In 2023, approximately 90% of Instagram’s 1 billion active monthly users follow a business account on the platform. With so many people following a business account, can you risk not tapping into this audience for your business? In this blog we explore how to gain Instagram followers organically for your Instagram Business Page.
How to gain Instagram followers organically…
Create an optimised profile
The first step in gaining Instagram followers for your business is creating a fully optimised company page. You must think, you would not follow a page that looked incomplete or unprofessional, so why would anyone follow yours? Optimising your Instagram business page is about creating a space that represents your brand in a positive light whilst sticking abiding to Instagram’s best practices.
In order optimise your page, consider the points below:
- Choose a simple username that describes your brand/business.
- Use a business name that is consistent with the rest of your branding and marketing.
- Use a high-quality picture of your logo as your profile picture.
- Write an engaging bio about your business.
- Add a link to your website in your bio.
As it is page related to your business, it is vital you take into consideration the industry that you will be operating in. Use your common sense to understand the level of professionalism that will need to be deployed across the page. For example, a children’s book publisher will use less formal language than a law firm.
Create and publish original content
Instagram’s users choose to follow a business account from the content that it is posting. Therefore, it is essential to create and publish original content.
When it comes to posting original photos, it is recommended that you follow photography best practices. These include:
- Focusing on one subject at a time.
- Embracing negative space.
- Finding interesting perspectives.
- Looking for symmetry.
- Capturing small details.
When posting videos, you do not need to be producing Hollywood quality productions. Recording videos from your phone or a personal camera works fine.
You can also utilise Instagram’s in app editing options to add even more wow to your posts. These include filters, video length editing and stickers.
The content that you create should be targeted and specific to the industry that your business operates in. Understanding your target audience is vital in creating content that convinces a user to follow your page.
Utilise all types of content available
Although Instagram is primarily an app designed for high resolution photo sharing, it does boast multiple options for its users to share content. These options include:
Instagram feed including photos and videos – The Instagram feed is the original place that Instagram users could view content. Business users can post high quality photos or videos onto their feed.
Stories – Instagram Stories allow content in either photo or video form. They differ from the original feed as they allow a business to publish content that then disappears after 24 hours.
Instagram Live – Instagram Live is a way to broadcast an event live to your followers. It is brilliant to interact with your audience in real time.
IGTV – Instagram TV supports a longer form of video content than the feed and stories. They also support different screen sizes/aspects making it easier to publish video content recorded on a phone.
Reels – Instagram Reels are a way for businesses to share short video clips that last a matter of seconds to its followers.
To maximise your chance of gaining followers, you should be creating content across all forms for Instagram. Not only does this appeal to all users within your target audience, but it also helps prove to Instagram your authenticity.
Set a regular posting schedule
Once you are in the flow of creating content for your business page, best practices for gaining followers includes setting up a regular posting. Creating a posting schedule not only allows potential followers to see that you are a trusted, consistent source of information with your niche, but it also gives you as a creator motivation and deadlines to ensure you are constantly posting to your page.
When creating a schedule, it is advised to try and post some content every day. This helps you remain current in the eyes of your current followers increasing the chances that they like and share your posts. If possible, you can also post multiple times per day. Do not exceed 3 posts or you run the risk of over whelming potential followers. Your schedule can also be filled up with different content forms. For example, you may do one main post on your feed, one Story post and then an Instagram Live session.
By creating a regular posting schedule, you will increase the chances of your current followers interacting and sharing your posts, which in turns increases your chances of new users seeing your posts and then following your page.
Interact with your audience
Social media was designed to allow its users the chance to interact with each other in real time. This is no different from people looking to interact with businesses within the industry. When considering how to gain Instagram followers organically on your business page, you can not overlook the power of interacting with your audience.
On your business page it is vital that you are constantly responding to comments left on your posts, as well as answering any direct messages that you receive. You can even take it one step further by initiating conversations when you gain new followers on your account.
If you are active in the community your business page increases its chances of getting likes through word of mouth and post interaction.
Use hashtags
Hashtags are vital in your efforts of gaining new followers. Through the correct selection of Instagram Hashtags, you can create great visibility for a post, getting it in front of Instagram users that otherwise would not have been aware of your business.
When users search a Hashtag, they are looking for content within that space. Consequently, selecting the right Hashtag can increase your follower count. If you are posting unique original content that stands out within your niche, naturally people will interact with your post and then follow your page.
Create a competition / giveaway
Everyone loves the chance of winning something. Creating a competition on you Instagram business page is an excellent way of driving up your follower count.
Through posting a giveaway you can convince your current followers to like and share a post to their friends. In turn, you can then stipulate that anyone can enter and win the competition by following, liking, and sharing the post. Although remarkably simple, if the prize is of value, these types of posts see a high level of engagement.
Write engaging captions
The caption is the piece of text that is included after a post on the Instagram feed. It is usually the place that you will have your Hashtags for your post. When you are trying to organically grow your Instagram followers, your captions can play a big part in convincing a consumer to follower your page.
Your captions should be emotive and cause some sort of reaction for the person that is reading it. It should also include some for of CTA (call-to-action). A CTA is something that instructs the reader to act after reading the post. By including the CTA, you are increasing the chances of the consumer interacting with your brand and therefore increasing the chance of them investing in what you do and following your account.
Partner with other influencers
An Instagram influencer is a user that has an established credibility and audience within a niche. Through this credibility and audience, they tend to have the power to persuade others by virtue of their reputation.
Although it can be difficult when you are just starting with your business page, finding influencers with a similar sized following to your own account is brilliant for increasing your follower count.
Even if they are not massive numbers to begin with, by partnering with another influencer within your niche, you are gaining exposure to another list of followers that are interested in similar content to your own.
An influencer works of the basis of trustworthiness and authenticity, this means that you should be careful with whom you partner with and who you want your brand being affiliated with. Try to find other business pages that match your businesses ethos.
Give your brand a face
This may seem a strange one, however giving your brand a face helps create trust within your audience. Unfortunately, in 2020 the internet is a big and scary place. There are so many robots and fake accounts that users are looking for authenticity and a content creator they can relate to.
Because of this, giving your brand a face helps increase your following count. Simply creating a “meet the team” post or posting videos that include the employees of a business will do the trick.
Use Instagram ads to promote a post
Although this is not strictly “organic”, utilising Instagram ads to promote a post is an excellent way of increasing the following on your business page. Instagram Ads is like Google Ads, where you pay per click on the advert. It does not require a massive marketing budget and allows the marketer to see the ROI instantly.
How to gain Instagram followers organically
We hope that our blog has given you an insight into proven techniques that can help you grow your Instagram business Pages followers organically and effectively. Although thee tips work, it is always important to consider that a following is not amassed overnight.
Be patient and be consistent and you will have your business page influencing your niche in no time.
For further insights and guidance, we invite you to explore our blog at 07hm.co.uk/blog. Here, you’ll find a wealth of information tailored to the needs and challenges of SMEs navigating the digital landscape. Additionally, if you have specific questions or need personalised advice, don’t hesitate to reach out to us via email at info@07hm.co.uk or telephone on 01702 410663.
