How to grow your instagram following
People always ask us about the quickest way to gain followers on Instagram. So, we thought we’d pull together a few tips for you!
First and foremost – followers aren’t the main metric we track when we manage the success of our client’s accounts. Instead, it’s engagement rate and sales follow through. You can have 300 followers that are actively engaged with you, and that’s far better than 10,000 followers who barely engage with your content. Having a mass following, but little to no engagement is far worse for your algorithm and search ranking than having a low following with high engagement.
Focus on a slow build – brick by brick you are building your online space. Quality takes time and effort. Here are our best tips in quality over quantity, while building a following:
Do's
+ Always focus on quality content. People spend their time online to be educated and entertained. How can you be a source for that?
+ Invest in the right gear to capture quality content – things like an up to date cell phone, wireless mic and proper editing software will push your content to the next level. Or, better yet - hire an agency like @wearethenorthern to help you 😉
+ Show up consistently, and post regularly - BUT, don’t push out junky content just to fill the calendar. These days, there is a pressure to create and post everyday – but, if you don’t have anything valuable to say, it’s better to hold back than put out meaningless pieces. It’s like being that person in the room that talks constantly, but doesn’t listen.
+ Focus on collaborations – can you show up on other people’s accounts that have a like-minded audience, and have their audience get to know you in their space? This is an excellent way to get in front of new people, and have them join your community.
+ Stick to your voice – try to remain consistent in how you show up; your style of imagery, copywriting and storytelling should remain authentic to who YOU are, or your brand is - not what’s trending.
+ Engage with your audience – make sure you are responding to your DM’s and comments with authentic, thoughtful replies. And, ensure you are engaging with the content of those who you’re following, too.
+ Invest in advertising – Meta has become a pay to play model in many ways, which means advertising is a must for many who are relying on social to grow their company. Ads can put your content in front of targeted audiences, resulting in more impressions and click through.
Don'ts
+ Never, ever, (ever!) buy followers. Instagram's algorithm prioritizes accounts with high engagement rates (likes, comments, shares). If your follower count is high but your engagement is low, your posts are less likely to be shown to a wider audience.
+ Don’t engage in mass following sprees, or follow for follow campaigns. Like buying followers, this can flag your account as spam, and d-list you on Meta’s search ranking. If you have hundreds of followers, and are following thousands of people, it often looks unprofessional & cue’s mass following as the strategy, vs. a quality content strategy.
+ Avoid over-posting – again, we want to focus on quality over quantity. Showing up as much as you can is a great idea, but if your account takes over someone’s feed with watered down content and becomes annoying, people may lean towards the unfollow or mute button.
IN CLOSING
It takes years of dedication and hard work to build a quality audience, so don’t get discouraged if your account is on a slow burn. If you are putting out quality content, you are going to be attracting quality followers. Focus your energy on fostering who you have in your community, and the rest will follow.
If you need support with social, we’d love to chat: hello@wearethenorthern.com