How to Grow an Organic Following on IG
By: Emily Klempel, Social Media Manager @ Foodie Tribe
Growing your Instagram can seem hopeless, especially when you’re just starting out. If you want to gain organic followers, without spending money on paid ads or boosted content, follow these tips!
1. Post consistent engaging content
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could just post one viral Instagram photo and grow your following in a day? Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that. Not everything you post on Instagram is going to go viral or reaching a large audience. You have to post consistently for your account to grow because this sets up an expectation for your followers to look forward to the next post. It’s not all about quantity over quality, though. Make sure your posts are still thoughtful and providing value to your followers so that they’ll produce high engagement. If your posts are providing something for your audience, even just entertainment, it will give them a reason to follow you.
2. Schedule your posts
Using a social media scheduler like Later or Sprout will help you be consistent and mindful with your posts. Feeling like you have to remember to post something every day can be overwhelming, but being able to schedule a week or month of posts at a time is much more doable. This also allows you to post at the ideal times for your audience. Pay attention to what time your followers seem to engage most, and schedule your posts for that time.
3. Create giveaways and promotions
Everyone loves the idea of winning a contest or getting a discount on something. Hosting a giveaway is a quick way to gain some followers. To reach a wider audience with a giveaway post, without spending money on boosting it, have your audience share the post in their story or tag a friend in the comments. This will direct more people, tha may not be following you, to your post.
If your brand ever has promotions, make sure you’re talking about them on Instagram. This is a way to provide value to your followers. If people realize your posts sometimes share promotions in them they’ll want to follow to make sure they don’t miss out.
4. Outward engagement
Responding to comments on your posts and engaging with your followers is great. However, you can’t forget to engage on other account's posts. If your Instagram is for a brand and not yourself you should still engage with a persona. You want to build a community of followers that you can talk to like real people. Find accounts with similar interests to yours and engage with them. This will give you visibility on other accounts in addition to your own, and hopefully drive people to your profile.
5. Track analytics
Analytics are your friend! It’s like reading your followers’ mind to learn how they interacted with your content. You can track your follower growth over time to see when you’ve gained followers. You can also see if people are following you based on specific posts. If your post results in 10 new followers, you’ll know that whatever you did in that post worked and you should create similar content.
Most importantly, remember to listen to your followers. They’ll tell you what they want through engagement and analytics. Provide value in your posts, and give people a reason to come back for more – that’s the key to growing your following.
Want some help growing your brand’s social media accounts or re-working your social media strategy? We can help with that! Reach out to us to schedule a chat to learn more about our social media services and how Foodie Tribe can help your brand grow its community on social!