Mos Clement 26 January 2024

Categories Advertising, Content, Social Media

Instagram Growth Strategies: 9 Practical Ways to Maximize Engagement and Growth

Effective Instagram growth strategies are essential for maximizing your marketing campaign, increasing engagement, and boosting conversions. Think of your Instagram strategy for business growth as a campfire. It doesn't burst into brilliant flames immediately. Does it?

Instead, it gradually grows stronger and brighter as you add progressive, more significant pieces of wood.

Like that campfire, you can effectively amplify your online marketing campaign by applying the best Instagram marketing tactics for growth.

Understanding the effective variations of Instagram's small business growth strategies is like holding the key to a digital maze. It empowers you to guide your marketing effort through the platform judiciously.

Furthermore, it guarantees your content strategy for Instagram drives engagement, increases conversions, and boosts ROIs.

This article will cover three core areas:

1. What are Instagram's Growth Strategies?
2. Why Your Business Should be on Instagram
3. Nine Practical Growth Strategies for Instagram to Grow Your Business

So, let's start with the definition:

What is Instagram Growth Strategy?

Instagram marketing strategies for growth refer to a deliberate and multifaceted approach designed for expanding business growth on the platform.

A stable growth tactic will:

• Amplify your brand's online presence
• Improve engagement
• Increase audience growth
• Drive conversions and sales

The goal is to grow your Instagram followers count, increase search visibility, and build an active, loyal community.

Why Should Your Business be on Instagram?

Your business should be on Instagram because the site is a highly visual platform that allows you to create a compelling brand presence. You can do this by regularly posting captivating photos and videos and interacting with other creators and prospects.

Data by HubSpot reveals that videos and images are the most popular and influential media formats that drive ROIs. For this, 50% of marketers incorporate videos into their marketing strategy, while 47% use images.

Source: HubSpot

So, Instagram is the perfect platform for video content marketing and images. This approach helps you build a solid presence on the site and grow your business.

Also, according to the following Instagram statistics:

• Most Instagram users (90%) follow at least one business account.
• 62% of users express a heightened interest in a brand after encountering it within an Instagram Story.
• Instagram is a research tool for over 80% of users who want to explore and gather information about new products or services.
• A considerable 87% of Instagram users indicate they take some form of action upon coming into contact with a product/service on the platform.

So, Instagram is good for business for multiple reasons. Below are a few more core reasons why your business should be on Instagram:

Instagram's massive user base

Instagram is a popular social media platform, boosting two billion monthly users, particularly among the younger demographic.

Source: Statista

It's worth noting that a survey compiled by Statista revealed that 63% of Instagram users in the United States visit the site or use the app daily.

A staggering 97% of users access the site monthly. Considering the vast number of potential viewers, a carefully tailored Instagram strategy holds the potential for unlimited business success.

This extensive user base increases your chances of reaching and engaging with your audience and prospects.

Visual storytelling

Instagram's emphasis on visual content makes it an ideal platform for your business to demonstrate its products/services and brand values creatively.

Images/visuals have a powerful impact on storytelling. They convey emotions, evoke nostalgia, and capture moments in ways that words cannot. The best part is that Instagram accommodates various snackable content formats for storytelling.

These bite-sized content types include:

• IGTV
• Reels
• Live streams
• Instagram stories
• Standard feed posts

The different content formats offer the flexibility to tell your brand story in various ways. You can post short-lived or temporary stories to longer and more permanent posts and videos.

Furthermore, visual brand storytelling allows you to display your personality, values, and behind-the-scenes moments. It creates a sense of reliability and authenticity with your followers.

Through high-quality visuals, you can tell stories that resonate, build emotional connections, and leave a lasting impact on your target audience.

Enhanced engagement 

Instagram offers a range of interactive features, such as:

• Likes
• Shares
• Comments
• Direct messaging, etc.

These interactive features enable you to engage your audience and clients with visual storytelling content directly.

Responding to comments and messages promptly encourages meaningful connections, addresses customer queries, and builds a local community around your brand.

Moreover, the Instagram 'Explore' page, Geotags, and Hashtags make it easier for users to discover and engage with exciting content.

Hence, users can do the following:

• Interact with your posts
• Share their thoughts
• Ask questions
• Repost your content
• Build solid connections

These activities enhance your content marketing experience, promote engagement, and drive significant marketing results.

Influencer marketing opportunities

Instagram offers remarkable influencer marketing opportunities. Renowned for its influencer culture, collaborating with relevant influencers provides immense exposure, credibility, and access to their loyal followers.

IG influencer partnerships will help you expand your reach, increase brand awareness, and drive conversions.

5 Instagram influencer marketing opportunities you should know:

1. Sponsored posts & stories: You can collaborate with relevant influencers to promote your products or services through sponsored posts and stories. IG influencers will create engaging and authentic content to display your business to followers.
2. Product review: You can send your products/services to influencers to review and share their honest opinions with their followers. This influencer marketing hack helps in building brand trust and credibility.
3. Account takeover: You can invite influencers in your niche to take over your account for a limited time. The influencer will share their experience and engage with your audience during this takeover. It increases brand awareness and exposure.
4. Giveaways and contests: Your business can collaborate with Instagram influencers to conduct giveaways or contests on the site. This step will increase your visibility, follower count, engagement, email signup, and more.
5. Brand ambassadors: When establishing long-term relationships with IG influencers, you can have them as brand ambassadors for your business. This tactic allows them to promote your business to their followers consistently. It creates a sense of loyalty among the influencer's audience and drives conversions.

Analytics and insights

Instagram provides detailed analytics tools that offer valuable insights into audience demography, engagement rates, content performance, and more.

But you must have a professional (business or creator) Instagram account to maximize the analytics. The insights help you understand what works best for your business.

It enables you to refine your Instagram growth strategy for optimal results, giving you an edge over the competition. So, it would help to leverage the Instagram Insights tool to avoid falling behind competitors.

Competitive research

To gain an edge, examine the profiles of competitors you follow to see their posting patterns, comments, and liked posts on the site. However, you can also analyze or view private Instagram profiles of competitors you don't follow.

Viewing successful competitors' or industry leaders' private Instagram accounts lets you gather valuable information about their content strategies. It also gives helpful details of their engagement rates and audience interests.

Furthermore, private Instagram accounts often publish unique, high-quality content inaccessible to the general public. Inspecting these accounts will inspire entertaining content-creation ideas.

It lets you identify emerging trends and formats and adapt your marketing strategies accordingly. This organic social strategy lets you stay relevant and maintain a competitive advantage in your industry.

To see private IG accounts, use a private Instagram viewer app to streamline the process and gain essential insights for growth.

Here are the best free private Instagram viewer apps to consider:

• Instaviews.net
• IGMagnify
• Gwaa.net
• Glassagram

The best Instagram viewer lets you view private IG profiles to gather valuable information about the competition.

Let's consider the nine crucial Instagram marketing strategies for growth:

9 Instagram Growth Strategies to Maximize ROIs

These social media strategies will help you achieve the following results:

• Build a vibrant Instagram community
• Expand your brand reach
• Drive organic growth
• Boost conversion and sales
• Increase ROIs

Let's explore the strategies:

1. Create an Instagram post calendar that aligns with your marketing goals

Instagram is a crucial component of a comprehensive marketing strategy to integrate into your content strategy seamlessly. It consolidates well with all forms of marketing content, including email campaigns and other social media platforms.

However, enhancing your Instagram marketing plan requires careful consideration of your marketing calendar and generating relevant content ideas specific to each initiative.

For example, if you have a product launch in the pipeline, planning Instagram content to encompass all the launch stages is essential.

These include the following content types:

1. Teasers
2. Whiteboards
3. Whitepapers
4. Spreadsheets
5. Announcements
6. Pre-launch shoutouts
7. Influencer collaborations
8. Getting current customers involved
9. Behind-the-scenes product in production

This marketing technique ensures maximum engagement and anticipation among your followers. Therefore, collaborate with your team to create an Instagram calendar that meets your needs.

Furthermore, as you brainstorm relevant content ideas, determine the goal you want to achieve with each post. It lets you effectively position your IG strategy with your business objectives. Learn how to create a social media calendar.

2. Diversify your Instagram posts

Diversifying your posts on Instagram is crucial for a successful Instagram marketing strategy. It lets you experiment with various content formats to accommodate different audience preferences.

This technique helps engage followers, prevent monotony, and attract broader audiences you may not have reached.

It lets you determine what posts resonate best with your target audience and helps you optimize your content accordingly. Moreover, varied posts on Instagram provide opportunities to display different aspects of your brand, products, or services.

That way, you reinforce your brand image and increase the chance of reaching a wider audience. Given this, your Instagram content plan must accommodate the five types of posts on Instagram.

5 types of posts to add to your Instagram content strategy:

1. Reels
2. Feed posts
3. IG videos
4. Instagram stories
5. Live broadcasts.

3. Modify your Instagram posting schedule

Determining the proper posting schedule is crucial for a successful Instagram marketing campaign. It means balancing posting enough content to drive results and not overwhelming your audience with posts.

Research suggests that the appropriate posting frequency varies based on your account size. For example, small accounts can publish multiple times weekly, while larger accounts can increase their publishing frequency.

The timing of your posts plays a significant role in your success. Posting when your followers and prospects are online increases your audience's chances of seeing and engaging with your content.

To determine when your followers are most active on the social media platform, access your Instagram Insights to gather valuable data/insights.

Here's how:

From your profile page, click the 'Professional dashboard' tab below your bio to access the 'Insights' page.

On the 'Insights' page, click on 'Total Followers.' It will take you to the 'Followers' page.

Here, you will see the following stats:

• Total number of your followers
• Growth stats
• Top locations
• Age range
• Gender, and
• Most active times

Scroll to the bottom to view the 'Most active times' when your followers are on the site.

The screenshots are from the mobile version of your followers' Insights report. So, if you're accessing Instagram from your PC (laptop), click the 'View Insights' tab below your bio, and you will see all the above data.

Incorporate the data into your Instagram posting schedule and use the best apps to schedule Instagram posts to maximize reach.

4. Align your content strategy with the audience's evolving desires

To effectively engage your audience on the site, tailor your organic content strategy to match their changing choices. Understanding your audience is essential to achieving your Instagram marketing goals.

How to gain audience insights:

To gain insights about your audience, follow the steps in section three above. Navigate to your Insights dashboard and select 'Total Followers.' This record gives you a comprehensive knowledge of your audience's demographics.

Furthermore, click the 'Accounts Reach' tab from the Insights dashboard to view helpful information about your Post reach for followers and non-followers.

Also, click the 'Account engage' tab to see how users interact with your posts on the site. You will see a breakdown of content interactions and the type of content that drives the most engagement.

The report also displays details about your 'Profile visit' and 'External link click' at the bottom of the page. This information gives you a better understanding of what post types to create to reach more people. 

Monitoring this data provides valuable information that enables you to continuously produce helpful marketing content that resonates with your audience.

5. Make your Instagram bio searchable

An optimized Instagram bio space is vital as it becomes searchable on the platform. Your audience and prospects can quickly find you. Besides, it is the first impression potential clients get about your business. So, it allows you to introduce your brand to potential followers.

As a result, a well-optimized bio can attract more engagement and followers, enhance your presence, and drive more traffic to your website, blog, or landing page.

It helps people understand who you are, what you do, and what value they can expect from following you. Furthermore, a well-crafted Instagram bio with relevant keywords and hashtags will improve your discoverability on Instagram's 'Explore' feature.

Hence, an optimized profile bio is crucial for making a positive impression and attracting the right audience. Your Instagram bio ideas may be great, but they must accommodate the six critical elements of a perfect Instagram bio.

There are:

1. Brand images or profile photo
2. Instagram handle or username
3. Your business/company name
4. A compelling Instagram bio copy or description
5. Call-to-action (CTA)
6. Essential bio link(s)

Readers should immediately grasp your company's purpose, how it can benefit them, and where to find additional information.

The goal is to convey your brand identity, engage followers, and drive desired actions such as following you, visiting links, or purchasing products/services.

Example of an optimized Instagram bio space 

Bliss's Instagram bio example hit all six benchmarks of a compelling profile. It displays one of the best Instagram profile bio ideas to inspire your creativity.

The company name (brand identity) is consistent with its username (Instagram handle) and logo (profile photo or image). It also displays a compelling bio description that combines proof of the brand's credibility.

The screenshot below shows how the beauty brand maximized its bio section:

Next, the copywriting team crafted a subtle CTA directing followers and visitors to platforms where they can buy their products. They round it up with a link to their product/landing page where online shoppers can find various products.

How to optimize your bio space on Instagram 

Creating a compelling Instagram bio is crucial for making a solid first impression and attracting targeted followers. However, if you have already written yours, learn how to edit your bio on Instagram and optimize your reach.

Here are 7 tips for optimizing an engaging bio:

1. Be clear and concise: Your bio on Instagram must concisely convey who you are or what your brand represents. Tell followers how your products or services can help them.
2. Highlight your unique selling point (USP): Define and demonstrate what separates you from the competition. Whether it's your expertise or a unique offering, ensure it's prominently mentioned in your bio to attract and engage your audience.
3. Use applicable keywords and hashtags: Include relevant keywords and hashtags to optimize your bio for Instagram search visibility. This trick helps users find your profile for related topics or interests.
4. Show your brand personality: Inject personality into your bio to give it a human touch. Use a friendly and engaging tone that resonates with your audience and prospects. Use applicable emojis, humor, or clever wordplay to make your bio stand out.
5. Add a compelling call-to-action (CTA): Encourage visitors to take action by including a clear CTA in your bio. It could be asking users to visit your website, shop your products, sign up for your mailing list, or follow a specific hashtag.
6. Add social proof: If you have notable achievements featured in the media, include them in your bio. Get the blue badge, testimonials, or customer reviews to help build credibility.
7. Test and analyze various elements: Experiment with different components in your bio to see what connects best with your followers. Monitor Instagram Insights to understand which parts of your  Instagram bio ideas attract the most engagement and adjust accordingly.

Your Instagram bio is a valuable piece of online real estate. It should accurately represent your business, engage your target audience, and entice followers to explore your content further.

6. Align your Instagram copy with your brand objective

To guarantee Instagram success stories, align your Instagram captions with your business's ultimate goal. More than simply relying on posts or visuals to drive results is required.

Your Instagram copy must be persuasive to drive the desired action. Since you will be publishing various Instagram post formats, all elements associated with your posts must compel users to act.

These elements are:

• Post copy or caption
• Text overlays
• Live scripts

Jointly, these components are called 'Instagram copy.' The intent is to drive action and increase audience engagement. Making these ingredients persuasive with convincing CTAs is an effective audience engagement strategy you must apply for optimal ROIs.

So, strategically use CTAs in your captions and scripts to encourage various forms of engagement.

For example, you can use CTA to ask followers to do the following:

1. Make comments (share their thoughts or opinions to promote a sense of community.
2. Like and double-tap your post to express appreciation for the content.
3. Ask questions to help with market research and generating entertaining content ideas.
4. Prompt users to swipe an image to view more content in a carousel or explore tagged products in your Instagram shop
5. Encourage users to tag their friends who might be interested in your post.
6. Direct users to click the link in your bio or story to lead them to your website, product/service page, or online store

Here's a practical example of how @CopyPosse used CTAs in her post and Instagram caption copy to encourage followers to swipe and explore her content further.

You can use the CTA hack in other Instagram post formats to urge followers to take the desired action based on your marketing objective. This organic growth strategy will help you drive better results and gain Instagram success.

7. Strengthen your content strategy with influencer UGC

Creating content for your brand's Instagram account doesn't have to be limited to in-house production. You can leverage influencer user-generated content (UGC) to enhance ROIs.

This content marketing method is a viable Instagram growth strategy. It helps you achieve better results than when relying on in-house content creation.

UGC, which includes photos and videos shared by happy customers, plays a significant role in influencing consumer buying decisions.

According to user-generated content statistics, UGC has emerged as a powerful content marketing tool. Data shows that almost 60% (58.6%) of users interact with social media UGC.

Source: Linearity

Further research shows the following user-generated content statistics:

• Companies that add UGC to their content strategy increase engagement by 25%
• 60% of consumers say they will produce user-generated content for brands that reward them.
• UGC videos attract 10x more views than the standard in-house brand videos
• Approximately 85% of respondents confirmed that UGC has more influence than brand photos and videos.
• The trust level of UGC for reviews and testimonials is over 90% higher than for traditional advertising.
• 75% of companies acknowledged that integrating UGC enhanced their content marketing strategies.
• Instagram posts using UGC attract 70% more engagement than those featuring brand content.

What does this data mean to you?

It demonstrates the significance of UGC and its consistent expansion in the content marketing industry. The best part is that technological advancements offer you more excellent opportunities to generate entertaining content that connects with your target customers.

Examples of user-generated content on Instagram

Let us look at a few UGC examples to inspire your marketing effort.

Glossier

Glossier, a beauty brand, increases engagement by featuring customer-submitted photos and videos and encouraging stories on Instagram.

They also cross-promote the content across their social media pages to increase engagement. Instead of outsourcing to costly models, the brand accepts the trend of sharing UGC of user-submitted photos.

Furthermore, the beauty company reposts customers' content to increase interaction. This strategy has proven effective, as reposting the photos creates even more engagement from their followers.

GoPro

The GoPro brand is famous among outdoor enthusiasts as it offers durable, high-quality cameras. People love filming their adventurous outdoor activities, creating stunning shots shared worldwide.

The user-generated content displays how GoPro enhances the capture of images and videos. The company also encourages followers to buy their products, take photos, and make videos by giving incentives or rewards for best-submitted pictures and videos.

That way, they convince potential customers to purchase and share their creations with fellow adventurers.

How to incorporate UGC into your IG content strategy 

To add user-generated content to your Instagram feed, you need an organized workflow for collecting customer-created posts.

Here is the process:

1. Understand UGC: Start by understanding customer-created photos or UGC and how they can benefit your Instagram content strategy.
2. Encourage user participation: Stimulate followers to create and share relevant UGC. You can do this by running contests, creating branded hashtags, or asking your audience to tag you in their posts.
3. Post UGC on your profile: Once you start receiving UGC, feature them on your Instagram profile. They add authenticity and social proof to your brand image, making it valuable to your Instagram strategy. Create a dedicated highlight or story section specifically for UGC.
4. Repurpose UGC in your regular content: Incorporate UGC into your standard content mix by sharing them in your feed or stories. Also, use them in captions as testimonials or social proof. This tactic will diversify your content and display real-time experiences and perspectives from your audience.
5. Track branded hashtags and mentions: Tacking these elements helps you discover relevant UGC you can reshare or repost. When you find exciting posts, contact the original creators via Instagram's direct messaging (DM) to obtain permission to share their content.
6. Monitor and moderate submitted content: While UGC can bring many benefits, you should monitor and moderate the content associated with your brand. Set up notifications for tagged posts and regularly review submissions to ensure they align with your brand's values and guidelines. Provide constructive feedback or contact the creators to address any concerns if needed.
7. Give credit to UGC creators: Always credit user-generated content creators appropriately. Tag them in captions, mention their handles, or use features like the 'Tagging' option to attribute the content to the original creator. It shows your respect for their work and promotes positive relationships with your audience.
8. Analyze and track performance: Track your UGC performance for a specific period. Monitor engagement metrics like likes, comments, and shares to understand which types of customer-created content resonate most with your audience. Use the insights to refine your UGC strategy and encourage more of the well-performing content.

Apply these simple workflows and use applicable Instagram marketing tools to streamline your efforts and form official customer partnerships. This system will help grow your brand quickly on the platform.

8. Simplify purchases with the Instagram Shopping tool 

You can facilitate buyer purchases with Instagram Shopping tools. Using this tool is a rewarding Instagram strategy for business growth. However,  it would help if you created a Meta (Facebook) Commerce Manager account to use the software.

What is Meta (Facebook) Commerce Manager? 

Commerce Manager is the primary platform for managing your online sales on Instagram and Facebook. The tool allows you to manage selling activities on both sites from one platform.

Source: Meta

The Facebook Commerce Manager provides diverse functionalities, such as:

• Shop setup
• Sales monitoring
• Product catalog management
• Checkout activation for eligible businesses.

Therefore, if you run an eCommerce business, including the Instagram Shopping tool in your posts is highly recommended.

It lets you:

• Reach more customers
• Highlight products without a glitch
• Make your products easily accessible to consumers
• Connect with customers where they are

To use the IG Shopping tool, connect your business' Facebook page to Commerce Manager and upload a product catalog. 

Afterward, open your Instagram app, access the 'Account Settings,' and choose 'Business.' Then click 'Set Up Instagram Shopping' to enable the tool and finalize the setup process.

After enabling the shopping function, Instagram users can easily browse your eCommerce catalog by clicking the 'View Shop' button on your profile page.

Furthermore, you can tag products in your photos, videos, reels, and stories, allowing customers to begin shopping instantly. The IG Shopping tool has another significant benefit. 

What's that?

Even if you don't have an eCommerce platform, you can add external links in your Stories to other marketers' products.

How?

Create a story and use the 'Link Sticker' in the IG's 'Sticker Tray.' Additionally, you can customize the text on the sticker with compelling CTAs to improve click-through rates (CTRs).

How to insert product stickers in Stories on Instagram 

To assign product tags, your business or online store must be set up on Instagram appropriately. 

So, follow the steps below to add product stickers in IG Stories:

1. Start by tapping the '➕' sign or 'Create new' (depending on your device) button and choosing the 'Story' option.
2. Pick the desired photo or video from your collection to upload. Next, choose the product sticker in the 'Stick Tray.'
3. From your catalog, select the collection, storefront, or specific product(s)  you wish to highlight.
4. Once finished, click on 'Done.'
5. Adjust the position of the sticker within the story to your preference. Also, you can change the sticker style by tapping on it.
6. Next, click the '⏭️' icon or 'Next' and choose the intended audience for your story.
7. Finally, tap on 'Share,' and you're all set.

That's it; your product sticker will become visible on your Instagram Stories.

*Important* All products undergo thorough review and approval per Meta Commerce policies.

9. Get the coveted Instagram verification badge 

Another unique but overlooked tactic for boosting your Instagram growth strategy is to obtain the IG blue verification badge.

The purpose of a verified Instagram badge is to confirm your account's authenticity as a credible individual or brand. In other words, having the blue checkmark boosts your trust level on the site and sets you apart from the rest.

Here's an excellent example of the Instagram blue badge on Her Agency's account. 

The badge prevents impersonation and improves engagement. So, to accelerate Instagram growth, purchase a verified badge subscription through your profile and meet Meta's activity requirements.

Verification comes with instant credibility, allowing you to enjoy higher search rankings and engagement rates.

Wrapping Up Instagram Growth Strategies 

There are various methods to increase your Instagram followers and brand presence steadily. However, you must apply the appropriate marketing techniques to remain competitive and ensure user engagement and customer satisfaction. So, develop an effective Instagram growth plan that aligns with your business goals.

Implementing strategies such as creating diverse content and promoting user relationships through engagement and consistent posting can drive success.

As you apply these techniques, monitor or track Instagram analytics regularly to evaluate your account growth. Identifying significant spikes in engagement on specific days and analyzing the content posted during those periods provides valuable insights for growth.

The IG analysis allows you to study the most effective Instagram tactics and refine your strategy for better content performance and ROIs.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) 

If you want more answers about this topic, get your questions answered with our Instagram growth strategy FAQs below:

What are the best strategies for Instagram growth? 

Instagram has multiple strategies for growth. However, consistently post high-quality content, engage with your followers, use relevant hashtags, collaborate with other creators and niche influencers, run contests or giveaways, and leverage Instagram's Reels, Stories, and IGTV.

What are the best times to post on Instagram? 

The optimal timing for IG posts depends on your target audience and geolocation. However, Monday to Friday weekdays, 11 am-3 pm, work best. Experiment with different posting times to determine when your followers are most active on the site.

How can I create an Instagram growth plan? 

Define your target audience, set clear marketing goals, curate engaging content, optimize your IG profile, develop a content calendar and strategy, research popular hashtags in your niche, maintain a regular posting schedule, and analyze your performance for continued improvement.

How frequently should I post on Instagram? 

Consistency is crucial for a successful Instagram marketing campaign. Aim for at least three weekly posts to maintain engagement and interest in your followers. Post a mix of media content (reels, carousels, stories, etc.).

How can I grow my followers to 1,000 fast on Instagram?

To reach the 1,000-follower mark quickly, convert your existing personal account into a professional Instagram business or creator profile. Or set up a new Instagram professional account. Then, maintain a regular posting schedule and create compelling captions and relevant hashtags. Develop a content calendar to help maintain consistency. Also, actively interact with your followers. These Instagram hacks will guarantee you success.