Abhishek Shah — May 7, 2020 No. That title is not a clickbait. You CAN get 200 organic Instagram followers every day of 2020 if you do the right things on Instagram.
And, by organic followers I mean real human followers who can react to your posts, engage with your brand online and ultimately will also spend money on your products or services.
Instagram was originally launched as an image-sharing app. When launched, it had few basic features like clicking an image, applying a handful of filters to the image and sharing it to your followers (only Instagram followers).
Today, Instagram is a different universe altogether. Instagram TV, Stories, videos, selfie stickers, boomerang videos, and several other features have turned it into a social media magnet. Don’t be surprised if I tell you that Instagram is a lifestyle and not just a mobile app for millions of users.
Thanks to its visual content that gets viral in a matter of minutes, Instagram has risen in ranks to be a platform for influencer marketing. People weigh the success and failure of brands with the number of millions of followers, favorites and comments that each brand and its posts have.
In other words, Instagram is a platform where the marketing warcry ‘content is king’ rings true. Setting up an Instagram account is only the first step in a mile-long journey. You have to plan, strategize and execute several other hard decisions to win 200 Instagram followers daily.
Like I said in the beginning, you can get 200 organic Instagram followers every day of 2020 if you do the right things on Instagram. Here are some of those right things:
Create an Instagram-specific content strategy
An Instagram content strategy is like the compass to your handle. It specifies how your account will be created, the purpose for which it will be used, the frequency at which it will publish content and so on. It asks hard-hitting questions like:
- What are you going to use your Instagram handle for?
- Is it for showcasing latest products or running influencer marketing or to keep your brand active on social media?
- How many images, live videos, boomerang videos, stories and statuses will it share and in what frequency?
Whatever the goal is, you have to identify the purpose for which Instagram should serve you devise a strategy that is attuned to it.
When it comes to Instagram, there are several types of content that you can play with:
- Quotes/Statistics
- Real images of people
- Stories
- Pre-recorded videos
- Live videos
- Polls
- Stories
Some of these features, like videos (IGTV), became mainstream recently.
Remember to use these content formats in the right way. Every piece of content that you are going to post on Instagram must fit into your content strategy.
Each post must have certain elements that will attract and also serve your audience. For instance, it should address a specific set of audience, provide a specific kind of info to users and also at the right time when their intent is high. That is how engagement and follower count is also is increased.
Grab attention with stories
Instagram rolled out the ‘Stories’ feature in August 2016. Ever since then at least 300 Million users are estimated to be using the feature.
Stories allow users to share “moments” of their daily life quickly and easily. It is this convenience of sharing that catapulted stories into one of the highlight features of Instagram.
Instagram stories remain visible to users only for 24 hours, beyond which they disappear. But, the average time spent by users consuming stories is about 28 minutes. That is a huge margin compared with traditional TV advertising or even YouTube ads where the content is less than a few minutes.
99Firms’ Infographic describes the various purposes for which businesses use Instagram stories:
Even big brands like Mercedes Benz, Asos, Ticket.com are leveraging storytelling through Instagram to engage with their customers.
Needless to say, publishing more of Instagram stories can keep your followers glued to your account as well as win new ones.
Embrace the IGTV Movement
Instagram TV a.k.a IGTV was launched on June 20th, 2018. The feature would give users the facility to watch long-form videos in vertical format from serious Instagram content creators. Since its launch, IGTV has gained momentum in user attention.
IGTV allows Instagram accounts to stream up to 15 minutes of video. But, the optimal length to gain maximum engagement is two to three-minute videos. Also, use 5-8 hashtags to make the videos more visible to users. IGTV videos do not need 11 hashtags like images.
To make IGTV a follower-building machine try these tips:
- Broadcast consistently
- Use real person or activities in the video
- Take the audience behind the scene of your business
- Rope in influencers
- Use hashtags and elements
Hashtags – Use them wise
Hashtags are like tiny magnets that attract the audience to your posts. They work by adding a ‘#” symbol as a prefix to every word. These words are commonly used terms that users use to denote their activities, status, emotions and so on.
Without hashtags, your posts are likely to drown in the tsunami of other Instagram posts. According to Buffer, Instagram posts with at least 11 hashtags receive the maximum interaction.
So, ensure that you do some research to find the right hashtags that are relevant to your brand and the post to heighten its interaction.
Since you will be using hashtags extensively, it would be wise to have a database of hashtags ready so that you can save time with each individual post.
Luckily, Instagram makes it easy to find the right hashtags that you can use to your advantage. Tap on the magnifying glass button used for each and simply type in words/phrases related to your business/brand.
For example, when you type in ‘beach’, a list of related hashtags will expand. You can pick from there and add them to your posts.
Alternatively, you can also use hashtag generator tools like Ritetag, Hashtagify, All Hashtag, etc.
Have a style of your own
Seth Godin in his best-selling book “The Purple Cow” says, “In a crowded marketplace, fitting in is failing. In a busy marketplace, not standing out is the same as being invisible.”
Instagram is basically a large crowded marketplace. It gets tons of user-generated content which often is better than some branded campaign efforts. So staying relevant and ‘visible’ to your audience means you have to be a purple cow. Your posts and your profile as a whole should stand out from the crowd. That calls for the need to create a style of your own.
Some brands that are killing it on Instagram with their unique style include Starbucks, Nike, Red Bull, and (surprise surprise) NASA!
The Starbucks Instagram page makes you want a coffee right now.
Nike makes smart use of sports imagery and storytelling to keep its audience high on adrenaline and sporting action.
Red Bull’s Instagram page can push you to the edge of your seat with videos of daredevils performing gravity-defying stunts.
NASA’s posts are, literally, out of this world! Their posts of extra-terrestrial images of planets, the sun, the moon and the galaxy has a fan following of its own.
There is nothing beating good content. When your page has a style of its own with imagery, videos and stories, it is bound to gain followers on a regular basis.
The key is to create not just visuals but content that revolves around your brand story and offerings. It should connect with the user on a ground level and amplify the brand recall value. Otherwise, your Instagram handle will be just another account in the million-strong Instagram universe.
The Next Step Forward
If there was one hurdle that every Instagram influencer and brand has gone through – it is getting more followers. There is no secret magic formula that can open the floodgates of Instagram followers. It is done meticulously like a surgery. Each image, each video, each story, each poll makes its own contribution to increasing the number of followers.
With so many elements involved, it is not possible to earn followers instantly. You must begin with a strategy that brings together all these elements. Use popular features like stories and videos to give your account maximum momentum. Don’t forget to give your account a unique touch with unique imagery and content.
If you get those elements right, getting 200 organic Instagram followers on a daily basis is not any difficult task.
Digital & Social Articles on Business 2 Community
(95)
