10 Strategies for Expanding Your Instagram Following (2022)

 Establishing a loyal Instagram following that expands along with your company's success may be a powerful marketing tool.

Instagram has more than 500 million daily users, making it home to some of the most active communities online.

Building a large following of real people, as opposed to bots or fake accounts, is the focus of this post, as we show you how to do just that on Instagram.

1. Reels should be part of your content mix.

Sharing funny videos known as "reels" with your Instagram followers is a great way to increase your account's engagement. Audio, visual, and artistic capabilities are all at your disposal. They may be shared with the world through Explore and your feed if you're looking to expand your following.

To market a product successfully, reels are the next step. Manager of Instagram's beauty partnerships Kristie Dash said in a Glossy forum that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to distributing content on Reels. However, here are some ideas she offers for being noticed:

Always be creative and forward-thinking in your content. Determine what is popular on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok, and then put your own spin on it. Your Reels have a better chance of becoming popular and spreading to new viewers if you do this.

Keep things simple and easy to understand. Not every Reel has to be a big deal. Sometimes, low-budget videos do just as well, if not better, than high-budget Reels.

Tell your listeners something they don't already know. In your Reels, strike a chord between lightheartedness and depth of understanding.

Trilce Jirón Garro, founder and CEO of TBS Marketing, a social media marketing agency, agrees. "Do not use Reels material to promote your wares. Show your proof. Share your knowledge about your field with others. To provide amusement for the audience, "As she puts it.

Instagram is a great platform for businesses of all sizes, and Trilce suggests that both new and established companies include fun Reels into their marketing plans. "Anybody may reach out to new audiences with the use of reels. As the content on Reels is of such poor quality, there is no learning curve. Producers may build credibility, interest, and revenue with material that stands the test of time."

In addition, Trilce is a big fan of the Instagram Insights Tool that is only available via Reels. "In today's Instagram marketing strategy, reels are essential. Monitoring measurements and analyzing data to ascertain Reels' efficacy has become much less laborious thanks to analytics technologies. You can now learn when to release Reels, what kinds of calls to action resonate with viewers, and what content they like the most. "

Reels Insights allows you to analyze your platform's performance by revealing patterns and helping you make sense of unexpected increases in interaction. As a consequence, the content you create will be of higher quality, drawing in more viewers and readers.

2. Promote similar information from other sources

The term "cross-promotion" refers to the sharing of similar content across many platforms. This is a method that helps you save money and time. It is also effective for enhancing business visibility and creating an Instagram audience.

Video and entertainment apps on mobile devices are seeing increased use, with the popularity of social media video content driving the trend. Whether you've posted a short video or a lengthy tutorial, you want as many people as possible to see your work on Instagram.

The Christmas dance challenge that Justin Bieber issued is a great example of a cross-post. The Canadian singer promoted the same holiday-themed dancing challenge on both TikTok and Instagram in 2020. His TikTok video became viral, racking over 9.8 million likes. In contrast, the same video on Instagram only received 2.2 million likes. He was able to reach more people by just uploading the identical video to two other sites.

Nadya Okamoto, founder of the lifestyle period brand August, found that TikTok naturally spreads to Instagram and YouTube. She told Modern Retail, "Since August, as our TikTok following grew, so did our Instagram following to 175,000." The firm has been able to forego paid marketing as its principal acquisition method because to the "substantial reduction in our overall cost of acquisitions" brought about by its active participation on many channels.

It's not only TikTok that allows for cross-posting. YouTube Shorts and Pinterest Stories may easily adopt the style of Instagram Reels. Reels that include a TikTok watermark will not be promoted by Instagram's algorithm. Be sure that the content you're going to cross-post from Instagram is of high quality and does not include any watermarks that advertise a competing social network before you publish it.

3. Make sure your profile grid looks well by:

People will follow you for what you write in the future, not what you've posted in the past. People want to know why they should follow you before they commit to doing so.

Feeds that stick to a consistent topic and update at consistent intervals may have the same impact on building an audience as the other growth strategies we've explored. If your pattern is obvious to anybody who reads your profile, even the most simple one may help you get more followers.

The first impression you make on Instagram is comprised of your bio and the nine most recent posts you've made. Can they maintain coherence in their use of voice, aesthetic, and technology? Is a person always sent to the same landing page when they click on the link? Alternately, do you also link to anything that's fun to read?

Creating a rhythm for your publishing strategy and a worth-following regularity may be achieved via the organization of your grid, a technique frequently missed when trying to be creative with the appearance of your feed.

In fact, many accounts who use this approach are able to spend less time generating content by focusing on converting visitors into followers, producing text graphics or other material with a faster turnaround, and streamlining the production of their Instagram content in general.

4. Brand ambassadors should be used.

Need to advertise your product but don't have the budget to pay a celebrity influencer a lot of money to do it? Collaboration with influencers who have hundreds to thousands of followers. Ambassadors are people that believe in and support your business and are willing to share that belief with others.

The brand ambassador program at luxury shoe boutique Sarah Flint, which already includes more than 500 women, has been deemed a success. If they bring in five new clients using their exclusive promo code, the ambassador will get a free pair of Sarah Flint shoes.

Among the brand's advocates are celebrities like Holly Hollon, who attest to their satisfaction with the footwear. Sarah Flint fans will find her contributions authentic and informative. It boosts the company's popularity and sales on Instagram.

5. have your loyalty program generate leads for you.

There has been a dramatic increase in the number of loyalty programs introduced by retailers in recent years, all with the goal of convincing consumers to shop only with them. Such companies as Sephora and Blume benefited from it greatly. Marketers may benefit from loyalty programs by offering incentives to their Instagram followers.

In order to participate in Rebecca Minkoff's loyalty program, RM Rewards, users need just like the company's Instagram account to start accruing points. Brands like Blume also see the value of thanking their Instagram fans. Making Instagram friends instead of Facebook or Twitter friends might earn members Blume Bucks.

6. Use your own Instagram account to promote your business.

Expanding your own Instagram account is another typical tactic for attracting more followers; in essence, you need to establish yourself as an influencer. Business and personal accounts may be used together to increase exposure for your company, your fan base, and your bottom line. If you want more views on TikTok, you may apply the same technique.

The technique has worked well for the ANINE BING fashion line. The company's founder encourages engagement and exposure via both her own Instagram account, which has over a million followers, and the company's official Instagram account.

Anine invites her fans inside her studio, explains the design process in detail, and asks for feedback at every stage. Anine opens out about her life and career, giving fans a look at the person behind their favorite designer.

7. Connect with popular profiles

The best content related to a certain subject may be found on Instagram feature accounts. They remind me of company photo albums that highlight the company's most memorable moments. Numerous people follow certain featured accounts since they are featured often. You may get new Instagram followers if you are highlighted on the account.

You can find specialized feature accounts for every interest you can think of, from travel and style to photography. For instance, with over 6.1 million followers, @discoverearth compiles travel content from throughout the world for those with an adventurous spirit.

8. Publish at peak hours

If you want to attract more Instagram followers, you need think about more than just the quality of your hashtags and filters.

To develop a targeted plan, it is important to examine previous successes and failures. You may receive a thorough study of your posting history in relation to engagement if you use the optimization features of IconoSquare. The best times and days of the week to publish will also be included in this report.

Times when media are often posted are shown as black circles. Instances of social contact are shown by the gray circles. The periods when posts are most likely to be seen are shown by the biggest, lightest gray circles.

Plenty of useful data is available without paying a dime in the Followers section of Instagram analytics for business accounts.

If you want your posts to go out at the optimal time for your audience, use a social media scheduling tool.

9. Take your competitors' fans for yourself.

One of the most efficient ways to get new followers is to find the Instagram accounts of your major competitors and engage with their audiences. These people have already shown an interest in the products you provide by following your competitors.

But how can you steal your rivals' fan base without losing your own? I joined in because I thought it would be fun to join in with them. Instagram users may be engaged in a number of ways, with greater returns for those who put in more time and energy.

Instagram interactions may be broken down into three broad classes:

Look at how a user interacts with the system.

• A image perfectly
• Post a remark under a picture.
• Put your own stamp on your writing by using a few emoticons.

10. Market your goods by paying for ads and endorsements.

Using influencer marketing may help you reach a wider audience and increase your Instagram following.

But how can you accomplish this goal? The first drawback is that, unlike some of the other methods, this one often costs money. Though useful if executed correctly.

Making a list of the biggest accounts in your field is the first step. If you sell cosmetics, for instance, you should reach out to bloggers with sizable beauty-related readerships.

Find these accounts and start following them immediately if you are not already doing so. Most effectively, you may use the hashtag keywords you identified at the outset of this article to do searches using Webstagram (already explained). The results of a keyword search on Instagram will show you not only related phrases, but also the most followed accounts that include those terms.

When reviewing the profiles' outcomes, keep a look out for the following:

Widespread popularity, often with an audience size of 20,000 to 200,000.

Included in the profile is an email address.

Sponsored content and shoutouts in sponsored Stories may be shared on an account if the user has provided an email address.

A simple email to them inquiring about the price of a sponsored article would do the trick. I have found that the average charge each post varies from $20 to $50, depending on the size of the following.

Give the influencer a free sample of your goods if it is something really special. The more invested and responsive the audience is, the less staged and more authentic looking the final product will seem.

Several influencer marketplaces may provide the high-engagement influencers you want (those that generate a lot of likes and comments in relation to the number of people who follow them). Gaining a significant following on Instagram is possible without the help of influential users.