15 Best Instagram Growth Hacks for Your Brand

Since 2010 when Instagram took off, the world has made a 180-degree turn. People have started flaunting their personal lives in public, lots of new professions have appeared (how do you like the manager of Instagram Stories?), brands do not cease to create impressive visual content to fit in the social network feed and stay in the memory of each user. It seems that the developers did not even realize that cute application would produce such a boom. No matter whether you sell beauty products or cat food, your brand’s presence on Instagram is completely out of question. It is also necessary to develop the account on a regular basis and strengthen your positions both online and offline. While marketers are excelling in inventing non-standard ways for development and scaling their businesses to stimulate the demand for products, we also decided not to stay aside and provide you with some hand-curated Instagram growth hacks to contribute to your Instagram profile’s meteoric rise.

Why Your Brand Needs These Instagram Growth Hacks

Do you know people who consciously refuse professional and personal growth? Probably not. The same story is with brands. It is vital not to stop and be content with little but always aspire to get more. Today your company is on top but tomorrow it might be easily supplanted by a competitor or a new startup. Your task is a non-stop generation of ideas and unusual solutions to catch up with trends, keep up sales and not to allow anyone to dethrone your company.

Initially, Instagram was conceived as a platform for communication. At present, it is a powerful tool to present your brand, develop and maintain a positive image, and bring it to the forefront. You are definitely in need of those tactics and methods which were proved to work well not to waste your time and budget.

What is more, the hacks which we have included to the list are the essential steps to take on your way when building the in-depth strategy. Some marketers still believe that a large number of followers on Instagram is an indicator of a successful business. Let’s be honest with ourselves. Quality is above quantity. Reach and engagement with the aid of your followers that will help you overcome Instagram algorithms is the thing you should strive for.

These hacks are the matches to kindle an interest in your brand and not let it be quickly extinguished.

Best Instagram Growth Hacks

1. Stick to consistency

One of the key tactics to outwit the Instagram Explore Page Algorithm is your permanent presence on the social network that means you should be active on Instagram on a regular basis. In fact, one post per day in the feed and several Instagram Stories is enough. People get used to your brand and become their virtual friends if they get news every day. Create monthly or weekly content plans with the aid of SMM specialists or yourself which will be extremely helpful when you are lack inspiration and fresh ideas. The aesthetic of the account should be consistent as well. Stick to one style and keep an eye on the harmony of your profile not to turn it into a riot of colors if only it is not your distinguishing feature.

In a word, do not leave your account to chance. Instagram will definitely encourage your activity and distribute your post to be seen by more users marked it as worth attention. Reach, engagement, and more fans will follow.

Keep in mind: high engagement in first 2-3 hours contributes to more exposure. Try to impel your followers to act in this prime time, and your posts will attract more novices.

2. Collaborate with Instagram Influencers

Accept the fact that any brand can’t do without influencers now and get down to looking for the most relevant ones to your business immediately. Influencers have a loyal audience at their disposal which listens to their pieces of advice. Setting up collaboration with a social media star, your brand will get a reputation of the trendsetter (influencers do not advise out of fashion brands as far as their fans know), an influx of new followers, the incessant buzz around your brand, and all other hunky-dory things.

It is necessary to find an influencer who aligns with your brand to entice the target audience, come up with an appealing content idea, and launch a campaign.

Please note: micro-influencers with less than 25k followers get better engagement rates than celebrities and have a more niche audience.

3. Benefit from User-Generated Content

Real pictures of happy customers work better than the staged shots with flawless models. You can endlessly praise your product but one review from a client is still more efficacious. People want to see the product of the brand in real action so give them such an opportunity sharing user-generated content. Primarily, it is a proof that your brand is trustworthy. It is also a way to strengthen your online community and get more potential shoppers. There are even such brands that publish almost nothing but UGC. Keep balance and be versatile.

Come up with challenges, special rubrics, various contests to involve more people in telling your story.

If you make up your mind to launch a UGC campaign, do not forget to include a specific hashtag to store all the publications in one place.

4. Invest in targeted advertising

Sponsored posts assist in your Instagram growth. No matter whether you choose stories, video, photo or carousel ads, they will work for the benefit of your account. Targeted advertising is an official paid tool that was designed to help brands reach the exact audience, build loyalty, become more recognizable, and drive sales. When you constantly invest in targeted ads and experiment with the content presentation, your brand leaves an imprint in people’s memory and they will recall it when are in need of the product like yours.

It is a fair exchange: you spend money on advertising, Instagram offsets the costs in the form of boosting your social media exposure and attracting potential customers.

5. Incorporate relevant hashtags

Hashtags are still helpful when it comes to the discovery of your posts and their spreading throughout social media. They are small engines that allow users to get to know your brand and familiarize themselves with it. If the hashtags are selected correctly, they will bring you more people interested in the topic. As a result, the reach of publications is growing, and also the number of followers if the content is really good. Experiment with a combination of popular and niche hashtags, check which one your competitors and influencers take fancy to apply, and use only those that are relevant to your brand, industry, and audience.

Instagram has launched a feature that allows the following hashtags. It means that your content may appear in the users’ feed even if they don’t follow you. Flavor great content with appropriate hashtags and make it more accessible to discovery.

6. Create impressive content

It’s quite hard to surprise anyone now but necessary to find a way if you want to make your brand outstanding. Trivial information and boring publications do not stimulate interest anymore. Combine incompatible things, think of unusual locations to make content, create compelling visual experiences and appeal to emotions. You know, people are usually not interested in the product itself, they want to get that pleasant feeling of owning it, emotional satisfaction. Impressive content generates more shares, discussions, double the number of following which later transforms into prospects and brings income.

The quality of content is not even discussed. There are tons of applications to make it perfect.

7. Give useful information

Make people read your publications to the end, provide them with useful content. It happens that users scold themselves for the time spent on social media. Help them to justify themselves. Let your brand’s Instagram page become a source of knowledge: include pieces of advice, hacks, infographics, selections, rules, etc. While scrolling the feed and coming across useful content, we are likely to focus on it and add to “Saved”.

When your publications are marked with a flag, I mean are saved by others, Instagram rates them as interesting and shows to more users. Isn’t this what you are striving for?

8. Use trends and hot news to create content

40% of users responded that one of the main reasons they use Instagram is to stay up-to-date with current events and news. This social media has become a TV-set, a newspaper and a radio all in one. Why not benefit from it?

Situational marketing comes to the stage to draw more attention and increase traffic with the aid of a relevant topic. Use everything that has the potential to go viral or create your own newsbreaks. Play up causes, popular events, get involved in sudden trends such as sensational “You can still dunk in the dark” by Oreo or crazy @world_record_egg. Any trend can play in your brand’s favor. It is easy enough to make a “bomb” out of any informational noise if you always stay vigilant and can act quickly.

Please note: such delicate issues like ecology, politics, religion should be highlighted carefully and spread a positive message only.

9. Fill your account with entertainment

We all remain children deep down and strive for entertainment. Dads play LEGO with their sons, mothers help their daughters to braid dolls’ hair. Instagram users will appreciate if you involve them in doing crossword puzzles, solving riddles, becoming accomplices for creating namings, picking the outfit for celebrations, etc. By the way, 38 % of users come to Instagram for funny and entertaining content. Gamification on Instagram is the way to tune in to a modern generation Y and their lifestyle. They adore completing tasks, upgrading skills, and gaining achievements.

Keep in mind: that you are not obliged to award those who play. The game is not a competition with a mandatory prize, you just need to provoke interest with the idea.

Create your own game or adapt an existing one to make it relevant specifically for your brand. Invest your time in creating appealing visual content and always explain the rules of the game to engage everyone who comes across it in the feed.

10. Engage with related accounts and content

Express yourself in the accounts of your competitors, in the comments under the posts of niche bloggers, respond to the mentions of your account, react on Instagram Stories. Show that you are alive, active and ubiquitous. It contributes to your brand awareness and lures other users to check your page and get acquainted with your work. Do not indulge in third-party apps to use for likes and comments as automated actions can be easily identified. Mindless comments are no longer held in high esteem. Keep things authentic and do it manually.

11. Include the call-to-action

It is not necessary to ask questions in every single caption but if you approach the issue strategically it helps so much with the engagement. People are eager to comment on posts, sharing thoughts regarding everything that attracted their attention. It is like a gentle push that drives actions and not let your posts be unnoticed.

12. Come up with a distinctive feature

It can be anything: usage of only one color to design your account, rhymed captions, your dog’s tail in each photo or your uncle’s jokes. You must stand out from the crowd to be remembered. Uniqueness is always tempting especially now when it seems that everything has already been devised.

13. Start an IGTV channel

Video content is on its rise. As it turns out, users find it more comfortable to absorb moving images, content in dynamics than reading long posts, scrolling the feed. Instagram appreciates when you use its innovations. This is the chance to show your respect to the application and make the most of the features it offers.

IGTV is one of the hacks to catch the eye of users and pick up your piece of the market. The competition is not tough yet because video production is more energy and time-consuming. Not everyone is ready to deal with it but you should.

14. Keep an eye on your strategy and optimize it when needed

The rule is very simple: stop using everything that does not work and focus on a strategy that gives you results. Monitor the insights every day and look for nuances you are able to improve. This is the most obvious Instagram growth hack but lots of brands neglect it and are not ready to rebuild the strategy on the halfway.

15. Make the most of Instagram Stories

There are so many interactive features in Instagram Stories to take advantage from. All these polls, quizzes, questions provide your audience with the opportunity to interact directly with you and your content. What is more, it can be used not just for fun but also as a way to find out users’ opinions, and gather ideas for future products.

By the way, at present users are more likely to watch stories rather than scroll the feed. Probably the reason is the desire not to miss anything because it will be too late in 24 hours.

Conclusion

Only you know your brand and hacks which will definitely work for your audience. Never cease testing and experimenting, put in the time and effort daily, and your social media exposure will increase and your brand will grow. Keep in mind the goals you want to achieve with your brand’s account on Instagram and let them inspire you and give the power to move forward.