Instagram is quickly becoming one of the biggest social media outlets. With more than 150 million users – and that number keeps growing larger each day – you have a large pool of potential followers. Whether you’re using Instagram for business or for personal use, you want to have a lot of followers. More importantly, you want to increase engagement with your followers. Reaching out to your fellow Instagram users is easy as long as you have the motivation to do it.
Connect With Your Facebook
Facebook is definitely the king of social media with more than 1 billion users. Connect your Instagram account with your Facebook account so your pictures can reach a wider audience, especially if you’re new to Instagram. When you post an image to Instagram, it’ll also publish it to Facebook, creating a larger net of people who will see your pictures.
Use #Hashtags
You should be using hashtags for every picture you post on Instagram. Hashtags are useful for a number of reasons. They can help start a conversation; after all, if you use the hashtag #thebest for your aquatic therapy, you may have someone comment on your picture asking you about your sessions. Additionally, hashtags can help people find your images since they serve as part of Instagram’s search function. Instagram’s users are always surfing hashtags, looking for cool inspiration for their own Instagrams, or just to look at!
Images: Unsplash | Kohls
Look up some of the popular hashtags and use them with your pictures. If you’re hoping to have a particular niche of followers, search for the hashtags that are often used with that group. Just remember to keep it simple with your hashtags – don’t use too many and don’t make them too long.
Interact With Your Followers
People like being acknowledged. People are also more likely to comment on your Instagram if you comment on theirs. Comment and like pictures that your followers post, as they’ll be more prone to doing the same for you.
You should definitely respond to the comments that you receive. Even if it’s something as simple as “thanks!” the commenter will appreciate you taking the time to write a response. Remember a little bit goes a long way.
Host a Contest
If you’re using Instagram for a business, contests are a great way to get lots of followers fast. People like prizes, especially if it’s for something as simple as following an account and posting some pictures. Be sure to publicize the contest often to reach out to Instagram users. The prizes are certainly a good way to generate interest, but you’ll want to create a buzz and get people talking about your contest if you want to get more followers.
An easy way to organize contest submissions is by creating a hashtag specifically for the contest. Keep the contests simple for a wider submission pool. Some of the most effective contests had basic requirements. This also allows users to be more creative with their submissions.
Post Often — But Not Too Much
The hardest part about managing an Instagram account is finding the right balance for posting images. You want to post often enough that people will see your pictures, but if you post too often it’ll feel like spam.
There’s no real rule for when you should post or how many pictures you should upload. Find out what times of day garner the most feedback and try to stick to that schedule – that also means your followers will have an idea when you’ll be posting your latest picture. If you have many images to post but don’t want to inundate your followers, you can create a collage and post that as a singular image. Apps such as Pic Stitch, DesignCap or Diptic are good choices for creating Instagram collages and are available for multiple operating systems and mobile devices. This helps get all your images on your account without overwhelming your followers.
Get Instagram Followers in a Snap
A picture is worth a thousand words, and Instagram hosts millions of images. Your Instagram account is another way to reach out to your audience and become actively engaged with them. All it takes is your camera snapping a picture and the motivation to reach out to your followers.