How to Grow Your Instagram in 2024: The 7 Steps

Instagram has forged a place for itself in the race of the most used social networks. Today, this social network has 1.2 billion monthly users and the number of subscribers is still growing. 📈

Many people want to use Instagram to become influencers, or simply to use it as an acquisition channel. And indeed, Instagram presents an excellent opportunity to earn money or to sell its products on the Internet.

No matter what your goal is, first and foremost you need to develop an audience on Instagram. And like on other social networks, having a lot of followers is not an easy task. Fortunately, there are methods today that allow you to build an audience from scratch.📱

Step 1: Optimize your profile

Your content can appear in the recommendations, but can also be visible thanks to the sharing of other users. Your Instagram profile is therefore your showcase, which will decide whether or not someone will subscribe to your profile. Therefore, your Instagram page needs to catch the eye and stand out from other accounts. 🎯

Before that, you will need to optimize your profile so that it has a better chance of being recommended on the social network. Indeed, there are several elements that will help your Instagram account gain visibility. So let’s see how to optimize your profile.

The first thing users see, before they even get to your page, is your profile picture. Having an eye-catching photo is therefore essential to increase the click-through rate to your profile. There are several tricks to creating an attractive profile picture that stands out from other users. 👀

According to several studies, if you add a background or a simple colored line to your profile picture, you increase the chances that a user will notice it.

Next, you need to choose a nickname or a name that users will easily remember. This way, more people will type your name into the Instagram search bar, which is great for your account’s SEO. Here, avoid long-winded names at all costs that don’t allow people to understand what your account is about. 🤔

Once you have your name and profile picture, let’s move on to the description. On your profile, Instagram will ask you to write a small bio. In a hundred characters, you can describe your activity and add a link to your website or your online store.

This biography will be very important for several reasons. Quickly, your description will allow people to understand what your account is about. If your bio is poorly written, you’ ll lose many subscribers, who will prefer to move on due to lack of information. 😰

In a few words, your description should clearly present who you are, what you do and include a call to action(subscribe, visit a website, order a new product, etc.)

So that you can better understand, let’s see some examples with well-known brands.

The FEED brand is a French company that markets protein, energy and slimming bars and drinks. On their Instagram page, it simply includes their brand name as well as their tagline. Thecall to action is a link to their online store. 🍪

Basic-Fit is a chain of weight rooms. It has gyms in several cities all over Europe. In their biography, they will indicate the number of gyms that the brand owns in France and in Europe. It also includes a call to action, which asks users to post photos by tagging their Instagram account. 🏋️‍♀️

Last example with this digital marketing agency based in Morocco. As you can see, the name and the slogan are written at the beginning. Then, the agency quickly lists all the services it offers. Thecall to action here is an invitation to get in touch with the agency. 📞

Depending on what you offer, your visual identity and so on, your biography can differ greatly. Therefore, we invite you to always include the most important elements which are a brief description of your activity and a call to action.

Step 2: Publish content

Now that your profile is complete, it’s time to post some content. This is logically the most important part of breaking through on Instagram. If you post boring, low quality content that doesn’t follow the codes of the social network, you’re not going to gain visibility. 📈

You have to keep in mind that there is a huge amount of content published every day on Instagram. In addition, to see content other than your own, the user must simply swipe down on their phone. So if you can’t capture attention, no one will linger on your content.

This platform is all about content and therefore you need to post quality photos/videos that bring value to your audience. There are several tutorials that will teach you how to create engaging content by adapting to the codes of the social network. 🎥

There are also many software for Instagram that you can use to edit photos or videos to improve the quality of your content. You can for example use Canva, a free software toedit images/photos. In addition, there are royalty-free image banks (Pixabay, Unsplash, Pexels for example) that will allow you to have beautiful pictures for free for your publications.

Step 3: Anticipate the publication of content (regularity)

If you watch brand accounts on Instagram, you’ll probably notice that they post content regularly. Indeed, regularity is an important element, which will allow you to build loyalty among your audience, but also to be better referenced on the social network. 🤝🏿

What we recommend you do is toset up a publishing schedule with all the types of content(photos, videos, stories, etc.) you plan to post. Be careful, it is better to choose quality over quantity. There is no point in planning a lot of content and publishing every day only to stop after 3 weeks.

No, it is better to publish less often, but to remain regular. That’s how you’ll keep an audience for the long term. We therefore advise you to prepare content in advance before publishing your first photos/videos on the platform. That way, you’ll always have content on hand for those times when you can’t produce it. 🎥

There are also softwares that will allow you to publish automatically on Instagram(Agorapulse and InstaBoss for example). All these programs offer different features, but the operation is generally the same. You will just have to import your photos/videos with description, hashtags and even web links.

Next, you will need to schedule a publication date for your posts. This is the software that will take care of posting your content on Instagram. You will also have access to statistics Instagram , even more accurate than the social network’s analytics. 📊

Obviously, the more you post, the more likely you are to break through on Instagram. If you can produce a lot of content, that’s what we invite you to do. But if you’re just starting out and creating your content on your own, it’s best to go slowly.

According to us, with 3 posts / week, you can largely make your place on social networks. In terms of stories, you need to be much more present and post at least one every day or two. If you focus on Reels, you can post a bit more than with the classic publications(photos, videos, carousels, etc.) 📅

Step 4: Use hashtags

Like all other social networks, Instagram is interested in the famous hashtags. They allow the algorithm to better understand your publications, and can also increase the visibility of your posts. Indeed, by using the right hashtags, your content can be recommended and visible to users who are not subscribed to your account. 👀

Among creators, there is a debate about the maximum number of hashtags to include in a publication. Some people put as many hashtags as possible to get as much visibility as possible. The problem is that it will spoil the description of your publications and take up a lot of space.

Also, you risk having a penalty, because the algorithm will see that you force the recommendation of your content. If you want to use a lot of hashtags, we recommend that you include them in the comments and not on the post. This way, you still gain visibility but remain more discreet. 📱

Generally speaking, we recommend that you do not exceed 10 hashtags. To gain visibility, you should choose the most popular hashtags, which will give you more chances to appear in trends.

How to find popular hashtags in your theme? 🕵️‍♂️

There are several techniques to implement in order to find the best hashtags. We are going to present you two methods that are simple to apply and that will allow you to quickly find the right hashtags.

The first one is very simple. It’s just a matter ofchecking out your competitors and the “big” Instagram accounts in your theme. If you have an Instagram profile on bodybuilding for example, you can go look at the hashtags used by the big influencers of the theme.

The second method is touse the search bar of the social network. All you have to do is type in a keyword related to your theme. Next, Instagram will pull up for you the hashtags that are used the most in posts. 🔍

If you’re into bodybuilding for example, you can include all the hashtags above. Obviously, we recommend you touse the hashtags present in the most publications as a priority.

Small precision, you must include the hashtags at the bottom of your description and not at the beginning. You should put the post description in the foreground, then include the hashtags at the end of the text. We also invite you to put a space between the text and the hashtags to make it look nicer.

Example with a basic-fit publication:

Step 5: Use stories, front page stories and lives

If you have a personal account on Instagram, you already know what a story is. Simply put, it’s a photo that is only available 24 hours on your profile. Usually, stories are posted by influencers to show what they do during the day. But in reality, you can share anything you want in a story. 📲

Unlike regular posts and Reels, stories are only visible to your followers and people who visit your Instagram page. It is not possible for your stories to appear in the recommendations of other users as is the case for other types of content.

Stories are an important element, which allow you to give news to your community without posting a real publication. It’s also easier to mail and much less work to prepare. As we said above, don’t hesitate to add at least one story per day.

If you have your own brand, people love to see the “backstage” of your business in stories. For example, you can take pictures when you are working on a new product collection, when you are preparing packages to be sent or other. Don’t hesitate to involve your subscribers by conducting surveys or asking them questions. 🗣️

Next to that, you can also put “ front page stories “on your profile. Here you can save and group together several stories that you have posted since the creation of your account. This way, you can make summaries of trips, events, new collection presentations or other.

Let’s take Basic-Fit’s Instagram account as an example. As you can see, they’ve integrated many front page stories on their profile. There are photos/videos of their collaboration with Teddy Riner, recipe ideas, coaching sessions and more. 🏋️

You’re encouraged to put stories on the front page that bring value to users. Depending on your theme, you can add tips, recommendations and more.

Once you have a big enough audience, you can launch live shows. It’s a good way to animate your account to keep your community loyal. Lives can also bring you an additional audience, as they can appear in Instagram recommendations. 🤝🏿

Step 6: Create partnerships with other influencers

If you create quality content, Instagram’s algorithm will naturally feature you. But to go faster, you can also partner with other influencers, so that they bring you visibility.

There are several ways to partner with an influencer. In most cases, you can make an exchange by both sharing your content. You bring visibility to an influencer and they in turn bring visibility to you. But this only works if you already have an audience, because if you don’t have a lot of followers, no influencer will want to give you free exposure. 😅

You can also pay an influencer to promote your Instagram account. If you have a little budget, you can ask a larger account to share your content, in exchange for a fee.

Collaborating with other influencers can be complicated when you are just starting out and don’t have a large community. But it’s clearly the fastest and most effective strategy for getting subscribers! 💪

Another simple tip to increase visibility on Instagram is to simply post on other social networks as well. With some software, you can post on all social networks at the same time(TikTok, Facebook, Twitter and others). It doesn’t cost anything to post on other platforms, but it can bring you an audience that you might not be able to reach on Instagram.

Step 7: Build long-term community loyalty

Having many subscribers is good. But what really matters is the engagement of your audience. If you have millions of followers, but they don’t like, share or comment on your content, it’s no use. Plus, with low engagement, you won’t be able to negotiate good partnerships with brands. 😰

It is much better to have a smaller but more loyal community with a higher engagement rate. Brands largely prefer thematic accounts, which generally have a more engaged community.

Building long-term audience loyalty is a daily task. What we invite you to do is to respond to the comments that are posted on your posts, in addition to liking them. If you have private messages, try to answer them as soon as possible. 💌

The goal is for users to see that there is a human behind your account and that it is not managed by a robot. This way, people will be much more likely to recommend your account to their friends, family, etc.

In conclusion

You now have all the cards in hand to break through on Instagram and dramatically increase your follower count. The important thing is to publish quality content regularly, in order to bring value to your audience. The goal is not to create a buzz to get subscribers quickly only to lose visibility right after. 📉

Justwith the tips presented, you’ll be able to start your Instagram account with peace of mind. If you want to go faster, we offer you a comparison of the best Instagram courses. Through these courses, you will learn how to create an account and grow it to over 10,000 subscribers in about 3 months . 🤝🏿
From the moment you want to make money with Instagram sell your products on this platform, these trainings can be interesting.