With more than 1.3 billion monthly active users, Instagram has grown into one of the largest social media platforms today. Have you wondered how to get more followers on Instagram? Well, you’re not alone.

Whether you’re trying to grow your own business or personal brand, or you just want more people to see your creative genius, there are a lot of benefits to increasing your Instagram following.

Growing on Instagram can help you increase traffic to your site, make more sales, or even turn you into a trendsetting influencer. Instagram followers are more than just numbers – they’re members of your online community.

But is it even possible to grow your Instagram account without having to spend a ton of money on ads? The short answer, yes.

This article will walk you through some very effective tactics to grow your Instagram following organically. These will be particularly useful if you’re just starting out and want to quickly build an engaged community of Instagram followers for your brand.

1. Optimize your account

Before you set out to figure out how to gain more followers on Instagram, one of the most important steps is to have your account fully optimized. Think of your brand’s Instagram bio as the “homepage” to your account.

If you want to attract more Instagram followers, you have to create a concise yet catchy description for your Instagram bio. Use it to tell your brand’s story in a way that appeals to people’s emotions.

Include relevant hashtags in your bio to maximize your reach. You could even add a branded hashtag to garner greater traction.

Without a bio, image captions, a proper username, or profile image, people won’t know the account belongs to your brand. On Instagram, your bio and image help form the foundations of your brand identity.

The link in your bio is your one spot to drive Instagram traffic to your site, so optimizing your account is essential. If you’re uncertain where to link, try marketing or product pages that relate to specific keywords, hashtags, or campaigns on your Instagram account.

Additionally, keep your username as search-friendly as possible, which usually means sticking close to your actual brand name. If your business name is longer, shorten it to something your audience would recognize. Don’t add numbers or special characters to your username, and if possible keep it in line with other social media handles you already have.

2: Tap Into Instagram Reels 

If you’re not using Instagram Reels yet, you could be missing out on a huge opportunity to grow your follower count.

Reels, Instagram’s short-form, looping video feature, is still one of the most effective ways to reach new audiences on the app.

Unlike most of the Instagram experience, viewers in the Reels feed are served high-interest content from both users they follow, and users they don’t.

This means the Reels you create can easily reach far beyond your follower list – helping to increase your visibility and grow your follower count.  

For the best results: 

• Use keywords and hashtags in your Reels captions that accurately describe your video content 
• Use trending sounds
• Keep your Reels short and snappy to encourage repeat views
• Create original content
• Add on-screen text for viewers watching without sound
• Aim for high-quality video footage (rather than 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 even share a before and after of your product.

3. Optimize Your Post Captions for Search

Optimizing your Instagram posts for search is a major Instagram hack for growing your following.

Following a recent update from Instagram, English-speaking users in 6 countries are now able to search Instagram using keywords. 

According to an Instagram spokesperson via The Verge, the team considers a number of factors, including the “type of content, captions, when it was posted,” and more to surface relevant results.

It also uses machine learning to “find the highest quality content that’s relevant to you.” For now, only grid posts will show up.

4. Find the right hashtags that Convert

Instagram hashtags are one of the biggest tools for growth at your disposal, and shouldn’t be overlooked.

For years hashtags have served as an essential tool for discovery and allowed us to extend our social reach. As a marketer, you want to build your community by gaining followers, and hashtags provide just that.

You have to find hashtags that people in your target audience are more likely to check. If a relevant connection is made, these users will be more likely to follow your account. Unique, branded hashtags are one way to group posts around hyper-relevant content to your brand and campaigns.

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.

With the right strategy, you can reach thousands of potential new followers, all while building a stronger sense of community around your brand.

Make sure you set clear entry requirements that support your growth goals, such as tagging a friend in the comments, sharing Instagram Stories, and following your account. 

Instagram giveaways can be especially beneficial when hosted in partnership with a creator or brand that shares your target audience.

6. Collaborate with Influencers and Brands 

Collaborating with like-minded influencers and brands is a major win-win. You’ll be able to benefit from brand association and tap into a new pool of potential followers.

The best news? Collaborations don’t have to break the bank. Some of the most effective partnerships are simple and mutually beneficial.

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, and typically have a lower rate card for sponsored posts.

However, you will have to work with more Nano or Micro-influencers to reach the same audience size as a Macro influencer – so the right strategy will depend on your bandwidth and budget requirements.

7. Create Highly-shareable Content (Including Memes)

When it comes to organically reach new audiences, creating shareworthy content is a great place to start.

Inspirational quotes, informative carousel posts, and on-trend memes are all tried-and-tested formats – and it only takes one viral post to reach thousands of people.

Memes in particular are huge for generating viral reach – especially when they tap into something that’s trending in popular culture. They’re often funny or clever, and they typically feature a combination of text and imagery (a photo, GIF, or video).

To create a super successful meme, try to find the balance between the trending visuals you’re working with, the sentiment of your target audience, and your brand’s niche.

The more your meme resonates with members of your community, the more likely it will be shared far and wide.

8. Cross-promote Your Instagram Account on Different Channels

If you’re looking for extra ways to grow your Instagram following, cross-promoting your account on other platforms is a great place to start.

TikTok is a major platform for cross-promoting your Instagram account.

On TikTok, one of the first things you can do to ensure Instagram traffic is by connecting your Instagram account to your TikTok.

You can then create a few TikToks that encourage viewers to click through to your Instagram profile.

If TikTok isn’t part of your marketing strategy, you can direct people to your Instagram via your website, email newsletter, podcast, or another social platform.

9. Create an Instagram Challenge

Instagram challenges have always been popular and now they’re appearing more frequently on Instagram Reels.

Creating a successful Instagram challenge can catapult your account into the zeitgeist – reaching thousands, or even millions, of potential followers. 

For the best results, make sure that participation is as easy as possible, create a branded hashtag to tie the challenge back to your brand, and think about what people will enjoy participating in.

10. Encourage User-generated Content (UGC) With a Branded Hashtag

Encouraging your community to share user-generated content (UGC) is an awesome way to raise brand awareness and grow your Instagram following.

And sharing UGC is super easy! Followers can either use your branded hashtag or tag your brand.

11. Make Your Content Accessible

Over 430M people in the world are Deaf or Hard of Hearing, while at least 2.2B people have a vision impairment.

Here are four simple ways to make your Instagram account more accessible and inclusive today:

1. Add subtitles or text overlays to video content (including Instagram Videos, Stories, and Reels)
2. Manually write descriptive alt text for your Instagram posts 
3. Verbalize visual details during stories and videos
4. Capitalize each word in Instagram hashtags. This helps screen-readers to read them aloud properly

TIP: Instagram recently released auto-generated captions in 16 languages for stories, so it’s easier than ever to make your content more accessible.

12. Post More Consistently

When it comes to growing on Instagram, consistency is the name of the game.

You can’t be afraid to show a little personality on Instagram. Even brands that aren’t exactly the most colorful and interesting of all time know to show off some style. New customers are always just around the corner on Instagram, so you have to put your best face out there at all times.

One of the key takeaways was that accounts that post more frequently typically have more followers. Creating quality content that drives real value for your audience should always usurp quantity.

Start building a large (and engaged) Instagram following

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.

It’s a combination of posting creative content, targeting the right audiences, and tapping into Instagram’s new features and trends.

Using these strategies, you’ll be able to leverage your growing audience for increased brand awareness and loyalty. A larger audience means you’re able to share information about your products with more potential customers.

Not to mention, a significant follower count makes your business look credible to users, so it may very well encourage people to explore your account and follow it.

Once you gain more followers, you have the power to significantly boost brand awareness on Instagram. You’re able to share information about your products with so many potential customers at once and share it with their networks.

So what are you waiting for? Get to it!