In the nearly ten years that Instagram has been up and running, the social media platform continued to tweak its algorithm and add new features, requiring companies to stay relevant in order to maintain consistent account growth.
So, to make the necessary adjustments and achieve that, it might be time for you and your business to start experimenting with and implementing new growth tactics. However, as Instagram’s Terms of Use prohibit services that promote growth through buying fake likes and followers, which would only harm your account in the long run, and may even result in it being banned, brands need an Instagram growth plan that’s authentic and organic.
To achieve that, more and more brands turn to organic Instagram growth services that don’t use bots or fake users to increase their brands’ growth rate. Instead, they excel at AI-powered targeted Instagram growth, as you can see in this in-depth Path Social review , which might help you decide the best approach to organic growth for your brand’s account.
Aside from using such services, you will also need to implement some tactics of your own to support your organic growth on Instagram. To make things easier for you, we will explore the most important and effective ones in this post.
Regularly Run Contests and Promote Them
Discounts, freebies, and giveaways are popular among audiences , and this is unlikely to change regardless of new developments on social media. But, on the other hand, consumers don’t always find it entertaining when marketers post memes, quotes, and similar content and are way more interested in seeing if there’s an active sale, giveaway, or any other type of incentivized offer.
In fact, according to research, 72% of all consumers want discounts or sales to be shared on brands’ social media accounts. However, only 18% of marketers believe posting discount promotions is necessary on social media. This misalignment of expectations indicates that there is still room for improvement in terms of providing clients with what they desire.
For that reason, your brand needs to run contests and promotions to expand your brand awareness. One of the giveaway requirements should be a follow for your brand and any other brand you’re collaborating with and adding comments or tagging friends for greater visibility. This way, your followers will be more likely to look forward to the next giveaway and stick around you if you do these types of promotions regularly, such as monthly or weekly.
Diversify Your Content
In-feed posts are no longer the most excellent source of engagement because Instagram now has stats for new forms of content like IGTV episode views, story replies, and story mentions. In addition, there are additional options to enhance your engagement rates and, as a result, increase your organic Instagram growth, with an ever-increasing range of content formats like Instagram reels.
If you’ve only done in-feed posts or experimented with stories periodically, it’s recommended to dedicate a few stories daily to build consistency and organize content. Consequently, this will be a chance to explore what resonates with your audience.
In addition, it’s underestimated how crucial content quality and consistency are for account growth. It will help if you spend time learning how to capture better photographs and videos or engage freelance photographers, videographers, or even a content agency to assist you with this crucial part of Instagram posting .
Collaborate With Smaller Influencers
While the influencer industry has grown tremendously in recent years, influencer marketing can still benefit social budgets of all sizes.
For instance, micro-influencers have fewer followers but a highly engaged audience. In addition, these influencers have specialized expertise and are usually willing to collaborate with brands that share their values.
Working with influencers, especially micro and nano-influencers , improves your organization’s credibility. In addition, your Instagram account will expand organically as people will be more motivated to discuss and post about your brand with their followers.
Utilize Cross-Platform Promotion
Many people have several social media accounts, and each platform has its own set of qualities, so emphasizing your Instagram presence in different locations can help you reach diverse audiences.
Cross-platform promotion can be as simple as including prominent social network icons in your website footer, email newsletter, or any other place where you will direct your social media followers to your Instagram profile for exclusive content or offers. In addition, your Instagram account can be linked offline, for example to in-store promotions and signage.
Final Thoughts
There you have it, four simple tactics to help you increase your organic growth on Instagram. The hard part is implementation, but you should find that all these strategies are crucial to apply, even if it takes some experimentation to find the right formula for your account.
As with other social media platforms , organic growth is a long game—it’s not something that’s achieved overnight, and it’s not possible unless you’re giving your all and your best efforts to increase your audience. After all, don’t forget that your followers are the backbone of your success and are vital to your brand value.