11 ways to grow your Instagram account in 2021 - Android

Are you trying to grow your Instagram account to help promote your business or yourself? If you are, here are several ways that you can consider if you’re looking to grow and create a more influential Instagram profile.

The post 11 ways to grow your Instagram account in 2021 first appeared on Phandroid.

Social media is a wonderful thing. It has allowed businesses and corporations that used to be seen as “too big” or “faceless” to keep in touch with customers, updating them on their latest products, services, handling customer complaints, and so on. It has also led to the creation of a new “influencer” industry where companies rely on these high-profile users to promote products and services.

That being said, a social media account is only as good as the number of people who follow it. If you have low followers, your reach would be lower, so how can we go about improving that? If you have a business whose Instagram account you’d like to grow, or maybe it’s for yourself, then here are 11 ways that you can go about growing your Instagram account in 2021.

#1 Make your profile search optimized

With there being millions of profiles on Instagram, how do you stand out from the pack? By making your profile and posts more search-worthy. This can be done by optimizing them with the appropriate hashtags, captions used, the information in your profile’s bio, and of course your profile’s name.

For example, if you’re trying to create a profile that’s based around cooking, it might be a better idea to have something cooking-related in your name as opposed to your regular online screen name. Instagram does state that they rely on machine learning to find the best posts during search, so making your profile more optimized will help push it to the top.

#2 Create a branded hashtag

Hashtags are great ways to help categorize your posts to make them easier to search, but choosing the right hashtag will make it easier to surface content that belongs to you, not someone else’s. For example, hashtagging #cars in your post is fine, but that means when people search for #cars on Instagram, they will get thousands of results that might not necessarily be yours.

Creating a branded hashtag can help make it more unique to you, plus it might encourage people to use your hashtag. We’ve seen this before where popular photography accounts encourage users to use their hashtags for a chance to be featured on their pages, so why not give people a reason to use your hashtag as well?

#3 Make a custom Instagram Stories filter

If you’ve used Instagram long enough, chances are every now and then you come across a filter that everyone seems to be using. For example, when the PS5 was launched, there was a PS5 AR effect that let you create the illusion that you had a PS5 in your bedroom or living room, and everyone was using it.

The best part is that this helped Sony generate so much free advertising and publicity without having to do anything, and people were more than willing to use it. Fun filters and effects can also bring attention to your brand, which can lead to people going to your Instagram profile to find out more about you and what you do.

#4 Post regularly on a schedule

You might have awesome content but if you post sporadically and without a schedule, people won’t know what to expect or when to expect it. This could lead to them interacting with your posts less, which lowers engagement, which in turn makes Instagram’s algorithms think that you’re not “worthy” and push you to the bottom of the pile. If you’re not getting the traction you need, you can always buy Instagram story views to help boost your numbers.

Regularly posting also ensures that you’re always at the forefront of people’s minds, like an account that posts multiple times a day of the various cakes that they are selling, or how a fitness account could encourage people to follow them and workout by posting regularly with photos or videos at a gym.

#5 Take advantage of Instagram’s Reels

Reels is basically Instagram’s version of TikTok. It is relatively new which means that it hasn’t been copied to death just yet, making this the perfect time for you to get an early head start. Reels are a fun way for you to showcase products or share updates about your life in more manageable sizes, plus people do seem to enjoy fun and silly videos with catchy tunes.

#6 Work with other influencers

If you’re looking to gain a bigger following, it might be a good idea to work with people who already have a huge following. Obviously, if you’re starting from scratch, trying to collaborate with people who have millions of followers would be harder (not to mention potentially more expensive) than those with 10,000 followers.

In fact, a study done by Makerly has suggested that micro-influencers, those with 10,000-100,000 followers actually offer the best combination in terms of engagement and reach. So why not reach out to them to see if they might be interested in working together, or maybe you could even send them your products for free in exchange for a shoutout or promotional post.

#7 Create content that people want to share

Sometimes you might stumble across a post that isn’t necessarily something you are typically interested in, but yet the post is either so well-written, beautifully drawn, or photographed that you can’t help but want to share it. This can be key in helping to grow your Instagram account if you can create something that makes people want to share. If you buy real Instagram likes it could help increase your content’s visibility and attract more followers.

It could be anything from a recipe for your favorite dish, or makeup tips, tips on how to invest successfully, your thoughts, and so on.

#8 Make your content more accessible

Most of us might assume that the people who look at our content are fully-abled, but there are people who might be visually impaired or have hearing difficulties. You can help to make your content more accessible, and one of them is through captioning. Instagram recently introduced a feature where they can automatically generate captions for Stories, so adding it can help people who have hearing impairments to enjoy and engage in your content.

#9 Be more inclusive with your content and who you work with

For many years, people have been asking for more representation in marketing campaigns, movies, TV shows, books, comics, and etc., and brands are finally starting to get on board with it. This means that you, as a brand or as a personal account, shouldn’t shy away from collaborating with all kinds of people. A study from 2019 actually found that 74% of consumers actually expect that the brands they love and are fans of to take a stand on important issues.

The belief is that this adds a touch of humanity to your brand, which in turn can help to create a more loyal fanbase and followers.

#10 Go live!

Instagram offers users the ability to create live video streams. While a lot of content posted on Instagram is usually done after careful edits and curation, creating a live stream lets you interact with your audience in real-time. This lets them ask you questions and speak to you one-on-one. You can also use Instagram Live to host weekly game shows, tournaments, Q&As, giveaways, and more.

#11 Don’t be afraid of longer captions

Instagram is mostly a visual-based social media platform, but this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t take the opportunity to pen out more thoughtful captions. By sharing more with your audience, opening up and sharing your honest thoughts and feelings, can create a sense of relatability that can resonate with your followers or whoever sees your account.

It can also be used to insert more keywords and phrases that might be part of someone’s search, so adding it can increase the chance of your post being one of the top choices when people are searching for related content.

The post 11 ways to grow your Instagram account in 2021 first appeared on Phandroid.