How to Grow Instagram Followers Organically

Whether you’re a small business, freelancer, or creative, having a platform and growing an audience can open up new opportunities and connect you with people interested in your work. Yet, with ever-changing algorithms and crowded competition, knowing how to grow Instagram followers organically can feel like a mystery.

Thankfully, there are strategies that, when used consistently, can move the needle on your follower count and help expand your niche to the right audience. Below you’ll find helpful tips and approaches you can implement today.

Define your audience

Many content creators make the mistake of wanting to grow their followers without considering who they actually want to reach. But before you build out your content plan, it’s important to define your audience. After all, growing tons of followers for its own sake won’t translate into sales, bookings, or new opportunities—so it’s better to narrow your focus.

Whether you’re a business builder or aspiring influencer, consider the kinds of people who would actually want to engage with what you have to offer. For example, if you’re a nutritionist, you’ll want to connect with an audience who is seeking input on how to eat better. Meanwhile, if you’re a travel influencer, you’ll want to engage with people who aspire to see the world in new ways.

Rather than casting your net too wide, establishing who you want to speak to will save you a lot of time and effort in how you create content.

Make good content

This may sound vague at first, but there are some concrete guidelines to keep in mind. This includes the content quality itself and the value it offers to your audience.

• Content quality: Develop a consistent visual identity that is appealing to your audience. Invest in good lighting, sound, image and video quality. Don’t overdo it on text and opt for creating an engaging visual experience.

• Adding value: Consider what you bring to your audience. Maybe it’s entertainment and humor, or perhaps you have expert knowledge and concrete services to provide. Think about how your content and way of storytelling can stand out from the crowd.

Pay attention to pop culture and trends

You’ll have more success with growing your Instagram followers if you keep in touch with Instagram trends and pop culture. This speaks to what people are currently interested in or find engaging, and offers you chances to put creative spins on your content.

Add trending hashtags that make sense for your niche, use trending songs and audio clips, and take note of jokes and formats that are currently going viral. If you’re having fun with the content you create in these ways, it will translate better to your audience.

Add CTAs for engagement

Every 3–5 posts, add a call to action (CTA) to boost engagement. When posts have higher engagement, the algorithm will show them to more people.

You don’t need to limit these to prompting people to book a consultation or buy something you’re selling—though periodically doing this is also fine. Mix things up by adding the following Instagram-friendly CTAs:

• Giveaways: Have people tag a friend and hit follow to enter to win a raffle.
• Ask a question: In your Instagram posts, ask questions that prompt people to respond in the comments.
• Comment for a free guide: Have your audience comment a word or phrase on your post to receive a free guide on a topic of interest to them.
• Save this post: If you share a post with handy tips and information, prompt people to bookmark it for later.

Collaborate and tag

Utilize Instagram collaboration and tagging features to reach more people who might be interested in the content you create. However, it’s best to organize real collaborations with other accounts than to simply tag them, or request them to collaborate on posts when you haven’t actually worked together.

A good way to approach this would be to reach out to accounts with somewhat larger followings than yours, but where they might still view you as someone who could also expand their reach. So if you have 3k followers, try collaborating with an account that has 10k followers, rather than a massive corporation with 1M. Engaging in the comments section of accounts with followers who might also be interested in your content can also help increase your visibility.

You can also prompt accounts to share your Instagram stories as well as grid posts by tagging them for more reach.

Create a content schedule and stick to it

A key pillar of how to grow your Instagram followers organically is to ensure that you’re posting consistently. In order to understand what that means in practice, it’s all about finding a sweet spot that doesn’t come across as spammy, appeals to the algorithm, and is realistic enough that you can actually maintain it consistently over time.

• 3–4 times a week is a realistic target for many individuals or small teams and likely often enough to generate organic growth
• Pay attention to when you post on Instagram. Posting multiple times a day tends to tank engagement, and certain times of day work better by industry.
• Use content planning tools, even if it’s just IG’s own scheduling feature. Prep posts in batches.
• Maintain your cadence for about a month to allow patterns to emerge before panic-adjusting your content calendar after a post or two gets lower engagement.

Check in weekly

At the end of each week, take stock of how your followers have grown or plateaued. Take into account what kinds of content you posted that week and see if you can plan more of what worked, or take away any insights from what didn’t. Consider the times of day you posted, along with the types of content you shared.

Frequently asked questions about how to grow Instagram followers

What are content pillars for Instagram?

Content pillars for Instagram are recurring themes that shape your feed and stories. Examples include behind-the-scenes, tutorials, product highlights, and brand storytelling.

Using consistent pillars helps you grow a loyal following and communicate your expertise. The content pillars you use for Instagram should fit with the pillars of your broader content strategy.

Quillbot’s AI Chat can help you generate Instagram post ideas, captions, and video scripts aligned to your content pillars.

When should you post on Instagram to get the highest engagement?

There is no single best time to post on Instagram, but understanding your audience will help you get better engagement.

Try researching the best time to post on Instagram in your industry, and consider how your audience might engage with your post. For example, in tech and financial services, posts that go live in the morning on weekdays do best because this is when teams are planning and strategizing.

You can get even more tailored information into your audience’s activity by looking at your Insights on Instagram to help grow your followers organically.

Optimize your Instagram post ideas—no graphic design skills needed—with Quillbot’s free Social Media Templates.

How many images are in an Instagram carousel?

There are up to 20 images in an Instagram carousel. You can add fewer, but that is the maximum number of images you can add to one carousel.

If you want to try using an AI image generator for social media posts you can upload as an Instagram carousel, try Quillbot’s AI image generator. Or, check out Quillbot’s range of ready-to-use and editable Instagram templates to get a head start on your Instagram post ideas and start growing your followers.

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