How to Grow Instagram Followers Organically in 2024
This post is about specific tactics that you as a business owner or creator can use to increase your opportunity for discovery on Instagram, and by ‘discovery’ we mean getting more eyeballs on your content so that you can convert viewers into followers. You need to be set up for success so that when people land on your profile, they’ll want to follow.
If you’d prefer to watch it on YouTube, hit the video below, otherwise read on.
What we’re not going to do is tell you to post 28x per week or post a Reel every day. We think people actually give you unattainable tips so that you feel like if you fail, it’s because you didn’t do exactly what they said, as opposed to it being unsustainable.
What we’re going to do is give you sustainable strategies that you can implement without being in pain, including the kind of strategies that helped us gain 2,000 followers in one day for a client
First things first - confirm that your profile and content is eligible for recommendations (meaning that it isn’t “shadow-banned”). Having Instagram recommend your content is going to be extremely important to growing your audience. This would mean that you haven’t done anything in the past to prevent your content from showing up in places like search and the Explore page.
To do this go to Settings and then Privacy, search for “Account Status” or scroll down and make sure you have the three green checkmarks so that all is turned on. If not - you need to dispute them and get your account cleared.
Let’s dive in.
Understand How The Instagram Algorithm Works
If you want to play the “game”, you have to understand the field otherwise you’re at a disadvantage. We broke down how the algorithm works in full and related strategies for each point in this video, so we won’t repeat that all here. We will, however, be focusing on two key points in this video which surrounds giving the algorithm the information it needs to recommend your content. This will be through optimization and creating and nurturing relationship signals with other accounts, as these are very key to the algorithm understanding who you are and who to serve your content to.
Again, we definitely recommend you watch the video above next.
Optimize Your Posts And Profile For Discovery
This has to do with information signals to the algorithm. We talked about optimizing your profile at length in this video, so we only will talk about post optimization here, however, we want to make sure that you turn this important profile feature on to make sure your account can be recommended alongside other profiles. Go to Edit Profile (you can do this from both desktop and the app) and make sure to toggle “Show Account Suggestions On Profiles” on so that way if someone follows an account similar to yours, your profile has the opportunity to show up.
On every post, include your location, keywords, add topics and ensure it’s recommended on Facebook (for Reels). You can download our checklist on how to create the perfect Instagram Reel for a step-by-step process on optimization.
ALWAYS have a call-to-action! The objective is to increase engagement so that way we signal to the algorithm to serve it to more people. This should align with your objectives, for example, getting more saves is a signal to the algorithm that the content is valuable. Always ask your audience to save the post so you can reach more people, and you can also ask them to share with someone who will be interested in the post, which will help you get discovered.
Proactive Daily Targeted Interactions
Engaging with accounts that share an interest in your niche sends relationship signals to the algorithm. Like and comment on posts from accounts within your niche, or who are targeting the same kind of follower, to increase your visibility, but to also create that relationship in the algorithm with similar accounts.
For example, a Toronto-based cafe could comment on posts from other coffee roasters or restaurants in the neighbourhood so the algorithm starts understanding that the account is a local restaurant in Toronto, and it should share that content with others in Toronto who like similar things.
Engage with comments on the posts of larger brand accounts, like and add emojis to their comments to drive attention back to you. For example, if we owned a children’s clothing company and there was a massive Mom meme account, we’d engage with those commenters.
React and reply to Stories, which nurtures your current relationships with followers so you stay in their algorithm. Comment and like posts from people you follow in your feed, and like their Stories so they see your name come up, and in turn, they may reciprocate. If it fits, DM them as Instagram is really prioritizing relationships with a key focus on DMs, which we broke down in this video.
You can also use Manychat! Head over to this link and use our code HIGHSEASON for a FREE trial of ManyChat Pro, where you can take advantage of the full suite of Pro features for a month.
Study Competitors
Find five competitors or accounts that attract the same audience you want, and see what’s working for them so you can bring it into your content strategy. Steal like an artist: study, credit, remix, mash up and transform.
If you have education built into your content strategy, look at what questions their audience is asking so that you can answer them in your content, or even directly in the comments if the account is large enough that it wouldn’t look so obvious you’re poaching followers.
Collaborate With Influencers
Our creator collaborations have contributed to some of the largest growth we’ve seen, including adding over 2,000 followers in one day for a client with a notable influencer when we partnered on a hotel tour.
Reach out to Influencers and Creators in your space. You don’t always need to pay; you could send them a product or let them trial a service you offer for free, and in exchange, ask that they do a collaboration post with you in-feed plus some Stories tagging you. If you’re a Creator, then build relationships with other Creators in your niche and do meet-ups/collaborative content pieces so you can share audiences.
Going Live on Instagram with multiple accounts is another great way to expand your reach; just make sure the audiences are very aligned. We recently did this video on how to select the right influencers to work with and how to pitch.
Leverage Other Platforms
If you have a presence on any other social platform, be sure to direct people to your Instagram. The two we would prioritize for this are YouTube and Pinterest because they are both very SEO-focused, which means people discover content on there easier and that makes it a smoother funnel back to your account. You can pin your Instagram posts directly to Pinterest, which is a tactic we use, and then of course our Instagram details are in the descriptions of our YouTube videos and on our home page, so people can find us through one easy click.
Insights
This one is pretty simple - find out which posts gave you the most followers and republish similar content. It might take some trial and error, but keep testing based on high-performing posts.
Consistency
The more you post, the more opportunities you have to refine your content based on Insights, and of course, to reach new people. Remember to stick to a cadence that you can continue without any issues; don’t overcommit!
Deploy Patience
All good things take time! Don’t be in a rush; build you community with a strong foundation so no matter where the algorithm goes in future, you’ll be sturdy on the ‘Gram.
And that’s it! Let us know if you have any questions, and happy growing!
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