With Facebook dead (we reported), Instagram plays an even bigger role for businesses. Many would like to jump on the line of success and become an Instagram star overnight – thousands of followers, thousands of likes and a lot of fame for the company.
Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. First and foremost, Instagram means one thing: a lot of work! But you don’t have to bury your head in the sand now. In this article, I’ll tell you my seven insider tips for more Instagram followers!
I hate to say it, but just forget it! You can of course buy 500 followers in 5 minutes. Unfortunately, these won’t do you any good if nobody likes your pictures or interacts with your content.
I’ve built several Instagram accounts over the past few years. Over and over again, I ended up at the point where I thought to myself: “Instagram, you can do me! I’ll just delete the account now.
Period. “I’ve never done it because better times will come again.
But there will always be days when 10 or, depending on your size, even 100 people suddenly follow you. Or there is a new algorithm that doesn’t exactly play into your cards.
The fact is: The way to many Instagram followers’ costs time and nerves. But it’s also really fun. That’s why I’ve collected my top 5 tips for you – good luck and don’t give up!
# 1 Collect interactions
The current algorithm relies heavily on the “engagement” factor. For example, your pictures will initially only be shown to around 10 percent of your followers in the feed.
The more likes and, above all, comments it gets in the first hour, the more it is played out. In addition, you should reply to comments and messages as quickly as possible in order to make the algorithm happy.
And if you make the algorithm happy, you have good cards to be featured on the Explore page. A guarantee for new followers! It is also worth interacting with other users in order to get more Instagram followers.
Just following 500 people and hoping that they will too is not enough. Take a look at the profiles, leave a few comments (you should think have more than “Nice” or “Great Profile”) and you will attract more attention.
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By the way, while we’re on the subject of comments: Comments with less than 4 words are stamped as bot by the algorithm and they do not count for the “interaction ranking”.
# 2 Follow the right one
Unfortunately, many companies still follow the well-known “follow-unfollow” strategy.
You just follow 100 or 1,000 accounts and hope that they will follow you too. As soon as that happens, you unfollow them again. Because in the end you want to have a lot of followers, but follow as few as possible – because that looks a lot cooler.
This method is now pretty worn out and just annoying. For me, it has meant that I no longer follow companies as soon as they appear as a new follower.
I know they’ll be gone soon – and so do many others. It is very suspicious if the person has 100 followers, for example, but 2,000 follow.
That screams for “Follow-Unfollow”. Therefore, when building up followers, you should only follow accounts that fit your industry and target group and, as already mentioned in point one, interact with them and network.
# 3 Don't use third party apps
In 2018 Instagram closed its public API (Application Programming Interface). Since then, apps have required appropriate permission to access the Instagram API and have to be approved.
This started a campaign against fake engagement, which is generated using third-party apps. Since then, many such apps have disappeared from the app stores.
Nevertheless, you can still find some there that you can use to track your followers, for example. As tempting as it sounds, e.g. to see who exactly is unfollowing you, you’d better stay away from that! On the one hand, you have to remember that you give these apps full access to your account – after all, you have to enter your login data.
This increases the likelihood that your account will be hacked or your data will fall into the wrong hands. You also have to expect that Instagram will “punish” you and throttle your reach or, in the worst case, block your account for some time or completely.
I’ve had bad experiences with it myself as I used a follower app to see who is unfollowing me. After that, my range suddenly went down and I never got back to the old level.
Other users have even reported that their accounts were temporarily or completely blocked after using such apps. Who wants that?
# 4 Post high quality content on a regular basis
A real classic: you can read this tip in every article on this topic, but it’s just right. In order for your followers to increase continuously, you have to deliver new posts regularly. After all, people follow you to see something.
One post per day is definitely sufficient. If there are too many posts, a few followers can quickly jump off. I did the test here too. Some time ago I didn’t post anything two months ago – simply because I needed a little social media break – and after just a week the number of followers decreased bit by bit.
As soon as I uploaded a picture again, I got a whole bunch of new followers. When it comes to photos, you should also attach great importance to the quality and style.
As a company in particular, you shouldn’t post pixelated, far too dark photos of unsightly things.
Nobody will follow you like this. Edit your pictures, make sure that they are varied and match each other – and of course your company.
Since you probably don’t have a budget for a photographer or photo editor, the editing functions of Instagram and a filter will help you. With this you manage to bring a uniform look into your pictures.
# 5 Take part in challenges or organize one yourself
If someone asked me about my absolute top tip, here it is: Take part in challenges! I sometimes got 50 followers in one fell swoop.
Many larger accounts organize so-called Instagram challenges. For example, you should post a picture on a certain topic every day for a month.
The most beautiful photo will then be shown by this account and of course you will be linked. This way, numerous users will notice you and if they like your profile, they will follow you.
Of course, it is important that you take part in challenges that suit your target group.
If you already have a few followers and have built up a small community, you can also organize a challenge yourself.
The best way to do this is to team up with one or two other accounts – after all, there is a lot of work to do! You also benefit from more range if you bring more people on board.
Due to the many links and mentions during the challenge, Instagram will reward you with a huge reach (see point one) and you can no longer save yourself from new followers.
# 6 Take part in follow trains
Follow what? Anyone who delves into the Insta universe will sooner or later be confronted with so-called follow trains. Basically, it’s about everyone who participates following everyone else. This is how everyone expands their reach.
The whole thing is available in different formats. Sometimes a private account is created for this, to which one is invited by the train’s admins.
When it starts, you have, for example, 7 days to follow everyone else. But there is also the post variant, in which, for example, you have to mark several people under a post and follow everyone who has commented themselves.
A follow train can bring you a lot of followers in one fell swoop, but you also have to be aware that many will disappear again after a certain time. They simply boosted their number of followers and then disappears, never to be seen again.
Hence my tip: Find a train that is only intended for accounts from your niche. Here the probability is much higher that the participants are eager to get to know new profiles and in the end will stay.
Some time ago – mainly out of curiosity – I gave it a chance and took part in a comparatively small train with around 300 people.
In the short term, the campaign brought me around 200 new followers, of which around 150 remained in the end. But: The follow-train was limited to a very small topic niche.
# 7 Network with other profiles
If you want to gain a lot of Instagram followers, you can’t avoid this point: You have to network! Find a couple of Insta Buddies with whom you regularly exchange, link, comment on posts, etc. Why is this so important?
Again, point one plays an important role, because Instagram likes it when your content is interacted with and you are linked.
This shows the algorithm: Hey, this account is important and exciting for other users! But allied profiles also help you to stay on the ball in your Insta niche – so you will always be the first to find out about trains, challenges, competitions, etc.
You can also “advertise” to each other for the others. By the way, that’s called a shoutout. You put a different profile in front of us in the story or in the feed and call your own followers to look at or follow the profile.
Learn all about Instagram!
Would you like to become an Instagram pro and gain even more followers? Then download our free Instagram e-book directly. There you will find many more tips, free templates for post and challenges, a social media planner and much more.
Ready to go?
Now it’s your turn: Jump into the Instagram frenzy and try out my tips. You will see that over time the work is worth it and you will get more and more followers.
Did you know that you can use Shore to convert your followers into paying customers? With our Instagram booking function you can be booked directly via the app. This means that an appointment with you is just a click away on the book button.
