How to Grow Instagram Followers in 2021

The social media platform, Instagram, has more than one billion monthly users worldwide, and the number keeps on growing each year. People love Instagram because it mostly involves the use of pictures and videos in posts. It is a way for users to express themselves visually without having to use many words.

Instagram is not just used for personal reasons, though. Many entrepreneurs, influencers , and companies have started capitalizing on the platform by using it as an advertising platform. Their objective is to grow a list of loyal followers to their Instagram channels, so they can communicate with them anytime they want.

The Instagram platform has seen updates in recent years , which affect how users gain more followers. Many people want to know how to gain more Instagram followers in 2021. Are there any new ways of doing it? Do some of the old ways still work? Let's find out.

Below are the top 10 ways to grow your Instagram followers in 2021.

1) Create a Brand

Instagram channels are all about branding these days. If you look at any successful Instagram channel, it has its own style and brand associated with it. Each post showcases a particular color scheme, voice tone, personality, and style that makes it unique in comparison to other Instagram channels.

The brand correlates with the niche of your channel too. For instance, if you're in the food and cooking niche, then have brand imagery that reflects exotic foods and beverages. All of your posts should reflect this too.

Your channel will gain more loyal followers if there is a consistent theme to it. Then you'll have followers who you know like your content and want to see more from you.

2) Relevant Hashtags

Relevant hashtags never go out of style to gain more followers. Each time you make an Instagram post, you need to put relevant hashtags in the description box. Hashtags allow other Instagram users to discover your posts by clicking on those hashtags and searching through all the Instagram posts that have those hashtags in them.

Obviously, you'll want to choose hashtags that are the most relevant to your particular niche. That is how you will ensure the right people discover your channel and follow it if they like the content.

Try to use a mixture of different hashtags, some that are trending , and some that you create yourself. Perhaps someone else will take a hashtag you create and use it in their posts too. If they do, your channel will be ranked at the top of the list.

3) Buy Instagram Followers

Sometimes the direct approach works the best. If you r new Instagram channel is struggling to attract followers, it is a good idea to give it a boost at the beginning.

Just buy Instagram followers cheap to increase the follower count on your channel. If you can gain at least 1,000 followers to start, then other people who happen to come across your channel will think of you as a slight authority in your niche. This will motivate them to follow your channel too.

When you purchase the followers, it is best to have them added gradually over a particular period of time. That way, they seem more authentic and original.

4) Create Interesting Captions

Instagram lets you create captions that go on the bottom of your posts. You can really engage your audience and motivate them to take a particular action if you make your captions interesting or creative.

For instance, you could put a caption that asks a question or tags other Instagram users. The idea is to stir up a conversation amongst the viewers and followers. This might motivate them to share your posts with other users and allow them to join the conversation as well. This might earn you several new followers in the process.

5) Add Geotags

If you run a local business or wish to attract local followers, then it is a good idea to add geotags to your media content. Instagram gives users the ability to search for local content. If you want to target these local users, you need to use geotags to do so. Geotags are basically a form of local search engine optimization.

There are online tools that let you generate local geotag metadata for your images and videos. You can find apps that let you do this too. If you're successful, then you'll have more local viewers following your channel.

6) Call to Action

Instagram gives users many ways to add a "call to action" to their posts. A call to action would be something like "shop now," "click here," or "share this content." The purpose is to motivate users to take any action that helps your business or channel in some way.

If you encourage people to follow your channel or share your content, then you should see an increase in your channel's follower count rather quickly.

7) Buy Instagram Likes

Another way to gain momentum for your Instagram posts is to buy Instagram likes. If a post has several likes, it will increase its search visibility on Instagram. In other words, more people will discover your Instagram posts and view their content. If they like what you have to post, it will motivate them to click the "Like" button and possibly follow your channel.

We recommend spreading the purchased likes across several Instagram posts. You won't be able to make one post go viral with purchased likes. But what you can do is draw some attention to your posts so that people will see them. If the content is good enough, they will share your posts with their friends and family. That is how posts go viral.

8) Hire Other Influencers

Find other Instagram influencers within your niche and hire them to promote your channel or posts. This can be an effective strategy because you'll have someone popular promoting your content to people who may be interested in it. You should see a quick boost to your follower count within 24 hours after the influencer promotes your content.

Contrary to popular belief, it does not cost that much money to hire an influencer. You can hire a micro - influencer with 5,000 followers for about $5 to $10 per post. That is still enough followers to give your new channel some recognition.

9) Join Other Conversations

You don't have to restrict yourself to conversations on your own Instagram channel. Look at other popular conversations on channels within your niche and join those discussions. It is an easy way to gain attention to your channel because people will discover it simply by seeing your username in the discussion.

If people like what you have to say in these discussions, they might feel compelled to check out your Instagram channel and see what it is all about. If they like your content, they will follow your channel.

10) Have a Contest

Do you want to encourage more people to share your Instagram posts? You can do so by hosting a contest for your Insta followers. Just write a comment on your post that provides details about the contest.

You could say something like, "Share this post and get it up to 100,000 likes within 48 hours. Once that happens, 50 lucky winners will receive a $20 gift card to YourBusiness.com." Not only would this earn you more followers, but you'd be funneling more customers to your ecommerce website as well.