Instagram, the Facebook-owned social networking app for sharing photos, is still growing in popularity. In fact, it’s the fasted growing social media site in the world, according to GlobalWebIndex. Celebrities, brands and most of your friends are using it to share square photographs with fancy filters with their followers. But how do you get more followers on Instagram? Here are 10 top tips. Read next: How to start a blog
How to get more followers on Instagram: Follow others
If you’re just starting out with Instagram, the most obvious thing to do to get more followers is follow your friends to let them know you’ve arrived on the social networking site. To do so quickly and easily, open the app and go to your profile, then tap the Options cog in the top right corner. You’ll now see the Options menu, which has a Find People to Follow option. Tap that and then tap Connect Facebook. This will look at all of your Facebook friends and find out whether they use Instagram. You can now tap Follow All if you’re happy to do so, or go through and choose which friends you want to follow individually. Back in the ‘Follow People’ menu, you’ll also find people that are suggested to you based on who you already follow. You can also search for people to follow by going to the ‘Explore’ tab. You’ll find that your followers grow quickly once you begin following others. See also: How to delete comments on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and more
How to get more followers on Instagram: Add a bio
You should also make sure you add a bio to your Instagram profile. Describe yourself and your interests, and include a relevant hashtag or two to attract new followers. You can add a bio by going to your profile and pressing the ‘Edit Profile’ button. The tap Bio and begin typing. See also: How to stop hackers stealing your photos, data, identity and more
How to get more followers on Instagram: Connect your accounts
Now, you should connect your Instagram to your other social media accounts. You don’t have to do this, of course, but it should help boost those followers. Go to your profile, tap the Options cog and then scroll down to ‘Share Settings.’ Here, you can connect your Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Flickr accounts to your Instagram account so that your Instagram photos will be shared across those social networks too.
How to get more followers on Instagram: Post interesting photos
We’d hope that this one is obvious but from some of the photographs we’ve seen on Instagram it’s not obvious to everyone. People want to see photographs that are interesting, so that doesn’t mean 100 selfies a day (unless you’re a celebrity, in which case you probably don’t need help getting more followers). Post photographs of cool things you’ve seen, what you’ve been up to while you’re out and about and exciting places you’ve visited. Thing about how you take the photograph – can you make it more visually appealing by trying a different angle? And don’t forget about those all-important Instagram filters. See also: 15 great Twitter tips and tricks
How to get more followers on Instagram: Stick to a theme
If you’re really serious about getting lots of followers on Instagram then it’s well worth thinking about what you’re going to share. People that stick to a rough theme tend to acquire the most followers. You might be particularly interested in cars, for example. Other car enthusiasts are likely to follow you if you don’t stray too far away from that cars theme with your photographs. Alternatively, perhaps you travel a lot. Followers will enjoy being treated to a snap of the place you’ve been most recently.
How to get more followers on Instagram: Time your posts wisely
One way to ensure that more people are seeing your Instagram posts is to think about timing. People are more likely to see your photos in the morning (when people are on the commute or travelling to school/college/university), at lunch time, and then in the evening.
How to get more followers on Instagram: Don’t post too many photos at once!
Make sure you space out your posts. If you’re clogging up someone’s feed, they’re likely to get a bit angry and they might unfollow you.
How to get more followers on Instagram: Hashtags (and make sure they’re relevant!)
Unlike on Twitter, where they seem to be losing popularity, hashtags are still thriving on Instagram. You should always add a caption to your Instagram photo, and add a few relevant hashtags too. You can check websites such as Tagsforlikes.com to find out which tags are most popular. Instagram lets you add up to 30 hashtags, but we wouldn’t recommend using that many.
How to get more followers on Instagram: Add Geotags
If you allow Instagram to see your location, you’ll be able to geotag your posts. You can turn on ‘Add to Photo Map,’ and also add your location by tapping ‘Name This Location,’ both of which will help others discover your posts.
How to get more followers on Instagram: Interact with others
Finally, once you’ve begun using Instagram, you’ll want to interacting with others to become a part of the community. Like other people’s posts and comment on them, and also reply to comments that others leave for you. This will encourage others to click that all-important follow button. Ashleigh is Tech Advisor’s Head of Affiliate. Providing expert buying advice you can trust is her forte, helping you to find the most reputable consumer tech products and services, and ensuring you don’t spend a penny more than you should.
