Let’s think about influencers. Influencers are people who have thousands of followers on social media. Nowadays they are a reliable marketing tool for any business. With reviews being so powerful, their thousands of followers truly trust these influencers and take their recommendations seriously. Why are these people influencers? What are they doing that made thousands of people want to follow them? Let’s dive into 5 ways to up your social media game & how to increase your Instagram followers!
1. Post aesthetic pictures
Having that picture that stands out from the rest of the photos is what matters here. There is SO much content on social media that you need to post pictures that are aesthetically pleasing to the eye.
On Instagram, it’s very common for pictures to be extremely edited. Influencers, especially, seem to always have a theme. They keep all of their pictures either with a brown tint, or light colors, or maybe saturated colors, so that when someone visits their profile and sees the overview of their Instagram account, they see a clean, clear style, and choose to “follow.” Having a set theme is such a big deal that a lot of influencers are selling their presets. Presets is the way they edit a picture. They sell the filter because people love their style so much that they want to use the exact edit.
Your latest 9 posts are the first impression people have of your account. If they see it as messy or not eye-catching, they will not follow the account. Find your niche, find your specialty, and choose a theme to attract visual people. Of course, you can always change your theme, but you do so slowly, over time.
2. Ask your audience what they want to see
Once you’ve caught your audience’s attention, you can start by asking them what they want to see. Instagram came out with a great feature that allows you to conduct polls on your Instagram story. You can ask which aspects of your Instagram they enjoy the most and why. You can also ask for suggestions on what else to post.
Though most of the time influencers do not know the majority of their followers, data shows that users are more compelled to regularly interact with your account when you post your vulnerable side and more valuable knowledge. Like positive quotes, sharing your struggles, victories, etc. People love to know that they are not alone and that they’re following a genuine person.
If you are an entrepreneur, I am sure that you have an amazing, inspiring story to tell. Don’t think of your followers as just people you are presenting a selling ad to. Think of them as regular people, with regular lives just like yours: inspire and motivate them.
There is a reason why some of the most followed accounts are positive quotes accounts and fitness people. Because they are constantly uplifting and motivating people. Find your mission, know how to connect with your audience in a personal way, and add positivity to their lives… believe me, you will see the change in your engagement.
3. Be unique
Don’t try to follow what other accounts are doing. Do it your way. This is what most influencers have in common. They have their own style, their signature, and their personality.
They can attract different audiences, and people choose their account because they like their personality. You have to decide what you’re passionate about. Just as a regular business plan goes, you choose your unique proposition, your values & your missions, and you execute a strategic plan so that you can succeed in your niche.
One of our clients, DY Printing Box, had just a few followers when they asked us to manage their social media accounts. As a designing company, we were able to captivate their style and art. Their design proved to be very eye-catching! With regular posting, uplifting quotes, special promotions, unique packaging, and unique pictures, they were able to reach 1,000 followers in just a couple of months! Amazing what some optimization can do, right!? They not only increased their followers, but by asking questions on their captions, and posting interactive content; they also are receiving a lot of engagement from their followers.
There are so many accounts on social media that you need to spend some time on this step. This is by far, the hardest one of all. Coming up with unique content is what will make you stand out from the rest. I know, it’s easier said than done, but if you’re passionate about your business, you can do it!
4. Follow the algorithm
Much like Google, Instagram’s, Facebook’s and Twitter’s algorithm are continually changing. We moved from a timeline to an engagement-line (this is what I like to call it).
Our newsfeed used to be based on the latest posts and was chronologically updated. However, we’ve moved from a “latest posts” era to the most popular posts. Instagram will show you; first, the pictures from accounts that you interact with the most, the most liked pictures, but these are not necessarily the latest posts. Their algorithm is based on engagement, relevance, relationships, and profile searches.
Engagement within the first hour is the most crucial way for your posts to stay at the top. They consider this “popular content” that more people would like to see. So as soon as you post a picture, make sure you are still on the platform. This way, you’ll be able to reply to comments and follow people back.
See how in this picture (shown on the right), the first photo on the newsfeed was posted 3 hours ago, yet the second one was only posted 29 minutes ago. The difference is that the first one (posted 3 hours ago) got more engagement than the second one (most recently posted), therefore ranking number one on Instagram’s algorithm.
Another way is to post during the peak times. If you are posting at 3 AM on a weekday when most people are sleeping, your first hour of engagement won’t be very high, and Instagram won’t place you at the top of people’s feed, which will cause your post not to be seen by all of your followers.
5. Stop waiting to have THE winning content & start now
Stop waiting for your big moment! So many businesses and people wait until they feel like posting. You don’t need to have the BEST content right now, but you will never have it unless you start.
This is not something that happens overnight. Most of these influencers have been online for years, constantly posting, engaging with their followers, and growing.
Stop putting it off to the side. Start planning your strategy.
The most important thing here is that you know exactly what you are trying to market on social media. Know what your niche is, what your audience is like, the value you want to provide, and your personality.
You can do it! I know you can.
