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 The Top Ways to Grow Your Instagram Following for Free

Instagram has more than 500 million active users per month, and one of the most popular ways to make money on the platform comes from partnering with brands to promote their products and increase exposure to your followers. But what if you’re not ready to jump into that quite yet? The good news is that there are plenty of other ways to increase your Instagram following organically — and they don’t cost anything! In this guide, you’ll learn how to grow your Instagram following in 2019 by following the tried-and-true methods used by popular bloggers and Insta-celebrities alike.

Get Started

1. Keep your account public 

2. Use hashtags 

3. Post high-quality photos 

4. Post regularly 

5. Engage with other users 

6. Use filters sparingly 

7. Promote your account on other social media platforms.like Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat. 

8. Repost other people's content if it's relevant to your followers or niche and use hashtag #followback or #follow4follow as a courtesy 9. Reply to comments and likes in a timely manner 10. Encourage others to follow you by liking and commenting on their posts 11. Add personal information about yourself in the About tab 12: Suggest interesting accounts for others to follow 13: Friend potential followers who are not following you back 14: Search popular tags in the Discover page 15: Get featured on our blog 16: Send us an email

Create Great Content and Think Like an Editor

If you want to grow your Instagram following, you need to start by creating great content. But what makes for great content? That’s where thinking like an editor comes in. Just like a magazine editor, you need to curate your feed in a way that will appeal to your target audience. Keep your posts cohesive and on-brand, and make sure each one is eye-catching and engaging. Consider posting photos of both people and things – as long as they are relevant to your niche. And don’t forget about pictures with animals! Finally, don’t be afraid to experiment with different filters, lighting styles, angles, and perspectives. With these six tips in mind, anyone can grow their Instagram following with free tools! Start by signing up for Hootsuite and entering your email address, username, password, and URL from the Instagram app into the Sign In tab. From there, select Create Account to create your account using that information. Next, go to the Hootsuite Home page by clicking the button at the top left corner of the window. You'll see tabs on this page including Notifications, Activity, Trending Hashtags, and more - click the + Add Stream button at the bottom right corner of this window. Clicking on the menu next to Type gives you three options: People & Pages, Accounts, or Topics. Select Accounts and scroll down until you find Instagram. Click it to choose it as your stream type. Now type in the name of your account (in my case, myname_instagram) and press enter; then click Add Account. Fill out all of the necessary fields: Username, Password, etc., until you're back at the main screen. Click Continue > Send Request > Confirm Request > Done! You should now have a notification pop up confirming that Hootsuite has successfully connected with your Instagram account. Next, head over to the Explore tab under the Posts heading. Under Post Type, select Status Updates and begin typing in some words related to your niche in order to search for relevant keywords and hashtags. As you do so, posts will populate on the right side of the window according to how many times those words appear within them. When you see something interesting, click on it in order to preview it before adding it to your queue.

Choose the Right Hashtags

When it comes to hashtags, quality is more important than quantity. And by quality, we mean relevancy. Hashtags that are too broad (#love, #instagood, #photooftheday) or too specific (#2007nissanaltimasedition) are less likely to help you reach new users. Instead, aim for hashtags that are somewhere in the middle – not too popular, but not too niche. In other words, think like your target audience. What hashtags would they be searching for? For example, if you sell dresses, try using #dresses and #dress as a few of your tags. If you sell sunglasses, try using #sunglasses and #eyewear as a few of your tags. Keep in mind that many of these will also be very crowded with other accounts trying to gain followers so make sure to stand out! 

Now all of this sounds great and dandy, but where do I find good hashtags? Luckily there are plenty of tools out there that can help make finding relevant hashtags easier! One such tool is called Tagboard which lets you search through different boards organized by hashtags. You can explore board topics ranging from Brands to Dog Breeds which makes finding the perfect hashtag much simpler. Additionally, there are countless apps available for download on iTunes and Google Play that provide similar services such as Hootsuite (mobile only), Bitly (mobile only), or BuzzSumo (web-based). Once you've found some appropriate options, take a look at how often people post with those tags on Instagram. That way you'll know whether it's worth investing your time into researching them any further! Additionally, after following someone, go back and view their photos again without unfollowing them. Each photo should have a small button in the bottom right corner that says Copy. Clicking this button copies the image URL onto your clipboard - and copying an image URL onto your clipboard is one of the best ways to get exposure because it helps get your account found by people who visit trending hashtags on Instagram! Lastly, don't forget about geotagging! Geotagging adds location data to an image so that other users can see what area you're located in when browsing their feed. These geotagged images are always displayed first since they're usually nearby someone else's location.

Put in Effort on Facebook and Twitter

You can’t just create a profile and wait for the followers to come in. Share your photos on Facebook and Twitter, and link to them from your other social media accounts. Make sure your profile is public, so anyone can see your photos. And don’t forget to use hashtags! They're one of the best ways to find new people interested in what you post. When you find posts that are related to your interests, be sure to like or comment on them as well. That way they'll know you exist and might visit your page too. 

#2: Tag Friends: Ask friends with big followings (you know who they are) if they would mind tagging you when they post their own pictures with you or of you together. #3: Get Creative With Captions: Write captions that will get people's attention and make them want to click through for more information about what's going on in your life at that moment. If it's something funny, share it. If it's something sentimental, share it. Whatever it is--share it! People love knowing what goes on behind-the-scenes. Use this to your advantage by snapping shots of your day-to-day activities. For example, take a picture of yourself drinking coffee while wearing gym clothes. Post that photo with a caption about how much work you put into your morning routine before heading out for an intense workout. That's not only good content but also an opportunity to grow followers--because every time someone clicks on it, they're brought back to your feed where they'll see all the photos you've posted over time. Those selfies taken throughout the day? Definitely include those. The candid shot of you eating lunch? Yes please! Showing off your latest outfit? Bring it on! Keep up with posting consistently and getting creative with your captions, and before long you'll have a following that rivals Ariana Grande's.

Show Personality on Instagram

A great way to show personality on Instagram is by sharing photos and videos that capture you and your brand in a relatable way. Be authentic, share behind-the-scenes content, show off your sense of humor, and give your followers a peek into your life outside of work. Also, don’t forget to use hashtags! They’re a great way to help new users find your account. By using the appropriate hashtags for the images or videos you post, more people will be able to find your posts. Plus, using them makes it easier for other Instagrammers to do research on their own accounts as well. Here are some best practices when it comes to hashtag usage: 

1) Use up to 10 different tags per post - Not too many and not too few; enough so they can be found but not so many that it takes away from the photo or video being posted. 

2) Make sure all tags are relevant - You want people searching those terms when they're looking at your content. Avoid spamming irrelevant hashtags or misspellings of words just because they have a high search volume. 3) Add keywords to make the tag searchable - Keywords should describe what's happening in the photo or video so that when someone searches that term, they'll come across your account. 4) Tag businesses you love - Showing appreciation for companies who helped you out along the way is always nice! If someone else tagged one of your favorite brands and then discovered one of your posts through it, chances are they'll follow you back out of gratitude. 5) Don't steal other people's tags - There's nothing worse than seeing an old post pop up with someone else tagging themselves in it with no credit given to the original poster. And even if it was unintentional, there's still nothing that can undo the damage done. Always give credit where credit is due.

6) Follow others - The best way to grow your following is by finding others with similar interests and following them! Take time each day to go through your feed and find five new profiles to follow. Then return every day until you've followed fifty profiles total (ten days). It might take a little while, but once you reach this goal you'll notice a dramatic increase in the number of likes on your posts.

Use Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing is one of the most effective ways to grow your Instagram following, and it doesn't have to cost you a thing. All you need to do is identify influencers in your niche with a large following, and reach out to them. Once you've established a relationship, you can start working together to promote each other's content and grow your followings even more. You can also buy followers from an online provider. These are likely to be bots or inactive accounts, but they'll give you a quick boost without having to work at it too hard. Buying followers might not always be ethical, but if that doesn't bother you then there are plenty of websites offering them at fairly low prices. The downside is that the likes and comments on your posts will seem less genuine because so many people will be automatically liking everything. If this happens, just go back through and remove some of those false followers so that people won't think you're cheating or doing something shadyshady . Last but not least, get yourself some free Instagram followers. There are loads of sites on the internet that offer freebies in exchange for signing up to their mailing list or completing surveys. Don't worry though - these aren't spammy sites! They simply want you to fill out a form before giving you any rewards. It only takes about 5 minutes and usually results in getting tens of new followers right away, sometimes even hundreds! All you have to do is sign up and keep an eye on your inbox for when the next reward goes live. One of my favorite sites offers a range of different products including shampoo, beauty products, electronics, and clothing - all for free! All I had to do was provide my email address and make sure I went onto their website every day until I received my reward which was worth around $200. If you don't mind being bombarded by advertisements from time-to-time, it really couldn't be easier than this. And why wouldn't you want to take advantage of such easy methods?

Engage with Other Users

One of the best ways to grow your Instagram following is by engaging with other users. Like and comment on their photos, follow them back if they follow you, and tag them in photos. You can also join relevant groups and participate in conversations. By engaging with other users, you’ll not only get more exposure, but you’ll also build relationships with other users. These connections will lead to a larger following and higher engagement rate. The more people who like and comment on your posts, the higher chance that others will notice your account. For example, when someone likes or comments on one of my posts I make sure to like or comment back so that I continue the conversation! Remember, liking and commenting on another user's photo doesn't have to be about being nice. It's about being strategic. When other users see how much you're engaging with their content, they'll be more likely to check out your account too. Try adding hashtags to your post too. Hashtags are an easy way to engage with others while drawing attention to what you post. Make sure that you don't add too many hashtags though because it could look spammy and drive away followers rather than bring them in. Keep your caption short, sweet, and interesting--it should include some information about the photo (date taken, location) as well as any goals/messages behind it!

Scale Your Account - Slowly

A few years ago, organic reach on social media was easy. You could post something on your page and all of your followers would see it. But as platforms like Instagram have become more popular, they’ve also become more crowded. Now, if you want your content to be seen by your followers, you need to be strategic about it. What does this mean? It means posting consistently but not too often (2-3 times a day). Posting relevant content that is timely or fits the season. Using hashtags in your captions to get found by new people who might enjoy your feed. Sharing other people’s posts that you think are great, but don’t feel obligated - do this only when you genuinely love their work and feel confident recommending it! All these things will help grow your following without hurting yourself with spammy comments or tagging others constantly. They can also help keep your account healthy so you don't risk getting banned from a platform. So follow these tips, start using them today, and soon enough you'll be able to use them every day. Don't worry though - there's still plenty of ways to grow your following organically while still being genuine! The most important thing is taking the time to actually care about your followers and engaging with them regularly. Make sure you're listening, answering questions, responding quickly to messages. Be kind and thoughtful in everything you do because after all: People take note of how businesses behave online just as much as what they post.

Run Promotions, Giveaways, Contests etc.

There are a number of ways you can run promotions, giveaways, and contests on Instagram to help boost your following. First, you can use hashtags to promote your contest or giveaway. Make sure to use relevant, popular hashtags so that your post will be seen by as many people as possible. You can also promote your contest or giveaway on other social media platforms, on your website, or through email marketing. Another great way to grow your following is to collaborate with other users or brands. Find someone with a similar target audience and see if they're interested in doing a joint promotion. This can help you reach a whole new group of potential followers. Finally, make sure you're regularly posting high-quality content that will appeal to your target audience. Focus on creating visually compelling images and videos. Use captions that tell a story about the images and provide valuable information about what's going on in the photo. It's important to vary the type of posts you share - from selfies to photos from events - but always keep them authentic and true to who you are. If all else fails, try investing some money into promoting your account or boosting posts; this is usually an effective way to attract new followers quickly! If you want to know more tips and tricks on how to grow your Instagram following, I recommend reading my previous blog post 25+ Tips for Growing Your Instagram Following.

Run Ads and Boost Posts

1. Make sure your ads are targeted to the right audience. 2. Use attractive visuals and call-to-actions in your ads. 3. Use relevant hashtags in your posts. 4. Engage with other users' content. 5. Use geota features. 6. Host giveaways and contests. 7. Use relevant, trending hashtag.