I get so many questions from you on “How can I grow my Instagram?“, so I decided to make this blog in the form of a Guide, that would be my gift to you 🎁
Although Instagram’s potential keeps fizzling out because of low engagement + competition from new platforms, like TikTok, seems that still everyone (me included) is looking for ways to grow their Instagram.
Here, I will share with you, some of the ways that are working for me, and my clients accounts, that will surely work for you, no matter the niche you are in.
The “Vanity Metrics”, like the number of likes only, is not the most important thing anymore! The number of people Reaching, is much more important than likes and comments (and that’s what brands are looking also, if you want more sponsorships). 🤑
Growing your following organically can be challenging, but it doesn’t have to be. In this blog, I give you 7 sure ways to take your Instagram game to the next level ⚡️
Let’s dive in!
1. What are the best Instagram hashtags for followers?
Let’s talk about hashtags. You probably already know that hashtags are crucial in making your posts discoverable and bringing in views on your posts. When used right, hashtags are one of the best ways to increase the reach of your posts and, hopefully, get more followers and engagement on your account. At worst, they’re like black holes—your post gets sucked into a content abyss, never to be seen by human eyes again.
Let’s look at why:
Popular hashtags vs targeted hashtags – which are better?
A hashtag with a million posts might seem great at first glance (who hasn’t been tempted to use a cheeky #NoFilter or #ThrowbackThursday?, but it’s actually very hard for your content to stand out with a hashtag like this.
The hashtags that will work best for you depend on the size of your account, your engagement, and your niche.
You should be aiming for hashtags that don’t have too many posts, and where the featured “top posts” have, on average, the same number of likes that you get on your own posts.
2. 
How to write captions for Instagram
Writing good captions can be challenging. Who hasn’t spent more time than you’d like to admit trying to write the perfect caption, getting the tone “just right”?
A good caption can give you more likes, engagement, and followers. It can even drive traffic to your website and conversions for your business.
If there was a magic formula to captions, it would be this: a good caption contains elements of authenticity and storytelling, gives value to the reader (whether it be entertainment, education, inspiration or something else) and prompts the reader to take action with a strong CTA.
RELATED VIDEO TO WATCH 👇
3. 
Your bio is your business card.
Think of your bio as being like a business card and storefront in one. People coming to your profile will decide whether to follow you in a matter of seconds, so the job of the bio is to convince them to do so.
The best Instagram bios have a few things in common: they give the reader a clear picture of what the page is about, include something that piques the reader’s interest, such as a relatable detail or humorous line, and prompt the reader to take a specific action.
Choose an attention-grabbing profile picture.
It seems obvious, but we’re going to say it anyway—choose a clear, attention-grabbing profile picture.
Let your audience know what to do with a strong CTA – Call To Action.
Don’t forget to include a call-to-action in your profile. Use the opportunity to direct people to your website, sign up for your webinar, download a freebie or use a discount code on your stories.
4. 
Use Stories & Live Streaming to boost your Instagram growth.
Stories might be one of the newer features of Instagram, but they should not be left as an afterthought if you want to boost your Instagram presence.
Use the interactive features to engage with your audience, e.g. with polls and by asking questions. New features are being added constantly, so you’ll never be short of options.
They’re also a great way to fill in gaps in your content calendar—and to keep your audience engaged.
Here are some tips + tricks to get the most out of your Stories:
Tip 1: Use hashtags in your Stories to maximize their reach.
I recommend using the full 10 hashtags for a greater chance of getting featured.
Tip 2: Use geotags to target (strategic) locations.
Geotags allow you to tag a specific location in your Stories. Once tagged, your story has the chance to be featured in the hashtag’s highlight reel for 24 hours.
What some might not know is that you don’t always have to tag the location where you’re actually in. If you want to build your following in a specific location, you can tag the location in your story.
Try tagging a popular location, such as New York, to see if that brings in more
views. And just like with hashtags, if geotags don’t fit the look you’re going for with your Stories, you can hide them in the background or behind a gif.
Tip 3: Highlight your best Stories.
Don’t forget to add Stories to your Highlight reel in order to allow your followers to view the best ones even after they have been deleted after 24 hours.
Tip 4: Tease your new posts in your Stories
With the ongoing stream of content on Instagram, it can happen that some of your followers miss out on seeing your new posts in their feeds.
To promote a new post in your main feed, post the image in your Stories, but
cover a key part of the image with an emoji or gif.
⚡️Pro Tip
Remember that even more important than when to post, is that you post
consistently.
The truth is that growing your Instagram following is to some extent a numbers game—the more you post, the more chances you have to be discovered and followed by your potential and ideal audience, and the more engaged existing followers will feel with your message and your content.
It’s worth it to experiment with various types of content to see what resonates with your audience.
Remember that Instagram is about community! In the end, no amount of optimization will help if you aren’t consistently providing your audience with more content + kind behavior. Engage with them by commenting on their content as well.
Focusing strictly on numbers can also distract you from what’s really the core of Instagram (and all social media)—community.
RELATED: How I went from 9-5 to Digital Entrepreneur by Becoming a Freelance Instagram Manager.
Help someone else by sharing this post.
These tips were so helpful! I love how detailed you were about each point. Thanks for sharing 🙂
I have just started on Instagram. Thanks for these tips like showing post on I stagram, use of Hashtags and others. Thanks for sharing!
I really must try teasnig my next post in my stories. Great tips for boosting stories, I’ve been having such a huge problem in this area.
Very useful, thank you for this complex article.
Wow! It is work growing on instagram in 2020. Thanks for the hashtag tips. I thought it was good to use popular hashtags but now it makes since that those hashtags won’t be seen if it’s millions of posts associated with it. Time to do research!
I used to do the same thing and got nothing from popular hashtags. It is really a research game as we all need to see where we can rank and be related. Good luck!
Pinned this for later, what fantastic information and guidance for a newbie like me! Thank you xx
Happy to help!
Nice post. Lengthy but insightful 💯 love the tips you shared
Saved to reference later. What works is always changing. It’s a research game!
Exactly. I completely agree about that and also each account is different
Happy to share!
Great tips! As a blogger, I love learning these new tricks and can’t wait to apply them to my own IG.
This is a great post! I’m trying to build my Instagram following and these tips are awesome, especially all of the info on hasthtags. Thanks for the post!
Thanks for these awesome tips. This guidance is going to help me a lot.
I have just started working on IG, your guidance will help.me for sure. Thank you:)
Such great information! Thanks for sharing!
This is great post! I will definitely be putting these tips to use. Thanks for all the wonderful detailed info!!
Such Great info! Thank you so much for the tips!
These tips are so helpful! I love how in-depth the analysis of hashtags is. Sometimes it can seem like a daunting math problem! But it was simple how you mentioned we need to think about how we rank with the hashtag that we use.
These are great tips, thank you!
Thank you for sharing your tips and tricks girl! I’m gonna bookmark this page to refer back too!
I love these tips! I changed my name field because of this. I hope it helps!
This was such a helpful list! I’ve been working hard on most of these myself.
I’m constantly changing my IG bio and this definitely helped me direct it better!
Amazing!!!!!
I find that I dislike Instagram, even though I have an account. I agree with the post that quality of followers is better than quantity.
Which part you dislake? The APP or the People on it?
The hashtag information is so useful! Thanks for explaining this so well.
Happy to help 🙂
Hi,
This article is great but it really seems like it’s a lot of work involved and quite time consuming… You really have to make time for it in order to reap results, lol… I guess ill have to put in the time ;-p
I completely agree with you. It has taken me a lot of work. You can try applying them one by one, for only 10-15 min a day 🙂 it is worth a try
So much great information! I’m new at this so your post was very helpful and informative!
Thank you so much!
There was a lot of great advice in this article. Instagram is something I’ve been trying to master, so I appreciate the breakdown on how to find good hashtags.
Happy to help! Feel free to frind me on Instagram and DM with any questions you might have.
What a superb detailed article on growing an Instagram account the proper way. I’ve just recently started focusing more on this platform and enjoy including many of the photos in my blog posts. Will definitely pay more attention to your recommendations – excellent post! 🙂
This is such a great article! I really need help on my instagram game and you’ve given some great insight!
This is really great information! I’m putting hashtag research on my to-do list ASAP and creating a few groups of hashtags to use. Thanks for this excellent post!
These were extremely helpful! Thank you for taking the time to help other bloggers and people to grow their followings organically. It is not automatic, and it does in fact take work and time, but the payoff is much more sustainable.
I will definitely be using some of your tips and will be referring back to this the more I use my IG! 🤘
Those tips are great! I’ll try to include longer captions since i usually don’t
This is great! Thanks for sharing,
-The Blogging Zoomer
Fab post! SO very helpful ☺️
Thanks for sharing. I am having a tough time growing my audience on Instagram.
Love this advice. I really want to start working on my Instagram. I’m really good at stories but not with posting lol.
Erika Marie | https://imerikamarie.com
Thank you for sharing you knowledge and tips on growing! Instagram is difficult to crack for me and I am going to try out your tips! Thank you!
Thank you for this! I have really been struggling and I love how detailed this is! I feel like it will really help me!
As a newbie in blogging, this post will surely help me out. Thank you so much for explaining it in detailed. You nailed it!
I found this post very helpful and full of easily applicable tips! Thank you
Instagram is becoming difficult to navigate I find. But these are so helpful. I’m trying to improve my engagement rate. This comes handy
This post is overflowing with useful info, thanks so much! I have pinned this to refer back to!
So much useful information. Thanks so much for a great read! And you’ve gained a new follower 🙂
Great info, thank you so much for such a thorough post!
Thanks for this post! I’m always trying to figure out how to crack the Instagram code to grow my following.
Thanks so much for all the tips! I am definitely going to start using stories more to increase engagement. Great article!
I’ve started to grow my Instagram recently. This is of great help. Bookmarking for reference.
These are amazing, all inclusive tips! Thanks for sharing. Will pin this to use all of your strategies, def need to grow my Instagram
Thank you for this. I am starting to see my instagram incrase.
Whoa really helpful. I am struggling with Instagram and thank you for all the tips!
Thank you for this information is super helpful I am trying to get to 10K by the end of this year it seems a little bit impossible but I think with your help I can do it.
Thanks for such a detailed, helpful post! I just started following you! xo Nipa
Wow, this is a lot of great information! Thank you so much for putting this together. I am pinning this for later study.
I love how comprehensive this post is! Hashtags are indeed powerful and I’m constantly experimenting what are the best hashtags so I appreciate you breaking it down and how to use hashtags the right way. 🙂
Great tips, will defo try some of them to try and improve my following!
Great tips!
These are great tips, thanks for sharing!
These are really great tips! Thank you for sharing!
Great tips, especially about the hashtags. I will use your tactics when I start my business IG for my blog. 🙂
Thanks for the tips. I’m new to blogging and instagram use for promotion. I’ll definitely be using these tips!
Thank you!!!
This post is very comprehensive, which I appreciate! Thanks for breaking hashtags down and how to use them the right way. I am constantly experimenting with what are the best hashtags to use so I appreciate you breaking it down.
highly appreciate ! the author didn’t encourage people who wants to grow his/her instagram follower with the bot, instead of the more ” natural way” it seems to be the longterm solution.