- In this video, I'm breaking down five steps you need to do
to get your first 1000 followers on Instagram,
organically, without buying those bot followers.
These five steps are all you need
to build your following fast.
So make sure to watch until the end to get all of them.
Instagram has more than 1 billion users worldwide
and 71% of US businesses use their platform
to grow their brand.
So I'm gonna show you guys
how you can gain your first 1000 followers really fast.
Let's jump right into step number one
and that is to set up your account the right way.
Whether you have an existing account
or you're creating a new one, make sure that you switch it
from a personal account to a business account.
You can do this in your settings by clicking Account.
then switch account type at the very bottom.
Whether you're an influencer, a business owner,
or you just really want to grow your Instagram following,
switching to a professional account,
like business or creator, will give you access
to analytics, engagement stats,
filtering your direct message inbox, and a lot more.
If you're an influencer, you'll wanna make a creator account
since you're a content creator.
And if you're a business owner,
you'll wanna create a business account.
Both are great to stay on top of your profile's performance,
so make sure that your account is switched
before you do anything else.
Along with turning on your professional account,
you'll wanna make sure that your account is optimized
for search so that more people can find you.
The Instagram search bar works a little bit like Google,
where it delivers the most relevant profiles
based on your search term.
Your bio is a great place to add in informative keywords
that you want to rank for.
And a strong bio clearly states what you do
and who you serve,
so make sure that you don't skip this step.
Let's say you're a salon owner.
You'll wanna target that as a keyword
in your bio and even in your username if you can.
You'll also wanna include the term salon as a hashtag,
both in your bio and your posts, to boost your content
and get your account discovered faster.
Make sure you're using secondary keywords
in your description, like hair salon or hairdresser,
to better target your audience.
And if you want to target your local area,
make sure to include more descriptive words
in those secondary keywords.
If you live in Los Angeles, you'll wanna add Los Angeles
or LA to your bio and your hashtags,
like Los Angeles hairdresser or LA hair salon.
This helps potential local clients find you easier
in their search.
The final part of optimizing your bio is adding a link.
This can be a link to your site, a specific landing page,
or to a different platform
that you want to direct people to.
By including a link in your bio,
you're providing a call to action
for people interested in what you're offering.
Moving on to step number two,
set the stage by having content on your page.
Nothing is more uninviting
than a profile that has a great profile picture
and a great bio, but zero posts.
You wanna make sure that your profile has
at least three to six feed posts
that users can scroll through
and find value from so that you can earn their follow.
These don't have to be top tier posts
since they're gonna get buried
as you start to post more consistently,
but these posts should be high quality.
Include in depth captions that tell people
what your content is all about
and be optimized for search.
Optimizing each post looks like
including a detailed caption filled with keywords,
using hashtags related to your post, tagging your location,
and tagging other accounts in your photo.
If you're a hairdresser and your first post is of a haircut,
make sure that your location is tagged,
the client is tagged, with their permission of course,
and your caption includes the information
about the photo and relevant hashtags.
Next up, step number three, is to engage with people
in your niche and their followers.
When someone follows a new account,
they wanna feel like they're joining a community
and it's your job to create that atmosphere
if you want to grow your following.
This is something we cover more in depth
in our Instagram Marketing Strategy course.
Lesson three in this course goes over
finding Instagram followers authentically
and the best ways to convert your followers to buyers
if you have a business.
Here's a clip from that lesson
where entrepreneur Sue B Zimmerman explains her approach
to growing a following
and the advice that she gives to her customers
(static buzzes)
- The million dollar question on Instagram,
"How do you get more followers?"
You post consistently, great visuals,
whether it's a photo or a video,
and you show up and you engage in real conversation.
So not only on your own feed,
answering all the questions and comments,
but also hanging out on other accounts
that have a similar audience
that you are trying to attract.
You wanna leave real comments.
If you've set yourself up for success
with a fabulous avatar that stands out,
and you write a thought provoking comment,
you're gonna get the attention,
definitely of the person below you that's leaving a comment,
but people that go back to view that post,
maybe they've saved it.
And they look at the conversation around that content.
You have an opportunity for someone to discover you
and come on over and start following you.
(static buzzing) - This is a free course.
So if you wanna take it,
I'll have it linked in the description box down below.
All right, step number four
to growing your Instagram following
is to develop a consistent content strategy.
Instagram has shifted their focus from photo content
to a video content, specifically Instagram reels.
This, of course, comes as no surprise
because of the competition that they're getting from TikTok.
You might have noticed the shift yourself,
if you scroll through the app lately,
where you may be seeing a lot more reels than photos.
If you're creating a new profile from scratch
and you want to grow your following fast,
I highly suggest that you post equal amounts
of reels and photos on your page.
To really win with reels, you should create engaging content
with a trending sound.
Create videos that people will want to share
with their followers, save or re-watch multiple times.
Reel videos should be educational, entertaining,
or aspirational.
I can share more on growing your Instagram with reels
but that can be a whole separate video,
so if you want an in-depth explainer,
let me know in the comments down below.
Since Instagram is pushing reels more
on the Explore page right now,
your chances of getting discovered will be a lot higher
if reels are a part of your strategy.
Something else I recommend is posting
around the same time every day
until you've built a couple hundred followers,
then check your analytics
to see what times your followers are the most active
and then adjust from there.
The HubSpot course I mentioned earlier will also teach you
about this and how to check your insights
to see what your followers like to see from you.
Our academy professor for the course recommends
that if you're just starting out, Mondays and Thursdays
between 8 and 9 am are the best times to post
and to avoid posting between 3 and 4 pm.
Step number five is to do collaborations
with influencers or pages similar to yours.
This is something that I've personally done in the past
and I've seen great results from it,
so I wanted to give you guys a list
of a couple ideas that you can use.
Take over each other's pages.
Make a reel together.
Run a giveaway together.
Or lastly, make an appearance in each other's photos.
By doing this,
you'll definitely grow your following a lot faster
since you'll be getting more exposure this way.
When collaborating with other similar pages,
a great strategy is to partner with brands
that offer something complimentary
but not exact to your product or service.
For example, if you own a hair salon,
you wouldn't really want to collaborate
with a similar salon.
It'd be more strategic if you collaborated
with a hair extensions company
or even a makeup brand.
Since hair extensions are complimentary to hair salons,
this could be a great collab.
If your company already provides products
like hair extensions for your hair salon business,
then collaborating with a makeup brand
would be a great alternative.
Professional hair styling
and professional makeup are great support services
for each other.
You could get some of their customers
and they could get some of yours without competing.
This collaboration strategy is step number five
for a reason though.
No one wants to collaborate with a profile that isn't active
and isn't optimized.
This has to be an equal exchange,
so partner with people
that have similar following sizes to yours
and post similar or complimentary content.
As your page grows,
you'll find these collaborations easier to get,
but the first four steps that I covered
in this video are crucial to do first.
So those are five steps that you can start doing right now
to grow your following on Instagram.
If you guys have any questions,
make sure to leave them down below
and don't forget to check out
HubSpot's free Instagram course below
in the description box.
Thank you guys so much for watching
and I'll see you next time.
Bye.
(static buzzes) (upbeat music)
- I can find this client info.
- Have you heard of HubSpot?
HubSpot is a CRM platform,
so it shares its data across every application.
Every team can stay aligned, no out of sync spreadsheets
or dueling databases.
HubSpot, grow better.