Yes, it really is possible to grow your engagement for free and without the assistance of advertising!

Recent research shows 71% of consumers decide what to buy based on social media recommendations (Patel). It’s widely accepted that the volume of followers increase a brand’s reach. Further, this number of existing followers gives a certain credence for new followers to have faith in the product. (Heather-Mae Pusztai, 2019). So without much further ado, here are some surefire ways to organically grow your engagement.

Find your audience, and make it easy for them to find you

If you are just starting to build your Instagram community, it is paramount to pinpoint your niche audience. Once this is established, identify the unique content your target audience would like. Be focused in your bio to attract the right crowd. Write what you are about in the most concise and creative way possible. Try to isolate a point of difference that sets you apart in the competitive IG sphere. Stop them in their scroll by being specific.

There are so many posts to sift through, make it easy for your target audience to find you. Create a strong brand identity for your account. Social media guru Neil Patel stresses the importance of including the link to your business website in your IG bio to maximise SEO (Patel, 2020).

Quality Content – Keeping it real 

In a social media saturated world, it is of the utmost importance to go further than just posting an appealing picture. Adding value through a zesty caption seizes the reader’s attention more than just a pretty picture and a few emoji’s.

However, don’t be afraid to show emotion, particularly if you’re looking to expand your personal brand.  Give the audience something to relate to.

Have relevant highlights that answer any questions new followers have about you. Be authentic, and only tag brands and magazines that would feature well with your brand.

Be a Bestie 

Follow and engage with brands or people in your target audience. Comment and ‘like’ all their photos. If a post has made an impression on you, or made you chuckle, tell them so! You could uncap a mutually beneficial opportunity. On that note, don’t neglect your networking etiquette. Use your DMs as a tool! If someone follows you and is your target audience, thank them through a personable DM. This puts a face to your business, and makes people feel like it is content they can connect to.

Hashtags – How many, and when to use them

#Usethem! Including even one hashtag per post has been found to increase engagement by roughly 12.6% (Influencer Marketing, 2019).

A 2019 study found 2-8 hashtags most effective (Social Insider, 2019). However, this varies depending on the scale of your profile. We advise you to check your analytics and use hashtags that best suit your audience. Just make sure to avoid going berserk with hashtags, as you risk loosing your credibility. The data from Social Insider found posts with 27-30 hashtags did not perform as well (Social Insider, 2019).

Entrepreneur and founder of Affluent.co, Jordan Platten, advises making the most of hashtag apps (Platten, 2019). He also suggests using 5 main trending hashtags, and then using further niche hashtags specific to your audience.

Post regularly (IG stories + in the feed)

Consistency is key, and the more the audience sees your brand on their screen the more likely it is to cement in their minds. How often you may ask? Well according to recent research, there isn’t a definitive hard or fast rule about how frequently to post, just as long as it’s consistent (Hartshorne, 2020). Sustain your audience with valuable content regularly.

Platten recommends posting IG stories on a daily basis to update your audience (Platten, 2019). He says it is even better to include polls throughout the stories to gain audience feedback on what posts they would like more of, or what questions they would like answered.

Research

 If you have a business or creator account, Platten advises regularly checking who is logging in, (Platten, 2019). Simply go to Settings-Security-Login Activity to access this. Check your analytics and adjust your content accordingly. Also, think about what time of day you are posting. With Instagram’s current algorithm, it is highly beneficial to access Instagram Insights to check when your followers are online (Loren, 2020).

Undoubtedly, it requires some hard work to grow a brand, but the pay off is lucrative, (and can be done for free).

In the words of social media sensation, Michelle Phan – “It’s very easy to make a viral video, but longevity and consistency, that’s hard.”

In summary, research the current trends and sprinkle with your own flavour. Reach out to other Instagrammers/brands and collaborate. Stay curious, and get ready to evolve with this ever-evolving platform. And if you need help along the way, we’re here.