Instagram can be a highly targeted, visual marketing platform for your brand, as well as a way to cultivate a dedicated audience that grows alongside your company.
In fact, over 500 million Instagram users utilize the app on a daily basis, making it home to some of the most engaged audiences on the planet.
However, much like any other social network, there are appropriate, inappropriate, and creative ways to use your Instagram page.
In this post, we’ll teach you how to build a big following on Instagram and boost engagement with actual fans rather than inactive false followers over time.
How to increase followers on Instagram without any app?
Use appropriate hashtags
Your Instagram goal should be to engage your present audience on a regular basis while also increasing your number of genuine followers. Posting new, intriguing, and engaging photographs will satisfy the first criteria, but hashtagging your photos will help you expand quickly. Hashtagging allows users to search for relevant terms to easily find your photos.
So, what hashtags should you employ? Users on Instagram, like those on Twitter and other social media platforms, prefer certain hashtags over others. When you utilize popular Instagram hashtags in your images, you increase your chances of reaching new users and being noticed.
At the time of writing, these were the top 20 hashtags on Instagram:
#love
#instagood
#photooftheday
#fashion
#beautiful
#happy
#cute
#like4like
#tbt
#followme
#picoftheday
#follow
#me
#art
#selfie
#summer
#instadaily
#repost
#friends
#nature
Use the appropriate filters
Keyword hashtags aren’t the only thing you should look for. Certain photo filters are more popular among Instagram users than others. Using these chosen filters may influence your involvement.
According to Iconosquare, the following are the top ten most popular Instagram filters right now:
Normal (No Filter)
Clarendon
Juno
Lark
Ludwig
Gingham
Valencia
X-Pro II
Lo-fi
Amaro
TrackMaven conducted an investigation on Instagram accounts to determine how filters affected engagement and discovered that Mayfair, Hefe, and Ludwig generated the greatest interaction.
Post the appropriate times
To obtain more Instagram followers, you should consider the timing of your posts in addition to selecting the ideal hashtags and filters.
A focused strategy entails analyzing what has and has not worked in the past for you. You can get a full analysis of your posting history vs. engagement by visiting IconoSquare’s optimization area. This report will also identify the ideal days and times of day to post.
The dark circles indicate when you usually post media. The light gray circles show when your community has been interacting. The biggest light gray circles represent the best times for you to post.
Instagram analytics for business accounts, available under the Followers area, can also provide a wealth of useful information for free.
Consider using a social media scheduling service to automatically publish your posts at times when your audience is most interested.
local discovery by using geotags
In addition to hashtags, you can make your Instagram posts and Stories more discoverable by tagging your location—either the city you’re in or the location where the photo or video was taken.
Locations not only have their own Instagram feed and Stories, but they also have hashtags that you can add to by using a location sticker in your own Stories.
Local companies should maximize the usefulness of location tags by posting regularly to these feeds and responding to postings from prospective customers who are physically nearby.
Follow trends
Aligning your content with hot themes or hashtags when the opportunity arises will boost discoverability and engagement.
For example, you can use a trendy topic or event, such as a holiday, to increase your engagement and brand exposure. You can also take part in one of the many “hashtag holidays” that exist, such as #NationalCoffeeDay (which occurs every year on October 1). Mark pertinent events on your calendar so you can plan ahead of time to create outstanding content.
Make an effort to contribute to the discourse in a meaningful way, and when in doubt, consider whether your target audience would be interested in the trend.