Three Misunderstood Ideas About Growing Your Instagram Following
Instagram has become essential to those who want to market themselves in the modern climate. The social media platform is the perfect tool when it comes to finding potential customers and building a professional brand that people can connect with. Branding is essential for businesses and influencers alike but building an organic following is not as simple as it may look on the surface. We’d like to clear up some common, misunderstood ideas in regard to growing an organic Instagram following:
1. Growing Your Brand Doesn’t Happen Overnight
While it may look like certain profiles jump to stardom on the platform overnight, it’s important to note that this does not happen for a vast majority of users. You can’t grow a brand by posting a few quality images or buying followers (Instagram’s algorithm will detect the bots and likely remove them from your account anyway). Growing a brand organically takes time as you are attempting to find followers who truly connect with you; your real, target audience will be so much more beneficial for your brand than bots from around the world. If you’re a real estate agent in Chicago, you should grow your brand in a way that promotes living in the Windy City while also showing your unique personality. Creating a brand is about finding followers (or vice versa) who will genuinely care about your brand because they’re interested in your content. After all, if you’re a business you’re looking to have real followers that could lead to sales, not simply look like you’re Instagram famous.
2. Be Real, Not Fake
Regardless of whether you’re attempting to build your social following for your own brand or for a company, the most successful businesses get personal. You should present your best self when running an account for your business — but the reality is that people want to connect with you before they utilize your services. Restaurants in Chicago, for example, should jump on Instagram stories to take their followers through a working day with them. You could walk followers through new menu items, show off some of the behind-the-line personalities, run a poll asking ‘regular fries or sweet potato fries?’, and much more. The most successful accounts are those of people and businesses who show their personalities in a way that allows their followers to feel like they know the person behind the account. Whether you simply want to become an influencer and grow your account so you can make money from advertisements or you’re in business and would like to grow your brand's account, it’s important to show content that’s not always perfectly curated.
3. Don’t Expect People to Just Find You
Even if you’re doing all the right things — using proper hashtags, writing amazing captions, or tagging your location on your content — the best way to grow an Instagram following is to not let the algorithm dictate how people find your account. Find your target audience yourself. While it may seem time-consuming to go out looking for people who may be interested in your brand, it’s quick and easy to find popular hashtags for your niche. Aim to engage with hashtags that only have a couple hundred thousand posts attached to them. You should utilize these hashtags on your posts, too, but you should also click on that hashtag and go through some of the top posts. Leaving a helpful comment or simply just liking the photo is a great way to bring your target audience to your profile directly — chances are that they’re looking through that same hashtag too!
Growing your Instagram following organically isn’t easy, but it’s doable! Want some help getting started? Contact us for a quote to get your Instagram growing today.