Proven Ways to Increase Organic Instagram Growth

Has your Instagram growth become stagnant? You are not alone. Many of the creators and businesses are experiencing the same. Do you know why? It’s because the number of options your audience has is increasing day by day.

With over 2 billion active monthly users, many content creators, influencers, and businesses are competing with each other for their audiences’ attention. Everyone wants to gain more visibility, generate more leads, and attract new followers. 

In the race to increase their numbers, many creators and brands are forgetting the basics. If you really want to grow consistently and sustainably, you should focus on organic Instagram growth. 

What is Organic Instagram Growth?

Increasing your audience and visibility without spending money on any ads or relying on marketing gimmicks is Organic Instagram Growth.

For organic Instagram growth, you use unpaid marketing strategies to attract genuine followers to your business.

Why should I focus on Organic Instagram Growth?

Here are a few reasons why you should focus on Organic Instagram growth:

• It is good for your overall digital presence. 

• It helps you connect with your audience on a more personal level in comparison to paid marketing. 

• It can help in organic sales growth and organic revenue growth as well. 

• Whether you are a creator or a brand, it builds your credibility. 

• It is cost-effective.

We understand that now that you know what is Organic Instagram Growth and how it can help you, you want to know, “How to get organic growth on Instagram?” 

In this blog, we will help you with 9 organic Instagram growth tips that will work wonders for your Instagram, if done rightly.

9 Proven Ways to Increase Organic Instagram Growth

Below are the 9 tips you can use to stand out from your competitors on Instagram and grow organically:

1. Leverage Hashtags Effectively

Hashtags help you increase your reach and introduce you or your brand to a new set of audience. 

Do your research and select hashtags relevant to your content. You can use a mix of popular and niche-specific hashtags. It will help you broaden your visibility while also targeting a more specific audience. 

You can find quality hashtags by thinking about keywords related to your offerings. Think of the most probable keywords that people may use to search for the type of content you are creating.
You can also examine the hashtags being used by your competitors and influencers in your industry. Make it easier for users to find your content. 

For example: If you are a travel blogger, you can use hashtags like #TravelLife #TravelBlogger #Wanderlust, etc.

Identifying and using relevant and popular hashtags will help you with organic Instagram growth.

2. Engage with Your Audience

You don’t have to do IG Lives every day just set aside 20 minutes of your day to engage with your audience. Engaging regularly with your audience with authenticity and honesty will take you a long way when you are trying to grow organically on Instagram.

We have some tips for you as well:

• Host Instagram Q&As once in two weeks. Your answers to your users help them picture you as a person with relatable personality traits.

• We know that you go through your comments. While you do that, replying something witty to some of them will help (not trying hard to be witty replies, something that comes naturally to you and is fun for your followers as well).

• For most people, their favorite word to see or sound to hear is their name (admit it, we all have tried to Google our name and see what appears on the top). Use their first names if you are live or mention their name while replying to their comments. 

• Share stories with them (not just the Instagram once). Your real-life experiences, don’t always have to be motivational, something from your childhood, or school memories will also work. 

When you engage with your audience on a regular basis, it helps you develop a genuine connection with them. It makes them feel validated that they are more than a number to you.

When Elon Musk (a person who is most probably busier than most of us) can take some time out for that, then you can, too.

3. Collaborate With Influencers And Like-Minded Accounts 

When you do an Instagram Collaboration for a post, it appears on the Instagram feed of two users which will result in increased engagement and discoverability. Thus, when you collaborate with a creator or an influencer from your niche, it helps you boost organic reach.

You can reach out to the creators you want to collaborate with directly or through their team (if they have one, the contact details are usually mentioned in their bio).

Collaborating with the right people at the right time will help you immensely in organic Instagram growth.

You can host a live Q&A session with the creator for their audience. Once you have confirmed the collaboration, announce it on your page and ask users to send their questions. Audiences go gaga when their favorite creators answer their questions. And since you are the one acting as a bridge for the same in this case, you will gain some loyal followers for yourself as well when you do that.

4. Optimize posting times and frequency 

Establish a consistent posting schedule to keep your audience engaged and attract new followers. Use Instagram Insights or other analytics to understand your audience’s peak activity times and tweak your posting schedule accordingly.

If you are talking in general, then during weekdays posting 1 or 2 hours before the working hours and after working hours works the best because that’s when the users are active. On the other hand, on weekends posting during morning to afternoon works. 

Aim to post consistently. It can be twice or thrice a week or maybe more sometimes. But make sure you don’t overwhelm your audience with excessive content. Find a bliss point and be consistent to see your Instagram account grow over time.

5. Create Sharable and Engaging Content 

Add this task to the to-do list for increasing your organic Instagram growth.

Research about your target audience, identify their pain points, and try to come up with content ideas that resonate with them. When you create content that is relatable for your audience, they will share it on their feeds or with their friends and family.

Give your audience the content that they can like, comment, and share with the people they know. This enhanced engagement on your Instagram account will boost your organic reach and will also help you create a base of loyal followers.

Also, if you are a brand, sharing User-generated content may help immensely.

User-generated content is the content created by your existing customers promoting or giving reviews for your brand. Sharing this type of content will act as testimonials for your brand. Sharable and engaging content will take you one step forward in generating organic growth.

6. Utilize Instagram Reels

Video posts reportedly get 38% more engagement than posts containing images.

Instagram reels are the most popular format of content being consumed on Instagram. As a creator, you should definitely experiment with reels. These short, creative videos can go viral quickly which will boost your reach significantly.

You can experiment with various reel formats ranging from challenges to trends. If you are creating educational content, you can utilize reels to create short tutorials.

To increase the discoverability of your content, you can make use of trending sounds and hashtags. Today, reels are one of the best and most effective ways to increase the organic growth of your account on Instagram.

7. Host Giveaways and Contests

You would be lying if you said that you don’t get excited whenever there is a discount being offered on your favorite products

People love discounts, freebies, prizes, and giveaways. This is true not for a particular section but for everyone on this planet. Hosting giveaways and contests is an effective Instagram organic growth strategy.

Run contests that encourage user participation through comments to boost your organic reach. Create content to promote the word that you are hosting a contest or a giveaway. Encourage users to follow you for the same and share them with their friends and family by tagging them.

Doing monthly or quarterly giveaways and contests will keep your followers hooked. This increases the chances of them sticking around as they will be looking forward to the next one.

8. Cross Promote your Instagram Account

Whether you are a creator or a brand, you may have accounts on multiple social media platforms, be it Facebook, X, YouTube, etc. 

You can use other platforms you are on to direct your existing audience to your Instagram account as well. You can do so by announcing exclusive content and offers for Instagram users.

Also, you can add prominent social media buttons on your website’s footer, in your e-mail newsletter, etc. to cross-promote your Instagram profile or content.

9. Analyze and Adapt Your Own Strategy

Closely monitor your performance metrics and insights provided by the Instagram analytics tool. Track key metrics such as engagement rate, reach, post performance, and follower growth.

After analyzing this data, you can make data-driven adjustments to optimize your content creation strategy. Whether it is adjusting your posting schedule to align with peak engagement times or refining your hashtag strategy based on tags driving more visibility, tweak your content strategy accordingly to maximize the quality of your organic Instagram growth efforts.

Conclusion

Congratulations! If you made it here all the way through the blog, you are now well-equipped with actionable tips that you can use to grow your Instagram organically. Just remember that you have to be consistent with your efforts and honest in your approach.

Strategize your content, trust the process and numbers will follow. It won’t happen overnight but with consistent efforts, you will see exponential growth on your Instagram account with time.