3 of The Best Strategies For Instagram Growth

Hey guys, was just reading a ton of articles online on Instagram growth to try and see the latest and newest strategies and realized that many of these articles were going over the same strategies like the follow/ unfollow and the hashtags but they weren't focusing on better strategies that I have used and heard of larger accounts using as well that got solid and engaged growth.

While the follow and unfollow method or even following a ton of large accounts method might work, these methods don't get you real or engaged followers. This leads you to having a large amount of followers that don't give a fuck about you and don't even look at your posts... leaving you with low engagement.

There are much better ways to grow out there that can be just as fast and generate you real and engaged followers.

So I narrowed down three of my favorite that have worked for me and other accounts to grow.

Engagement Groups or Instagram "Pods"

After Instagram changed its algorithm of it;s timeline, many accounts saw lowered engagement on their profiles because the algorithm was only putting the top posts first on the timeline.

This led many account of all sizes to form groups, or what they called "pods," in order to keep their posts on the top of the timelines... and this is something you should defiantly be doing, if you are not already!

Essentially these groups are where users come together and promise to like and comment on each others posts so that the engagement on them is higher and the posts are then placed higher on the timeline and in the hashtags for more people to see. It really does work.

Some of these groups can be hundreds of users where they have bots to like all the accounts for them, if you happen to be in one of these groups the favored bot across the platform is the Like List Bot (just google it).

These groups also range from smaller ones that you can create with some other pages you have relationships with on Instagram direct message to larger groups on messaging apps like Telegram. Both work well so diversify!

To find these groups, start with the smaller ones on Instagram by direct messaging some accounts you have relationships with, even if you don't know them you can still reach out and see if they want to join, and then creating a group direct message where you send all your posts to for people to like and comment. To find the telegram groups usually you can use Google Search to find "Instagram Pods" and then there are tons of websites dedicated to them. Some are going to be "pay to play" so do your research on the group and ask questions before paying your marketing money!

Cross Promotions

Say you have a larger audience or amount of followers on Facebook, Twitter or Snapchat and want them to go and check out your Instagram account. You could just tell them to go check it out but that could be very ineffective, rather give them a reason to go over there.

A great way I learned about and found worked well for my cross promotions was to offer exclusive content on your Instagram that you don't have anywhere else like a free eBook, some video lessons or just a few stories that aren't anywhere else. Then promote these on your other platforms and give your followers over there a reason to go and follow your Instagram... Some great examples are listed below:

• The first ______ people to go follow me on Instagram will get a FREE shout out
• The last person to comment on my last Instagram post will get _______!
• Exclusive How To Guide for ________ over on my Instagram right now!
• Want more content like this? Well I post it exclusively on my Instagram so head over there and throw me a follow for more!

Promotions on Instagram & Shout Outs on Large Pages

Probably a more well known strategy but it is one of the most effective when you use it right... and many people aren't. the name of this game is all about attention and getting seen (and on) as many pages as possible.

There is two ways to approach this, the paid way and then the other paid/ possibly FREE way:)

The first paid way is by creating an ad for Instagram, ideally a video using iMovie (then trim it down to a size that fits Instagram, and then paying a relatively small amount of money to promote this within the Instagram app. This is easy and to promote you just hit the little promote button under your follower count on Instagram, make sure you have a business account first.  If you don't have a business account you can convert yours to one for free in Instagram through the settings.

The next way is also going to be using that same ad but instead of paying to promote on Instagram you are going to promote to other accounts, ideally 10K+ followers or a smaller account with more engaged followers.

Depending on the size of your account you could do a shoutout for shoutout with a handful of accounts for them to promote your ad and you promote their page. 

If you have a smaller account you could reach out to promote on a ton of other small accounts but a better option will be to pay a small amount to be featured on a large account, well worth it in the long run! You could also offer them a service or product in return for their promotion of you. Like send them a product or offer a service if they promote you page, this also works if you ask enough accounts!

Hope you all took away something new from this post that you didn't know before! Now go out and take action, I kept it short so that you could learn and then take action asap!

-Taylor