Do you want to grow your Instagram followers for free? Today’s guide will help you grow your account without paying a dime.
Running an Instagram account these days is a tough job. Regardless if you’re using your profile or running one for business, the primary goal for both sides is to increase the number of followers.
There were times when that was simpler, but today it’s a bit more complicated. With well over 1.5 billion accounts worldwide, the competition is fierce, and there is a lot more content. As a result, growing your account takes time and patience.
One option is to go to a company that offers Instagram growth. Most reputable services offer solid performance and will grow the numbers quickly. The problem with this is that you’ll need to pay.
Having this in mind, what if I told you that there is a different way? It may not be as fast as some of the paid services, but it’s free, so you can use the funds for other aspects of your business.
Without further ado, let’s talk about a few steps you can take to grow your Instagram.
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1. Post
The most common mistake most people make when running an Instagram account is the posting schedule. I’m aware that some types of content aren’t easy to produce and take time. With that said, going for a long time with no content will cause your followers to lose interest.
In terms of new followers, things are more or less the same. People may visit your account and once they see you don’t post regularly, they won’t follow you.
To be fair, there isn’t a specific schedule here that will make or break your growth potential. The more important thing is to be at least consistent. If you’ve started posting every other day, keep the tempo so that people see that you’re doing it regularly.
On the other side of the spectrum, there is a point where you’re not posting often enough. Going for days with no content regardless if it’s a photo, video or story isn’t a good idea. This process is more like trial and error. You can try with a certain schedule and see if it works. If it does, keep at it. If it doesn’t make some tweaks and try again.
2. Engage with your audience
Engagement is the single most effective way to keep new followers flowing, if done correctly. At a certain point, you will get comments from your followers, something you shouldn’t ignore. Whenever you see a comment from someone, respond depending on the type of comment you get. Some followers will ask questions, which you should answer. Sometimes, people may compliment you, so it’s polite to thank them for that.
The previous tip was more towards maintaining the existing followers, but what about attracting new ones? This is where you’ll need to work a bit more. The best way is to expose yourself to other accounts on Instagram by engaging with them on other profiles. Like photos, post comments, answer questions other people asked, anything you can think of. The idea here is for other people to learn of your existence and open your profile. If you have high-quality content and post regularly, they will follow you.
3. Post high-quality content
This one should go without saying, but let’s touch base quickly. Considering the number of accounts on the platform, you’ll need to stand out and the best way to do that is with high-quality content.
Putting anything on your account can be counterproductive. I mentioned you need to post regularly, but that doesn’t mean posting too often if the content is bad. Quality over quantity is a good way to increase the number of followers.
4. Use the correct hashtags
I’ve seen many people make this mistake. Hashtags can be a great way to increase exposure and potentially get more followers. There are plenty of people that follow hashtags, myself included, so whenever I see something I like, I check out the account and follow it if it has good content.
The important thing with hashtags is to use them as intended. Going after too many can feel you’re spamming around and, in most cases, it’s pointless. People follow the popular hashtags, so adding more with less activity or similar ones won’t get you more followers.
Another important thing is to use hashtags related to the niche. If you’re posting travel photos, check out which tags are the most popular and use those. You should avoid using the ones that aren’t related to the content you posted because that way no one will follow you.
5. Communities
Digging through the internet will land you in multiple communities where you can get more followers. The idea here is that you post your Instagram account for other people to follow you. With that said, they will also expect you to follow them back. It’s a mutually beneficial option and the best part is that it’s free.
As for where to find them, there are tons of options available. You can start by joining some Facebook groups or forums, checking out Reddit, or sharing your Instagram URL on other social media accounts. Keep in mind that this usually works for personal accounts or brands.
6. Collaborations
If you’re relatively new, then this may not work out on your first try, so you’ll need to be patient. If you post high-quality content, one of the many options is to collaborate with someone. Getting tagged is a good way to gain exposure, which will help you increase the number of followers.
In this regard, it’s important to aim at accounts with more followers than you. Also, it’s a good idea for them to be in the same niche as yours or at least one that’s closely related.
An important thing to note here is that not everyone will want a collaboration. This is an activity that benefits both sides, so to collaborate with someone, you’ll need to provide something of value to them. In your case, if you’re a relatively small account, that can be the content.
7. Giveaways
The last tip I have for you is giveaways. You can consider this to be a sort of collaboration, where you’ll be promoting a product and getting followers in return.
In many situations, for someone to be a part of the giveaway, they’ll need to follow you, so that’s a good way to grow your Instagram account. With this approach, you may not land a massive deal with a large company, but you can target the smaller ones.
There are new companies regularly that are trying to find themselves on the market, so this can be a good opportunity for you. Getting your followers to share some content on their stories is a good way for other people to find out about the giveaway and follow you.
It may not result in a massive number of new followers, but after a while, your account will grow.
8. Using services
At the beginning of this guide, I mentioned people use services when they want to pay for growth. While that is true, there are some situations when you may want to consider them.
Most of these services will ask you to pay for growth. With that said, some offer some kind of trial which can be one-time or recurring. This is an excellent option for growing the number of followers. Just keep in mind that with these options, you won’t be getting thousands of followers daily. It will take a while, but in most cases, there isn’t a lot of work involved in this.
When going for this option, it’s important to distinguish the reputable services from the scams. Considering how many scams are there on the internet today, getting your Instagram account compromised is easy. Make sure to go for these free followers only from services that have a proven record of offering legit services.
9. Things you shouldn’t do
Growing your Instagram account organically is a tedious process, so it’s natural for us to find a way to speed it up. A common way people do this is to buy followers, which can be a mistake sometimes.
Buying followers isn’t the worst idea, and you can quickly grow your account that way. The problem is where you buy them and what kind they are. If you’re on a tight budget, you may want to opt-in for the cheapest option. In these cases, you will look at bots that won’t give you any advantages. Sure, you can boast about the numbers, but you won’t be getting anything out of it.
With that said, there are some services where you can buy followers who are real people. This also means that you will get some activity from them because they will get a commission out of it.
10. Services for organic growth
The common misconception about these services is that they sell followers. In fact, these kinds of services help you grow the number of followers organically. It means that you won’t get baffling numbers fast, but they will be good followers. They will interact with you, like the main things you’d want to see from your followers.
With growth services, account managers will work with your account and help your content reach as many people as possible. Most work differently, but the idea is to spread the word which should help you get more followers. With most of them, you’ll have multiple pricing plans depending on the rate of growth, so you should choose the one that suits your budget.
FAQ
Q. Will Instagram know I’m getting free followers?
This all depends on what kind of followers you get and where you get them from. Going for some shady services that make bold claims usually means you’ll either get bots or you’ll get scammed. Many reputable services will offer real followers, as long as you’re willing to wait a while before hitting the large milestones.
Q. Can Instagram band me for buying followers?
In general, Instagram doesn’t ban accounts, unless you overdo it. There are situations where you may end up getting too many bad bots, at which point your account may get suspended.
Q. How long will it take me to grow my Instagram account for free?
As I’ve mentioned several times, free growth takes time, so you won’t be seeing mad numbers in less than a month. In this regard, it all depends on which approach you take. If you go with the tips, then you won’t be seeing massive numbers instantly. You may get several followers per week, so after a while, the numbers will go up. No one can give you a specific number because there is no way to know for sure.
If you decide to go for the services that offer free followers, then you can start estimating the numbers more precisely. All services outline the number of followers you should get, which can help you do the math. If you use 5 services that offer 10 followers each, then you can get 50 followers. Doing that on the same day means that those 50 followers will be on your list within a day.
Keep in mind that not all services offer free followers once a day, so you’ll need to consider that. The important thing to note is that, with this approach, the growth rate is noticeably increased.
Q. Will I need to enter my Instagram login credentials to get free followers?
No, the most important thing to keep in mind is that no growth service will ask you for your username and password. The ones that do are scams and you will compromise your Instagram account.
Conclusion
Growing an Instagram account the right way is a slow and complicated process. There are some shortcuts along the way, but despite that, you shouldn’t expect millions of followers in less than a month. Doing this the right way takes time, but you can be sure that you’ll get high-quality followers.
Not everyone knows where to start or how to work the process, which is where this guide comes into play. We’ve compiled several tips on how to increase your followers the right way for free. The paid alternative is always available, but if you’re not that type of person, these free tips will definitely help you out.