In this post, we are going to talk about how to grow on Instagram in 2021? One thing I would like to stress upon in the beginning is that it’s not actually about the number or how many followers you have. The priority should be serving and building a strong community. Making each follower count and providing value to the followers that you already have and getting more through them. Your number of followers does not define your worth, your importance. So, don’t get caught up in refreshing your feed every two seconds or playing the number game.
With that being said I’m going to be giving you seven things that you should be doing on Instagram to grow your account. The first two are the basics that you might have heard from everyone. But they are the foundation and are really important. I’ll breeze right through them. Then the 3rd through the 6th will give insights into strategy. It will focus on how to actually grow. Actionable steps that you can take to grow your account. Then last but not least important is the seventh thing. I’ll tell you some of my favorite apps that I use to plan and schedule my Instagram posts and stories. It saves a lot of time and allows me not to be glued to my phone 24X7.
Also see our beginner’s guide to Instagram 2021.
#1 Define your brand
It’s too saturated out there to simply say I’m a lifestyle Blogger and expect to be successful. To grow on Instagram these days you really need to narrow it down. I’m sure you’ve heard of “finding your niche”. Well, that’s exactly what this is, and if you don’t know your niche yet, don’t let that stop you from posting. Try out all the ideas that you have, and you’ll learn what feels more natural to you. And just go from there.
If you are not able to decide a catchy instagram account name for your brand, do check our cool Instagram username generator.
#2 Have a consistent aesthetic
Your feed should be cohesive. And if you’re thinking @JLo (Jennifer Lopez) doesn’t have a consistent feed so I also don’t need to have it. I hate to break it to you but you’re not JLo. People follow her because people know her and she’s her own brand. People may not know you. Yet it takes a stranger two seconds to decide whether or not they want to follow you on Instagram. And it is just based on your photos and what you are offering. So, grabbing them with that cohesive feed is a must.
#3 Grow your Engagement, Grow on Instagram
I’m sure you’ve heard of this before. Engage more with your followers to grow on Instagram. If you’re posting and ghosting, you will not see the results that you want to see. You need to understand that Instagram is a social media app. Do note the emphasis on social. Instagram was created for you to be social on it. There are so many different ways to engage on the app. When I say engage, I mean commenting on people’s photos that you follow already, replying to all the comments on your photos. Commenting back to your followers. Replying to people’s stories and getting into their DMs. Show some love to anybody who gives you a follow by liking their photos and commenting. If you really want to take it a step further in engagement. Engage with two types of people. One the people who are doing what you want to do. And second, your target audience or your ideal clients. Engage with people that you want to be following you, those are the type of people you should be engaging with.
Also see, how to use copyrighted music on Instagram legally?
#4 Set goals
In order to grow on Instagram you will have to set your growth goals. These goals should be realistic and controllable. I mean within your control of achieving them. For example, having a goal for engaging 30 minutes a day on Instagram is a great goal but saying I want to grow 100 followers a week is not so great. While setting the second goal you’re not in control. You cannot control who chooses to follow you and who doesn’t. Make sure that the goals you’re setting for yourself are realistic for you and are within your control.
#5 Offer Value
This one is super important. And it goes hand in hand with step number one of defining your brand. But this step takes it a little further. This one focuses on how you can show up and offer value, advice, tips tricks, or motivation. Any of these. The world is selfish. It’s human nature to always want what’s best for yourself. People will follow you if they feel it will benefit them. If you don’t know what sort of value, you could offer here are two simple ways to figure that out.
- Ask your friends and family. Ask them, if they would come to you for advice on anything what would they come to you for. Sometimes you’re a little too close to yourself to see what value you offer. So, it’s really nice to pick the brains of other people who know you the best.
- If they don’t have the answers that resonate with you or if you think your friends might make fun of it. Ask yourself. What do you want to be known for? And start posting those things.
Offering quality content definitely helps to grow on Instagram. Instagram guides are a good way to sharing content information. Do check out our post about how to create Instagram guide in minutes?
#6 Promote yourself on Facebook
A really great strategy is joining Facebook groups with the community or niche that you want to be growing in. If you’re a traveling enthusiast by looking up Facebook traveler groups, you could find your target audience. You can even narrow it down more, like may be if you are in San Diego you could look up San Diego travelers and join that group. You have to be really careful with this one though to not constantly be self-promoting. Each Facebook group has a set of rules and you don’t really want to be breaking those rules. Some of these groups have strict no self-promoting policies and you don’t want to be the spammer everyone hates in the group. Just join the group and offer value. People will see the value you’re offering within the group and will find you on Instagram anyway. I’ll recommend spending 15 minutes every morning scrolling through the groups. Look for people who have asked questions and answering the questions for them. Doing that merely 15 minutes a day alone will start giving you good results soon. You’ll start seeing the growth on Instagram.
Also see – How to create Instagram reels?
#7 Be Consistent
I saved this last one for last because there is so much more to be consistent than we think. What does being consistent look like? How can you be consistent? Consistency looks different for everyone. Consistency on Instagram is creating a realistic posting schedule that you can stick to. If that’s twice a week, great. If it’s every day for you, great. Whatever you want it to be as long as you’re committed to it. It is contrary to the popular belief that you do have to post every day on Instagram to grow. In order to actually be consistent, you need to have a plan. Plan out your photos ahead of time using apps like UNUM, Planoly, Later, or Apphi. UNUM was my go-to planner app for the past four years. It is free. But recently I found a new app called Apphi. It is a little bit better than UNUM because it has some more advanced features. You can use any of these apps to schedule your posts so that you don’t have to worry every time about your schedule. Add some good pictures with nice captions and save them. Once you will start scheduling posts and having a routine, your audience will also get used to it. Hence, more Instagram growth in the long run.
So, these were some tips on how to grow on Instagram? Let me know in the comments if you feel I have missed something or what all strategies you have used to grow on Instagram.
