Increase Instagram Followers With Our Tried and Tested Tips

Having a solid fanbase is the key to success as a brand on Instagram. You can be extremely talented at churning out creative content on your feed. But if you have no followers to consume that content, it’s useless. No one will see and engage with your posts. So, before pouring your soul into content creation, make an effort to grow your page and increase Instagram followers first.

There are many ways to gain followers, whether you’re a thriving business or a personal account with a tight budget. Today, we’ll be sharing some of our top tips for growing your Instagram page by reeling in potential followers. We’ll also fill you in on what not to do if you want sustainable growth.

How To Increase Followers on Instagram for Businesses

The best position to be in when trying to grow your Instagram page is with a thriving business. If you have enough capital to spend on promoting your brand, gaining more followers becomes easier and more doable.

Are you willing to invest in strategies to promote your brand and get more potential followers and customers? Here’s how to increase followers on Instagram with effective promotional strategies.

1. Run Ads To Boost Your Follower Count

One of the most convenient ways to grow your follower count on Instagram is to run ads. This paid content helps promote your brand to boost visibility and reach a wider audience on the platform. More people will see your profile and discover your brand for the first time. As a result, it increases the chances of them following your page.

What’s awesome is that you can choose what target audience you want to push your ads to. That means you can get more followers under a specific audience demographic. You can also customize your ads’ duration schedule, budget, location, call-to-action buttons, and more.

There are many ad formats that you can use to promote your brand. You can run ads through feed posts, Instagram Stories, Reels, and more. All of these can help you reach more people quickly and reel in tons of potential followers.

Remember to check your ads’ Instagram Insights to see how well they’re performing. Use those insights and learnings to inform your next campaigns so you can always come back stronger and more effective!

2. Host Giveaways With a “Follow” Component in the Mechanics

A fun way to gain followers and engage your current fanbase at the same time is by running a giveaway. People love winning freebies and prizes, especially if all they have to do is a simple action to get them.

Encourage people to do something easy—in this case, following your page—to stand a chance at winning a prize. Make sure the prize is something exciting for your followers, like pieces from your latest product drop or discount vouchers. You can also create a sense of community by asking people to tag friends in your giveaway post’s comments.

Aside from allowing you to gain more followers, giveaways can also boost your engagement rate. The more engagement you get, the higher the Instagram algorithm ranks your post on the feed. That means even more people will see it in the long run and potentially follow your page!

Here’s a sample mechanic for giveaways to boost your follower count:

“Love our new collection? We have three of our bags up for grabs! Get a chance to win your favorite piece by following our Instagram page. Then, tag three of your closest friends to share the post with them. The giveaway closes tomorrow at 11:59 PM. Good luck!”

When the giveaway is done, remember to use an Instagram giveaway picker to choose the winner. This ensures that everyone who joins the giveaway has a fair shot at winning the prize. For the utmost transparency, you can choose to post a photo or video of you generating a winner’s name. It’s also the most efficient way to choose a winner from a big base of participants!

3. Send PR Packages To Top Content Creators

Content creators are also looking to recommend new products to their followers, especially if they fall under their niche. Give them an opportunity to talk about your brand to their followers by sending them your products to try.

Create a contact list of some content creators in your niche who might have the same target audience as you. Then, whip up some cute PR packages with some of your top-selling products and send them their way. Feel free to add a personal touch to the packages with personalized notes and an info card about your products.

If they love what you’ve sent, they might create content about it and recommend your brand to their followers. This boosts your exposure to your intended target audience, allowing you to gain more followers.

Pro-tip: use cute product packaging in your parcels! Some creators love doing unboxing videos before they get to talking about the products themselves. Make sure your PR packaging is charming and aesthetically pleasing. You never know—cute, Instagrammable packaging may be the reason someone follows your account or buys something from your brand.

4. Encourage and Incentivize User-Generated Content

According to consulting firm McKinsey & Company, consumer-to-consumer word-of-mouth marketing is two times more effective than paid ads. They generate over two times the sales that traditional advertising does. That’s why user-generated content is such an effective marketing tool today.

User-generated content—also known as UGC—refers to branded content made not by paid influencers or brands themselves but by consumers. They’re made spontaneously and voluntarily and without any form of compensation simply because they’re happy with the brand. These posts come in many forms, from feed posts featuring a brand’s products to Instagram Stories of positive reviews.

Since regular customers, not paid creators, make UGC, it’s seen as much more genuine and authentic. It’s social proof that a brand’s products are high-quality, useful, and worth a shot. This word-of-mouth marketing then sparks interest in those who see it.

The more happy customers create posts featuring your brand, the more new potential followers might discover your page. So, if you want to boost your following on Instagram, it would be a terrific idea to encourage UGC creation.

The best way to entice people to make content about your brand is to incentivize their efforts. Here are a few ways to excite your current fanbase to voluntarily churn out branded content featuring your products:

• Offer discount vouchers for fans who create UGC that includes your brand’s products.
• Repost their content on your Instagram Stories. You can even compile all these UGC posts in a Story Highlight for everyone to see. Recognizing fans who make UGC in this way makes them feel validated and valued by your brand.
• Run a loyalty program for customers that post UGC. You can create programs with a points or rewards system or perhaps have members-only sales and discounts.

5. Collaborate With a Popular Influencer Your Target Audience Loves

Another way to make your advertising look more native and genuine is by tapping influencers to promote your brand. A paid partnership with an influencer is a win-win situation. Your brand gets more visibility by borrowing someone’s influence, while an influencer gets the prestige of working with a brand.

Collaborating with an influencer offers many benefits similar to those of sending PR packages to creators and utilizing user-generated content. Content by these creators looks more authentic and can boost credibility and trust for your brand. But with a paid influencer, the pro is that you can control the key message of their promotional content.

Influencer marketing campaigns are awesome for reaching a wider audience and increasing brand awareness. This can help more people know your brand and give your Instagram page a follow if they wish.

When working with influencers to promote your brand, make sure to choose creators that are relevant to your target audience. That way, you can be sure that your new followers coming from the campaign fall under your ideal customer base.

Is It Advisable To Buy Instagram Followers From Third-Party Websites?

Aside from influencer marketing and paid ads, you can even burn cash on third-party websites selling followers. But is it a good idea to buy Instagram followers to grow fast on the platform?

Buying Instagram followers might sound like an easy, convenient way to get more fans and potential customers for your business. But it comes with many risks.

When buying followers online, you could end up with fake, low-quality followers. If a sketchy site sells you bot followers, none of these accounts will engage with your content.

Sure, you get a huge number for your follower count plastered on your profile. But all it’s going to do is tank your engagement rate since fake followers won’t interact with your content. In the long run, it’s going to affect your visibility on the feed. This will hurt your chances of growing your following.

Buying followers from third-party apps and websites can also put your account at risk of being temporarily limited or suspended. Instagram has strict rules about inauthentic activity.

If your account is suspected of generating fake follows and engagement, they could put you on a shadowban. When that happens, Instagram deprioritizes your content, meaning fewer people will see it on the feed and Explore page.

Instead, we highly recommend putting your money into an Instagram growth service instead. It gives you the same fast growth as buying followers online but in a more organic, content-based, marketing-centric way.

Path Social is an awesome, personalized growth service that allows you to reach the specific target audience you want. We market your content to this audience through our email newsletters and with the help of our partner influencers. And in just a couple of days, you’ll see sustainable growth in your follower count!

How To Increase Instagram Followers Organically

Of course, not every Instagram business or user has money to splurge on ads, collaborations, or growth services. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to grow your following without breaking the bank. By focusing on the quality of the content you put out, you can gain more followers in a cost-effective way.

Some users also prefer organic growth methods to ensure that all their followers are genuinely interested in their content. They perceive it as a more purist, authentic way to grow on social media platforms.

Do you want to save money while maximizing your potential to grow your Instagram profile? Here’s how to increase Instagram followers organically:

1. Include Relevant Hashtags in Your Post Captions

Try to use hashtags your target audience might like on your post captions. By using relevant hashtags, your post can become visible on many different pages across Instagram. And with that enhanced visibility and exposure, you could end up with more followers!

Every hashtag has its corresponding tag home page, where all the top posts using that tag show up. People can access this page by clicking on a hashtag or looking it up on the search bar. Users can also follow hashtags to make sure they see a few posts using that tag on their feed.

Let’s say you use a hashtag in your post caption, and it rakes in tons of engagement. There’s going to be a high chance it will show up on the top of that tag’s page. So, when people explore that tag for content inspo, they’ll see your post and maybe visit and follow your page!

Aside from the tag’s home page and feed, posts with hashtags can also show up on people’s Explore page. Instagram curates this page to show users content that aligns with their interests. If you use tags that line up topics your target audience likes, they might discover your page there.

2. Play Around With Different Formats To Keep Your Content Fresh

People have different habits and ways of using Instagram. Some are more traditional and look through regular feed posts every day. Meanwhile, others prefer quick, short video content, so they might scroll through Instagram Stories and Reels. To appeal to all these users, it’s important to create a mix of various formats in your content plan.

When you diversify your content and experiment with different formats, you stand a chance at getting more followers. By being present in all of Instagram’s content channels, you maximize your exposure, allowing more potential followers to discover you.

Doing this also allows your brand to stay fresh and relevant. Draw inspiration from aesthetic trends or viral audio clips and challenges to always come out with exciting content.

3. Create Educational, Informative Content That Adds Value to People’s Lives

Getting people to discover and visit your page is one thing. But what really makes them want to follow an Instagram account is how valuable a brand’s content is.

Many creators go for aesthetic or funny content to reel fans in. But those accounts are a dime a dozen on social media platforms today. If you want to stand out, pique the interest of potential followers with educational content relevant to your target audience.

These are more than just your typical stylish or trendy posts on Instagram. These educational posts should provide information that makes an impact on your target audience’s everyday lives. They might include infographic feed posts, talk-through Reels, Q&A sessions on Instagram Stories, and more. Just make sure they align with your niche.

There are plenty of content buckets you can add to your content strategy to enrich the lives of your followers. Here are a few ideas for educational, information-based content buckets people might be interested in following your page for:

• Recipes and important cooking how-to’s.
• Historical fun facts about a certain region or country.
• Book recommendations for lovers of romance and fiction.
• Wedding tips for 2025 brides.
• Finance tips for the struggling Millennial.
• How to raise kids for first-time moms and dads.
• Industry insights for those looking for a job in specific sectors.

These types of content don’t just provide important information to Instagram users and meet some of their needs. They also position your brand as an authority figure in your niche. This gives people a compelling reason to follow your page.

4. Post Content According to a Specific Schedule (And Stay Consistent!)

The more content you post on Instagram, the more you boost your exposure to people who might follow you.

See, the Instagram algorithm favors active accounts that post engaging content consistently. The more you post, the more engagement you can get on your content. And the higher your engagement rate, the more the algorithm pushes out your posts on the feed and Explore page. So, if you post high-quality content regularly, more people could stumble upon your page and discover your brand.

Of course, you don’t want to spam people’s feeds. If you post an unnecessary amount in one day, some followers might get annoyed and unfollow you. The trick is to strategize a content scheduling strategy and stick to it. We recommend planning out a content calendar to ensure you post the right number of posts at the right times.

With These Tips, You’ll Achieve a High Follower Count in No Time!

The possibilities are endless when it comes to attracting new potential followers and growing your page. If you have a sizeable budget, invest in ads, giveaways, collaborations with influencers, and incentivizing genuine consumers. If you’re working on a budget, focus on your content to pull in a wider audience. Use relevant hashtags and create valuable, entertaining content to catch people’s attention and entice them to follow your page.

Not seeing results no matter how hard you try to increase Instagram followers? Maybe it’s time to work with a growth service like Path Social.

Our AI-powered algorithm takes note of your intended target audience and promotes your content directly to them. Through influencer shout-outs, email newsletters, and other promotional strategies, we’ll put the spotlight on your content. That’s how you can reach organic users who actually resonate with and enjoy your content, which means sustainable, long-term engagement. Build a fanbase of real, engaged Instagram followers with us today!