5 Proven Ways To Organically Grow Your Social Media Following

Melissa Adkins - Social Media Badass LLC
Social Media Marketing
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Instagram’s visual platform makes it the number one social media channel for discovering new things. According to SocialSprout’s latest study, 83% of Instagram users discover new products and services on Instagram. Because of this, it is one of the easiest channels for growing organic followers and an effective tool to add to your marketing mix. Here are some proven ways to boost your audience numbers and keep them engaging with your profile.​

1. Consistency is key - Having an inactive or unmanaged is worse than having no account at all and could potentially hurt business. The set it and forget it mentality doesn’t fly on social. It is like opening up an ice cream parlor and leaving for the day. Who will interact with the customers? How will transactions take place if no one is minding the shop? Your followers will expect you to post content consistently and respond to their inquiries.

It is important to post at least once per day. Buffer learned “You can almost double your follower growth rate by moving from less than one post per week to 1-6 posts a week. You can more than double your follower growth rate again by moving from posting 1-6 times per week to once or more per day.” Consistently posting valuable content each day prompts Instagram algorithms to serve your content higher up in your audience’s newsfeed which means more users will see your posts and be prompted to follow your profile.

2. Try using vimages - In an Instagram world filled with still images, nothing catches the eye better than a visual with movement. It has been proven many times over that video is king on social media, however, not everyone possesses videography skills. Thanks to apps like Canva, vimages can now be created with a few simple clicks of a smartphone. Vimages are simply MP4 templates that offer looped movement which can be quickly added to a still photo in order to help it to stand out in a high traffic news scroll.

Take this image of a dog for example. A very cute beagle that may grab some attention on its own:

​Add it to this pre-made animated template from Canva:

Now you have an interesting image with the added flair of colorful polka dots that swirl around creating movement that will stop the scroll and increase the likelihood of your next follower paying attention to what you have to share. Click here to see the final vimage in action.

3. Understand hashtags - Take a look at what you’re planning to share with your audience and ask yourself a few questions:

• What is in the image?
• Who does it appeal to?

 
Use your answers to these questions to develop a few keywords that could become hashtags used in your post copy.
 
Here is an interior design example. This influencer is showing the outcome of a room remodel. In this image are books and an inviting chair. It is a quiet space where writers can go to focus on their work without interruption.

​You’ll want to avoid using extremely popular hashtags so your posts don’t get lost. Think about how you might search for things on Google. It is likely you won’t look at content that shows up after the first page or two of the search results. Hashtags work much the same way on Instagram. A user may give their newsfeed 3-5 scrolls before moving on. If you’ve only utilized generic hashtags with millions (or maybe billions) of associated posts, the chances of your content being seen and interacted with are minuscule. To combat this, you should use at least one hashtag from each of the following categories:
 
Micro = 50K-150K associated posts
Medium = 250K-750K associated posts
Mega = 1M - 5M associated
 
Utilize Instagram’s search feature to research appropriate hashtags and determine if you’ve chosen the most effective ones. Using the interior design image example, #InteriorDesign has 100M associated posts so it is far too large to be effective. The search feature suggests other related hashtags that may be a better fit. In this list, you can see the best combination to use would be:

​Micro - #DesignCrush (84.5K associated posts)

Medium - #InteriorDecorator (713K associated posts)

Mega - #InteriorInspiration (4.6M associated posts)

​​Watch out for banned hashtags such as #adulting. You’ll know the hashtag is banned because a message is provided at the top of the search, like this one:



​Content using banned hashtags will not be shown to users and therefore lost in the interweb, never to be seen or interacted with.

4. Know when to post - As a general rule, it is best to post to Instagram during the day about 11 am - 3 pm. If your audience tends to be followers from overseas, be mindful that posting during your evening hours may be better for catching those followers during their daytime hours. Since each audience is a bit different, it is always okay to experiment with the days and times you share your content and see what your audience tends to respond to more.

5. Engage your fans - When it comes to engaging your audience, don’t be afraid to ask. This influencer simply asked their followers to like a hockey puck if they loved hockey and tag friends they thought might enjoy their Instagram profile. They gained 478 likes and several new followers that may not have noticed their page without the help of their fans.

​Another simple way to engage your audience is to ensure the bio section of your profile is complete. Say something that speaks directly to your target audience and lets them know exactly what you. This will help attract the right followers who are sure to become loyal fans.

​Although these best practices are proven ways to organically grow Instagram followers, keep in mind it does require you to commit significant time and effort on creating and implementing a content calendar before your follower numbers begin to look impressive. Stay consistent and don’t get discouraged.

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By Melissa Adkins -  Social Media Badass LLC

Social Media Marketing​

About the Author
Melissa Adkins is a certified social media marketer with over 9 years of experience in developing social media strategies for small to large businesses. Connect with her on LinkedIn to ask questions or discuss personalized social media training.

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