How to gain real followers on Instagram

by Moises Hamui May 24, 2024

Instagram is one of the most popular and widely used social networks in the world, with over 1.5 billion monthly active users expected by 2024.

But it's not enough to have an account on this platform. You also need to know how to gain real followers on Instagram, that is, people who are interested in your content, interact with it and become potential customers or ambassadors for your brand. How can you achieve this?

What are real followers on Instagram and why are they important?

Real Instagram followers are those who follow your account because they like your content, identify with your value proposition , and want to stay up to date with your news.

Real Instagram followers are not bots, fake or purchased accounts, which only inflate your number of followers but do not contribute anything to your marketing strategy. Real Instagram followers are important because:

They help you improve your visibility and reach on the platform by generating interactions, comments and recommendations that make your content reach more people.
They allow you to better understand your target audience by analyzing their preferences, needs, opinions and consumption habits.
They facilitate conversion and loyalty by creating a relationship of trust and closeness with your audience, which translates into sales, repetition and loyalty.

How to gain real followers on Instagram with your content?

Content is king on Instagram, and the key to gaining real followers on this social network . To create content that attracts, engages, and retains your audience, you should follow these steps:

Define your purpose, your audience, and your tone . Before you post anything, you need to be clear about what you want to achieve with your Instagram account, who you want to target, and how you want to communicate with your audience. This will help you create consistent, relevant, and distinctive content.

Create an editorial calendar . To maintain a frequency and quality of publication, it is advisable to plan your content in advance, taking into account the objectives, key dates, formats and resources you are going to use.

Take advantage of all Instagram formats . Instagram offers you multiple options to create and share your content, such as photos, videos, stories, reels, IGTV or live. Each format has its advantages and characteristics, and allows you to show different facets of your brand. Ideally, you should combine several formats to diversify your content and reach more users.

Optimize your content for SEO . SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the set of techniques that allow you to improve the positioning of your content in search engines, both Instagram and Google. Some of these techniques are:

Use keywords in your username, account name, bio, and post descriptions.
Use relevant, specific and popular hashtags that relate to your content and niche.
Use location, people, and product tags to help increase your exposure and traffic.
Use alt text, which is a short, accurate description of what your image shows, helping search engines and visually impaired people understand your content.

Measure and analyze your content . To know if your content is working and meeting your goals, you need to measure and analyze Instagram statistics , which give you valuable information about the performance, reach, engagement, and audience of your account and each post.

Some of the most important metrics are:

Impressions : The number of times your content has been viewed.
Reach : The number of unique accounts that have seen your content.
Interactions: The number of actions that have been taken on your content, such as likes, comments, shares, or saves.
Followers : The number of people following your account, their growth, their profile and their habits.
Profile views : The number of times your profile has been accessed from your content.
Link Clicks : The number of times your bio link has been clicked from your content.

How to gain real followers on Instagram with your community?

Content is king, but community is queen on Instagram, and the key to gaining real followers on this social network.

To create and maintain an active, engaged and loyal community, you must follow these steps:

Interact with your audience

It's not enough to just post your content and wait for followers to come by themselves, but you need to interact with your audience, both on your account and on other accounts related to your niche. Some ways to interact are:

Respond to comments and direct messages from your followers, and thank them for their interest and support.
Ask questions, polls, giveaways or contests that invite your audience to participate and give their opinion.
Mention, tag or share other users' content that you like, inspires you or mentions you, and create alliances with them.
Follow, comment and like posts from other accounts in your industry, your competitors or your target audience, and make yourself visible and relevant to them.

Create valuable content

To gain real followers on Instagram, you must not only create content that you like, but you must create content that provides value to your audience. Valuable content is content that solves a problem, satisfies a need, offers a solution, teaches something, entertains or excites your audience.

Some ways to create valuable content are:

Offer tips, tricks, tutorials, guides, or resources that help your audience improve some aspect of their life or business.
Share stories, testimonials, success stories or experiences that inspire, motivate or connect with your audience.
Show your human side, your personality, your story and your values, and create a unique and authentic brand identity.
Generate exclusive, original and creative content that stands out from what is already on the market and surprises your audience.

Be consistent and coherent

To gain real followers on Instagram, you must not only create valuable content, but you must create content consistently and coherently. Consistency and consistency are two factors that help you build trust, credibility, and recognition in your audience.

Some ways to be consistent and coherent are:

Publish regularly, following an editorial calendar that allows you to maintain frequency and quality of publication.
Post at the best times, taking into account when your audience is most active and receptive on the platform.
Post with a style, tone, and aesthetic that fit your purpose, your audience, and your brand, and that creates a cohesive and harmonious image for your account.

How to gain real followers on Instagram with your strategy

Content and community are the pillars to gain real followers on Instagram, but they are not enough if you do not accompany them with a good strategy. To create and execute an effective strategy, you must follow these steps:

Define your goals . Before you start posting on Instagram, you need to be clear about what you want to achieve with your account, what results you hope to obtain, and how you are going to measure them. Your goals should be SMART, meaning specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.

Establish your performance indicators . Once you have your objectives defined, you must establish your key performance indicators (KPIs), which are the metrics that allow you to measure the degree of fulfillment of your objectives. Your KPIs must be aligned with your objectives and be specific, quantifiable and relevant. Some examples of KPIs are:

Number of followers: The total number of people following your Instagram account.
Growth Rate: The percentage increase or decrease in your number of followers over a given period of time.
Engagement Rate: The percentage of your audience's interaction with your content, calculated by dividing the number of interactions (likes, comments, shares, saves) by the number of impressions or reach of your content.
Conversion rate: The percentage of users who take a desired action after viewing your content, such as visiting your website, purchasing your product, or subscribing to your newsletter.
Retention Rate: The percentage of users who are following your account after a certain period of time, calculated by dividing the number of current followers by the number of initial followers.

Implement your strategy . Once you have your strategy defined, you must implement it, that is, execute the actions you have planned to achieve your objectives. To do this, you must follow your editorial calendar, publish your content, interact with your audience and use the tools and resources at your disposal. Some tools that can help you implement your strategy are:

Image and video editing apps, such as Canva, VSCO, or InShot, that allow you to create and enhance your visual content with filters, effects, text, and more.
Post scheduling apps, like [Later], [Hootsuite], or [Buffer], that allow you to plan, organize, and automate your content on Instagram and other social networks.
Data analysis applications, such as Metricool, Sprout Social or [Iconosquare], that allow you to measure and evaluate the performance of your account and each post, and obtain insights and recommendations to improve your strategy.

Evaluate and improve your strategy. The last step to gaining real followers on Instagram is to evaluate and improve your strategy, that is, analyze the results you have obtained, compare them with your objectives and your KPIs, and identify the strengths and weaknesses of your strategy.

Based on this analysis, you must take the necessary measures to correct the errors, enhance the successes and optimize your strategy. Some measures you can take are:

Run A/B tests, which involve comparing two versions of the same asset (for example, an image, text, or hashtag) to see which one performs better and why.
Apply the SMART method, which consists of reviewing and adjusting your objectives and KPIs so that they are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound.
Stay on top of trends and developments, which means staying up to date with what's happening in your industry, niche and audience, and adapting your content and strategy to the changes and opportunities that arise.

Written by Moises Hamui Abadi : I am an entrepreneur, founding partner of Viceversa and SoyMacho. After leading several digital businesses and advising several other businesses, I decided to form MHA Consulting, a digital marketing consultancy dedicated to growing and empowering digital businesses in more than 7 countries and generating more than 1,500 million pesos.