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How to Grow on Instagram Guide

This step-by-step guide allows you to grow your Instagram organically. It will touch on the top 12 practices that will help you reach a bigger audience and gain over new followers.

1. Optimize your bio

Your Instagram bio allows visitors to know who you are and what your Instagram represents. So

you should make full use of the 150 characters allowed to sell yourself and your brand.

Your bio should contain:

i) A concise description of yourself and what your Instagram is about, namely, your brand.

ii) A call to action (such as Shop Now, Learn More, etc.). iii) A link to your offer.

2. Find your ideal time to post on Instagram

It is not about finding the "best time" to post on Instagram. There is generally no best time to post on Instagram to reach the highest number of visitors.

Fortunately, there are ways you could find out the ideal time to reach your audience. Your best bet is to leave posts when the highest number of visitors may see them.

So, you could use Instagram Insights to find out the ideal time to upload your photos. It will show when most of your audience will be online.

3. Consistent posting

It will help if you post at least once each day. Instagrammer that does so tends to see better results, according to many studies on Instagram profiles that do daily posting gain followers faster than those that do not.

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Consistency is key for your audience to see your posts. If your posts are often shared and have good engagement, Instagram's algorithm will likely show your posts near the top of your followers' feeds.

4. Understand how Instagram's algorithm works

Forget about trying to beat the Instagram algorithm. Instead, you should focus on understanding how to use it to your advantage.

Six factors determine what shows up in each follower's timeline: interest, timeliness, relationship, frequency, following, and usage.

i) Interest: How likely will Instagram determine a follower will like the post based on previous engagements.

ii) Timeliness: How recent is the post. iii) Relationship: Accounts a follower engages with regularly. iv) Frequency: How often a follower uses the Instagram app. v) Following: Posts from accounts a follower follows vi) Usage: How long a follower spends on Instagram

Instagram's algorithm aims to show the best content for each Instagram user. Though the six factors may seem like a handful to contend with, the best option is to create high-quality content for every posting.

5. Try out different types of contents

Instagram is much more than just a photo-sharing app. Over time, the platform has added various ways for content sharing. Combining them with different types of content is one of the best strategies to boost more Instagram followers since it allows you to reach and engage with a wider audience.

Remember that the algorithm considers followers' interests and displays the types of content they interact with the most. As a result, if the follower likes and comments on Instagram Reels more frequently than other posts, they are more likely to see more Reels in their Instagram feed. However, if another follower engages with carousel posts more frequently, they will see more of that type of content on their timeline.

Different types of content have their own merits. Instagram Reels, for example, have an advantage because they are the latest video category,

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and Instagram is regularly pushing new features. Since its inception in 2020, Instagram Reels has moved the Reels button to the center of the menu bar and made Reels look larger on the Explore page than photo posts. Given that 200 million people visit the Explore page every day, that extra visual real estate can significantly increase the number of individuals you reach.

6. Brand yourself and create content around it

People aren't following your brand on social media to see sales pitches. They are more likely to follow your brand, enjoy your personality and the contents you posted.

Consider the tone you want to have, such as funny, playful, informative, or cynical. Besides, your personality should reflect the things that you are passionate about. Everything you post on your business account should reflect the personality and beliefs of your brand.

7. Create excellent captions

Great photos grab the audience's attention-excellent Instagram captions help them remember the photos better. Captions allow you to add extra details or context to the photo or video you're sharing. Additionally, adding keywords in captions can help you appear in the app's search results.

Instagram captions can be up to 2,200 characters long. Of course, not every caption has to be written in the style of a blog post. Try out various lengths. Some posts go well with a short caption with a few emojis, while some need longer captions that are more descriptive.

8. Learn about hashtags and how to use them effectively

Hashtags appear more significant on Instagram than anywhere else on social media. The right hashtags can help you reach a wide and targeted audience, and unlike other social media platforms, Instagram users do not appear to experience hashtag fatigue.

Begin by looking for hashtags that are appealing to your targeted audience. Free Instagram tools such as Display Purposes and AutoHash are two apps that can help you find relevant hashtags for your Instagram photos.

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With Display Purposes, for example, you need to key in a few words about the photo, and it will suggest the best hashtags to use.

9. Engage your audience

On Instagram, engagement is vital for growth. Many brands merely focus on just likes and comments, which is a huge mistake and without considering the audience behind the metrics. If you want to grow your Instagram following, you need to engage in discussions with your followers.

It's important to remember that just because someone views your content does not mean they have decided to follow you. When you have the chance to interact with a potential follower, seize it, so every comment you receive is an opportunity to win a new follower (or retain an existing one that may be thinking of unfollowing you), so make sure you answer every one of them.

10. Collaborate with others

Collaboration with others through partnerships or influencer campaigns is another great way to get Instagram followers.

Another strategy to increase your Instagram following is to use influencer marketing. You can pay content artists to promote your brand if you have the budget. Micro-influencers (1,000–10,000 followers) can be quite effective if you keep things simple (and low-budget). Micro-influencer content has a better engagement rate than content from larger accounts. You can find micro-influencers and form partnerships with them or re-share user-generated content.

11. Link your Instagram account from other platforms

Make it simple for others to find your Instagram account. Nobody should have to sift through your website's pages to find your Instagram profile.

Add a link to your Instagram account at:

i) Footers in emails. ii) In the footer or sidebar of your website. iii) Bios on other social media platforms.

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iv) Team members' social media posts.

12. Review your results

Reviewing what your present followers respond to is one way to figure out how to attract more Instagram followers. With Instagram Insights or third-party analytics tools like Buffer, you can track various Instagram stats right in the app.

Do not get caught up in vanity metrics like likes and comments. Instead, consider what the metric tells you. If you are trying out a new hashtag, for example, metrics like new followers and reach will tell you more about the hashtag's value than likes from your present followers.

Keep an eye out for emerging trends. Is there a type of photo that generates more impressions or engagement? Having found the type, post more of such photos to see how your followers react. Do you get more likes from those who do not follow you if you use particular hashtags? If yes, use more similar hashtags, and keep track of new followers to see how they react.

Check out the Top Ways To Grow on Instagram► https://bit.ly/3ivXErS