Before we get into this (before “you” get into this), please be ready to unlearn everything you’ve learned because this blog might hurt your feelings!
Well, if you are not emotional about your Instagram account, it will be an eye-opener for you and might help you to think fresh and work on your Instagram account in a different way than most of the people who are trying to grow their Instagram page using “Instagram Hacks”.
Instagram Hacks or Instagram Followers Hacks, when you read it, implies easy ways to crack the code for Instagram growth. But do hacks really work? Are Instagram hacks easy to follow for real? If Instagram Followers’ “Hacks”, as they call it, were so effective, wouldn’t most accounts reach their goals?
If you have read another article and are still here to know about Instagram Hacks which might or might not be effective, then I know that either the previous Instagram hacks are not effective enough or you don’t really trust them.
In any case, you are wise! Because you are doing the right thing as this shows that you really want to grow your Instagram account and that you are ready to learn not just hacks but the real deal to grow your Instagram account.
So, let us get started!
1. Don’t waste much time strategising your feed content
What? Should I even read further? I should rather go back to read one of those “Instagram Hacks” articles.
You must be wondering that all the other blogs tell you to focus on the Strategy and this blog is a bit offbeat.
If you are just starting your official Instagram, or you’ve been struggling to grow your page, this strategy of not having a strategy will work the best for you.
You need to simply analyse what your brand/account is about; which, I assume, you already know. Which is why you thought of bringing it online, right?
When you know what your account is about, start thinking and working right then, on your ideas. Simply make content on things that you think might work for your target audience.
If your account is related to a creative set of audiences, you know that creative work, pictures, the process, and some easy-to-remember but exciting trivia may interest your audience.
You cannot be sure, you need to test. This is why you need to start experimenting quicker than normal.
Always remember that our audience is real people. Real people are different in many ways and not every human can like the same content. Even if they belong to the same interest group, they might have a different vision and taste about the same thing.
So, the best way to know what might work is to actually work it out! If you think of a content piece that you think is good enough to be posted, create a post and simply post it.
You shouldn’t think about whether or not it will fit in your Instagram feed because of the colors or any other factor.
In the process of gaining new followers on Instagram, we tend to forget our current and active followers. You should always serve your existing followers as they will keep your account alive. You need to maintain your numbers in order to make Instagram realise that you are being liked by your followers and you deserve more of such followers. The algorithm of Instagram doesn’t need you to know Instagram Hacks or Hacks for gaining followers on Instagram.
It wants you to make good, connecting, creative posts.
It doesn’t expect you to do a technical adaptation. Just know your game and put it out there so the others can relate and connect/enjoy your accounts’ content. So, keep on creating interesting content without worrying about the strategy. The only hack/strategy is to get started and stay consistent.
Once you start working on ideas and posting them, after a few weeks you’ll understand what people really like and if you analyse it by simply scanning through your posts or through Instagram Insights, you’ll get it and create more of that type of content.
2. Don’t make competitor’s account your inspiration
Another “hack-buster” for you. An Instagram Hack that is often being talked about but not explained the right way.
If an Instagram hack is not explained well, is it even a hack?
Sometimes using this hack works completely in the wrong way for many who try to grow their Instagram Followers.
So, what do I really mean by not getting inspired by the competitors?
See, if somebody is your competitor, their target audience should be the same as yours. If you are making the same kind of content that your competitor makes, why would they follow you? Unless you are making memes or selling the same quality of the same product for cheap!
If you see something working for your competitor, you can definitely take notes and work on an even better idea using their ideas only as a base. Example,(find two identical brands and take screenshots to explain)
3. Are you really working too hard on Hashtags? Please stop!
This awful little Instagram Follower hack is so easy to understand, but this is what happens.
When someone asks you a very basic question, we tend to go beyond the basic understanding of a concept and try to answer the question thinking you are being intelligent and after getting the answer you realise you’ve been pretty dumb in the process of trying to be intelligent.
What are hashtags?
They are keywords. They should be used to make your target audience discover you.
If somebody is truly wanting to find something they should only reach that kind of product/service/post. Which is what Instagram wants for its users.
So if your post is about chocolate cake, use only hashtags relevant to chocolate cakes and a few hashtags to cakes and bakeries.
You shouldn’t be using #Like4Like or #Blissful #Beautiful or #Art even if you think that your cake is beautiful.
So do not take hashtags as Instagram Hacks but as common sense. It is a tool to use with the purpose of showing genuinely related posts.
Instagram should not get confused and end up showing the post to irrelevant users or not showing the post to anybody at all!
Also, getting confused about how many hashtags to use is also not needed. This again is a “hack” as many blogs claim it to be.
Some say use all 30. Others say to never use all 30. And some say the hack is to use only 10-12 hashtags.
But really, it is not irrelevant. If you find 30 hashtags that are absolutely relevant to your post, use them all. If you think only 5 are relevant, use only 5.
There are no hard and fast rules to it.
Why would Instagram give us an option to use up to 30 hashtags if we should have strictly all 30 hashtags? Or, if using all 30 hashtags is a bad thing, Instagram would have given us a smaller limit.
Instagram would have given an absolute number or range if it would have wanted us to use a specific number or range.
Also, Instagram is not your enemy to keep you busy finding follower hacks or growth hacks instead of letting you focus on your real work. Duh!
So, do not think, Hashtags will make or break your account. It is just a small tool for you to make your account visible to your target audience. And, that, the target audience will only engage with you if your content is good. Using only hashtag hacks or some strategy without truly putting effort into building your content will land you nowhere near your goal.
Now, what should you really do to increase your reach and followers on Instagram?
The answer is simple. Make good content and stay active to know more about the platform itself.
Focus on user experience. What is it really that can attract your target audience? How can you connect with them? What would people really enjoy knowing and genuinely learning?
Create and connect, that’s what you should focus on.
While you do that, do not forget to do ads. Instagram ads can help you way better than any Instagram Hack would ever do!
So build your brand with quality content, relevant hashtags, and promotions.
Good luck! Send us an email at info@webignito.com if you have any questions. We would love to help you.
P.S. Don’t hesitate to reach out to us thinking we are an agency and that we might try to sell a service. We promise we won’t! We’ll try our level best to help you.