Correct me if I am wrong. The first goal of almost every Instagram marketer is reaching that 1,000 followers. That first big milestone.
And you know what? That milestone will change everything. Why?
You see, the growth before 1K is painfully slow. You put a lot of effort into your Instagram marketing but you see less then stellar results.
But after you pass the 1,000 followers mark, the growth will start to take off. And that’s why reaching that milestone is so important.
But the problem is, how the hell are you going to achieve it? That is a tough task.
And for that reason, you’ve started reading this blog post. And it was a great decision. Why?
Because today, I will give you the exact step-by-step blueprint for achieving this amazing milestone. Interested? Alright, let’s take a look at it…
1. Start With Profile Optimization
Well, as you can see on the image above, there is a plenty to profile optimization. But, it is not as hard as it might seem.
Let’s take a look at it step-by-step…
Give Them A Reason To Follow You In The Bio
Of course, the Instagram profile optimization always starts with having a great bio. And the first thing that you should do is to give them a reason to follow you in it.
This can be as simple as saying, “I help entrepreneurs double their revenue.”
But, why is this step so important?
Well, have you ever followed somebody for the sake that they’ve created their own Instagram profile?
Hell no.
You follow people because they add value to your life in some way. Whether it is education, entertainment, visual experience, etc.
That is why it is so important. There has never been a successful leader born without giving a promise to their followers.
Use High-Search Keywords In Your Headline
This goes hand to hand with driving the traffic to your profile. When you use a high-search keyword in your headline, people will easily find you in the search.
And that is really important.
If you are on the first place, you can easily grow by tens or hundreds of followers per day. So, do not neglect this important step.
Show The Authority In The Bio
Another thing that you have to do in the bio is to show the reader who you are and why they should trust you.
Here, you want to make sure that you talk about your achievements. Are you certified? Have you generated a revenue for businesses? Are you an author? And so on.
But be sure that you mention it. The end statement can look like this, “Certified Instagram marketer.”
Do Not Forget To Add The Call To Action Into Your Bio
Well, you are on Instagram for one and one reason only, right? And that reason is to make money. If you are on Instagram to be social, get out immediately!
The point is, if you want to make money from Instagram, you have to tell your audience what to do next.
That is why the last sentence in your bio should be your call to action. It will significantly increase your website taps, and you will make the most out of your IG.
Again, here is an example of how it can look like:
“Hit the link below and join the F.R.E.E.D.O.M. challenge now!”
Use The Right Bio Link
Now is the time to choose where you want to redirect your followers. This should clearly align with your call to action.
Make Your Highlights Interesting
Your highlights are an important part of the profile optimization. They are the front-line story content your traffic is probably going to check.
That is why you must make them interesting. How do you do that?
First, pick good thumbnails. The examples below show exactly how it should look like:
Of course, the thumbnails can look differently, but these are some amazing examples. Well, now when you know what thumbnails to choose, let’s take a look at the second step and that is strategically creating the reel content.
As you can see, in the example above from Social Sam, you can see that she clearly uses the highlights for selling purpose. And you can do that as well.
Create a perfect message for each highlight and showcase your products and services.
It works incredibly.
Choose The Right Profile Picture
Choosing the right profile pic is an essential part of the first impression. You should put a clear photo of your face here or your business’s logo. Both things work pretty well.
I cover that into more depth in my book.
Now, with your profile optimized, let’s move on to the next major factor in your 0 – 1,000 followers journey. And that is…
2. Create Raving Instagram Content
If you want to achieve the 1K milestone, there is another thing that you need to master. And that is your content.
The majority of your success lies in it. The amount of engagement, growth, and also sales you will make is based heavily on the content you create.
If you are going to create content that is high-quality and your audience wants to see it, you will win. But if you create salesy, promotional “me-me-me“ boring type of content, you are going to fail.
There are 3 pillars for creating amazing content:
- Value
- Presentation
- Relevancy
Now, let’s take a closer look at each pillar.
Value
To make your audience come back to you and to be able to attract new followers, your content must provide them with value.
I just want to mention that there are many kinds of value. The most important types that are on Instagram are:
- Education
- Entertainment
- Inspiration
You must determine the type you are going to flood your content with based on your target audience.
Each audience wants something different. For example, start-up entrepreneurs don’t care about entertainment as much as they care about the education and inspiration.
Do you get the concept?
Alright, so let’s move on to the next step.
Presentation
The next thing that you have to do is to choose the way that you will present the content to your audience.
This includes: the design, the format (stories, carousels, regular photos, sizes, etc.), the branding elements, etc.
The thing that matters the most in presentation is how you are going to tell the message, and the design that is going to support it.
I just want to tell you that you want to stick with your branded style and make the message as clear as possible. And most importantly, check the data and constantly improve yourself in every single way.
That is what matters the most…
Relevancy
I’ve already mentioned that in the value section. If you are not relevant, you are going to fail at this.
That is why you want to carefully study your target audience and design the content based on their pains, fears, wants, and desires.
Taking this step only will skyrocket your success.
Now, that you know the three pillars of raving content, we will take a look at another essential part of your Instagram growth.
And that is driving the people that you are targeting to your profile.
3. Drive Traffic To Your Profile
There are many things that you can do for driving traffic to your profile. In the image above, I share the most important types of traffic generation.
Let’s make one thing clear right away. If you are not able to drive traffic to your profile, how the hell can you get more followers?
You just can’t turn 0 into 10. That is impossible. And for that reason I will show you 6 steps for driving a maximum amount of traffic to your profile.
Let’s get into it…
Trending Content
Jumping on trending content is one of the best ways to increase your reach and drive new followers to your profile.
As you already noticed, in 2021 the trending content is definitely Instagram reels. And you know what? They work extremely well.
If you create a reel that is entertaining or educative in any way it can go viral. And once it goes viral you can achieve hyper-growth.
But hunting “viral” is not what I am talking about. As you know, every reel that you create has almost double the reach your IGTV videos or even posts have.
And that is because they are trending now. So, whenever you see something like that, do not hesitate and jump on that opportunity right away!
Shares
The best way to get shares is to create shareable content.
“But Filip, how am I going to do that?”
Well, it is not as hard as you think. You just have to make the post SO VALUABLE that it will blow your audience’s socks off!
That is the best way to get more shares. So, outvalue your competition and make sure that your content is worth sharing before you post it.
Cross-Platform Promotion
Cross-platform promotion is a great way to drive new and new traffic to your profile. If you are on Twitter, Facebook, or you have a website (which is necessary for monetization), you can easily drive new traffic to your profile from these channels.
It is a fantastic way to grow.
Commenting
Commenting is one of the best growth hacks out there. It gives you more exposure and it can easily grow your account from zero to hero.
Go to the comment section of an industry leader, find some relevant accounts and start commenting on their posts.
But you want to make sure that the comments are valuable and they don’t look like this “🥂🔥😉”.
Collaborations
One of the best ways to get more exposure and drive more traffic to your profile is through collaborations.
When you collaborate with somebody, and you create a guest post for each other’s account, you will soon discover that it is one of the most powerful ways to make their audience follow you, and your audience follow them.
You don’t want to miss out on this massive opportunity.
Hashtags
Hashtags are a classic. I believe that you hear about them every single day.
“You need to have a great hashtag strategy!”
“If you don’t choose hashtags you are dead!”
Well, I simply do not believe in that. You can have a great hashtag strategy and still gain close to zero reach. But whether you like it or not, hashtags still drive some people to your account.
That is why you want to use them. But, simply they’re not as important as those “Instagram gurus” are telling you they are.
Filip Konecny 