Instagram growth tactics: how to grow an engaged following and gain new customers

Instagram growth tactics: Instagram is no longer only a social network for posting photos and short videos. It has become an amazing platform for positioning oneself as an expert, attracting the target audience, and, ultimately, making money.

But to really succeed, one has to know how to grow on Instagram in front of the right people. Here are some useful Instagram growth tactics that will help build an engaged following and attract new customers https://comprarseguidoresreaisportugal.com/

Instagram growth - define the purpose

First, before thinking about Instagram growth and marketing in general, one has to understand what one really wants. One can set multiple goals but, in general, the main purpose of Instagram growth marketing can be divided into several categories:

• lead generation and selling products/services

• positioning oneself as an expert in the niche

• growing a personal brand

• building the community

• driving traffic to the website

• gaining new customers

• attracting Instagram influencers/potential partners

The clearer the goals are, the easier it will be to plan the Instagram growth strategy and create content that will attract the target audience.

For example, if one is a personal trainer and one wants to attract new clients, it would be a mistake to try to grow a general audience. One should rather define a target audience and attract those who are interested in personal trainers and are willing to purchase one’s services. The same goes for all other niches. It is better to have 100 active and involved followers than 10,000 inactive ones.

Instagram growth - define who you want to follow you

Once the goals are defined, it is necessary to determine who exactly one wants to follow on Instagram. A useful tool for this is a customer persona - a document that describes the characteristics of the target customer/audience. The following questions will help build a customer persona:

• age, gender, location;

• what they do for a living;

• what goals they have;

• what problems they have;

• what is their motivation;

• what questions are they asking;

• what content they are willing to engage with, what content they ignore;

Instead of trying to attract a broad audience, such as those who are generally interested in making money online, one can target a narrower audience, for example, those who want to become influencers.

With a clear description of the target audience, it will be much easier to position oneself correctly and attract new followers. If one manages to create a perception that one’s Instagram account is useful and relevant for them and communicates with them about the issues that matter to them, they will be much more inclined to follow one’s Instagram.

Instagram growth - optimize the Instagram profile

When someone lands on one’s Instagram, they need a few seconds to decide whether to follow one or not. The task of the Instagram profile is to communicate who one is, whom one serves, and what problems one can solve. It is vital to optimize the Instagram profile to look attractive and to communicate the main value proposition clearly. This way, one will create a positive first impression and increase the conversion of the Instagram audience.

It is vital to make the Instagram profile visually appealing and easy to read. In addition, one should use one’s best photo as a profile picture and choose a username that is easy to remember. One should also write an engaging bio and include a call to action. One can put a link to the website or landing page in the bio to drive traffic from Instagram.

One should remember that even if one has excellent content, it will fail to convert if the Instagram profile cannot convey the main message.

Instagram growth - talk to your audience, not just at them

Many Instagrammers make a mistake of constantly trying to promote their products/services. People are not interested in seeing advertisements; however, it is a great idea to utilize social networks for product/service promotion, but the key is to do it smartly. The main idea is never to promote on Instagram; instead, one should share useful and entertaining content first.

Then, once the audience is there, one can promote products/services by talking about their benefits and trying to encourage one’s followers to take action. In other words, one should switch from hard selling to soft selling. One way of soft selling is to add value to the audience by posting useful content. For example, one can post useful tips, share knowledge, tell interesting stories, provide facts, answer the most popular questions, etc.

It is also a good idea to categorize content into 4 main categories:

1. Educational content - content that educates the audience, provides them with useful information, tips, and advice.

2. Inspirational content - motivational quotes, stories, and achievements, etc.

3. Entertainment content - facts, stories, funny content, etc.

4. Conversion content - content that encourages the audience to take action, e.g., buy a product, subscribe to one’s YouTube channel, join one’s email list, follow one’s social networks, etc.

Each type of content should be used in one’s Instagram growth organically.

It is also worth mentioning that not all the content types are equal, and some perform much better than others. In particular, when it comes to Instagram, it is a good idea to utilize video as much as possible. It is a very effective tool that helps one both connect with the target audience and grow one’s following on Instagram.

Instagram growth - use video to grow on Instagram.

Short videos are great for Instagram growth because they can be seen not only by one’s followers but also by people who have not yet subscribed. At the same time, one should remember that it is important to make Reels interesting. Below are some useful tips for doing that:

• Hook the audience to get them to watch the entire video. It is important to tell what the video is about right at the beginning. To do that, one can use such hooks as: “If I were to start growing an account from scratch today, this is what I would do.” “Why your followers are not buying from you.” “Stop posting like this on Instagram!” and so on.

• Once the hook is set, one should explain what the video is about and deliver value. There are many ways to do that: talk head, tutorial, screen recording, storytelling, etc. One should find the best-performing method for them.

• The most important thing is that the video resonates with the target audience. Thus, it is a good idea to create Reels that target one’s niche and provide value to the audience. It is not enough to get views; one needs to get the right views. In other words, one should not try to collect as many views as possible; instead, one should try to attract those who are genuinely interested in one’s niche.

Instagram growth - create captions that drive engagement

Many companies make the mistake of not paying enough attention to Instagram captions. In reality, they are one of the most important parts of any Instagram post. They are also a great opportunity to communicate with the audience and increase engagement. The key to writing good captions is to follow a simple format:

Hook + problem + pain + solution + Call-to-action (CTA)

This means that one should start with a hook to get the audience to stop scrolling and read the caption. Then one should define the problem, explain how it affects them, and describe the solution. In the end, one should add a CTA.

Of course, it does not have to be the traditional sell-hype-buy CTA. One can use much more creative CTAs like ask a question, save the post, share it with friends, leave a comment below, follow one’s Instagram, send a private message, etc.

7. Build Relationships Through Engagement

Instagram is a social platform; hence, growth should not be approached as a monolog.

Respond to comments, answer questions in your DMs, engage in relevant threads, and follow accounts similar to your target audience.

You can also use recurring questions as content ideas.

If someone asks the same question five times in their DMs, chances are that others have asked the same, so turn their questions into Reels, carousels, Stories, or posts.

This way, your content will be demand-led.

8. Use Stories to Build Trust

While feed content is important to help people find you, Stories are essential to building relationships and trust with your audience.

Use them to humanize your brand and show your audience what it is like behind the scenes.

You can share:

Behind the scenes

Day in the life

Customer testimonials

Product reviews

Polls and questions

FAQs

Lessons learned

WorkInProgress

Testimonials

In addition, stories are an excellent way to engage with your existing audience.

Someone can see your Reels, follow you, watch your stories for a few weeks, and become a customer because they know and trust you.

9. Turn Followers into Customers

While growing your audience is important, if you want to actually make money out of your Instagram account, you need to think about ways to turn your followers into customers.

Think about your Instagram growth funnel.

Your content has to grab attention; your bio has to convince people to follow you; your stories and educational content have to build trust; and your offer has to persuade them to become a customer.

Your Instagram content has to push users through the sales funnel to turn them into customers of your page.

If you run a small business helping other small businesses with their marketing, for example, your content can talk about marketing tips; your stories can show your clients’ results; your bio can convince them to book a discovery call; and your consultation can persuade them to invest in ongoing marketing support.

That is a much better way of selling than putting a link in your bio and praying that people will visit it.

10. Create Offers that Appeal to Your Audience

Your Instagram growth strategies will only be as successful as the offer that you put out there.

Before creating an offer, ask yourself the following questions:

What problem does my product/service solve?

Who has this problem?

What is my customer’s ideal outcome?

Why should my customer choose me?

The more specific you are about your customer’s problems, the easier it will be to create content that targets them and convinces them to work with you.

Instead of talking about social media management, for example, you can talk about getting consistent inquiries from your dream clients via social media.

11. Use Social Proof to Reduce Risk

People buy from companies they know and trust; therefore, use social proof to reduce the perceived risk of buying from you.

You can do that by demonstrating trust through testimonials, case studies, reviews, results, quotes, client success stories, and product/service demonstrations.

Whenever possible, use specific testimonials to your target market’s problems and highlight how your offering helped them overcome those challenges.

12. Measure What Matters

Do not get fixated on follower counts because that is a vanity metric.

Focus on the metrics that matter to your business.

If you aim to grow your audience organically, for example, focus on reach, profile views, followers, and engagement.

If you aim to generate leads, focus on profile views, link clicks, DMs, and email sign-ups.

If you aim to generate sales, focus on conversions, sales, average order value, and revenue.

You can think of it as a content creation funnel.

The more engagement (content views) you get, the more leads you will generate, and the more leads you will get, the more revenue you will eventually make.

If you have high views but no sales, for example, it means that there is something wrong with your offer, positioning, bio, or website, not the content itself.

If you have engagement but no views, it means that your content or distribution is off.

13. Focus on Consistency Over Perfection

Many people give up on Instagram growth hacking because they feel like they are not making any progress.

Instagram growth is not a numbers game; therefore, it is a good idea to focus on consistency over perfection.

You need to develop a sustainable Instagram growth system and leave the rest to the algorithm.

It may not be possible to post every day consistently, for example, so you can invest in scheduling your content in advance or post less but more consistently.

It is also a good idea to invest in evergreen content.

On the other hand, you can also improve your skills and spend time learning more about Instagram marketing and growth hacking.

You can keep a list of your audience’s FAQs and use them as content ideas.

You can improve your hooks, storytelling, CTAs, and conversion rate optimization strategies to improve your results consistently.

14. Build a Recognizable Brand

Instagram growth is not only about algorithms but also about branding.

You need to focus on creating a recognizable voice, perspective, and language to be able to stand out on the platform.

You need to spend time building your point of view and educating your audience.

You can surprise people with your knowledge and become a go-to expert in your niche, eventually building authority and trust with your audience.

People may follow you for your valuable content, but they will continue to follow you because of your personality and point of view.

Conclusion

Instagram growth hacking is all about attracting the right people to your page.

The more you understand your audience, the easier it will be to optimize your Instagram profile, create the right content, use Reels and Stories to engage and convert your followers, and eventually turn them into customers.

Remember that your Instagram growth should be demand-led.

The more you know about your target market, the more relevant your content and offers will be.

Always think of Instagram growth hacking as a funnel with the aim of turning your followers into customers and increasing your revenue.