How to get people to follow you on Instagram?‍

Are you looking to increase your Instagram following and get more people to follow you on the platform? No more "follow me on Instagram" spam messages. If so, you're in the right place. In this article, we'll cover a variety of tips and strategies to help you get more Instagram followers and grow your presence on the social media platform.

TL;DR & Summary

First and foremost, it's important to determine your target audience and create content that resonates with them. This means identifying your niche or subject matter and understanding the interests and preferences of your target audience or buy Instagram followers to get more people to follow you on the platform.

You should also make sure to post high-quality, consistent content that showcases your brand or message in a visually appealing way.

There are also several features and tools within Instagram that you can use to increase your following. Instagram Stories, for example, allow you to share behind-the-scenes content and give your followers a more personal look at your brand. Instagram Live is another useful feature that allows you to interact with your followers in real-time. Additionally, Instagram's paid promotion options can help you reach a wider audience and gain new followers.

One thing to avoid is buying fake followers or using any other unethical tactics to inflate your follower count. While it may be tempting to take shortcuts to increase your following, using fake followers or other illegitimate methods can ultimately damage your credibility and reputation on the platform. Instead, focus on creating high-quality content and genuinely engaging with your audience.

In addition to the tips mentioned earlier, there are a few other things you can do to get more Instagram followers. Using relevant hashtags and geotags on your posts can help increase their visibility, and scheduling your posts using tools like Hootsuite or Later can help ensure consistent posting. You should also make sure to optimize your Instagram bio and include a clickable link to your website or other social channels.

If you're using Instagram for business purposes, there are a few additional strategies you can employ to get more followers. Utilizing Instagram Ads and sponsored posts can help increase your reach, and utilizing Instagram analytics tools can help you track the success of your posts and identify areas for improvement. You should also consider creating a branded hashtag and encouraging your followers to use it when posting about your brand.

What does it mean to have a following on Instagram?

Having a large following on Instagram can be important for a variety of reasons. One of the most obvious benefits of a massive following is that it increases your visibility on the platform. More new followers mean bigger you grow on the platform.

When you have a large number of followers, your posts are more likely to be seen by a wider audience, which can help you reach a larger group of potential customers or fans.

A massive following can also lead to increased engagement on your posts. When you have a lot of followers, you're more likely to receive likes, comments, and shares on your content, which can help increase the reach of your posts and improve your visibility on the platform.

Having a large number of people who follow you can also give you a greater level of influence on Instagram.

When you have a large number of followers, you may be seen as an expert or authority on your subject matter, which can help you build credibility and trust among your audience.

This can be particularly useful if you're using Instagram for business purposes and want to establish yourself as a trusted source in your industry.

Having a huge following on Instagram can be beneficial simply because it allows you to connect with a larger group of people. Whether you're using Instagram for personal or professional purposes. Your followers can help you build relationships and make new connections with others who share your interests.

Related: Ultimate DIY guide on Instagram marketing for 2023

Determine your target audience

Defining your target audience means you get more Instagram followers with time. This won't happen overnight unless you hit the masses with some of your content. A defined audience helps you with content strategy.

Here's what you should keep in mind when defining a target audience for your Instagram account:

#1 Identify your niche or subject matter

Identifying your niche or subject matter is an important step in building a successful Instagram account. Your niche is the specific topic or theme that your content will focus on, and it's what sets your account apart from others in the crowded Instagram landscape.

There are a few key steps you can take to identify your niche or subject matter:

1. Reflect on your interests and passions: What are you most interested in or passionate about? This could be a particular hobby, industry, or topic that you enjoy learning about or exploring.

2. Consider your unique skills and expertise: Do you have any special skills or knowledge that you can share with others? This could be anything from cooking and baking to photography or graphic design.

3. Look at your competition: Take a look at other accounts in your industry or niche and see what sets them apart. What are they doing that's working well, and how can you differentiate yourself from the competition?

4. Test out different niches: If you're having trouble narrowing down your niche, consider content creation in a few different areas and see what resonates with your audience. This can help you identify the topics that are most popular with your followers.

5. Be specific: Once you've identified your niche, try to be as specific as possible. Rather than just focusing on "travel," for example, consider focusing on a specific aspect of travel, such as adventure travel or luxury travel.

By following these steps, you can identify your niche or subject matter and start content creation that resonates with your target audience. Keep in mind that your niche may evolve as you grow and learn more about your audience, so don't be afraid to adjust your focus as needed.

#2 Research and understand your target audience

Researching and understanding your target audience is an important step in building a successful Instagram account. By knowing who your audience is, you can create content that resonates with them and effectively communicate your message.

Here are a few steps you can take to research and understand your target audience:

1. Define the demographics: Start by identifying the demographics of your ideal audience, including factors such as age, gender, location, and interests.

2. Use Instagram's insights: Know more about your Instagram followers. If you have a business account, Instagram's insights feature can provide valuable information about your audience, including their age, gender, and location.

   
   
   

3. Conduct market research: Find out all the social media platforms your audience spends their time on. There are a variety of market research methods you can use to gather information about your target audience. These can include surveys, focus groups, and online research.

4. Analyze your existing audience: Take a look at your current followers and try to identify common characteristics or trends. This can give you a sense of who your audience is and what they're interested in.

5. Engage with your audience: Interacting with your followers and asking for their feedback can also provide valuable insights into your target audience. Consider asking them questions or conducting polls to gather more information.

By following these steps, you can gather valuable information about your target audience and use it to create content that resonates with them. Keep in mind that your target audience may change over time, so it's important to regularly review and update your understanding of who they are.

Tailor your content to appeal to your target audience

Tailoring your content to appeal to your target audience is an important step in building a successful Instagram account. By creating content that resonates with your audience, you can build a strong following and effectively communicate your message.

Here are a few tips for tailoring your content to appeal to your target audience:

1. Know your audience: Start by understanding who your target audience is and what they're interested in. This will help you create content that they'll be more likely to engage with.

2. Use relevant hashtags: Including the right tags in your posts can help increase their visibility and attract followers who are interested in your niche or subject matter.

3. Share valuable, informative content: Your followers will appreciate content that provides value to them, whether it's educational, entertaining, or inspiring.

4. Use visually appealing graphics and images: People are more likely to engage with visually appealing content, so be sure to use high-quality images and graphics in your posts.

5. Consider your tone and language: Use language and tone that will appeal to your target audience and aligns with your brand's voice and messaging.

Keep in mind that your audience may evolve, so it's important to regularly review and update your content strategy to ensure it continues to resonate with your followers

Create high-quality, consistent content

Instagram has over 1.5 billion users and the only differentiator that defines the number of Instagram followers you'd have lies in the quality of content you create. As a content creator, it is your responsibility to give the best experience to Instagram users with the content on their Instagram feed.

Speaking of being consistent, there's no rule where you need to publish every day. Experts recommend to not miss publishing content more than twice. Most Instagram accounts that have decent followers on Instagram and engagement practice this.

Here are some ways you can create quality posts, consistently:

#1 Use high-quality images and videos

Instagram is a visual platform & if you want to grow your follower count on Instagram, you will also need to respect the decorum of the platform.

Using high-quality images and videos is a crucial aspect of creating successful Instagram content. Not only do high-quality visuals look more professional and polished, but they also tend to attract more engagement from Instagram followers.

Here are a few tips for using high-quality images and videos on Instagram:

1. Use a high-resolution camera: When taking photos or videos for Instagram, it's important to use a high-resolution camera that can capture high-quality images and videos.

2. Use natural lighting: When taking photos or videos, try to use natural lighting as much as possible. This can help create a more visually appealing image and can be more flattering for any subject.

3. Use editing tools to enhance images and videos: Many photo editing tools such as Photoshop for desktop, Picsart & Snapssed for mobile are available to help enhance images. For videos, such as InShot or Filmora, which allow you to adjust brightness, contrast, and saturation, as well as apply filters.

   
   
   

4. Consider cropping, rotation, or straightening: When you have taken a photo or video, you may want to crop, rotate or straighten it to fit Instagram's aspect ratio, or to make it look more visually appealing.

5. Avoid using filters that alter the image too much: While Instagram does have a variety of built-in filters you can use, it's important to be careful with their use. Filters can alter the overall look and feel of an image or video, and overuse can make it appear unnatural or edited to the point of being unrealistic.

6. Use native video editing features: Instagram allows users to upload reels of up to 90 seconds, and users can use them to showcase their products, services, or behind-the-scenes of their business.

#2 Use hashtags and geotags to increase visibility

There's a lot of debate around the relevance of hashtags across all social media platforms. However, hashtags can help you get more Instagram followers, at least theoretically. Using hashtags and geotags in Instagram content can help you with the visibility of your posts and attract new Instagram followers.

Here are some ways you can use hashtags and geotags wisely:

1. Use the right hashtags: Hashtags are used to categorize and organize content on Instagram. Don't spam or add irrelevant hashtags to gain visibility. It will help in the short term, but when you think of searchability, irrelevant hashtags will do more damage than good. When you include the right hashtags in your posts, they become discoverable to users who are searching for that specific topic. Use hashtags that are related to your content, and also try to include some popular, widely-used hashtags that are relevant to your niche. Use a mix of broad hashtags that are likely to be searched for by a lot of people (e.g. #photooftheday) and more specific, niche-related hashtags (e.g. #landscapephotography).

2. Use a branded hashtag: Creating a branded hashtag can help increase the visibility of your brand and make it easier for people to discover your content. For example, using the #shotoniphone in your posts will land you (& be visible when searched) in front of people who're interested in iPhone photography.

3. Use geotags to get discovered demographically: Geotags allow you to add a location to your posts, making them discoverable to users who are searching for content in that specific location. This can be especially useful if you're a local business trying to attract a nearby audience.

4. Limit the number of hashtags: Instagram allows up to 30 hashtags per post, but using too many can look spammy and it may turn off some of your audience. To avoid this, stick to around 10-15 hashtags per post. You can also include branded hashtags for other users to identify your brand.

#3 Post consistently to keep followers engaged

When your Instagram followers spend time on the platform, they have an endless Instagram feed to consume. There's very little room for undivided attention, people consume content from similar accounts as yours so it's very difficult to keep them hooked.

Here are a few tips for posting consistently:

1. Set a schedule: Determine how often you want to post and stick to that schedule as best as you can. You can use a scheduling tool such as Hootsuite or Later to schedule your posts ahead of time, so you don't have to worry about manually posting every day. If you don't want to spend on these tools to schedule Instagram posts, you can add posts to Instagram and save them as drafts. Publish it manually depending on the time you think is right. However, you will lose all your Instagram drafts if you uninstall the app.

2. Plan ahead: Take the time to plan out your content in advance. This will help you ensure that you have a steady stream of content to post, even on days when you're busy or running low on inspiration.

3. Mix it up: Vary the type of content you post. You can post photos, videos, stories, reels, live videos & more to keep your audience engaged and interested in your content.

4. Be consistent with posting time: Try to post at the same time each day, or at least on the same days of the week. This can help your followers know when to expect new content from you.

5. Interact with your followers: Posting consistently is important, but also don't forget to engage with your followers by responding to comments and messages, asking questions, and hosting live videos.

Engage with your followers and other users

One of the most underrated ways to get more Instagram followers is to engage with other posts. Most people feel that engaging with other Instagram posts will not help in any way. But that's a hack very few people use.

Instagram's algorithm favors those who engage with other Instagram users and Instagram posts. It sounds obvious but see it as user-generated content for other Instagram accounts.

#1 Like and comment on other users' posts

Liking and commenting on other users' posts is an effective way to engage with your followers and other users on Instagram. By actively engaging with other users, you can build relationships and gain followers on the platform. This is a way better thing to do than buy Instagram followers.

Here are a few tips for liking and commenting on other users' posts:

1. Target relevant accounts: Liking and commenting on posts from other users within your niche or industry can help you build relationships with other accounts that have similar interests to your own. This can increase the likelihood of them following you back or checking out your content

2. Be genuine: When liking and commenting on other users' posts, make sure to be genuine and authentic. Avoid generic or generic comments, and instead, offer specific, constructive feedback or praise.

3. Engage with your followers: Don't forget to also like and comment on the posts of your followers. This shows them that you appreciate their engagement and encourages them to continue interacting with your content.

4. Participate in conversations: If you see a post with a lot of comments, join the conversation and leave your thoughts on the topic as well.

5. Use keywords in comments: To increase your visibility use keywords in comments related to your niche, these keywords can help other users find your profile when searching for a related topic.

#2 Follow relevant users and interact with their content

Following relevant users and interacting with their content is a great way to increase your visibility on Instagram and grow your following. Here are a few tips for following and interacting with relevant users:

1. Identify influencers in your niche: Research and follow influencers in your industry or niche. They can provide valuable inspiration for your content, and also offer you the opportunity to connect with a wider audience through their followers.

2. Follow your competitors: Follow your competitors to see what's working well for them and what type of content their audience is engaging with.

3. Follow users who are already engaging with your content: Check your list of followers and also engage with the accounts that already follow you. If they already show interest in your content, they'll likely be interested in seeing more.

4. Interact with their content: Once you start following relevant users, be sure to interact with their content. This can include leaving comments, asking questions, and sending direct messages.

5. Share and repost other users' content. You can also share and repost other users' content, but make sure to give credit where it's due by tagging the original user and using Instagram's native sharing feature.

Related: Locked out of Instagram? Here's what can do to fix it

#3 Respond to comments and messages from your followers

Responding to comments and messages from your followers is an important aspect of building and maintaining relationships on Instagram. It shows that you value their engagement and interest in your content.

Here are a few tips for responding to comments and messages from your followers:

1. Respond promptly: Try to respond to comments and messages as soon as possible, ideally within 24 hours. This shows your followers that you're engaged and actively monitoring your account.

2. Be personal and genuine: When responding to comments and messages, be personal and authentic. Take the time to read what your followers have written and respond thoughtfully.

3. Show appreciation: Acknowledge and show appreciation for your followers' engagement and feedback. This can help build a sense of community around your account.

4. Handle negative comments professionally: Not all comments will be positive, be prepared to handle negative comments and respond professionally and empathetically. It's important to address the concern and try to find a solution that can satisfy both sides.

5. Use Instagram's direct messaging feature: Use Instagram's direct messaging feature to respond to private messages from your followers, this can be a great way to build deeper connections and offer personalized support.

Related: What to do if you can't publish photos on Instagram?

Utilize Instagram features and tools

To grow followers on Instagram, you can utilize the existing tools within the Instagram app. An Instagram post, especially on business accounts travels a lot on the platform organically if you have an engaged following.

Here are some ways to utilize the features and tools Instagram provides:

#1 Use Instagram Stories & Instagram Live

Instagram Stories is a feature that allows users to share photos, videos, and other content in a slideshow format that disappears after 24 hours. It's a great way to increase engagement with your followers and give them a behind-the-scenes look at your brand or business. Here are a few tips for using Instagram Stories & Live:

1. Share behind-the-scenes content: Instagram Stories is a great way to share behind-the-scenes content such as sneak peeks of new products or upcoming events. This can help build excitement and engagement with your followers.

2. Use Instagram's built-in features: Instagram Stories includes a variety of built-in features such as polls, quizzes, and interactive stickers that can help increase engagement with your content.

3. Showcase user-generated content: Share user-generated content by featuring Instagram posts from your followers that use your branded hashtag. This can help build a sense of community around your brand.

4. Use Instagram Story highlights: Instagram Story highlights allow you to save your stories and have them available to view on your profile, even after they disappear. This can be a great way to keep your content visible for longer.

   
   
   

5. Use Instagram's analytics feature: Instagram's analytics feature can provide valuable information about the performance of your stories, such as how many views and clicks they've received, which can help you determine which types of stories are resonating with your audience.

Related: How to add multiple pictures to any Instagram story?

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I ask people to follow my profile on Instagram?

You shouldn't be ashamed to ask people to follow you on Instagram. Especially if you're just starting out. If you want more Instagram followers, you have to have this as a CTA for all the posts you publish.

How do you write to follow us on Instagram?

Think of creative ways to convey this message. Either develop a signature style that you can use as a CTA or continue the context of the post. For example, if your post is about 5 good things about Instagram, you can end your post by saying, "There's one more thing about Instagram, & that's the follow button below"

How do I know if someone follows me back on Instagram?

When you visit their profile, tap on their followers and search for your name. There's no native way to find all the profiles that you follow but don't follow back in one click.

Why am I not getting followers on Instagram?

Instagram has over 1.5 billion users, and the attention span of Instagram users is very low. If you want more Instagram followers, then you need to create what the users want. Don't overthink and be part of the trend. Follow hashtags to get inspiration from trends and post content accordingly.

How do you get popular on Instagram fast?

You can get popular on Instagram fast only by luck, but the problem is, people will forget about you soon after someone else becomes popular. Consistently being popular takes time and even more effort to maintain it.

How do strangers find me on Instagram?

Use a specific hashtag in your posts to make them discoverable. Include relevant keywords in your Instagram bio and Instagram handle, share your posts in your own story, and use a professional account to get insights and hence increase Instagram followers.

How do you convince someone to follow you back?

Go to a specific account that you admire and see how they're doing it. Do they have more customers because they post more reels or carousels? What's the call to action in their content? What happens when someone follows them? Observe to get inspiration and slowly you will start attracting attention to your Instagram profile and hence more Instagram followers.

What to do if someone doesn't follow you back on Instagram?

You can't force people to follow you on the platform, even if you force someone, they're least likely to engage with your content. Such users who don't engage with the content you publish are good for nothing. Earn followers on Instagram through content creation that they like. Having a small number of real followers is better than a large number of fake followers who don't engage.

You can even run ads to drive traffic to your Instagram profile. Before that, optimize your Instagram bio to convey a message to the visitors about why they should follow you.