in Charlotte, North Carolina, to Seattle, Washington, and everywhere in between, get in touch with Visual Caffeine to learn how we can help you.