Instagram is more than a place to connect with friends, share vacation photos, or upload a silly video of your dog. Since its inception, the social media platform has grown into a powerhouse marketing channel, used by brands everywhere to connect with potential customers.
Meta’s photo and video sharing app has also springboarded the careers of countless creators who monetize their personal brands through their content. If you’ve ever thought of leveling up your presence on Instagram or starting a business on the platform, you’re in the right place.
Instagram has 1.4 billion users in 2024, each hungry for visual inspiration and trends. How do you get their attention?
In this guide, learn how to get more Instagram followers (not bots) by creating content and how to increase engagement on your Instagram posts, Stories, and Reels.
How to get more Instagram followers: 17 ways to grow your audience
Incorporate Reels into your content mix
Cross-promote content
Optimize your Instagram profile
Partner with creators and influencers
Build your personal brand alongside your business
Get placements on feature accounts
Find hashtags your audience is using
Post at the right times and schedule posts
Engage with your competitors’ followers
Collaborate with accounts and creators on campaigns
Use location tags to attract local followers
Organize your Instagram Stories in Highlights
Ask for more followers in Instagram posts
Run a giveaway
Share user-generated content
Use Instagram Live
Try Instagram Ads
Marketers say Instagram is the second most important social channel for marketing, behind Facebook, and 80% report that they use the channel to promote their businesses. Getting the most from your marketing dollars, however, starts with building a loyal and engaged audience of followers on Instagram.
While follower count is only one success indicator on Instagram, increasing followers can unlock monetization opportunities for influencers and provide businesses with valuable social proof.
1. Incorporate Reels into your content mix
Instagram started as a photo sharing app, quickly getting into video with its Stories feature. Stories are a more intimate form of vertical-format video, viewable only to friends, followers, and visitors to your page. Reels, however, are public-facing, offering more reach through Explore on Instagram and, therefore, viral potential.
Brands and creators should consider adding Reels to their Instagram strategy due to their high engagement rates compared to Instagram posts. Average likes on Reels is 42% higher than that of posts, and Reels see four times the number of shares over posts.
“Reels give anyone the opportunity to reach new target audiences,” says Trilce Jirón Garro, owner of social media marketing agency TBS Marketing. “Creators can produce community-driven content that builds trust, gains followers, and makes sales over time.”
On the heels of TikTok and the popularity of its unpolished video format, Reels offer brands and creators a chance to be more candid and human. To create content for Reels, keep these tips in mind:
Keep content unique and trend-driven. Identify trends on Instagram, TikTok, and across the web and put your own spin on them. This increases the chance your Reels will go viral and get in front of new audiences.
Make content relatable and simple. Not every Reel needs to be a Hollywood film. Lower quality videos can perform as well as (if not better than) Reels with high production value.
Educate your audience. Find the balance between education and entertainment in your Reels. This can be a mix of how-to videos, tips, industry info, humorous takes on viral trends, and product demos.
“Don’t sell your products through Reels content,” says Trilce. “Share facts. Provide tips about the industry you’re in. Entertain viewers.”
Home brand Tarte Gelatina has nailed this format, transforming product launches and even order packaging into entertaining clips.
The idea of using hashtags to grow your followers on Instagram seems to lead to one of two polarizing views. You either love to spread hashtags throughout all of your posts, or you hate using them, avoiding them like the plague. The fact remains, though, that hashtags generally help you widen the spread of your posts. Simply Measured found that posts with at least one hashtag average 12.6% more engagement than those without.
Instagram is tailor-made for hashtag usage. In fact, hashtags are arguably Instagram’s primary method of sorting and filtering content. Unlike Twitter, where most people use just one or two hashtags in a tweet, Instagrammers frequently use most of their allowance of 30 hashtags in each post.
But just because you can use 30 hashtags in a post does not mean that you should. There is no value in using irrelevant hashtags just to make up a hashtag quota. The key to Instagram hashtag usage is to include plenty of relevant hashtags that will help your fellow Instagrammers. If you use unrelated hashtags, you are spamming the system and placing yourself in danger of receiving an Instagram shadowban.
The Ultimate Guide to Using Instagram Hashtags to Grow your Followers:
How to Use Hashtags
Whenever you create an Instagram post, you should include up to 30 relevant hashtags in your caption. The reason you do this is to help people discover your content.
For instance, if you upload a post showing yourself basking in the sun onboard a yacht, you might include #summer, #travel, and #yachting along with other relevant phrases.
Instagram will then organize your post according to your tags. Your post will show up for people who search for any of these terms (at least until too many other people upload new posts that contain them, dropping your post further down peoples’ feeds).
Types of Hashtags You Should Use
1. Use Popular Hashtags to Increase Your Views
As I recently discussed in The Most Popular Instagram Hashtags on the Planet in 2024 (+ Free Tool), there are quite a few hashtags that receive regular use. The most popular tags may have too much use, however, meaning your posts would get lost in the crowd. But there are still many loved hashtags that are used a more manageable number of times.
Your posts will end up in the search results of people who search for the hashtags you use.
A recent change in Instagram, allows people to follow selected hashtags, which should further increase the reach of your posts that use those hashtags.
Often people looking at a particular hashtag will come across your post. If they like it, they may even begin to follow your Instagram account in the hope of seeing you produce further similar content.
Of course, there is the usual caveat. There is no use using a popular but irrelevant hashtag. You might, for instance, have noticed that #summer is a popular hashtag right now. You could use it on any post that evoked summer in some way. But it would not be suitable to include on the photos of your friends snowboarding. Similarly, #selfie is popular, but you wouldn't use it on your picture of a beautiful landscape.
2. Use Highly Specific Hashtags to Reach Your Ideal Audience
You should also include a selection of low-volume, highly relevant, hashtags in your posts. There may not be vast numbers of people following these hashtags, but you know that the people who do take an interest in them will make a perfect match for your account.
So, if you are a Lord of the Rings fan, by all means, use #hobbiton on your Lord of the Rings posts – 446,559 people; have already done so. It is highly likely that anybody who searches that hashtag will take an interest in your LOTR-related posts. Of course, you should also use #lotr and join the existing 1,812,932 posts.
Depending on what your post depicts, you would use a relevant generic hashtag, and then break the topic down into more specific hashtags, too. For instance, you might use the trendy #food tag, but you should also consider using more specific food-related tags, such as #foodlove, #dinnertime, #dessert or perhaps even more niche.
Finding the Right Hashtags for Your Posts
The thought of using up to 30 hashtags per post may initially appear mind-boggling. This is particularly so when you realize you can’t just use the same block of hashtags on every post. If you post regularly to your Instagram account, you need to build up an extensive library of hashtags to use. You need to select the most appropriate group for each post you make.
Ways you can find suitable hashtags include:
Use the Instagram search function. Type in a keyword relevant to your post and select the Tags tab. Instagram will then ist a range of hashtags. Look for relevant tags with a reasonable usage that are not so popular that your posts will quickly disappear.
Use the hashtags that the influencers in your industry use.
Look at your competitors’ posts and use the non-branded tags that they use. Check their posts to ensure that the hashtags are not part of one of their campaigns before you use them, however.
Look at posts that use hashtags you have found successful. What other hashtags do these posts target? Would any of these tags be valuable to your brand?
Related Content:
Hashtag Analytics 101: Metrics, Hashtags and Analytics Tools You S...
9 Best Instagram Hashtag Generator Tools on the Web for 2024
What is Influencer Marketing? – The Ultimate Guide for 2024
Use Social Media Tools to Find the Best Hashtags
You might consider finding appropriate hashtags to be a daunting and uninviting task – one that potentially takes the fun out of your Instagram usage. Luckily there are quite a few software solutions to make the job more straightforward for you.
In time you should be able to create a personal library of hashtags from which you can pick and choose each time you assemble a post.
1. Instagram Hashtag Generator
The Instagram Hashtag Generator created by Influencer Marketing Hub uses AI image recognition technology to identify popular and trending hashtags on Instagram that is very easy to use: You upload your Instagram photo and the tool will generate the most popular niche hashtags for your Instagram Post. Then you can select the best hashtags and copy them in bulk and paste them in your Instagram photo caption. It also works as a Pinterest Hashtag Generator Tool.
Instagram is more than a place to connect with friends, share vacation photos, or upload a silly video of your dog. Since its inception, the social media platform has grown into a powerhouse marketing channel, used by brands everywhere to connect with potential customers.
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Meta’s photo and video sharing app has also springboarded the careers of countless creators who monetize their personal brands through their content. If you’ve ever thought of leveling up your presence on Instagram or starting a business on the platform, you’re in the right place.
Instagram has 1.4 billion users in 2024, each hungry for visual inspiration and trends. How do you get their attention?
In this guide, learn how to get more Instagram followers (not bots) by creating content and how to increase engagement on your Instagram posts, Stories, and Reels.
How to get more Instagram followers: 17 ways to grow your audience
Incorporate Reels into your content mix
Cross-promote content
Optimize your Instagram profile
Partner with creators and influencers
Build your personal brand alongside your business
Get placements on feature accounts
Find hashtags your audience is using
Post at the right times and schedule posts
Engage with your competitors’ followers
Collaborate with accounts and creators on campaigns
Use location tags to attract local followers
Organize your Instagram Stories in Highlights
Ask for more followers in Instagram posts
Run a giveaway
Share user-generated content
Use Instagram Live
Try Instagram Ads
Marketers say Instagram is the second most important social channel for marketing, behind Facebook, and 80% report that they use the channel to promote their businesses. Getting the most from your marketing dollars, however, starts with building a loyal and engaged audience of followers on Instagram.
While follower count is only one success indicator on Instagram, increasing followers can unlock monetization opportunities for influencers and provide businesses with valuable social proof.
1. Incorporate Reels into your content mix
Instagram started as a photo sharing app, quickly getting into video with its Stories feature. Stories are a more intimate form of vertical-format video, viewable only to friends, followers, and visitors to your page. Reels, however, are public-facing, offering more reach through Explore on Instagram and, therefore, viral potential.
Brands and creators should consider adding Reels to their Instagram strategy due to their high engagement rates compared to Instagram posts. Average likes on Reels is 42% higher than that of posts, and Reels see four times the number of shares over posts.
“Reels give anyone the opportunity to reach new target audiences,” says Trilce Jirón Garro, owner of social media marketing agency TBS Marketing. “Creators can produce community-driven content that builds trust, gains followers, and makes sales over time.”
On the heels of TikTok and the popularity of its unpolished video format, Reels offer brands and creators a chance to be more candid and human. To create content for Reels, keep these tips in mind:
Keep content unique and trend-driven. Identify trends on Instagram, TikTok, and across the web and put your own spin on them. This increases the chance your Reels will go viral and get in front of new audiences.
Make content relatable and simple. Not every Reel needs to be a Hollywood film. Lower quality videos can perform as well as (if not better than) Reels with high production value.
Educate your audience. Find the balance between education and entertainment in your Reels. This can be a mix of how-to videos, tips, industry info, humorous takes on viral trends, and product demos.
“Don’t sell your products through Reels content,” says Trilce. “Share facts. Provide tips about the industry you’re in. Entertain viewers.”
Home brand Tarte Gelatina has nailed this format, transforming product launches and even order packaging into entertaining clips.
The idea of using hashtags to grow your followers on Instagram seems to lead to one of two polarizing views. You either love to spread hashtags throughout all of your posts, or you hate using them, avoiding them like the plague. The fact remains, though, that hashtags generally help you widen the spread of your posts. Simply Measured found that posts with at least one hashtag average 12.6% more engagement than those without.
Instagram is tailor-made for hashtag usage. In fact, hashtags are arguably Instagram’s primary method of sorting and filtering content. Unlike Twitter, where most people use just one or two hashtags in a tweet, Instagrammers frequently use most of their allowance of 30 hashtags in each post.
But just because you can use 30 hashtags in a post does not mean that you should. There is no value in using irrelevant hashtags just to make up a hashtag quota. The key to Instagram hashtag usage is to include plenty of relevant hashtags that will help your fellow Instagrammers. If you use unrelated hashtags, you are spamming the system and placing yourself in danger of receiving an Instagram shadowban.
The Ultimate Guide to Using Instagram Hashtags to Grow your Followers:
How to Use Hashtags
Whenever you create an Instagram post, you should include up to 30 relevant hashtags in your caption. The reason you do this is to help people discover your content.
For instance, if you upload a post showing yourself basking in the sun onboard a yacht, you might include #summer, #travel, and #yachting along with other relevant phrases.
Instagram will then organize your post according to your tags. Your post will show up for people who search for any of these terms (at least until too many other people upload new posts that contain them, dropping your post further down peoples’ feeds).
Types of Hashtags You Should Use
1. Use Popular Hashtags to Increase Your Views
As I recently discussed in The Most Popular Instagram Hashtags on the Planet in 2024 (+ Free Tool), there are quite a few hashtags that receive regular use. The most popular tags may have too much use, however, meaning your posts would get lost in the crowd. But there are still many loved hashtags that are used a more manageable number of times.
Your posts will end up in the search results of people who search for the hashtags you use.
A recent change in Instagram, allows people to follow selected hashtags, which should further increase the reach of your posts that use those hashtags.
Often people looking at a particular hashtag will come across your post. If they like it, they may even begin to follow your Instagram account in the hope of seeing you produce further similar content.
Of course, there is the usual caveat. There is no use using a popular but irrelevant hashtag. You might, for instance, have noticed that #summer is a popular hashtag right now. You could use it on any post that evoked summer in some way. But it would not be suitable to include on the photos of your friends snowboarding. Similarly, #selfie is popular, but you wouldn't use it on your picture of a beautiful landscape.
2. Use Highly Specific Hashtags to Reach Your Ideal Audience
You should also include a selection of low-volume, highly relevant, hashtags in your posts. There may not be vast numbers of people following these hashtags, but you know that the people who do take an interest in them will make a perfect match for your account.
So, if you are a Lord of the Rings fan, by all means, use #hobbiton on your Lord of the Rings posts – 446,559 people; have already done so. It is highly likely that anybody who searches that hashtag will take an interest in your LOTR-related posts. Of course, you should also use #lotr and join the existing 1,812,932 posts.
Depending on what your post depicts, you would use a relevant generic hashtag, and then break the topic down into more specific hashtags, too. For instance, you might use the trendy #food tag, but you should also consider using more specific food-related tags, such as #foodlove, #dinnertime, #dessert or perhaps even more niche.
Finding the Right Hashtags for Your Posts
The thought of using up to 30 hashtags per post may initially appear mind-boggling. This is particularly so when you realize you can’t just use the same block of hashtags on every post. If you post regularly to your Instagram account, you need to build up an extensive library of hashtags to use. You need to select the most appropriate group for each post you make.
Ways you can find suitable hashtags include:
Use the Instagram search function. Type in a keyword relevant to your post and select the Tags tab. Instagram will then ist a range of hashtags. Look for relevant tags with a reasonable usage that are not so popular that your posts will quickly disappear.
Use the hashtags that the influencers in your industry use.
Look at your competitors’ posts and use the non-branded tags that they use. Check their posts to ensure that the hashtags are not part of one of their campaigns before you use them, however.
Look at posts that use hashtags you have found successful. What other hashtags do these posts target? Would any of these tags be valuable to your brand?
Related Content:
Hashtag Analytics 101: Metrics, Hashtags and Analytics Tools You S...
9 Best Instagram Hashtag Generator Tools on the Web for 2024
What is Influencer Marketing? – The Ultimate Guide for 2024
Use Social Media Tools to Find the Best Hashtags
You might consider finding appropriate hashtags to be a daunting and uninviting task – one that potentially takes the fun out of your Instagram usage. Luckily there are quite a few software solutions to make the job more straightforward for you.
In time you should be able to create a personal library of hashtags from which you can pick and choose each time you assemble a post.
1. Instagram Hashtag Generator
The Instagram Hashtag Generator created by Influencer Marketing Hub uses AI image recognition technology to identify popular and trending hashtags on Instagram that is very easy to use: You upload your Instagram photo and the tool will generate the most popular niche hashtags for your Instagram Post. Then you can select the best hashtags and copy them in bulk and paste them in your Instagram photo caption. It also works as a Pinterest Hashtag Generator Tool.