With an active monthly user base of over one billion, Instagram has become the single most powerful platform that impacts whether a business fails or succeeds! This is why we see brands—big and small—striving so hard to grow on Instagram. Profiles with larger followings are considered to be more popular and successful.

However, while it may seem so on the surface, Instagram growth is not just a numbers game. It refers to building a loyal and engaged community that connects with your brands, products, and ideas. Whether you are a business, a marketer, a content creator, or an influencer, Instagram's visuals-first platform has the power to skyrocket your visibility and sales, provided you leverage the platform correctly! 

But how do you achieve that growth–the kind that stays and helps you get ahead and achieve tangible success? If the same question is lingering in your mind, you are in the right place! 

In this blog, we will walk you through some of the top proven strategies that you can implement to ensure you achieve sustained growth on Instagram. We also talk about some key metrics to watch out for during this growth journey. From the basics to the expert tips, this guide covers it all. But first, let’s look at why growth on Instagram matters and what it means for your brand.

Why is Instagram Growth so Important?

We need to ask: why is it important to pursue growth on Instagram? If you have ever wondered if growing your followers and overall presence matters that much in the grand scheme of things, let us break it down for you!

To begin with, growth on Instagram helps with more visibility! The larger your audience is, the more people see your brand or content. As your followers engage with your posts by liking, commenting, or even sharing, they help increase your reach and increase your content’s visibility.

But that is just the surface! Growth on Instagram can facilitate your brand's credibility significantly! A solid follower count is not just for showing off! It can serve as a trust signal to prospective followers, customers, and brand partners. People are more inclined toward engaging with and trusting accounts or brands that already have a sizable and engaged following. 

Moreover, as an Instagram user, you may already know that the algorithms are more favorable toward accounts that have more followers. Hence, a larger following increases the prospects of your content appearing in your audience's feed and even in front of those who do not follow you yet.

Growth also plays a critical role in driving sales for businesses. When users follow your account, they are regularly exposed to your products, services, and offers. The consistent visibility may be the prod they need to make a purchase, sign up for your services, or take other relevant actions. 

Top Proven Strategies for Boosting Instagram Growth

Building a solid and engaged Instagram following is no easy feat. However, with the right strategies, you can grow organically, increase the size of your audience, and turn your followers into loyal customers. In this regard, authenticity is a major influencing factor, regardless of your growth goals and objectives. It can help you achieve lasting success and ensure the growth you achieve on Instagram facilitates in achieving your personal or business goals.

Hence, whatever strategies you employ, the focus must be on building an engaged community, as it will provide sustainable results that can further increase brand awareness, boost your sales, and help you establish a solid customer base. 

That said, here are some key strategies that will help you gain growth on Instagram:

Optimize Your Profile for Success

Before you start thinking about the content you are posting, the first thing you need to consider is how your Instagram account is set up. In other words, you need to consider if your profile does indeed look the part. If someone lands on your page for the first time, does it instantly convey who you are and what your brand is all about? Think of it this way—your Instagram bio and profile serve as your brand's storefront. You want it to be clear, informative, and inviting. So, it is important to optimize your profile and ensure maximum visibility as well as appeal. 

Here are a few tips to nudge you in the right direction:

Put up a Professional Profile Picture

The first thing that people see when they come across your profile is your profile picture. It plays a big part in how your brand is perceived. Hence, you must ensure that it is clear, professional, and easily recognizable. If you are a business, a logo is the best option. If you have a personal brand, use a good-quality headshot. Avoid cluttering or putting too much text in your photo. It should look good, even on a small mobile screen.

Add Strategic Keywords in Key Areas

To make your profile discoverable, you need to use keywords in the important places. These include your username, name, and bio.

Your username should ideally match your business name or brand so that it is easy for people to find you. If the brand name is long, consider using a shorter version, but ensure that it remains recognizable. 

Next is your profile name, which is usually different from your handle and can be used for adding more relevant keywords. For instance, if you run a vegan bakery, your profile name could be "Vegan Sweets by (brand name)."

Thirdly, your bio can be used for adding keywords to improve discoverability. Add words relevant to your niche, product, or industry. A strong bio should ideally convey what you do, why you are so special, and why someone should follow you. You can also add an appropriate call-to-action link to encourage users to take the next step.

Use Highlights to Organize Stories

Instagram stories are intended to disappear, but highlights give you the chance to save them so you get to show your best content for a longer period. You can categorize relevant stories in highlights and club them for better organization so that users can easily browse through them later. The categorization can be done via themes like tutorials, products in stock, customer reviews, seasonal promotions and discounts, etc.

Add Location and Links 

Another way to optimize your profile is to add location and links. These can be especially helpful if you are targeting local customers or trying to drive traffic to a brick-and-mortar location. Instagram’s algorithms are designed to prioritize profiles for appearing in local searches to show them to a relevant audience. This makes it easier for people to find you. 

Moreover, you can add relevant links in your bio, such as the link to your website or a product page. This allows users to take the next step easily, be it making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter or a service. 

Cross-Promote Your Instagram Profile

Finally, to make sure your Instagram profile is fully optimized, consider promoting it on other platforms so more people can find it. For this purpose, you can add Instagram icons to your website, email signatures, and other social media sites where you maintain a presence. You can also display your IG feed directly on your product page or website to give your visitors a reason to follow you. 

Develop a Winning Content Strategy

Once your profile is optimized, it is time to pay attention to your content. A solid content strategy is important for growing your Instagram following because it is how you are able to connect with your audience, provide them value, and keep them coming back for more. To succeed on Instagram, you need a consistent posting strategy, engaging visuals, and content that appeals to your audience. 

Be Consistent

Instagram algorithms are all about consistency. It gives priority to accounts that post regularly with higher visibility so it is essential to maintain a steady stream of content. Whether you post daily, every other day, or prefer posting a few times a week, the key is to stick to a schedule that works for you. You can create a scheduling calendar to maintain consistency. This will also help you manage your audience's expectations.

Focus on Short-Form Videos

Instagram Reels have gained immense popularity. They are short and engaging and enable you to present your brand, product, or service, share quick tips, and even show behind-the-scenes footage of your business or brand. The majority of customers (around 66%, according to a recent report) say they prefer to see short-form videos from brands. Hence, it is important to incorporate them into your strategy so you can reach out to a wider audience.

Maintain a Strong Brand Aesthetic

Having a consistent aesthetic is one of the best ways to stand out from the competition. Users must be able to identify your content at a glance. This can be achieved through consistent color schemes, fonts, and visual styles. 

Whether you want to use bold colors or employ more muted tones, ensure that the aesthetics you opt for are reflective of your brand’s personality. According to research by Marq, strong and consistent branding can help increase your revenue by 10 to 20%.

Engage Through Live Content

If you want to engage with your audience in real-time and interact directly, Instagram Live is an excellent option! You can host live events like a product or campaign launch, a Q & A session, or take your audience on a behind-the-scenes tour. 

Live videos can get you more visibility on Instagram and can help you get more followers. You can even repurpose the live sessions into Stories and save them to your IGTV for followers who were unable to join the live sessions. 

Maintain Steady Engagement with the Audience and Build Lasting Relationships

Do you want to know the key to building an engaged audience? It is all about developing and nurturing the relationships you form over time. The more you engage with your followers, the more likely they are to stay loyal to your brand. 

Respond to their comments, messages, and mentions to show that you really value their input and appreciate the support they lend to you and your brand. Thank them for their support, ask questions in the captions, run polls in your stores, and show your personality through your content. The more you interact, the more connected they will feel to you and your brand. This will result in stronger brand loyalty and do wonders for your engagement and organic growth. 

Here are some other ways to maintain steady engagement: 

User-generated Content (UGC)

Encourage your followers to create content that is related to your brand. User-generated content is great for building social proof and showing your prospective followers that your brand is worth following. You can even run contests or giveaways to incentivize people to participate. You can then repost the UGC in your stories and feed to show your community that you appreciate their support and interest. 

Build Your Community of Brand Advocates

When aiming for growth on Instagram, do not just focus on gaining more followers! Shift your mindset to building a community of loyal followers who are your strongest brand advocates. When you focus on creating a sense of belonging, you will see higher engagement and stronger relationships with the audience. Share user stories, ask for feedback, and engage in meaningful conversations that show them you care and value their support and advocacy. 

Use Tags and Hashtags for Discovery

Hashtags are important tools that help get your content discovered by new audiences beyond your existing network. When you use the right hashtags, you can increase the visibility of your posts and attract followers who are genuinely interested in what you have to offer.

When using hashtags, do not rely on broad or competitive hashtags like the commonly used #instagood or #love! Instead, consider focusing more on niche-specific hashtags that will attract the attention of your target audience. These hashtags will have less competition and are more likely to reach people who have a genuine interest in your niche and content. For instance, if you run a vegan restaurant, you can always use hashtags like #VeganEats or #Plant-basedLife. 

To ensure you get it right, research the hashtags your competitors and industry leaders are using and then decide which ones work for you. 

Moreover, if you are targeting local customers, remember to use location tags. Geo-tagging your posts makes them more visible to users in your area. This, in turn, increases your chances of attracting followers from the locality. You can tag your store location or a local event, whichever is applicable, to build a local following and connect with users from nearby areas. 

Explore Collaboration Opportunities with Influencers or Other Brands

One of the best ways to grow your presence on Instagram is by collaborating with others with significant clout on the platform. Whether you team up with influencers or partner with other brands, collaborations help you tap into new audiences and also build trust and credibility.

In this regard, influencer partnerships can be very valuable. These individuals have already gained the trust of their audiences. They can help introduce your brand to a wider audience. Find influencers in your niche who share similar values and have a highly engaged following. Do not just run after influencers with a massive following. Also, consider influencers with smaller yet highly targeted following, as they tend to have tight-knit and loyal communities.

Key Metrics to Gauge Your Growth on Instagram

As we mentioned earlier, Instagram growth is much more than the number of followers on your account. While having a large following is considered a sign of success, the real power is in engagement. After all, an engaged audience is more likely to convert and become customers, help build brand loyalty, and spread the word about your products or services. 

That said, here are a few metrics you should be tracking to truly measure your growth and success on Instagram:

Follower Count

Let’s start with the most obvious metric—your follower count. Yes, it is important to grow your followers, but the important thing is to understand the quality of those followers. You may think that having thousands of followers is an impressive achievement. But if those followers are not interested in your content or are not engaging with your posts, there may very well be no point in having those followers.

Instead of solely focusing on growing your numbers, you must consider directing your efforts at attracting followers who are interested in what you offer. These are the people who engage with your posts and ultimately become your strongest brand advocates. 

Track your follower count metric over time! A steady increase will indicate your content is being received well. If you notice sudden spikes or drops, take the time to analyze your content or campaigns that may have impacted those changes. These insights may help you assess if your growth is sustainable or not. 

Engagement Rate

When we talk about engagement rate, we are basically referring to the level of interaction that your audience has with your content. This may include likes, comments, shares, and even saves—essentially anything that shows that your followers are actively engaging with your posts. The engagement rate is one of the most telling indicators of how well your content is connecting with the audience. 

A higher engagement rate is a sign that your content strategy is working, so you must continue on the same path, remain consistent, and adapt to the changing trends along the way.

Reach and Impressions

Reach is the total number of unique visitors who have seen your posts. Reach gives you a clear picture of how far your content is spreading beyond your existing followers. Higher reach is usually impacted by factors like how your content is shared, whether users save the content to revisit later, and how frequently people interact with your content.

A higher reach can help you widen your customer base so it is a good idea to generate shareable content which compels the followers to share your posts with their network. 

Another metric that is often confused with reach is impressions. Impressions refer to how many times your post has been displayed regardless of whether or not it was interacted with. To put it simply, this metric tracks how often your content appears on someone’s screen. 

It is important to note that while reach helps track unique visits, impressions can count the same person multiple times. High impressions with low engagement mean that your content is being seen but may not be generating the desired action from views. On the other hand, high impressions and engagement indicate that your content is visible and also engaging enough to get people to interact with it.

Saves and shares

Finally, there are saves and shares that indicate the level of interest in your content. When someone saves your posts, it means they find it valuable enough to want to return to it later. Similarly, shares imply that your content is engaging enough for the followers to share it with their own network. 

Final Thoughts

It requires considerable effort and time to understand what it takes to grow on Instagram and maintain a successful presence that continues to thrive and flourish on its own. However, once you understand how the algorithms and evolving audience preference can impact your presence, you can master the art of devising and tweaking your growth strategies so that they work. 

There is no magic solution that can make growth happen overnight. However, the strategies mentioned here can help you lay the groundwork to attract and grow an organic following that engages with you and sticks around.