brand exposure Archives - Get Social With Grace

Getting more Instagram followers can help increase traffic to your website, make more sales, or even turn you into a trendsetting influencer (if that’s your aim). If you want to grow your following on Instagram, here are 8 proven strategies you can try.

1. Curate your profile for a strong first impression

Having a well-planned Instagram feed that clearly showcases your niche is key for converting profile visitors into followers. When someone lands on your profile, you want them to instantly understand what your account is all about.

Consider how your posts look and what impression they give when people visit your profile for the first time.

2. Tap into Instagram Reels

If you’re not sharing Instagram Reels yet, you could be missing out on a huge opportunity to grow your follower count. Reels is still ones of the most effective ways to reach new audiences on the app.

Unlike most of the Instagram experience, the Reels feed displays content from both users you follow, and users you don’t. This means your Reels can easily reach far beyond the people who follow you, which will increase your visibility.

For the best results:

Use keywords and hashtags in your Reels captions that accurately describe your video content
Use trending sounds/music
Keep your Reels short and snappy to encourage repeat views
Create original content
If necessary, add on-screen text for viewers watching without sound
Aim for high-quality video footage (as opposed to uploading content with a TikTok watermark)

Even if your brand or business doesn’t feel like an obvious fit for Reels, there are still ways to see success. Experiment with popular trends, take followers behind-the-scenes, or showcase a product or project.

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A post shared by (Barber Shop) celiksmensroom (@celiksmensroom)

This year I’ve started creating Reels on behalf of many of my clients, like the example above. If you would like some quick ideas for your business then send me an email (hello@getsocialwithgrace.com) and I’ll come up with some for you!

3. Optimise your post captions with keywords

Optimising your Instagram posts can help to grow your following.

Instagram recently updated the app to enable users to search using keywords. Instagram considers a number of factors including the type of content, captions, and when it was posted. So incorporating relevant keywords into your captions can help to increase your post reach.

4. Utilise the hashtags

Instagram hashtags are one of the biggest tools for growth. A study looked at over 18M feed posts and discovered that reach increases by 11% as the number of hashtags grows from one to 30 (maximum of hashtags allowed).

I would suggest saving 15-20 generic hashtags which relate to your business for every post, and then using the remaining hashtags to be more specific to the post you’re sharing.

5. Host an Instagram giveaway

If you want to grow your following fast, hosting an Instagram giveaway can be one of the most effective tactics. You can reach thousands of potential new followers, while building a stronger sense of community around your brand.

Make sure you set clear entry requirements that support your growth goals, such as following your account, tagging friends in the comments and sharing the post to Instagram Stories. Also make sure the prize is tangible. Click here for more advice on running a successful social media giveaway.

6. Partner with influencers and brands

Partnering with influencers and brands within your industry is a major win-win. You’ll be able to tap into a new pool of potential followers. Plus partnerships don’t have to break the bank – some of the most effective ones are simple and mutually beneficial.

Similarly, you don’t have to work with supersize influencers to make an impact. Nano and Micro influencers typically have higher engagement rates than Macro influencers. The right strategy will depend of your bandwidth and budget requirements.

7. Post consistently

When it comes to growing on Instagram, posting consistently is key. Users who post daily typically have more followers than those who post less.

But bear in mind that creating quality content that provides real value to your audience should always be prioritised over quantity.

8. Encourage user-generated content

Encouraging your community to share user-generated content is a brilliant way of raising brand awareness and growing your Instagram following. It also provides you with content that you can then reshare on your feeds! Read more about user-generated content here.

Growing your Instagram account can seem like an uphill battle, but if you follow the right techniques and strategies, you can definitely get more Instagram followers.

For more tailored social media advice for your brand, get in touch.

SEO on Instagram is all about tailoring your content so it appears in as many places as possible – from suggested content feeds to search results. It’s an essential tactic for improving your discoverability.

Brushing up on your SEO skills will make your business more search-friendly. From hashtags to keywords, I’m going to explain how to tap into new audiences on Instagram using some simple SEO tricks.

How does Instagram SEO actually work?

Instagram’s algorithm processes every piece of content, gathering information to determine what the post is about and who might find it interesting. And there are a few ways you can help steer it in a more optimised direction.

Instagram SEO ranking: key factors

As part of the Explore page, Instagram search is a directory. Much like you would search a term in Google, you can use the search bar at the top of the Explore page to find and discover accounts, hashtags and locations.

According to Instagram, the most important SEO factors are:

Relevance to the search query. The algorithm will try to match what people search with top posts, accounts, audio, tags, and places. This is the most important factor.
User activity. If Instagram thinks someone will be more interested in one post over another, it will favour that post in search results. It determines this based on the searcher’s previous activity.
Information about the search results. When there are a high volume of relevant results for a search term, it can be a bit of a popularity contest. The number of likes, shares and followers for an account or post can influence where it is ranked in search results.

4 Instagram SEO tactics to increase your exposure

Knowing how to use SEO to your advantage can skyrocket your visibility on Instagram. Have a read of my four tactics below.

Tactic #1: write descriptive captions with keywords

Until recently you could only search in Explore via hashtags, locations and usernames. But you can now search using keywords. So writing descriptive captions with relevant keywords can seriously impact your content’s discoverability. While some of these keywords can come from an account’s name, username and bio, they mainly come from your post captions.

Tactic #2: add keywords to your Instagram profile name

If you want to grow your following and use Instagram search to your advantage, optimise your Instagram profile. See below my example, which contains the keyword “social media”.

Tactic #3: include up to 30 relevant hashtags

Using relevant hashtags on posts is still one of the top ways of getting discovered by new audiences on Instagram. Since hashtags are used with the intent to discover new content, using the right hashtags can put you in front of your target audience.

Tactic #4: be consistent with your niche

A major visibility tactic is to be consistent with your Instagram SEO practices. The more you follow the best practices, the more the algorithm will learn what your account is about. You’ll be teaching Instagram who you are and what you offer – which means your profile and content will be served to relevant users as they browse the app.

By maintaining a consistent SEO message about your brand, you’ll be reaping the rewards of increased discovery and reach in no time!

With just a couple of tweaks and improvements, you can easily take advantage of Instagram searches and suggested posts.

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8 ways to get more Instagram followers