Top Five Tips to Grow Your Following on Instagram
I started my business back in 2015, since then I have been able to grow my Instagram following to OVER 100,000 followers, and I have helped business owners gain HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of new followers on Instagram!
In this post I want to give you my TOP FIVE TIPS to gain more followers on Instagram.
(PS this doesn't involve buying follower or using Instagram Bots --- I NEVER recommend that route)
Engagement Pods/Telegram Groups
Have you ever heard of an Engagement Pod? It is a group on Instagram account holders that come together to like and comment on each others picture. We all know the more like and comments you get on your post the more likely your content is pushed to other Instagram users and thus getting you even MORE engagement. So by putting together a group that will like and comment on your posts once your have posted them is a great thing to have! (plus you can make some pretty cool friends inside)
Most engagement pods happen inside of an Instagram DM. The InstantBoss Club places you inside of an engagement pod if you request to join one.A telegram group is a little different, with telegram (an app) you can have thousands of users in one chat (unlike Instagram which only allows 15 users in one chat.) Inside of these telegram groups the admin will choose a time in which everyone will drop a link to their Instagram post. After the time is up, the admin puts all posts together for you to like within one hour of recieving. This type of group is super beneficial if you are using Instagram hashtags because you are getting hundreds of likes and comments in a short amount of time. So this tells Instagram top put you in the top posts for your Hashtags. Being in the top nine posts of a hashtags get tons of eyes on your post and thus more followers! The InstantBoss Club has a list of groups to join inside of Telegram that will help you do just this!
Share for Share (Shop Shares)
WHAT IS A SHOP SHARE
A shop share is when you collaborate with another Instagram shop (it can be in the same field as you or different) and you both agree to post a picture on your Instagram by providing each other with a picture and caption. You will both decide on how long you would like to leave the post up (most stay up for about an hour.) After you have decided how long to leave your post up you will both post at the same time.
When someone else shares your picture on their Instagram they are exposing your product to their followers. This can be a huge way to drive followers and SALES to your page. When I first heard about shop shares I was very skeptical but took the risk and tried it out. I was SHOCKED, my sales went up by 50% I had my first $2,000 day let’s just say I was on cloud nine!
HOW TO SHOP SHARE
KIK is a app you will want to download for shop shares, It is the fastest way to chat with other shop owners, (50 people max in a chat at one time) while sharing picture and text without giving away your phone number to a stranger. There are TONS of KIK group chats out there with shop owners ready to shop share! They are typically divided up by the amount of followers your IG currently has. For example there is a shop share group for 3k followers and under, 10k and up, and 40 plus. This allows a fair playing game, so you are not posting with someone of less followings than you, because you will not get the same ROI/ROS. (Return on Investment, or Return on Share)
Not sure how to get started? The InstantBoss Club can place you inside of a KIK group
*Bloggers/Services: Kik will still work for you as well, I do encourage you to reach out to people within your niche and encourage them to join KIK as well and maybe even start your own niche group just forbloggers/coaches/services/photographers/etc. Blogs and most services revolve around having your own community. By building relationships with other blogs/services you are able to bring together both of your communities. So make sure you are choosing to share with someone of like followings (For example, if your blog or service revolves around fashion, a boutique might not be a bad idea to share with)
WHAT TO SHARE
When sharing with another shop, especially if you are selling women’s clothing and the shop you share with sells baby items, you will need to make sure you post something you think mommies would like.
Always keep in mind who you are sharing with and what their followers seem to like the most of. Once you find the product you want to share, ALWAYS make sure to include hashtags in your caption. Remember what we said about hashtags; make sure they are relevant and trending hashtags! Not sure where to find them? Check out the Library with over 2,400 copy and paste hashtags.
Once you have that all figured out you are set to go! If you don’t see a single sale from the shop you followed with, make sure to write them down on a list and try not to share with them again. It doesn’t mean that shop isn’t an awesome shop, it just means that they don’t work for your product. And you know what? THAT’S OK! Move on to the next shop, and once you find someone that works for you, make sure that your IG is working for them. A great collaboration requires communication and withcommunication can come friendship!
*If you have a blog or service from my personal experience sharing with a shop owner gives greatexposure, but I would also encourage you to find other people within your niche group on IG and shootthem a DM to “shop share” In your case it may be considered a “share for share.”
Spend One Hour A Day:
Gaining followers and having a highly engaged account does take effort on your part. Try spending one hour a day on Instagram, I suggest:
- Finding 60 users to follow
- Finding 10 hashtags that relate to your brand then LIKE AND COMMENT of the top 9 posts.
- liking and commenting on your followers accounts. (make sure these are genuine comments, not something like "cool" or "awesome" -- this will just make you look like a bot account)
- Posting relevant posts along with your hashtags
Use Hashtags
One of the EASIEST ways to grow your account and get more engagement on your posts is to use hashtags on every post. Instagram allows you to use up to 30 hashtags per post, and YES you should use every single one. Think of your hashtags like a keyword, it is how your customers are going to find you! Now you can spend hours researching the tops hashtags for your niche, and find a generic list of hashtags, OR you could buy the hashtag creator that generates the best hashtags depending on what niche you are in. This creator literally works for ANY NICHE! If you want more tips on hashtags you should check out our other blog post on this topic: TOP SIX INSTAGRAM HASHTAG TIPS
Learn from the Experts
When I first started my Instagram account, there was no one out there that had courses or lessons to explain how to grow on Instagram. Now there is SO MANY experts out there to help you grow your accounts, so why wouldn't you take tips from them? I've had to learn from trial and error, but you don't have to! The InstantBoss Club has all sorts of lessons from the top experts to help you. OR you could grab a CUSTOM MARKETING REPORT for your account!
Check out a few of my other Instagram tips