Photo by Jakob Owens on Unsplash
How and why do some people become successful on Instagram? How and why do some people become influencers and others don’t? The short answer is: Some are more committed than others to their Instagram growth. People aren’t successful on Instagram by chance. Instead, many popular influencers realize how to use Instagram growth hacks to get new followers. If you do the same, you’ll achieve similar results..
TLDR: Unfortunately there’s no TLDR for any of these Instagram growth hacks. If you’re committed to your growth on Instagram, why not read all 15 growth hacks, try to implement them, and see what happens?
Instagram Growth Hack #1: Get ‘Clout’ From Others
Clout is a dirty word to most influencers, but almost all of the most successful influencers and content creators have used clout from a more influential creator at one point or another.
You don’t have to be scummy about using clout. Simply research creators and influencers you can collaborate with who’s audience may differ from yours so you can get new followers. The collaboration should be mutually beneficial, as whichever creator you’re choosing to collaborate with will be introduced to your audience as well.
Instagram Growth Hack #2: Location Tag
Location tags are an excellent way to get people interested in seeing your images, especially if you’re a travel influencer or local creator. Tagging your location enables others within that area, or with an interest in that area, to see your images. By tagging your location you gain exposure to a new audience that wouldn’t necessarily find you through hashtags, or find your images in their recommendations.
Instagram Growth Hack #3: Treat Instagram Like A Business
For every influencer and creator, Instagram is a business – and you should treat it that way to be successful.
Therefore, this growth hack relies on your ability to separate yourself from your Instagram account, so you make the very best decisions for your account and engagement.
Because the more successful you are as an influencer the more brands will want to work with you. To treat Instagram like a business, you should either change your Instagram profile to a creator or business account. Secondly, you should have a budget for your Instagram posts. Lastly, you should have a posting schedule and know the statistics that help you achieve organic Instagram growth.
Instagram Growth Hack #4: Evaluate What Gets You The Most Engagement (And Continue Doing It)
This growth hack is like the previous one, because part of treating Instagram like a business, is to constantly assess what brings you the most engagement and then recreate it.
However, you’ll only know what works if you change your Instagram account from a personal account to a business or creator account. Because, then, Instagram will give you all the data on your images, enabling you to see which posts have been most successful. Therefore, allowing you to create comparable posts, using related hashtags, similar captions, and of course, similar images.
Instagram Growth Hack #5: Tag Brands
In case you didn’t know, many brands repost images from users who’ve tagged them. Therefore, to get additional recognition, consider creating one brand post a week.
This can be as simple as an OOTD, an inspirational caption detailing how a brand’s products help you, or a combination of the two. This will also get you noticed by these brands, so they’re more likely to consider you for brand sponsorships.
Instagram Growth Hack #6: Use A Combination of Hashtags
According to Instagram organic growth statistics, posts with just one hashtag get 12.5% more engagement than posts without. For this growth hack to work, you should try to include at least three hashtags in each of your posts. The first can be a low competition hashtag that doesn’t have too many posts but has some engagement. The second can be a medium engagement hashtag and the last a high engagement hashtag. You can find which hashtags have the most engagement by using a service like Ritetag.
Instagram Growth Hack #7: Comment on Popular Influencers Post
This growth hack may seem cringy, but plenty of aspiring influencers get new followers just by commenting on more popular influencer’s posts. Remember, many of the most loyal followers of a popular influencer are engaged in their comments section. Therefore, when you utilize the comment section of popular influencers, you’re gaining exposure to their audience. If you’re intentional with what you post, you’ll pique their follower’s interest, and they’ll click on your profile.
This brings me to the next Instagram growth hack.
Instagram Growth Hack #8: Invest in A Good Profile Picture
When you comment on someone’s picture or interact on a Live etc, they (and their followers) see two things – your profile picture and your username. Both of these should be influencer worthy if you want to grow on Instagram.
Many wannabe influencers don’t think of the importance of a profile picture and then squander the opportunity to get people interested in following them. Depending on your account (whether you’re an influencer or business) your profile picture should display who you are. For most influencers, the image will focus on their face. Additionally, the image should be a high quality (HD) image, and be easily recognizable at tiny thumbnail size. Don’t be afraid to change your profile picture until you find one that works. Remember, the key to a good profile picture is that it’s prominent at thumbnail size.
Instagram Growth Hack #9: Hire A Social Media Manager
I’m sure you’re probably thinking you don’t have the budget to hire a social media manager, but if you’re treating Instagram like a business, you do. When you’re starting, you don’t need the very best social media manager, just someone who can:
- Edit your pictures
- Schedule your pictures
- Do Hashtag research
- Comment and engage on your behalf
- Give suitable guidance on what to post next and how to grow
You can get a social media manager who’ll do all this and more for about $280 a month on Fiverr.
Instagram Growth Hack #10: Schedule All Your Posts
If you can’t hire a social media manager you can still get many of the benefits by scheduling your posts, so they publish at specific times. This way, you can concentrate on your other commitments knowing that your Instagram images are ready to publish. Scheduling your posts also enables you to take several images on days when you have more time. This way, you can plan what sort of image you want to take, take a bunch of these images, and then schedule them until you’re next available to take the next bunch of pictures.
Instagram Growth Hack #11: Use The Same Pictures Over Again
Not every influencer does this, but as an influencer on a budget, you certainly should consider doing it. On days when you’ve taken a few really good pictures, consider splitting them and posting each individually. The trick to doing this is to ensure that there are at least 20 posts between a similar image. Another tip is to ensure that the picture is fundamentally different. The subject in the image (you or a product) can be the same, but the way you set it out, the filters you use, and the camera angles should be different. This way, you’re not posting the same picture but a variation of a picture. It also allows you to take pictures in bulk with the idea of posting them at different times.
For someone who has other commitments, this is the easiest way to get more content for your Instagram feed.
Instagram Growth Hack #12: Use IGTV
Instagram is starting to favor video content over images. Not only do videos take up more space on your recommendations, but they also display a preview. Because of this, your videos will display more prominently and most likely cause someone to take an interest in your profile. Besides, there aren’t that many dedicated IGTV creators presently, allowing you to be an early adopter and grow your audience this way.
Instagram Growth Hack #13: Don’t Be Alone In All Your Pictures
Group pictures receive more likes than single person images. Not only are you using the very first Instagram growth hack (use the clout of others), but you’re also giving your followers something to look at. When you’re in a group photo where you’re tagging several other influencers, that image appears on their tagged tab and will lead back to your account.
Instagram Growth Hack #14: Use TikTok
We have an entire post dedicated to how to use TikTok to grow on Instagram.
But it just makes sense that to get more followers on Instagram, you should use other social media platforms.
Getting discovered on TikTok is easier than getting discovered on Instagram, because the TikTok algorithm is more advanced, and doesn’t favor popular creators.
Additionally, there are numerous sub-genres on TikTok that as a creator you can create any sort of videos that enable you to leverage TikTok for Instagram growth.
To achieve success with Instagram growth hacks, you shouldn’t be using one, but a few. This list of fifteen growth hacks is comprehensive and proven to work. If you start with some of the most simple hacks (like changing your profile picture and researching your hashtags) you’ll notice a difference in engagement.
