How to Grow Your Instagram Reach in 8 Ways

In a digital world, brands must harness the power of social media to reach consumers and earn revenue. Instagram, in particular, is a powerful platform enabling businesses and individuals to target broad audiences and attain their marketing objectives. Of course, learning how to grow your Instagram reach is a challenging feat, especially when you’re just starting.

Here’s a helpful guide for reaching more followers on Instagram, generating leads, and establishing your brand’s reputation for excellence. 

Why Should Your Brand Have an Instagram Account?

Brands with Instagram accounts have access to 2 billion active users, making Instagram the fourth most visited social media platform after Facebook, YouTube, and Whatsapp. While not all Instagram users will align with your values or mission, you can hone in on your target audience and turn them into loyal followers.

Instagram stands out among other social media channels. For one thing, most users are younger — 30.8% are 18–24 years old and 30.3% are 25–34. If your target audience is primarily Generation Z and Millennials, Instagram is where you’ll likely generate the most significant following. It also fully leans into visual content, comprising engaging photos and videos.

With the right approach, Instagram allows for heightened brand visibility and the ability to have posts go viral. Brands utilizing Instagram growth strategies will increase engagement, achieve their desired esteem and drive sales. 

Types of Instagram Followers

Before you approach your brand’s presence and garner followers on Instagram, it’s essential to understand the different types of Instagram followers, including:

• Organic: Active users who come across your posts and engage with your brand
• Customers: Current customers of your products or services who follow your account for updates
• Competitors: Other brands your followers follow to compare prices and quality — an excellent starting point for drawing content inspiration
• Influencers: Nano, micro, or macro influencers with follower counts ranging from 1,000 to over 100,000
• Fakes: Bot accounts that merely increase your follower count without engaging, negatively impacting how effectively the algorithm helps you gain traffic
• Ghost accounts: Inactive users who do not engage and skew your business growth 

Indeed, you have little control over fake accounts — so reaching organic, customer and influencer Instagram followers should be your primary focus. 

How to Grow Your Instagram Following Organically

Growing your Instagram reach will require some trial and error. Depending on your brand or industry, some posts may uptick your follower count more than others. Here are eight strategies to grow your Instagram following.

1. Post Consistently

The last thing you want to do is overwhelm your followers with content. Conversely, posting too little could drive them away. According to a HubSpot Blog Survey, 45% of brands post several times weekly on Instagram, while 23% post several times daily. Another 23% post once every day.

You can discover your brand’s ideal posting frequency by experimenting and checking your Instagram analytics. You’ll improve once you know how to grow your Instagram following with metrics.

2. Include Relevant Hashtags

Although you can use up to 30 hashtags on an Instagram post, you should stick to three to five of the most relevant hashtags to broaden your reach. 

Hashtags ensure your posts end up in Instagram search results. People may stumble upon your brand or follow specific hashtags for regular feed updates. Remember, using hashtags with fewer posts can limit competition and improve the algorithm.

3. Use a Post Scheduler

Timing is everything on Instagram — you’ll want to choose the most active days and times to post content. Surveys have shown the most effective times to post to Instagram are Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays between 9:00 and 10:00 a.m. — the same for Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Utilizing a social media post scheduler will allow you to schedule posts in advance to avoid missing your window of opportunity.

4. Collaborate With Others

Collaborating with other creators enables you to cross-promote your products, services, and content. Influencers are trendy among the younger age demographic. However, it would be best to consider more than their follower account for influencer marketing to benefit your brand.

Since 81% of marketers agree videos are the most effective outreach tool, you should select influencers who mainly post videos. Additionally, consider the ROI — influencers with up to 10,000 followers may charge between $10 and $100 per post, while those with up to one million followers may earn between $5,000 and $10,000. Those with over a million followers make much more. What can you afford to invest in influencer marketing for your brand?

5. Create Engaging Content

Content should be engaging and varied — professional, clear photographs are highly appealing to users and should remain relevant to your brand. However, mixing posts with Stories and Reels is crucial.

Although still behind TikTok’s engagement, a study found a 5% increase in Instagram Reels adoption — now 74%, up from 69% in September 2022. This aligns with the growing preference for video content.

Likewise, 18% of marketers say Instagram Stories produced the greatest ROI for their brand. Product-focused and interactive content are the most popular among users.

6. Go Live

Instagram Live enables brands to connect with their followers in real-time — an approach that increased in popularity during the pandemic.

Brands may go live with their followers to host a Q&A with a brand leader or influencer, launch a new product, deliver a behind-the-scenes look, interview an expert or deliver a more authentic glimpse at your brand.

7. Utilize Geotags

If you want to learn how to grow your Instagram following organically, you need to understand the importance of geotags. Local businesses should optimize posts by utilizing them. In fact, there’s a 79% increase in post-user engagement when there are geotags. 

Geotags are the specific location of your Instagram account, depending on the location of your mobile device. Users may tag a store by its coordinates if the brand has publicized its location.

You can attach the geotag when creating a feed post, include a location sticker in a Story or include location hashtags under the post caption. 

8. Host Giveaways and Contests

Who doesn’t like free stuff? The occasional giveaway or contest is a highly effective way to grow your Instagram followers and establish your brand. Consider holidays or yearly events for particular contests. 

For example, a stationary supply store might offer a bundle giveaway during the back-to-school season. A sporting goods company may also provide something to followers during an upcoming sports event like the World Cup or the Boston Marathon.

Comment contests, influencer giveaway partnerships, and hashtag contests — where users upload photos of your product and tag you — are all possibilities. 

Experiment With Growing Your Instagram Following

Often, growing your Instagram reach comes down to experimenting with what strategies have the most significant effect on your follower accounts and engagement. Regularly check your analytics to see what works best for your brand and modify your approach as needed.