How to Grow Instagram
Followers Organically for Your Business
1.
Focus on Quality (Followers)
Why do people buy
followers? A teenager with some money might buy them to appear more popular.
They don’t know how to grow Instagram followers organically. But they want to
reap the perceived rewards of popularity. Businesses buy followers for much the
same reason even though the end goal is likely different.
They understand that
having a lot of followers can actually attract more followers because you look
“popular”. People turn to follower buying when they don’t know how to grow
Instagram followers organically. Or they don’t try.
Buying some initial
followers may make sense in the moment. But does it really?
It feels like you’re
“buying” an audience of people who may appreciate your work. But is this really
what you’re getting?
The social media
software company Hootsuite decided to put this theory to the test.
They wanted to know for themselves. What’s the difference between a “bought”
follower and an organic follower?
What They Did
First of all, they
created a dummy account. They needed to look at this the way many businesses
do. You’re growing a following from scratch. They needed to mimic that. Having
their well-respected name attached to it would flaw the study.
They then explored the
options. They found sites selling 100 followers for as little as $3. But other
sites were selling followers for as much as $1,000. For their test, they
decided to buy a package somewhere in the middle to make sure they weren’t just
getting a bargain bin product because they paid a bargain bin price.
The company portrayed
itself as reputable with reviews for what appeared to be actual customers. It
promised “quality followers”.
What Happened
After 2 hours, they had
400 followers. That’s enough followers to get some action on a post. They
decided to post something to see what would happen. In Instagram terms, the
post was something that would normally be very likely to get some double-taps
and comments.
No response. But maybe
it was just too early.
They waited 24 hours
and now had 1,000 followers. Still nothing. They waited a month and continued
to post. Not a single double-tap.
So who were these 1,000
followers? Who has actually “chosen” to be sold as a follower?
Browsing through the
accounts, they found what appeared to be:
●
Very old, inactive accounts
●
Adult content accounts
●
Accounts belonging to silly teenagers taking
selfies
● Accounts that
had never been active in the first place (no posts)
In other words, these
were very likely not real people at all.
This experiment isn’t
isolated. They didn’t just happen to choose a bad service. This happens again
and again. You can increase that price tag. You can try one of the seemingly
harmless side strategies like automating following and liking to get followers.
It doesn’t make a
difference.
Bought followers aren’t
engaged followers. They’re not your target customers. In most cases, they’re
not real people.
Tell a Story
Keep them engaged with
stories. Tell stories with visuals. Or create storytelling video that helps
them with their day like this one about dealing with toxic people.
Integrate
Other Channels
Instagram is a great
way to reach people through social media. But the best digital marketing
strategies are comprehensive. Don’t spread yourself too thin by trying to be on
every social media platform.
But do branch out to
strengthen your following on Instagram and the other channels. Here are just
some of the ways you can intertwine your Instagram with other platforms.
- Become a guest author on a popular site to reach new fans.
Add your Instagram handle to the bio.
- Submit a press release for something notable going on in
your company
- Add your Instagram hashtags to your posts on other
platforms
- In your email campaigns, invite people to follow you on
Instagram
- Create a dynamic SEO website where you can lead your
Instagram fans into a great website user experience
- Run Facebook and Instagram ads for your
Instagram contests
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