Using Instagram effectively means building a solid base of followers. However, figuring out how exactly to do this can be tricky for businesses and brands. The days for using bots and buying followers are over. Shortcuts may boost your numbers for a while, but will not help your long-term marketing goals. To run a successful Instagram marketing campaign, your followers must be real people who care about your products and engage with your content and posts.
Below are effective ways of getting real Instagram followers for free.
- Have an Instagram marketing strategy
Using social networks for marketing needs an effective strategy. Have a well-defined bottom-line, which includes gaining more followers and keeping them engaged with your content. Your marketing strategy must connect to your social marketing goals and business strategy. Write down the reasons why you need more Instagram following and what you want to accomplish. Is it to boost sales, increase awareness of your brand, or drive more traffic to your page? Ensure you stay focused on these goals and consistently post content that’s related to your brand.
- Share high-quality and engaging content
While this sounds obvious, it’s an essential point when trying to increase your Instagram following. Everything you post on Instagram has to be visually-engaging and of high quality. Useful posts will make new visitors to your profile to stay awhile and click on the follow button. Great content also makes your followers comment, like, and share the posts, helping you reach more people.
- Define your target audience
Define your target market- who they are, what they like, how old they are, and where they live or work. Answering all those questions will help you know the kind of content your followers would like, and you can now work towards consistently delivering the content.
- Come up with an aesthetic and consistent story about your brand
You can try satisfying your Instagram followers’ curiosity by showing them a step-by-step process of how your product is manufactured. You can also try to humanize your brand. Showcase your brand in an inspirational way. You can also try giving your followers the story behind the creation of the brand. This will help maintain a consistent visual and personality of your brand.
- Use keywords in your content to appear in searches
Before your target audience can follow you, they have to find you first. Most text on Instagram is not searchable. One can only search two things on Instagram- username and name. Ensure that your username on your Instagram profile is consistent with handles and usernames on other social media platforms. This makes it easier for people from Facebook, twitter, linked in, and other social networks to find you.
- Use the hashtags relevant to your brand to reach users
As said earlier, text on Instagram is not searchable. However, hashtags appear in Instagram searches. This means that using thoughtful and relevant hashtags is an excellent way to gain real Instagram followers for free. When you include a hashtag in your content, new users can find you after clicking on a hashtag from different posts or through searches. This means that any hashtagged content will appear on new people’s feeds, which allows them to view your page.
- Write persuasive captions
While Instagram is a visual platform, including captions in your photos and videos will play a significant role in helping you gain real Instagram followers for free and improve people’s engagement with your content. Attracting new people and increasing engagement are the key factors in attracting real Instagram followers for free.
Attracting real Instagram followers for free is an essential part of using Instagram for marketing. Using the above tricks will help you improve your current followers’ engagement with your content and increase your followers. Remember that false followers only boost your ego, but are not suitable for the business’s long-term marketing goals.