16 Tips to Grow Your Instagram Profile in 2024
Instagram growth is when a brand, business, or individual consistently and strategically boosts their digital presence, influence, and engagement on this social media platform. Recent studies show that Instagram has over 2.4 billion monthly active users which makes it pivotal for brands seeking to boost their online presence.
With a balanced gender split and a dominant young adult user base (18-34 years), the platform is ideal for engaging a diverse audience.
Instagram’s growth is primarily achieved by sharing and creating compelling, high-end content and engaging with the follower base through live sessions, reels, stories, and posts to foster loyal and engaged followers through intricately designed marketing strategies.
How do you grow Instagram followers, likes, and views?
To grow your Instagram followers, you need to post 3-5 times weekly for a 20–30% follower increase. Collaborate with influencers for 50%+ growth. Use strategic captions, hashtags, and ads.
1. Buy Instagram Followers and Likes: Paid and the Easiest Way
When you buy Instagram followers and post high-quality content, it is long-term beneficial. The initial boost in followers can provide your content with a wider reach and increased visibility.
According to the information provided on the webpage of Fast Hosts (July 2021), Kylie Jenner, who is the fifth most followed influencer on Instagram, has a whopping 400 million followers, of which 40% are paid followers.
1 in 4 Instagram influencers purchased 15% of their total followers (Institute of Medical and Advertising Innovation).
2. Instagram Profile Optimization
It is essential to optimize your profile to attract followers, establish credibility, and boost visibility. Regularly posting good content with relevant hashtags can increase engagement by an average of 12%. Profiles with optimized content saw a 38% increase in likes and comments.
Research shows that a clear, engaging image can increase profile reach by up to 14%. Creating the right bio is equally important, as well-written bios increase returns by 60%.
2.1 How to Choose the Right Instagram Handle?
To choose the right Instagram handle, you need to limit it to 15 characters or less to keep it memorable.
Keep your own name or use a recognizable name for your personal brand. Do not use special characters, as they are not easy to remember.
It is better to use keywords related to your area of interest to make your handle easy to find. Ensure your handle is exceptional to avoid any copyright claims and confusion.
2.2 How to Choose the Right Instagram Profile Picture?
To choose the right Instagram picture, you need to be clear, specific, and original.
2.3 How Do You Choose the Right Location for Your Instagram Profile?
To choose the right location for your Instagram profile, you need to consider factors that directly impact your content, brand perception, and engagement strategy.
The right location can help people understand the language you speak, and it enables you to promote your business effectively. You can get opportunities for collaboration, and you can target local markets for your business.
2.4 How to Choose the Right Bio for Your Instagram Profile?
To choose the right bio for your profile, you need to keep it concise, clear, and relevant. Use words related to your interests, including emojis and hashtags. If you have links, make them a part of your bio to enhance it.
2.5. 10 Bio Ideas for Your Instagram Profile:
1. “Capturing Life’s Beauty, One Click at a Time”
A bio that highlights your passion for photography or storytelling through pictures.
2. “Exploring the World’s Wonders, One Journey at a Time”
A bio that reflects your enthusiasm for traveling and adventure.
3. “Foodie at Heart, Travel Enthusiast, and Storyteller”
This bio could be great if you want to share your interest in food and travel with your followers.
4: “Creating Art that speaks to the Soul”
This bio could be perfect for creative and art enthusiasts who want to share their creative talents with the world.
5. “Lifelong Learner | Bookworm by Night”
This bio helps express your intellectual side and your interest in reading and learning.
6. “Fitness Fanatic | Promoting Healthy Living”
This bio is perfect for you if you are a gym enthusiast and want to assist people in maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
7. “Wanderlust at Heart: Roaming the Globe”
This bio is for you if you are a passionate globetrotter and love to share your adventures with everyone.
8. “Animal Lover: Embracing the Possibilities”
This type of bio clearly reflects your love for animals and helps attract fellow pet enthusiasts.
9. “Music Lover: Grooving to Life’s Rhythm”
You can spread and express your passion for music with this bio.
10. Spreading Positivity and Inspiration Daily”
This bio is perfect for you if you plan on uplifting everyone who follows you with positive and inspirational content.
3. Should you use a Business Profile or a Personal Instagram Profile?
You should choose Business Profile because it has better access to insights, advertising features, and data-driven strategies.
Read More: Grow Your Instagram Business Profile
4. Collaborate with other creators
Collaborating with other creators can increase your follower count. Research shows that collaboration can increase the figure from 25% to 50% and sometimes even more.
Sharing the content with one another promotes the content to a wider audience. So, the user gets more likes and comments.
For Instance, the widely known Portuguese athlete, Cristiano Ronaldo has 624M followers and 3,639 Instagram Posts. Brands keeps collaborating with him for their Promotions. From June 2023 to March 2024, he collaborated with @Erakulis, @Binance, @CLEAR MEN, @Herbalife, @Gamers8, @Jacobandco and @LiveScore.
4.1 How do you choose the right creators to collaborate with on Instagram?
To choose the right creators, you need to focus on impact, audience, quality content, and originality ﹘ Mrinsta Biz.
Check if their audience matches yours to ensure relevance and quality content. Find creators who align with the values of your brand. Evaluate their recent collaborations and communicate your expectations while staying within your budget.
5. Post in All Formats on Instagram
Instagram Users engage with different types of posts on Instagram because they offer variety and match their interests.
Posts with images generate approximately 87% of all engagement because images are engaging and easy to understand ﹘ Mr.Insta Biz.
Videos also perform well; they get about 13% of interactions because they spread a lot of messages and attract attention.
Carousels, which allow multiple images or videos to be added to an ad, tend to generate around 10% of engagements because they provide a combination of visuals and storytelling.
Stories that appeal to around 3% of users provide immediate, short content. Therefore, it is significant to publish content in different formats on Instagram as it can reach different audiences.
5.1 Instagram Stories
Instagram stories are engaging because of their timeless and authentic nature.
To increase likes and views, maintain consistency, use interactive features, save important stories, and create engaging content, in 2023, over 500 million people will use Instagram Stories every day, with 86.6% posting daily; nearly 60% will watch or create stories.
30% of story activity involved just one frame per day. (2020) American brands allocate 31% of their advertising budget to Instagram Stories.
61% of users supported small businesses in their stories by using the ‘Support Small Companies’ sticker (Wise, 2023).
5.2 Instagram Posts
Posts on Instagram are important for improving likes and views. Users get followers when they post regularly.
The use of hashtags and collaborating features like polls also boosts likes and views. These compelling posts drive likes and views by engaging the audience effectively.
5.3 Instagram Videos
Instagram videos are important for the improvement of likes and views. Video posts get 38% more engagement than images.
Users spend 25% more time watching videos than static content. Video features like reels and IGTV can further increase engagement. The algorithm also favors video, resulting in a 49% higher viewer rate.
For Instance, an artist Jason Derulo is known for Posting more Videos than Pictures. He has 32.2M followers and 846 Posts in which he often shares entertaining and creative reels that showcase his dance moves and sense of humor ﹘ Insta Biz.
5.4 Instagram Reels
Reels are important because they attract followers, boost views, and enhance the number of likes. Comparatively, reels get 22% more engagement and views than videos.
6. Choose the Right Time to Post on Instagram
The best times to post on Instagram are Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. according to Wahid, Risqo, and Wadud, Muhammad (2020).
6.1: Should you post in the Daytime on Instagram?
Yes! Daytime proves to be more effective because users are more active during working hours. The time frame between 9 AM and 1 PM helps you attain the desired results ﹘ Mrinsta Biz.
6.2: Should you post in the Night time on Instagram?
Yes! Posting on Instagram at night can be effective for increased views because 56.8% turn to Instagram for mental rejuvenation at night ﹘ Mrinsta Biz.
7. Choose the Right Captions for Your Instagram Posts
To choose the right captions for Instagram posts, you need to match your caption to the mood of the picture and consider your followers’ interests and preferences.
7.1. Should you include keywords in my Instagram caption?
Yes! The Instagram algorithm relies heavily on keywords to expose users to relevant content.
Keywords make your post searchable. You need to understand what search terms people use to look for content like yours and then incorporate them into your captions (Christina Newberry, 2023).
7.2. Should you use hashtags in your captions?
Yes! Hashtags will make your posts available to a wider audience that is interested in the keywords you enter.
Instagram allows up to 30 hashtags per post. These hashtags need to be placed directly in the headline to influence search results.
For Instance, one of the popular Influencers, ‘Gary Vay-Ner-Chuk’ uses hashtags in his Posts. He has over 10.1M Followers with 9,565 Posts. Gary uses relevant hashtags in each Post.
8. Post your content consistently on Instagram
Consistency in posting on Instagram is “key,” as it keeps your audience engaged, builds brand awareness, and improves visibility.
Regular posting builds connections and provides more opportunities for interaction. “Quantity of photos on Instagram is as important as quality,” say researchers Grace Yiseul Choi and Jennifer Lewallen (2018).
8.1 How many posts per day are good for increasing Instagram followers?
To increase your Instagram followers, you should post twice a day (Adam Mosseri).
8.2: How many posts should I do on Instagram per week to increase my followers?
To increase your followers on Instagram, you should post two to three times per week (Hoot Suite).
For Instance, the brand ‘Nike’ Posts two-three times each week on Instagram. They share a mix of product promotions, athlete features, and inspirational content to engage with their audience regularly. Nike has 306M Followers and 1,385 Posts.
9. SEO: Optimize your Instagram posts
SEO is the process of optimizing online content to improve its visibility in search engine results.
Instagram research emphasizes the importance of SEO in increasing discoverability and engagement on the platform.
By strategically using keywords, relevant hashtags, and high-quality content, businesses and creators can increase their visibility, attract a wider audience, and ultimately grow their presence on Instagram.
9.1 ALT Tag
ALT tags are important as they provide content descriptions to visually impaired users. Instagram automatically generates ALT tags, but it is manually possible to add them by clicking on advanced settings while uploading your content.
Tap on “ALT Text” and provide a precise description of the content along with the relevant keywords. For example, if you are uploading a photo of the beach, you can add an ALT tag that says “sunny beach with palm trees”.
9.2 Keywords in Captions
Using relevant keywords in your captions can improve discoverability.
For instance, if you are posting a recipe for “Strawberry Smoothie,” mention the keyword within the caption.
9.3 Location of Your Instagram Post
Adding location to your posts increases the discoverability of your profile. Most users search for content based on location.
For instance, when someone plans a trip to dubai, they search for the location; if you have been to dubai and you have added it on Instagram, then your content will naturally appear on their feed.
10. Start contests
To grow your followers, you can host a contest that encourages the user to interact with your content or refer more potential followers to your profile in order to win a prize that you have announced.
For example, you can announce free giveaways to followers who tag a greater number of their friends and make them follow and share your page on their profiles.
11. Encourage user-generated content
User-generated content (UGC) drives more views, comments, likes, and followers. It can display your content to other users, and as a result, your account gets more followers, likes, comments, and views.
12. Use hashtags
The use of hashtags can improve the reach of your post. Posts that contain at least 1 hashtag get 29% more interactions on average than accounts that have less than 1,000 total followers.
Posts that contain more than 11 hashtags have the highest interactions, with a 79.5% increase for accounts with less than 1,000 followers. (Mathew Woodward, 2023)
12.1. How can you find the best Instagram hashtags to grow?
To find the best hashtags, you need to make sure they are relevant to your content. Research that your target audience, competitors, or industry leaders are already using.
13. Use the Best Videos and Reels
To use the best videos and reels on Instagram, you need to identify the interests of your audience. 73% of users have reported acquiring new customers from reels and videos on Instagram.
93% of companies and individuals consider videos and reels to be part of their major marketing strategy, according to the statistics.
13.1. How often should you post reels on Instagram to grow?
To grow your Instagram with the help of Reels, you need to post 3-5 times per week on Instagram to attract an audience. The ideal duration of your videos or reels should range between 15 seconds and 1 minute.
13.2. How do you edit videos for Instagram?
To edit your videos on Instagram, there are three standard applications:
- Adobe Premiere Rush: It offers video editing tools and seamless integration with Adobe Creative Cloud.
- In Shot: It offers features like trimming, adding music, filters, and effects.
- Cap Cut: It offers video editing features like trimming, music addition, filters, and text overlays.
14. Use Photos
To use the right photos on Instagram, you need to consider image quality and size and select the right filter that can attract the audience.
Posts with images on Instagram receive 23% more engagement compared to those without images, according to the data from Social Baker. Visual content generates 94% more views on social media as compared to text-based content (Hub spot).
14.1. What is the right size for Instagram photos?
The right size of your Instagram photo is 1080px by 1080px (square). The ideal size is 1080px by 1080px, as it is easy to get and the quality of the picture is finer within this resolution (Kristen Dahlin, 2023).
14.2: How do you edit photos for Instagram?
To edit photos on Instagram, there are three main steps:
1. Crop and Frame: Start by cropping your image to the best size of 1080px (square), you can use other aspect ratios as you like but cropping a lot would compromise with the image quality.
2. Improve color and brightness: Use photo editing tools to improve color, brightness, contrast and saturation of photos but don’t highlight more than the need.
3. Use filters and effects: Use different filters to see which ones suit the photo, but don’t overdo it otherwise the Person/Product would not look natural.
15. Use Geotags for better local visibility
By Using Geotags for local visibility, you can make your Instagram easily visible to your local potential customers, find influencers with similar niches, and make sure your content shows up in search results, whenever a user uses the location to make a search
16. Use Instagram Ads
Instagram ads are used for a variety of purposes. There are 10 types of ads on Instagram:
1. Image Ads: These ads are used for fascinating audience through direct advertising. For example, a brand ‘Chanel’ posts an image ad of a model wearing their latest outfit.
2. Video Ads: These ads are used for storytelling and product demonstrations. For example, a promotional video from the brand ‘Dior’ showcasing its new collection.
3. Carousel Ads: These ads are used to display multiple products or features to different audiences. For example, e-commerce website ‘Amazon’ displays a carousel of images showing different types of shoes, allowing users to swipe through different options.
4. Story Ads: These ads capture attention with short, immersive clips for younger audiences. For example, fast-food chain ‘McDonald’ uses Instagram stories to promote a limited-time offer with a short video clip of their new menu item being prepared and served.
5. IGTV Ads: These ads are used to promote long-form content and extended brand storytelling. For example, a fitness influencer named ‘Emily Skeye’ creates a 5-minute IGTV video showing a new workout routine using a particular brand of fitness equipment.
6. Branded Content Ads: These ads are used to collaborate with influencers to increase brand credibility and reach. For example, an influencer Camila Cabello collaborates with L’Oréal Paris which posts an ad in which her skin glows because of its products.
7. Dynamic Ads: These ads are used for personalized product recommendations. For example, you visit a clothing website called Generation and you see a certain shirt, but you don’t buy. Later, when you scroll, you see an ad for the same shirt in the feed.
8. Shopping Ads: These ads are used for the shopping experience with direct in-app purchases. For example, a post from the brand Rolex shows its new collection of watches, each with a Shop Now button which takes you to the product catalog.
9. Explore Ads: These ads are used to reach users browsing content relevant to their interests. For example, you tap on the Explore icon, and a post from travel company ‘booking.com’ appears featuring a beautiful destination with vacation details.
10. Collection Ads: These ads are used to combine visuals to create a compelling brand narrative. For example, you follow the fashion brand ‘Louis Vuitton’ on Instagram. They make collection ads in which they showcase their new winter collection.
Conclusion
Overall, to grow your Instagram, optimize your profile, use good photos, captions, and hashtags, edit your images well, share engaging videos and reels, write an attractive bio, use the right filters and image size, collaborate with others, and grow your content by posting in all formats, Together, these steps help grow your Instagram presence and Instagram Likes to connect with a wider audience.
