As the year ends, many forward-thinking brands are now looking for the best organic Instagram growth strategy for 2020 and beyond. If you’re also thinking in that direction, then this article is meant for you. For starters, we’ll like to emphasize that regardless of your business, growing and maintaining a following on Instagram is one of the essentials for success in today’s business world.
Research has shown that over 89% of users follow businesses and brands. This clearly indicates that growth on Instagram will significantly increase your bottom line. By now, it’s important to know that one of the biggest mistakes you can make is to buy Instagram followers or even take shortcuts. It’s a very dangerous mistake that can damage your brand’s reputation. In fact, only more real followers (and not fake followers) lead to more trust and brand awareness.
These two factors will make your brand rocket to the top of its market and stand out from the competition. The bottom line is that if you really want to boost your brand’s reach in 2020, getting more followers on Instagram is essential. But then, you might want to ask: how? The direct and straightforward answer is organic Instagram growth.
Whether you operate a business or even a personal brand, organic Instagram growth is one of the most reliable growth strategies you should use in 2020. In this article, we’ll talk about the best organic Instagram growth strategy that you can use to level up your Instagram engagement and rise above the noise in 2020 and beyond. But before then, we’ll talk about why your account is struggling.
Key Takeaway:
Whether you’re a blogger looking to grow your Instagram following or a business owner trying to get more traction for your product, there are certain strategies that will help you reach your goals. One of the best ways to grow your Instagram account is by engaging with your audience. By commenting on other people’s posts, liking their photos, and adding them as friends, you can create a sense of community and build trust between yourself and those who follow you.
In addition to this, Instagram is also a great place to showcase your brand’s presence and what it stands for. This will help you connect with new customers and build brand awareness.
Another organic Instagram growth strategy is using hashtags relevant to your niche. For example, if you sell pet products, you can use the hashtags #petfood #petco #pets #dogsofinstagram #dogsofinstagramcommunity #dogsofindia #dogsofindiaonline
When choosing a hashtag for your post, make sure it relates to your brand and/or niche, so you’re not wasting time using a hashtag that has no relevance to what you’re trying to promote.
It’s also important to interact with other influencers on the platform. By following their accounts, commenting on their posts, and liking their photos, you can build a connection with them and become part of the community.
Why Many Instagrammers Aren’t Following Your Brand
One of the importance of identifying where you’re going wrong is that it’ll help to improve your Instagram marketing results. This applies to brands, influencers, and anyone who wants to be well-known on Instagram. Here’s why Instagrammers are not following your brands:
1. Inconsistent Posting on Instagram
Yeah, you got that right. An Inconsistent posting schedule on Instagram is why some Instagrammers aren’t following your brand. Want to know why? Instagrammers are generally hyperactive and continuously looking for remarkable and great content. So, if they stumble on your Instagram profile and notice that you don’t post content consistently, then they’ll most likely feel like you’re not active. Thus, they’ll not follow you.
Even if you already have thousands of followers, an inconsistent posting schedule on Instagram will hurt your engagement rate. And just in case you’re unaware, Instagram’s algorithm usually pushes up posts that get a lot of engagement. It’s always important to remember that as you grow your account, consistency is key.
2. Your Posts Are Boring & Low-Quality Content
To be sincere, no one would love to watch, view, or even read boring content. That’s why it’s always important to publish exciting and high-quality content. More so, always upload high-definition photos or videos as much as possible. If you don’t, then many Instagrammers would not even spend time looking at your content.
Furthermore, posting content centred around interesting topics is always good. That way, you’re more likely to attract and even retain your audience’s attention. One way to achieve this is by finding out what’s trending and creating content around those ideas and topics. You can also use polls to get feedback from your followers. That way, you’d get to know the kind of topics they like and the content they want. 
3. You Ignore Your Audience
Usually, Instagrammers don’t follow brands that ignore them online. If you don’t engage with your audience, then you’re hurting your brand’s reputation or image. Always remember that Instagram is a SOCIAL network- with emphasis on SOCIAL.
So, it’s very essential always to dedicate some time to commenting on others’ posts and responding to comments. You should also always find time to like and share content posted by other people.
Instagram Demographics
Research has shown that Instagram has over 1 billion monthly active users, and about 500,000 Instagram stories are posted daily on the platform. Yeah, that’s not a typo. To clarify, Snapchat has about 100 million active monthly users, and Facebook has about 2.19 billion active monthly users.
Instagram has so many active users, giving a brand an incredible opportunity to market its products and/or services to a massive prospect of target audience. But then, many brands are confused and don’t even know where to start. Many brands would love to leverage Instagram’s potential, but only a few know how to do it well.
Now that you’ve known why Instagrammers aren’t following your brand, what are the best ways to grow your following online? Well, here are the two ways to get followers.
1. The Wrong Way – BUY FOLLOWERS ONLINE
When you carry out some research, a lot of service providers would promise to help you gain thousands of Instagram followers. The problem with such strategies is that it is centred on quantity and not quality. Furthermore, you’ll get fake followers who aren’t likely to become customers — followers who aren’t likely to engage.
2. The Right Way – GROW YOUR INSTAGRAM FOLLOWERS ORGANICALLY
When it comes to the social media landscape, the term “organic” is centered around naturally gaining followers. It’s a terminology that’s often used. You can also view it as the process whereby a brand uses social media platforms and some tools provided by the platforms to build and interact with its community.
Growing your Instagram followers organically is akin to planting seeds by engaging with other Instagram users, posting content continually, and watching your audience grow. In this article, our focus is on organic Instagram growth.
Best Organic Instagram Growth Strategy
Complete Your Instagram Bio
Even though posts are the first thing your potential followers will see, your Instagram profile helps to connect with your audience and provide useful information about your brand.
On Instagram, you have only a few seconds to convert someone into a follower. You can only achieve this by being clear about who you are, the products and/or services you offer, and how users can benefit when they follow you.
A good Instagram bio explains your core business and speaks directly to your target audience. Relating it to an organic Instagram growth strategy, here are some best practices for writing an engaging bio:
- Use a headline that’s appealing to your target audience. The headline is searchable, and it’s one of the greatest strategies to getting more organic followers on Instagram.
- Add your job title, niche, and/or attention grabber to gain more trustworthiness. You can also take a few minutes to beautify the body section of your bio.
- Organize and format the bio with a bullet point format and ensure to use your brand’s voice. One way to achieve this is by using a shortened and brief version of your brand’s slogan or mission statement. You can also throw in a branded hashtag and your location to add some bit of personality.
- Include an enticing CTA that persuades Instagrammers to click on your URL. You can tease a new inventory or even throw in a discount to make everything more interesting.
- Include lines that validate your credibility. For instance, you can include lines like certified in ____ or sponsor of ____ or as seen in ____. Furthermore, try to follow this up with a direct link to your blog page, website or specific landing page.
Develop A Periodic and Consistent Posting Schedule
If you really want to get more organic followers on Instagram, then you need to develop a consistent posting strategy and ensure that your brand remains active on Instagram.
Even if there’s no hard or fast rule about how frequently you should post on Instagram, research has shown that a brand can stay active on Instagram if it consistently posts about 1 to 2 posts daily. In addition to the frequency, it’s also important for brands to find the best posting time on Instagram using tools like preview.
But on a general note, research suggests 8 AM, 9 AM, 2 PM or 5 PM as the best times to post on Instagram. If you really want to find out what works best for you, then it’s best to study your audience’s behavior on Instagram. That way, you’d get to know when they’re most active and also ensure that your post always appears at the top of their feeds. 
Hashtag Like Crazy
This is another excellent organic Instagram growth strategy that you can use to get organic followers on Instagram. Hashtags are one of the fundamental sorting functions for Instagram content, and when used appropriately, they can significantly increase your reach.
They also determine the position where your post will appear on Instagram (whether at the top or bottom). Hence, if you must get more organic followers in 2020, then it’s essential to always use the most relevant and correct hashtags on your Insta-posts. One great way to increase brand awareness and get more organic followers on Instagram is by using generic hashtags.
For example, you can use the #christmas hashtag during Christmas. Furthermore, if you want to target people interested in fashion, then you can use the #fashion hashtag in your posts. It’s also important to know that the performance of your post on Instagram can also be determined by the number of hashtags used in the post.
Even though Instagram allows you to add up to 30 hashtags in a single post, it’s always recommended to use hashtags that are enough to get the job done. For instance, almost 91% of posts from some famous brands contain seven or fewer hashtags. 
Develop A Unique Instagram Style
If you want to get noticed on Instagram and attract organic followers in 2020, you need to develop a unique and personal voice.
One way to achieve this is by creating content that aligns with your company’s goals and branding. That way, people will get to know your brand and what it stands for. To develop a unique style on Instagram, you must always have consistent topics you post about. You can also define a unique style of language or color schemes.
The development of a unique style on Instagram isn’t something that happens overnight. So, don’t get yourself stressed out. Keep researching and learning about what works and develop your brand style based on what your audience love. Furthermore, you can also get ideas from other Instagram accounts. But then, always ensure that your content is unique and exceptional. 
Partner with The Right Influencers
This is another great organic Instagram growth strategy that you can use to get more organic followers on Instagram. Ideally, if you want to get noticed on social media platforms like Instagram, then it’s important to work with people who get things noticed.
Influencers are generally seen as people with a dedicated following and have what it takes to influence people’s decisions about certain products and/or services. Brand ambassadors and social media influencers (AKA authority figures) thrive on Instagram, and many people trust their recommendations.
By teaming up with influencers, you’ll get more eyeballs (i.e., the right audience) on your brand’s offering. As a matter of fact, a mention from a single influencer can even help you to gain thousands of organic followers.
Here are some guidelines that you can use when partnering with Instagram influencers:
Begin with Micro-Influencers:
Micro-influencers are people with anything from 1,000 to 100,000 followers. When looking for influencers to work with, you can always reach out to these sets of people first because they have high engagement rates, and they don’t usually charge a very high amount.
Give Them an Exclusive Offer:
Another great way to work with influencers is by offering them exclusive offers while they promote your content. It helps to inspire people to buy because they don’t have to pay the full price. It also helps you keep track of the influencers bringing in the highest ROI since they all have unique links. 
Invite Influencers to Attend Your Events:
This is a lovely way to inform more people about your event. You can use branded hashtags and post them by the influencers coming to the event. In the long run, many people are more likely to know about the event and also follow you for more updates.
Get Your Best Image Out There:
Truthfully, one of the ways to hurt your popularity on Instagram is by using low-quality or blurry images. Instagram is a visual social media platform, and if you want to attract more organic followers, you need to use high-quality photos. Not a professional photographer? Well, you don’t have to be intimidated by this tip. Interestingly, you don’t have to be a professional photographer to post high-quality and appealing images on Instagram. Though, you can use common sense to capture high-quality images that are visually compelling.
Here are some things to take note of:
Cropping: Ensure to crop the image properly. Also, ensure that the composition of your photo is exciting. Don’t overly use filters: it can make your image look amateurish and phoney. Light Matters: usually, photos taken with great artificial lighting or in natural light are more appealing than grainy and low-light photos. Compliment yourself: if you’re taking snapshots of your products, ensure that it’s beautiful by capturing the most compelling views and their best angles.
CONCLUSION
Here’s a recap of what we talked about in this article titled “best organic Instagram growth strategy for 2020 and beyond”:
- Why many Instagrammers aren’t following your brand
- Instagram demographics and
- Best organic Instagram growth strategy
In the real sense, there are many ways to grow your Instagram following organically, and we’ve highlighted some of the best in this article. If you want to get more followers, you can apply the growth strategies in this article. Remember, it’s always good to may hay while the sun shines. You don’t have to wait till January 1st, 2020 before you start planning. Now is the perfect time to plan your Instagram growth strategy for 2020 and beyond.
What are your thoughts? In your opinion, what is the best organic Instagram growth strategy for 2020 and beyond? We’ll love to hear from you. Please sound your views in the comments section below.