How to Grow Instagram Followers Organically

Getting more Instagram followers is key for any brand or influencer. The more Instagram followers your brand has, the more opportunities you have to turn them into customers.

With over one billion daily active users and 25 million business accounts alone on the platform, it can be tough for brands to shine through and gain new followers. If you’re reading this post wondering how your brand can break through in an overcrowded space, you’re not alone.

In this post we’ll go through everything you need to know about increasing your follower count and engagement organically.

How to gain followers organically on your Instagram account

Anyone in social media marketing knows that you should never start a campaign without identifying your goals first. For you to grow your Instagram followers, you must first understand your goals and how you will track them.

 Some common KPIs include total likes, comments and shares, engagement per follower, website traffic, link click-throughs and Instagram stories engagement.

 Once you have clearly identified your goals, you can begin implementing some of the below strategies to gain new followers.

Post on a regular basis

As with any social media account, consistency is key to gaining organic followers.

Instagram accounts that post at least once per day are more likely to grow their audience than those who post a few times per week and this is mostly because of Instagram’s algorithm.

Accounts that post on a regular basis and have an engaged audience are more likely to show up at the top of followers’ feeds.

Of course, the quality of posts should still be high. Just because an account posts each day doesn’t mean that they will get more engagement.

Create engaging content

In order to grab your audience’s attention on Instagram, you should create high quality, engaging content. The more eye-catching your Instagram content is, the more likely Instagram followers are to engage with it and the easier it is to grow your Instagram account organically.

Because Instagram users are engaged, they are more likely to comment, like, and share content they associate with, which is why it’s important to create engaging content.

Although it sounds easy, creating engaging content is actually pretty tricky.

If you’re struggling with creative Instagram content, we’ve got some inspiration below:

Instagram stories

Instagram Stories are a great way to tell your brand’s personal story.

Stories have more impact than images as they don’t overpower your followers’ feeds.

One of the great things about stories is that if you own a business account you can add clickable links to direct your Instagram traffic to your website.

User generated content (UGC)

User-Generated Content (UGC) is original, brand-specific content created by someone who is not an official part of your business. It can be anything such as images, videos, Instagram reels, or reviews and is often considered the bread and butter of social media marketing.

In fact, UGC is one of the most effective forms of social media content because it helps followers to see the human side of your brand or business.

Sharing a piece of content that one of your customers has created (without being paid to do so) is a great way to showcase your products or services.

In fact, a recent study showed that over half of consumers were more likely to purchase a product after seeing a product recommendation from a user rather than it being heavily promoted by a company.

Use the right hashtags

If you are serious about increasing your follower count quickly and organically, then you need to implement a hashtag strategy.

With an Instagram hashtag strategy, you can grow your Instagram account quickly and efficiently, popping up on your target audience’s feeds regularly.

A few years ago, you could add any old hashtag to your posts, but since the Instagram algorithm changed, your posts now need to have relevant hashtags to your brand, audience, and target market.

To gain new Instagram followers using hashtags, you need to choose around 15 that follow the below logic:

10 generic hashtags

If you own a bakery business, the hashtags might be #bakery #cakes #cakesoftheday etc. You can also put more generic ones here such as #like4like #instagood, but you should try and keep these to a minimum.

2 specific hashtags

These would be specific to your niche, for example, #weddingcakes #pastrychef etc. These are related to the generic hashtags but aim to target what your audience is searching for.

3 ultra-specific hashtags

These hashtags depend on the content that you’re posting and should describe the content you are posting.

You could also create a branded hashtag to use here too eg. #NewYorkCakery etc. so that followers and potential customers can always find your work.

Read more on hashtags here: How To Use Hashtags On Social Media

Post at the right times

In addition to adding the right hashtags to gain more followers on Instagram, you should also consider what time you publish your posts.

Instagram analytics is a great way for you to understand what times and days your posts perform best at allowing you to tailor your Instagram posts to those specific times and days so that you are more visible and can gain more followers.

Create a posting schedule

After you’ve created eye-catching visuals, used the right hashtags, and posted at the right times what else can you do to ensure you gain more Instagram followers organically? That’s right – create a posting schedule.

Creating a posting schedule means that you schedule what posts you’re going to publish in advance. You can do it a week ahead or a month ahead, it all depends on how far in advance you want to plan. The key here is ensuring you post at the right times for your account or industry.

Check out our blog on how we schedule to Instagram.

Influencer marketing

Influencer marketing is a well-known strategy used by many businesses and brands as a way of gaining more Instagram followers and engagements.

But have you considered partnering with micro influencers?

Micro-influencers are influencers that have between 10-100k followers. They use their follower count to promote products or services that align to their interests and hobbies – someone like a fashion blogger promoting a new brand or a travel writer promoting a suitcase brand.

In some instances, micro influencers who have a niche may have less than 10k followers (however influencers that have only a few thousand followers are referred to as nano influencers).

Micro influencers can be incredibly valuable to a brand because their Instagram audience engage with what they post more than celebrities.

These small influencers are also incredibly accessible for brands.

When you work with a micro-influencer as part of your Instagram marketing strategy, you are much more likely to grow your Instagram organically as their post will drive people to your Instagram profile.

Cross-promote your Instagram account on another social network

If you have other social media accounts, linking your Instagram account to them can be a really easy way to grow your Instagram following.

TikTok is particularly good for this as you can connect your Instagram account to your TikTok.

You can then create a few TikToks that encourage viewers to click through to your Instagram profile, gaining you more followers.

Get more tips on how to “Blow up your Instagram” on our other blog.