post by Stephanie Nelson
Earlier this week, I was asked by a client about our Instagram following and how we can grow it. So for this week’s post, I’ve decided to share with you a few of the actions we’re taking on our end, so you can see if maybe they’ll work for you, too!
- Hashtags
Instagram allows up to 30 hashtags per post, but experts have found 11 per post to be the “sweet spot.” That being said, I’ve found that keeping them relevant to the post content is key in gaining new followers. I choose my hashtags by doing searches and seeing which hashtags relevant to my post have the most uses. (Typically, the more times they’ve been used, the more popular they are and the more people see them. Of course, there are those rogue hashtags that have been used a million times because there’s one user putting them in EVERY post they put up. ha ha ha) - Reposts
I use apps called Repost and Repost It. Both of these allow you to repost another Instagrammer’s post, along with the original caption, while tagging the original poster. This automatically gives credit to the original poster, which is extremely important. Not giving credit is the ultimate no no of Instagram. This also allows the original to be notified that you’ve used their photo, so they’ve got a reason to follow you and to tag you in their future posts. - Tags
Much like reposts, tagging folks in your captions sends a notification to those people. Since you’re “promoting” them, they then have a reason to follow you and repost your material in turn. - Cross Promotion
We do Facebook and Twitter posts, asking followers if they follow us on Instagram, too, along with an example of why following us there is different/what more they’ll get from us by following us on yet another outlet. We have our Instagram feed show on our website, along with a button that allows folks to follow us from there. We have our Instagram handle in all of our print ads. In short, we promote our Instagram feed in our other advertising outlets so people know where to go to follow us.
So there are just a few of our ideas. What tactics do you use to grow your Instagram followers? Anything you’ve tried that failed miserably?