Instagram is a constantly growing platform for sharing images and short video clips. Using the right Instagram tools to grow your followers is extremely important in reaching out to a wide audience. And using the right Instagram growth tools can prove exceptionally beneficial to any business platform.

With more than one billion monthly active users, Instagram has opened up huge opportunities for brands to find new customers and get their products seen. But while tactics like running Instagram ads and reaching out to influencers are effective, without the right tools, it can be tough to learn what to post on Instagram and get the results you want.

Of all the most popular social network apps, Instagram is among the easiest ones to get new followers, even more so if you make good use of all the most popular Instagram hashtags in your posts and interact with other profiles by commenting, adding followers or simply liking their posts.

Here are 12 Instagram tools to help grow your followers to the next level, from image and video editing to analytics, creating clever captions and more.

These Instagram Tools Will Help You:

• plan and layout future posts
• analyze your analytics
• optimize your content
• creatively edit your photos
• create stand-out videos
• schedule your posts for optimal reach
• and more.

Instagram Design Apps

One of the most important parts of having an effective Instagram presence is filling your feed with stunning visuals that clearly communicate your brand’s identity and the value of your products.

Even if you aren’t a professional photographer, you can create great images with your smartphone and a few of the best Instagram design apps.

1. VSCO (iOS, Android)

It’s been a while since Instagram’s default filters were the bleeding edge of mobile photo editing. In the meantime, VSCO has emerged as the reigning champ of creating beautiful photos on the go. Part photo-editing platform and part social media network, VSCO should be at the heart of every Instagram strategy.

VSCO has an in-depth editing suite and a slew of high-quality default filters that can take your smartphone photos to a completely new level. There’s also a huge library of filters available on the premium plan, giving you endless options for customizing your photos and setting them apart from the pack.

Price: Free for basic presets and standard editing tools; $19.99/year for access to VSCO’s full suite of presets and image/video editing tools.

2. Canva (windows, macOS, iOS, Android)

Canva is a Graphic Design App that you can use to create images that stand out, whether it’s in your Instagram feed or in your Stories. You can superimpose text, create multi-image layouts, and pull in a wide range of predesigned graphics to level-up your posts and get your followers’ attention.

It’s especially useful for creating Instagram Stories that stand out, and if you stick to a few consistent image formats and fonts, you can start to make sure your followers always recognize your content.

Price: Free for image design with pay-per-use premium graphics; from US$12.99/month for Canva Pro, which includes transparent backgrounds and animation/GIF creation.

3. Snapseed (iOS, Android, macOS, Windows)

Snapseed is another photo-editing app that gives you the option to fine-tune your photos. While Instagram’s default filters edit your entire image at once, Snapseed lets you apply effects with a brush so you can perfect the details of each photo.

Snapseed’s Stacks is another great feature, letting you save groups of filters as a template. These Stacks can then be applied to future photos, giving your entire feed a consistent look and saving you time.

Price: Free.

4. Photoshop Express (iOS, Android, Windows)

That’s right, you can use Photoshop on your phone.

While the mobile app doesn’t come with every feature of the desktop app, it does offer a powerful image editing experience that gives you a lot of control over your photos. It streamlines the work you’d do on your desktop with handy tools like blemish removal, which can get rid of spots, dirt, and dust from your photo with a single touch.

You also get access to multiple controls, filters, presets, and options you wouldn’t get elsewhere, like the ability to add a watermark to your photos.

Price: Free.

Instagram Video Apps

You don’t need to be a professional videographer to create captivating videos for your business’s Instagram account. These Instagram video apps make it easy for anyone to capture quick videos on their phones and turn them into high-quality professional videos without having to whip out a laptop and fire up their video-editing software.

5. Boomerang from Instagram (iOS, Android)

Boomerang is an app created by Instagram that lets you create a GIF-like looping video from a series of photos. When your video is complete, either publish it to Instagram instantly or save it to post later.

Price: Free.

6. HypeType (iOS)

HypeType’s large library of fonts and animations makes it quick and easy to create captions for different sections of a video shot with the app or an uploaded video you’ve already taken. When you’re finished, you can post your video on Instagram without leaving HypeType.

Price: Free with video watermark; in-app purchases are available to remove the watermark or purchase additional fonts.

Instagram Marketing Apps

You’re almost ready to hit Post, but to help grow your following and connect with more people, you’re going to want to engage with your followers and use some hashtags. The best Instagram marketing apps help you do just that.

7. Repost for Instagram (Android)

You don’t always need to be the person behind the lens taking the photos. If you have a community of customers who post user-generated content, you can use Repost for Instagram to curate their images and give them credit at the same time.

To share an image from someone else’s Instagram account on your own, just copy the share URL on the post you want to share and open Repost on your phone. It’ll add a credit icon to the image, copy the description, and have you ready to post to your account in seconds.

Price: Free.

Instagram Management Tools

To grow your audience and give your current fans a reason to stick around, you need to be updating your Instagram with fresh content regularly. But let’s face it, constantly updating your profile with new photos takes a lot of time—something most entrepreneurs are already short on.

Thankfully, there are a bunch of great platforms out there that give you the resources you need to schedule your posts in advance and keep your profile well-stocked with great content. Many of these tools also let you post to Instagram from your computer so you don’t need to rely solely on Instagram’s mobile app.

8. Hootsuite (web, iOS, Android)

Hootsuite is a powerful social media management platform that can schedule and publish Instagram posts.

While Hootsuite has made a name for itself by streamlining marketing for platforms like Facebook and Twitter, its Instagram tools take social media management one step further. Hootsuite lets you schedule your Instagram posts in advance, and either notifies you to post with a push notification or posts automatically for you if you have an Instagram Business account.

Price: From $19/month one user, 10 social accounts for the Professional plan after a 30-day free trial.

9. Later (web, iOS, Android)

Later is an intuitive social media scheduling platform that comes with a diverse set of features for planning out your campaigns, including the ability to explore hashtags and share user-generated content.

Later lets you organize your posts with a handy content calendar and get a preview of your Instagram feed before publishing, making it simple to visualize exactly how your strategy will unfold.

It also offers Saved Captions, which is handy when planning and implementing your hashtag strategy for Instagram. Save related groups of hashtags together so you never need to type them out again, or reuse your most effective tactics to increase engagement on posts or drive clicks to your website via your Instagram bio.

Price: Free for one user and up to 30 Instagram posts per month; from $15/month for the starter plan for one user and up to 60 posts per month.

10. Buffer (web, iOS, Android)

You probably know Buffer as a great tool to schedule your social media posts for Twitter and Facebook, but you can also use it to schedule your Instagram posts.

Prepare your posts from mobile or desktop and Buffer will post directly to Instagram for you. And with a Premium plan, you can also create and schedule Instagram Stories, embed a shoppable Instagram grid on your website, and get detailed analytics on the performance of your Instagram posts.

Price: Free for one user, 3 social accounts, and 10 scheduled posts; from $15/month for the Pro plan, one user, 8 social accounts, and 100 scheduled posts.

Instagram Analytics Apps

Keeping your Instagram feed filled with timely, relevant, eye-catching photos is no small feat, so it’s important to know whether or not your efforts are helping you reach your goals.

The right Instagram analytics apps help you measure how your Instagram marketing activities are impacting your bottom line—and understand which types of posts were the most successful so you can replicate the tactics that had the greatest impact.

11. Sprout Social (web, iOS, Android)

Sprout Social is a social media management platform with extensive content scheduling and publishing tools. Sprout Social also offers in-depth Instagram analytics, giving you access to detailed reports about how your latest posts have been performing.

With Sprout Social’s analytics, you’ll be able to track engagement and compare the success of your store’s account against the success of other accounts you manage.

Additionally, Sprout Social has tools for monitoring hashtags and comments, helping you keep your finger on the pulse of your community and find new opportunities for engagement.

Price From $99/user/month for the Standard plan after a 30-day free trial.

12. Iconosquare (web, iOS, Android)

Iconosquare is an analytics platform dedicated to digging deep into the performance of your content on Instagram.

With Iconosquare, you can track regular engagement data like followers and likes as well as get specific statistics about your followers, including their location and level of social media influence. By identifying your most influential fans, you’ll be able to discover new opportunities for influencer marketing and outreach.

Iconosquare also gives you the chance to compare your performance against your competitors, helping you get a better idea of where you fit into your industry landscape.

Price: From $59/month (for Small Businesses and Professional Marketers) for the Pro plan after a 14-day free trial.

Bonus Apps to Get More Followers on Instagram

With the right tools, you can grow your Instagram followers to increase your online reputation. All it takes is finding those which best serve your purpose. Explore what these tools can offer and reach a wider audience.

Crowdfire (web, iOS, Android)

Crowdfire is a social media management tool that lets users control several profiles from one platform. This includes offering a free solution to help you gain Instagram followers.

Crowdfire promises to be your biggest marketing ally, since it works with all your social networks and even with your online store. It is a multiplatform analysis tool that helps you in finding and identifying those who are your inactive followers and even those who are not following you.

It also helps you to schedule posts, finds and recommends articles and images your public might enjoy and much more, all to help you keep your feed up to date and so that you can get more followers with ease.

Mr. Insta

Mr. Insta is an online Instagram Growth Service. From their website, you can purchase packages of Instagram followers, likes, views and more. They also offer services for other social media platforms including Pinterest, Twitter, Twitch and Spotify.

Use their service to get targeted, high quality, free Instagram followers! Unlimited activations available to continue receiving daily growth. No surveys!

They offer an incredibly wide range of features which includes:

• Guaranteed Delivery
• All Real Users
• No Password Required
• 100% Safe and Secure

Ingramer – Marketing toolkit for Instagram

Adapt your Instagram account for business with smart tools – build target audience, engage with clients, and plan content. Help potential customers discover your products and build brand loyalty in 3 steps.

This platform will help you attract users and help you build a solid community.

It also allows you to interact automatically and manage customers using a variety of tools including a direct messenger system and an auto-response chatbot.

The Ingramer tool allows you to easily post regularly and increase your audience reach using appropriate hashtags. You can schedule posts, use the AI hashtag generator, and also scan for hashtag trends.

All-in-all, you will be hard-pressed to find a better all-around tool than Ingramer when it comes to building your Instagram base and getting a solid audience in place.

If you are trying to actively build customer trust, while at the same time trying to save time and money, then give this platform a serious look.

Lightroom (iOS, Android, download)

Lightroom is an excellent  photo editing app that I have used in the past and happens to be Jodie’s favorite. It is relatively easy to learn to use and can give you added control to optimize your photos. Having at least one other photo editing app you use in conjunction with Instagram’s editing tools is very important to give you greater editing power. Some photos need more work than you can achieve with IG tools alone. A couple features Jodie particularly loves includes:

• The “Selective” function where you can isolate a specific section of the photo separately from the rest of the photo.
• The “Presets” function where you can upload presets to apply to all of your photos, or make your own. This can help unify your Instagram feed to create a harmonious look and style to your feed.

5 Tips when using the apps to get new Instagram followers

Even though these apps are very important for you to amass new followers, the success you’ll have using them will depend entirely on how you set these apps up. To help you out, we have 5 important tips below for you to make the most of them:

• Watch the offered training: Many of these apps have videos and e-books with training about how to configure your account properly in order to have the best results. Use that;
• Keep posting to your Instagram: The apps to get new followers are there to help you, but they won’t do everything by themselves. You should keep posting to your feed, to your stories and interacting with your followers;
• Set up a nice automatic message: One of the strong suits of using these apps is the automatic messages. Use these direct messages to send the users to your website, YouTube channel or even your mailing list;
• Respect the speeds the apps recommend: If you have a new Instagram profile, it is recommended that you start using these apps slowly and get followers and a smaller pace. If you already have many followers, feel free to increase the speed freely;
• Don’t use more than one app at once: Using more than one of these apps at once might cause issues with your account. So, it is really recommended that you only try one at a time!

What’s your favorite strategy to make new followers on Instagram?

Now that you have the right tools for the job, it’s time to get out there and start taking amazing photos and videos that really show the true value of your products!

These apps are a great way to get new followers on your profile, but they must be used alongside some other strategies, mainly always keeping a steady amount of relevant and interesting posts as to not lose the followers you already have.

What’s your favourite strategy to never lose your followers and stay relevant on social networks? What apps to get Instagram followers do you use? Leave a comment down below, and don’t forget to check our Facebook targeting ideas for you to use!