It is a challenging feat to create an active Instagram Following to promote your brand.

If you are only beginning your journey on Instagram, pondering on how to increase your following, you need to know your target audience. Understand your target audience and create a plan to attract them.

You should not use clickbait contents and buy followers to expand your presence on Instagram. To create a group of organic audience you would need to do research on your audience and create a good quality content.

Read until the end to learn to get more organic followers on Instagram.

How to gain followers on Instagram for free

1. Define the personality and tone of your brand

In order to create a consistent impression, your brand needs to have its own voice and attitude. This makes your online personality appears more approachable and human-like.

You want to make sure your online personality feels approachable and pleasant.

Your brand can become more relatable by producing material where an employee or even better, a customer describes your good or service. If your brand is in the lifestyle sector, you may design an aesthetic that conveys your target audience’s lifestyle.

Regardless of your final goal, each post should have a distinct brand personality and visual language so that it is can easily be recognized as yours.

2. Plan a social media marketing strategy

A good social media strategy should come hand in hand with your business goals and include your social media marketing objectives.

Do you want to create brand awareness? Increase sales or traffic to your website?

The first step is to determine your destination.

3. Understand your target audience

With no solid understanding of who your target audience is, it is like you are making a shot in the dark.

Your target audience can be identified based on factors like age, location, occupation and Instagram use. Your material should address the difficulties that they face, motivate them, and engage them. Your target audience will be more inclined to follow you and stick with you over the long run if you show that you appreciate them.

4. Create a consistent identity and look for your brand.

The Instagram grid should be prioritized as it serves as a crucial first impression.

Due to the visual nature of Instagram, maintaining a consistent visual style will help you develop your brand’s personality and make your posts easy to spot at first glance.

Every post on your Instagram grid should be interesting and demonstrate to viewers that you have high standards for aesthetic appeal. Your postings should work as a cohesive whole that is aesthetically pleasant. If your items don’t have a unified aesthetic, you can arrange them in an Instagram grid so that each post complements the others’ placement, akin to advertisement in a glossy magazine.

Look at this example from @margotmacaron:

5. Use the right keywords

To get followers, you have to be able to be found. Your name and username should be consistent on every social network and it contribute to how you show up in search results.

Searches will be more fruitful if you include a pertinent keyword in your name. Don’t be scared to incorporate the keyword into your name since you have 30 characters to work with.

Personal stylist Michelle Addison @michelleaddisonstyle, for instance, increases the likelihood that people searching for style and fashion guidance will find her by include the term “style” in her Instagram name.

6. Use relevant hashtags

Instagram has this feature that allows the user to follow hashtags. Identify the hashtags that your target audience might follow and use those hashtags in your posts.

The maximum number of hashtags that you can use is 30, and make sure they are relevant to the photo, product or business.

Hashtags can easily draw a more engaged audience. Avoid using hashtags like #followme, #likeforlike, etc. because they will simply draw bots or people who are only following you so they may be followed back.

Photographer @vas photographs used the hashtags #publicart and #sculpture in a post showing a work of art he discovered.

7. Maximising your Instagram bio

But to convince someone to click the follow button, you need a clear, concise, and interesting profile (and website, if you’re linked to one). Make good use of the 150 characters in your bio so that new users can better understand your brand. Indicate to them what they may look forward in your content and why they should follow you.

You can add more information to your profile if you have a company or Creator account on Instagram, such as your contact information, business type, and location. Use every field that applies since the more details visitors to your profile have, the more probable it is that they will follow you.

8. Make use of your additional social media accounts

You can get Instagram followers from followers on Facebook, Twitter and other social medias as well.

Post a link to your Instagram account on your other profiles to encourage your followers from those profiles to visit the Instagram account. To get more people interested, you might want to organize a giveaway or offer an Instagram-only coupon code. You could share some of your better Instagram posts so that your new followers can have something to look forward to.

Not only that, share link to your Instagram profile wherever you can such as in the website, email signature and online newsletter.

9. Incorporate Instagram images into your blog postings

Try integrating Instagram content in some of your articles if you run a blog or website that showcases visual content like pictures, graphs, or infographics. Like the one below, a clickable embed creates an engaging experience and can drive traffic to your account.

10. Make Instagram Reels

Reels are given priority by the Instagram algorithm on the Explore page. The app also has a separate page for these quick videos. There, viewers can scroll through a never-ending feed of Reels that have been chosen by an algorithm according on their unique preferences and interests.

This format of content opens the opportunity to reach others who does not even follow your account.

11. Post content that is worthwhile to share

People tend to repost what they like and if they share your feed post on their Instagram Story, then their audience can be your new potential audience and potentially adding a new follower too.

12. Get on Instagram Explore page

Posts, Stories, and Reels from Instagram are available on the Explore tab. Initially, users see a grid of products that Instagram’s algorithm has chosen. By using the topic channels at the top of the screen, they can then select to delve deeper into particular content topics.

Click on the magnifying glass icon to find the Explore page.

13. Follow relevant accounts

Similar content creators might take a look at your profile and they might give you a follow.

Instagram recommends who to follow in the “Suggested for you” section. You can find it in your feed, between posts in the app. On desktop, it will appear on the right side.

You can also find follow worthy profile by checking the Discover People section by clicking on the three bars on the top right (Remember that the ratio of accounts you follow to those who follow you back on Instagram is one of the elements that affects your credibility).

14. Look for influencers who are related to your brand

60% of consumers tends to follow a brand that is endorsed by an influencer. Therefore, you should look for and work with influencers that has your audience trusts.

For instance, if you work in the fitness business or want to advertise your luxury travel company or lodging, you should connect with the influencer @camilla akerberg.

15. Partner and work with other brands

Consider working with brands that cater to your audience, but find those who are not your competitors.

For instance, you could host a contest with prizes made up of goods and services from both business for your combined audiences. Encourage participants to follow all of the participating brands by cross-promoting the contest on the social media profiles of each company. This will give you an engaging and natural approach to engage with the Instagram audiences of the competing brands.

16. Find the best time to post

Your target audience could be more active online when it is not working hours. Tools can help you identify the perfect timing to post. When you post at the right time, the post will reach a lot of audience and create a high engagement. Once you have identified the perfect time to post, schedule the posts in advance. This is to ensure that the content is perfectly timed even on off days.

17. Make a contest or giveaway

This is a good way to attract a new and engaged audience to your profile. Of course, putting the condition for people to follow you to participate could work, but you can go a step further by asking those who would like to participate to tag a friend in the comment. By doing this, your target audience will open the room to introduce your brand to their network.