Author: Ebisintei Dennis

Summary Read on to find out the 12 best tactics (with tools and examples) that could help you grow a bigger, more engaged audience for your business on Instagram. You spend hours planning and creating content for Instagram. For a brief moment after you hit “Share,” all is right with the world. You’re confident you published something great. Then, radio silence. Or a few likes and comments from your handful of followers. But how do you get more followers on Instagram if not by publishing great content? There’s no step-by-step guide for Instagram growth. But there are best practices that will help you reach a wider audience and win over new followers. Here are 12 ways to get more followers on Instagram. 1. Optimize your bio Make the most of those 150 characters. Your Instagram bio tells potential followers who you are, what you’re about, and what action you hope people will take after visiting your profile. Your Instagram bio should include: A clear description of what you do Touches of your personality A call to action (shop, read more, contact us, etc.) A link Your in-bio link is your only clickable link on Instagram, so use it wisely. Some businesses include a standard link to their website, while others change it regularly to reflect recent posts. But if you want to make it easier on yourself, take advantage of link-in-bio tools such as Start Page that allow you to turn a single link into a catalog of links. Consider including a branded hashtag as well. For example, we encourage our fans to use #BufferLove when they talk about our products. Adding the branded hashtag to our bio tells people which hashtag to include to catch our attention. Plus, when anyone taps on the hashtag, they’ll see posts from fans who have used it. 2. Find your best time to post on Instagram Notice how we didn’t say find thebest time to post on Instagram? The truth is, there is no universal answer for when to post on Instagram to reach the highest number of people. But there are ways to figure out the ideal times for your followers. First, use Instagram Insights to figure out when your audience is online. Tap the “Insights” button from your Instagram business profile, scroll to “Your Audience,” then tap “See All.” From there, scroll to the bottom to find your audience’s most active times. You should also consider when your content will be most relevant. For example, a step-by-step recipe video might perform better outside of work hours because people are more likely to be cooking. A coffee shop post, on the other hand, might do well around 2 p.m. when people go through an afternoon slump. Experiment with different posting times and track engagement. If you're looking for some extra guidance on when to post, Buffer's Answers feature provides you with three posting time suggestions for maximizing your reach on Instagram. Find more in-depth guidance in our article, How to Find Your Best Time to Post on Instagram. 3. Post consistently A 2021 study of 14 industries shows that businesses share four Instagram posts per week, on average. But we recommend posting at least once a day. Brands that get into a regular flow with Instagram posts tend to see the best results. According to a Tailwind study, profiles that post daily gain Instagram followers faster than those that post less frequently. With Instagram’s algorithmic timeline, consistency is a key element to getting your posts seen. If your posts are shared on a regular basis and picking up good engagement, Instagram’s algorithm will likely show your posts near the top of your followers’ feeds. Of course, quality is always more important than quantity. Posting more often doesn’t necessarily translate to higher engagement rates. Focus on creating content that will resonate with your target audience—more on that in section 9: Engage with your audience. Instagram scheduling tools allow you to post consistently without having to worry about posting directly from the app every day. Take a look at How to Schedule Instagram Posts to Save Time and Boost Engagement to discover our favorite Instagram scheduling tools (free and paid) along with scheduling tips. 4. Learn how the Instagram algorithm works Many Instagram users initially panicked about the switch from a chronological feed to the ranked timeline. However, since the change, the average post is seen by 50% more followers than before. So, forget about learning how to beat the Instagram algorithm. Instead, focus on learning how to use the system to your advantage. There are six factors that determine what shows up in each person’s timeline: interest, timeliness, relationship, frequency, following, and usage. Here’s a quick rundown of what each of those factors refers to: Interest: How much Instagram thinks a person will like the post based on previous activity Timeliness: How recent the post is Relationship: Accounts a person engages with on a regular basis Frequency: How often a person uses the Instagram app Following: Posts from the accounts a person follows Usage: How much time a person spends on Instagram Instagram’s algorithm aims to surface the best content for each individual user. So, while six separate factors may seem like a lot to worry about, the best thing you can do is create high-quality content consistently. We dig into each ranking factor in more detail in How the Instagram Algorithm Works in 2021: Everything You Need to Know. We also include guidance on how to create content that caters to each factor and share tips on how to use the Instagram algorithm to your advantage. 5. Experiment with different content types Instagram is so much more than photos. Over the years, the app has introduced many ways to share content on the platform. Mixing it up with different content types is one of the best ways to gain more followers on Instagram because it gives you the chance to reach and connect with a wider range of people. Remember: The algorithm looks at interest and strives to show people the content types that they interact with most often. So, if one person likes and comments on Instagram Reels more often than other post types, they’re likely to see more Reels in their Instagram feed. However, if another person interacts more frequently with carousel posts, they’ll see more of that content type in their timeline. Each type of content has advantages. For instance, Instagram Reels have an edge because they’re the newest content type and Instagram always pushes new features. Since launching Instagram Reels in 2020, the app has moved the Reels button to the center position in the menu bar and made Reels appear larger than photo posts on the Explore page. Considering 200 million people check the Explore page every day, that additional visual real estate can make a big difference in how many people you reach. Instagram TV (IGTV) videos also appear 4x larger than photos on the Explore page. And, since IGTV videos can be as long as 60 minutes, this type of content is ideal for long-form video. Instagram Stories disappear after 24 hours, but they have their benefits as well. Fifty-seven percent of brands believe thatStories have been “somewhat effective” or “very effective”as a part of their social media strategy. Plus, if you have a verified account or at least 10,000 followers, you can add Instagram Swipe Up links to Stories to drive traffic to specific pages. Meanwhile, carousel posts—a series of up to 10 images/videos in a single post—boast the highest engagement rates of all post types. Think of carousels as a mini-story or teaser to a longer-form piece of content, such as a blog. You can use text images, photos, video, or a mix of everything all in one thematic post. How do you manage your Instagram marketing? If you want steady Instagram growth, you have to give your target audience quality content on a regular basis. While piecemeal social media is fine for personal accounts, businesses need to be more strategic. All of the tactics we covered will help you gain more Instagram followers, but they’re not boxes you can check off once. Staying on top of your social media content strategy is crucial. It takes time to plan and schedule posts. And managing engagement can be a challenge as well. With Buffer, you can manage every aspect of your Instagram marketing strategy, from scheduling through analytics, right in one platform.