The latest from the SnapSea team

How To Organically Increase Instagram Followers?

Manage your content to maintain and expand your follower base

Tam Nguyen
July 18, 2022
Growing a social media profile involves optimising all the tools and understanding your audience. Let’s dig deep into the strategies with tips and tricks.

What is the difference between growing organic vs inorganic followers?

Definition of organic followers

Organic followers are real Instagram accounts that choose to follow your page by discovering it through search engines, their feed, stories, or other forms of connection. In contrast to organic followers, inorganic ones are inactive bot accounts that are being forged to increase the number of followers. 

How can organic followers increase engagement?

A huge number of followers is only a metric and will not add value to the user’s profile. When buying followers, these accounts stay stagnant and most of the time are not even interested in your content. In the most extreme cases, you can have your account restricted or banned from the platform. Organic followers follow you because they are interested in the work that you do and the posts that you make, these people are here to stay.

While inorganic followers are a facade, organic followers are cogwheels that produce an engagement rate. 

Now, let’s break this facade and look at the ways that we can oil the cogwheel.

How to organically increase Instagram followers in 2022?

Post consistently while optimising ALL Instagram features

Instagram features many tools that can boost your searchability. These tools support your performance, so use them all to get the most out of your experience.

Accessibility - You want your post to be accessible to everyone. Thus, right before you post, make sure to scroll down to Advanced Settings → Accessibility. Here, you can write alt-text that describes the photos for people with visual impairments. As for Reels, perform the same steps and turn on the Caption option. 

Location tag- Many users seek photo inspiration through location features. The Instagram algorithm will push your post to local users so you are reaching individuals on a global and local scale. 

Trial and error 

Each account has its own performance and aesthetics. Some tips might work better for one than the other. It is not a one size fits all solution! Diversify your posts and discover your audience's niche and preferences. Doing so will test the potential of each type of post. For example, make sure to check your Account Insights to figure out which day and the range that your audience is most active. 

There is a sea of possibilities, you just need to practice and catch the right fish.

Optimising Instagram Reels

The Instagram reel is a feature that allows users to create, edit, and post immersive short videos. Many brands and creators use this tool to showcase the products or destinations that they are marketing. 

Since the boom of TikTok and its success, Instagram has been striving to push video content to compete. With that being said, reels have been receiving a 22% increase in engagement than typical video posts. To maximise engagement rate, keep your reels between 7 to 15 seconds long. At this duration, your reels will loop and increase views. Then, the algorithm will pick up high-performance reels and push them to more users.

Optimising User Generated Content (UGC)

Using UGC is a highly recommended strategy when trying to establish a connection with your followers. People looking for reviews can rely on user evangelists as real testimonials. Customer reviews are regarded as being 12 times more trustworthy than marketing produced by brands. 

UGC also provides diversity in your posts. Instead of paying thousands of dollars for a photo shoot or boring stock images, UGC allows you to choose and pick out suitable photos coming from many sources and creators. There are unlimited resources online, but why are marketers still reluctant to use them? 

Having an unlimited content source pool also means that it is extremely hard to pick out high-quality content. Not to mention, acquiring and monitoring rights of use from creators can be time-consuming. SnapSea develops a platform that curates quality content and aims to simplify the process. With SmartCurate, the AI algorithm and experts will sort through multiple sources to provide you with fresh and quality content daily. 

Learn more on how to engage User Generated Content here

Create photo Contests and Giveaways

Photo contests and giveaways are highly effective as it requires the audience to interact with your page and stay for a longer period of time to read the contest instructions! This is a popular method for destination marketing organisations to expand their reach.

In the Visit Outer Hebrides case study, the attraction uses #foodwithaview to encourage local businesses as well as visitors to share their meal with the Outer Hebrides’ magnificent landscape. With such a successful outreach, the campaign is set to be a finalist in the Regional Food and Drink Award. Within a year of using SnapSea to organise events and curate content, Visit Outer Hebrides increased Instagram and Facebook followers by 150%. 

Increase the use of hashtags

According to a 2020 Forbes study, posts with hashtags double the engagement rate compared to those without. Hashtags are an excellent way to drive more traffic to your page, increase engagement and reach a wider community. As a brand, there are a few rules that you should consider. Be careful and do not use highly popular hashtags. Since hashtag searches display chronologically, using popular hashtags will push your post down as they are swamped by posts from larger brands or quickly replaced. Brands are recommended to create unique and niche hashtags. This allows users to quickly access your products. 

ARTICLE TAGS
how to increase followers, how to grow on instagram organically
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