Perhaps the biggest challenge on social media continues to be increasing the number of followers. Of course, there are tricks that can suddenly get you thousands of followers. Or maybe you’re buying an Instagram account with tens of thousands of followers. But do you really reach your target audience? We highly doubt it. That’s why we’ll guide you through 5 tips to increase your follower count on Instagram with the right target group.
Did you also see that? Those Instagram pages with 25,000 followers, 50,000 followers, or even more? And you were jealous of that every time? Well, in some cases, that feeling can certainly be correct. But, uh… think at least twice when you see numbers like that!
Of course it is possible to achieve such high numbers with a good company and a good social media strategy. But in many cases this is not the case. Take a look at the number of likes per post. Exactly… 50,000 followers and barely 5 likes per post. Then of course you know something’s wrong: no real followers or the wrong followers. In this blog we will guide you to more real followers.
1. Optimize the name field with keywords
The first step to being discovered on Instagram Search is to optimize your Instagram name! The ‘Name’ field in your Instagram bio is searchable, fully customizable and independent of your account name.
So: make sure you adjust the ‘Name’ field to certain words your company is about or what you think people will look for: your keywords.
Do you include important keywords in your name field? Then the chance that you will appear in the top results when someone searches for those keywords increases significantly.
How do you do this? Simple: tap “Edit Profile” and adjust the “Name” field.
2. Optimize your Instagram bio
Not only the name field needs to be optimized, also your Instagram bio needs to be fully optimized. Just think of keywords and hashtags.
Choose relevant keywords in your bio that relate to the services and/or products you offer. Make it immediately clear to your visitors (and potential customers) what they can expect on your Instagram page.
You can also add hashtags to your bio. And yes, they are clickable!
Don’t forget to add Story highlights with nice covers to your bio as well!
3. Add a location to all your posts
Adding a location to your posts increases the chance that you will appear in the search results for that location. And yes, you can do the same with stories.
If an Instagram user taps the ‘Post’ tab on the search page, your message may appear at the top of the grid, depending on the popularity and timing of your message!
Result: more chance to increase your views, get more engagement and potential followers of your messages when you add a location.
Some social media schedulers offer the option to tag the location in the scheduling tool itself.
4. Use hashtags in all your messages
An essential part of social media posts on Instagram are hashtags. A post without hashtags has considerably less likes and therefore leads to a lower number of followers. More concretely: A post with at least one Instagram hashtag achieves an average of 12.6% more engagement than posts without a hashtag.
When a user searches for a hashtag in Instagram Search, the results will appear in both the Top tab and the Tags tab – so you have a double chance of being discovered and a higher exposure for people interested in your brand.
5. Post on a regular basis
It goes without saying, but it remains a stumbling block for many Instagram users: social media posts need structure. How often do you want to post per week? At what hours? What content do I foresee?
The solution to this jumble of questions: create a social media calendar. Make sure you have a good social media plan with achievable yet challenging goals. Take a look at your competitors or similar niches: what do they do? What can you do better to make just that little bit of a difference?
Then schedule this calendar in a social media scheduler and all your posts will be fully automated!