While the social network has exploded in recent months with the addition of a bunch of new features, the community, which has surpassed one billion users, is always on the lookout for new accounts to follow. Let’s not forget, Instagram is the social network for images. Users of the platform are looking above all for licked visuals that speak to them in order to be able to engage.
Knowing that a typical user follows an average of 134 people, you are likely to be followed if your account is well funded.
In this article, I suggest you go over some principles and tips for gaining followers and building an audience on Instagram. If you haven’t already, I invite you to take a look at my other blog post in which, we will give you some tips to boost your Instagram and Facebook account.
Think About What Kind Of Content You Want For Your Audience
First of all, you should know that Instagram is a social network that generates the most engagement in front of Facebook and Twitter. As Hubspot points out in their training on social media:
Instagram is 10 times more engaging than Facebook, 54 times more than Pinterest, and 84 times more engaging than Twitter. In other words, if your posts are well put together, it is on this social network that you will have the most interactions on your publications. Either way, it’s important that your audience identifies your content. For this, you need to adopt an easily recognizable style and type of format.
Generally speaking, there are posts that perform well on Instagram. Quotes on a homogeneous background, backstage images where you showcase your work team or products in the situation. The goal is to have an Instagram gallery harmonized speaking to your followers while telling a story.
The hashtags, these keywords preceded by a # must also be reflected to allow new visitors to fall on your images. For the choice of hashtags, I invite you to read my article on the 11 tips to dominate Facebook and Instagram. Once this first test is successful, your post should be consistent enough for these visitors to decide to discover your profile and subscribe.
To build your community, you will also have to develop a routine in terms of content. Meet the expectations of your community on a regular basis by providing them with what they are looking for. Take the example of a lifestyle influencer. This takes place on a daily basis, for example during meals, outings, trips. The subscribers who follow them expect to find fresh, engaging content to consume.
You have to position yourself in the same situation. “It’s very pretty, but I am not an influencer” you will tell me. I hear it and don’t think that all these people who have more than 10,000 subscribers today started yesterday. To sum up, I will say that building an audience is proportional to the attractiveness of your niche and your content.
In any case, you should keep in mind that the important thing in social media is to regularly test the performance of your publications. This is the only way you can determine which posts are engaging and which are not.
Also Read: Who Founded Instagram | History, Characteristics & Features
Create Valuable Content For Your Audience
The first question you should ask yourself when writing a post is: Would I, as a subscriber, react to this post?
It seems simple said like that. And yet, I guarantee you that in 90% of cases, you will have more interactions on your posts when the answer is yes.
On Instagram and this is valid for other social networks, you should not overload your news feed by posting only content that concerns you. Subscribers care about you for the added value you can bring them. It’s important to keep this in mind when writing for them.
1. The Call To Action
Including calls to action is a good tip to keep your audience on your posts a little longer.
On this publication, we notice that the caption contains a question: “And you, where are you?” ”
It often happens that I end my publications with a call to action to alert my audience to important statistics or to get their opinion in a particular area. Commenting is, in my opinion, the interaction that most engages your subscribers because it takes more time. Concretely, a follower who comments on a post feels perfectly concerned by it.
On the other hand, if the person does not have the time to leave a comment, they will more easily leave alike. Statistically, Instagram captions that include a call to action have a 25% chance of generating a better engagement rate.
I invite you to use a call to action in your posts to better connect with your audience. The idea is to show them that your content is above all developed for them. You can encourage them to interact with taglines such as: “double tap if you (you) like (EZ)”, “like (z) if you (you) agree or give (z) your ( your) opinion in comment ”. Again you need to test and see what works best.
2. Instagram Gallery
As mentioned above, Instagram is the social network of the image. Imagine arriving on a messy feed with opposing colour undertones. How long will you stay on this profile? Here too, you can ask yourself the question:
Will I want to interact with a gallery like this?
If the answer is no, you probably won’t get a lot of feedback on your profile.
The impression you get when you watch this flow is that there are a story and a consistency between the images. If the environment is attractive, the visitor will want to find out what you have to say. Remember that quality is better than quantity.
3. Maintain Real Proximity To Your Audience
When I say closeness, it doesn’t mean being friends. Instead, imagine this notion as the establishment of a relationship of trust between human beings. Behind every real Instagram account, there is a person with emotions and desires. Engagement is the sinews of war on the social network. Gaining subscribers is important to build credibility but it is nothing without commitment.
Let’s take 2 Instagram accounts:
- The first has a community of 20,000 followers and receives an average of 30 likes on these posts,
- The second is followed by 2000 followers and receives 150 likes + 10 comments on average per post.
Which of the two do you think is the most influential?
Thinking of the second? I tend to agree with you. Without going into a complete analysis of these 2 accounts, we can say that the second engages better. The community feels more considered and more concerned about the themes addressed by the second account. In a way, there is a connection that is made.
There is nothing wrong with using techniques to boost your accounts such as mass follow for example. You just have to stay focused on the type of audience you want to attract to your account. Thus, at the beginning, you can sweep over a large perimeter (theoretical audience) to then refine your audience (real audience).
Whenever you want to expand your community, you will come across 2 subscriber profiles. Those who will follow from afar what you do and those who will get involved in what you do. These are the individuals who will answer questions posed via the social network and who will be sensitive to what you offer.
4. Your Bio Is Worth Gold
“150” This is the number of characters you have available in your bio to capture the attention of your visitors and convert them into subscribers. How do you use them to be sure to succeed?
You have to get to the point, give a succinct but impactful vision of your purpose on Instagram.
- There should be a line describing the activity of the company with a touch of humour.
- The approximate location of it.
- A “branded” hashtag to use if you want to show your support for the brand: #shantybiscuits
- The founder’s Instagram account: @************
- The website with a reduced link.
This bio is very well used, don’t you think?
Upon arriving on this company’s Instagram account, I immediately know what to expect as I have a clear description. The word “delicious” appeals to emotions and arouses my curiosity. Another signal, the company uses a branded hashtag, which makes me think that there is already an engaged community around it.
This profile has several positive points. By continuing to browse the bio, I realize that there is even the account of the founder. We were talking about humanizing the relationship and trusting earlier. The founder offers exclusive proximity to her brand’s subscribers by doing this. A real asset in this profile.
This example is a good illustration of how to take advantage of your bio to highlight your activity on Instagram. Playing on humour, sending signals of confidence and concluding with a call to action (website) is a good path.
Also Read: How To Promote Instagram Using Traditional Marketing Techniques?
Here Are Some Tips To Gain Subscribers Faster
Competition
Contests are a great way to increase your reach and reach new accounts on Instagram. It’s no surprise everyone loves freebies. Thus, you can use hooks of the style: tag a friend with whom you would like to eat here, go here…. The most important thing is to give a gift related to your activity.
If you are in the restaurant business, do not give away two tickets to Bora-Bora as a gift for your competition. Why? The participants would not reflect your usual audience since they will first be drawn to the lot. For example, prefer to offer a meal for two people. This will allow the winners to discover your restaurant and return to it if they are satisfied.
Create Virality
Get inspired by highly engaging content, on Instagram, Facebook or another social network, to develop your own posts by encouraging sharing. Play on the emotion, the subtlety, the message you want to convey.
Offer Value
Above, we saw the importance of a well-crafted bio to convert a visitor into a subscriber. You now know that you can put a link to an external resource. Take advantage of this space to offer a webinar, a coaching e-book or other resource that will be of value to your target.
Conclusion
In this article, we have swept away important notions such as the notion of trust and credibility towards one’s community. The base of your communication must remain the content with a harmonized gallery and a well-constructed bio.
Calls to action are also very important to capture the attention of your community. We realized that the evolution of its fan base was linked to the attractiveness of its sector and its content.
We ended with some effective tips to grow your number of followers more quickly. I hope that the concepts and examples provided have helped you see more clearly and that you are on the right track to develop your community.
