With over 38 million new users in 2018, Instagram is perhaps the most popular social network today. Thanks to formats such as IGTV, stories, and various image editing effects, the platform has become very popular with young and old who want to showcase their lifestyle. So if you want to get into the groove too, today we’ll give you 8 tips on how to gain real fans on Instagram, so you can become an influencer without needing to buy Instagram followers.
Let’s start by clarifying that with these tips you won’t get 10,000 followers overnight, because here we won’t give you magic solutions. If your goal is to have real followers who interact and share your content, you’ll need to put on your shirt and work consistently and patiently to make your Instagram profile attractive.
With that in mind, now, let’s get started!
1. Define what kind of account you want to have
There are different kinds of influencers, depending on the style and type of content they generate. To start with, you have to define what you want to talk about and how you are going to communicate it. For example, you can create content about entertainment, travel, lifestyle, sport, and healthy living; beauty, fashion, home, video games, technology, and business.
In most cases, these profiles are complemented with content that users share on other networks such as Youtube.
Related: How to Get More Followers on Instagram: 19 Tips to Grow Your Real Audience
2. Optimize your profile
If you created an account to build a personal brand (not a business profile), the first step will be to define all the elements of the profile, such as the photo, biography, and link.
First, be careful with the photo, because it will be the first impression of your account. With it, you will be able to communicate as an executive and formal person, jovial, young, fresh, feminine, or any other concept you want to reflect. The important thing is that it is consistent with the type of account you are going to have. If you are a company, to start with, the logo on the profile image will be enough.
As for the bio, tell your followers clearly who you are and what you do. If you have a company, for example, tell them what it is.
And thirdly, don’t forget to add a link, either from your personal blog or from your business.
3. Create original content and set a posting schedule on Instagram
You’ve probably heard it before and it will seem like another cliché, but it’s not: original and valuable content is the main key for people to connect with your account organically, follow you and share your publications. But what is valuable content?
María Garcha, a digital marketing specialist with more than 6,200 followers on Instagram, explains that valuable content is that which is valued by your followers because it is useful for them to get information, clarify doubts or solve a problem. So before you start publishing, ask yourself: what does the audience you’re planning to talk to want to hear?
Once you’ve defined it, take the time to produce quality material and create a publication schedule. It’s important to be balanced because if you publish a lot, you’ll saturate your audience, but if you stop, they’ll forget about you.
4. Publish history and videos on IGTV
Since Instagram enabled the publication of stories in 2016 and IGTV videos in 2018, these have become the users’ preferred formats. Some of the main reasons are the immediacy and expiration of the stories, which leads followers to review them often so they do not miss anything new.
In fact, Vanesa Jackson, a marketing trainer with more than 16,500 followers on Instagram, says that the stories are key to the digital marketing strategy because “vertical navigation is being replaced by horizontal navigation. She adds that stories “are the only part of Instagram that appear chronologically. This is extremely important, especially for brands.
However, this same boom poses another major challenge: creating differential content that stands out and has an impact. To do that you need to be really creative. But if you feel that creativity is not your thing, don’t worry, some tools like Unfold provide you with different style templates that you can customize.
5. Use hashtags for Instagram
Hashtags are important because they allow you to enter into conversations that are trendy and give more visibility to your content. That’s why, although it seems simple and many users decide to use more than 10 numerals, you have to be very careful and follow some steps like:
# Analyze the hashtags used by your competitors.
# Use # geolocation.
# Don’t write complete sentences.
# Create a hashtag that is distinctive to the brand.
# Use specifics and not generics.
# Don’t use more than five hashtags, because the Instagram algorithm reduces their visibility.
6. Respond to comments and create relationships on Instagram
Building a community requires closeness and “bonding”. One of the best ways to do this is to respond to comments and messages from your followers in the shortest time possible. Especially those who make negative comments.
7. Beware of false accounts
Among the millennials and centennials, being an influencer seems to be the fashionable profession. Both Instagram and Youtube show young people and adults who have millions of followers to whom they show their luxurious lifestyles, tips to lose weight, learn to cook, or do makeup.
However, not all that glitters is gold, as many of these accounts have taken the easy way out of paying for followers. The big goal, in the case of Instagram, is to exceed 10,000 followers, because from that threshold, you can add links to the stories and you start to be considered a micro-influencer.
While this sounds good, it’s not, because those fake accounts won’t increase interaction and will instead alter your profile results. Also, Instagram is on the lookout for these tricks and removes fake accounts. In the end, you’ll have made a wasted investment.
8. Learn from the best
A good way to learn good practices is to analyze what users with more followers in the world are doing. According to information from Digital 2019, a report by Hootsuite and We Are Social, Instagram itself, Cristiano Ronaldo, Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande, and Dwayne Johnson are in the top five. The few companies that manage to enter the top 20 are National Geographic and Nike.
If you want to reach these levels, it is possible to do so by putting into practice the advice we have just given you. But that’s not all. You can continue to prepare yourself in the areas of digital marketing and social networks to expand your knowledge and achieve better results.
