It is usually exciting when you’re just starting out on Instagram, but soon enough you’re left imagining how many free Instagram followers you can get. The truth is that getting the first 100,000 people to follow you is usually the hardest part. This is because Instagram users don’t know who you are or what your brand stands for yet. You’ll need to prove to the community that you’re a successful influencer or brand.
It may first seem like a difficult task, but it is not impossible. Below are tips that can help you get 100,000 free Instagram followers in a few months.
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Join Engagement Groups On Instagram
When I started out as an Instagram influencer, one of the ways I increased my following fast was by joining engagement groups.
The idea of joining big engagement groups on Instagram can be daunting but in reality, you’ll be able to easily get your target audience to follow you if you just stick to your niche. There are various engagement groups on the platform, such as fashion, beauty, travel and many more.
In this kind of groups, you’ll be able to get likes and followers from users who have shared interests. However, if you really want to get attention, try to return the favor by following the fan pages of users who join the group. Using this strategy, I got about 2,000 new people to follow me within a few weeks.
This might not boost your sales immediately but it will give your Instagram page credibility at the early stages so people won’t be seeing only 38 on your follower count. This is a sort of short-term strategy to help you get followers during your first couple of weeks using Instagram.
Repost Good Contents By Others
When I was first trying to build the Instagram account for my store, the posting strategy I employed is mainly reposting great contents by other Instagram users. To pull this off without getting flagged by the platform, you must use your description to credit the actual poster every time.
I used to take screenshots when I started out and then add the photos on my page. It was the Repost app that truly helped my Instagram page take off. The app allows users to repost video contents on Instagram.
Although it is good to post unique content, there are some benefits associated with reposting other users’ content, one of these is that it is generally easier and quicker to repost content.
In order to know the right items to repost, check the numbers and engagement the original post received.
I am very active on Instagram so I usually search for hashtags I generated and used regularly to locate posts that are performing very well and weren’t posted by any other fan page but by individual users. I’d then check out the pictures and videos to find out the ones that got the biggest reaction from me. If I feel a great urge to share a post by another user, I repost it using my page immediately.
Use Buzzfeed To Promote Your Instagram Account
In order to boost your follower growth on Instagram, you’ll need to get a platform where you’ll be able to reach a massive audience. Buzzfeed is one of the best platforms that embed posts on Instagram into their content.
There is a community section on Buzzfeed where users can share their content on their various platforms. However, you need to go by their rules so as to be visible as well as build trust.
If you feel Buzzfeed is not the right platform for your niche, don’t stress. Another great tool is HARO, where you’ll be emailed 3 times each day with requests from actual reporters looking to get expert quotes and content for their stories. Many of them allow social links and a website link. This means you can achieve two things at once; getting a quick link to Instagram account as well as your store.
Tell Customers To Share Their Pictures
A great way to get followers when you’re starting out on Instagram is by asking customers to share pictures on your feed, helping you get the much needed social proof.
When I didn’t have a customer, what I did was connect with influencers in my niche who had less than 10,000 Instagram followers. This may seem like a low figure but influencers with a few followers are usually looking to capitalize on their accounts and they’ll be more than willing to pose with the products you’re selling at a much lesser rate.
To make them more co-operative, you can sweeten the deal by offering an affiliate arrangement where they’ll receive a commission from each sale you record on customers that used their referral link.
For the sales you’ve already scored, contact the customers and offer a cash incentive or free gift for taking quality pictures of the item they bought. It is not advisable to offer incentives for a long time, but this short-term strategy can really help you when you’re still building your brand.
When photos of customers start to appear on your Instagram page and other potential buyers see them, they’ll likely tag you in their posts naturally when you deliver their products. It is advisable to comment on the post, share or repost the content and then follow them; this will earn you a follow back.
Hook People In With a Consistent Style
This may sound unrealistic but it is actually a great way to increase your following on Instagram. Many users don’t follow people because of the content they post but because of the anticipation for new posts.
If you have a wildlife fan page and you post videos and pictures of cute wild animals every day without fail, people who keep seeing the post will eventually realize that you do it consistently. They will start to follow you, expecting that there will always be similar kind of content on your account.
Keeping a consistent theme or style should not be just for branding, it should also be your way of using your account to create an expectation that your potential and ideal followers can always count on.
If you can be that consistent with every post, your Instagram follower growth will be faster over time.
Host Giveaways
If your audience on Instagram is small and you host giveaways, you’ll be able to acquire more followers. This was one of the strategies that paid off when I was starting out on Instagram. If you use your website to host giveaways and you instruct people to follow your page on Instagram as well as other social network platforms, you’ll be able to reach a much bigger audience.
If the size of your audience is small, another option is to post your giveaway through certain giveaway groups on Facebook or giveaway blogs.
What I did when I began working in marketing is to connect with giveaway blogs. I used to send them some products for free and in exchange, I’ll get a good review post.
A lot of them were satisfied with only the free product, but there were others that actually demanded payment, you might have to choose what works best for you. The product review post they’d do would be filled with photos as well as their experience using the product. Later on, their audience would contest to win your product with a clause that you’d actually send the lucky customer the product.
I got a lot of new free Instagram followers using this strategy.
At the start, it is always difficult to try to figure out a way to get your ideal customers to follow you on Instagram. Once you’ve gotten your first 10,000 free Instagram followers, you’ll still need to continuously use most of the strategies mentioned above to keep your follower base growing to 100k or more.