Alright, do you want to get your first 10,000 Instagram followers? Do you want to reach the massive turnaround milestone on your Instagram page?
Well, if you do, in this blog post you are going to discover how to do it.
But not the classic “create great content“ stuff about reaching the milestone. Well, it is more than necessary, but today I will show you the ELITE stuff most “experts” will not show you.
So, read carefully, turn off your Facebook, close yourself in a room, and let’s dive into it…
1. Understand The Market
Understanding the market is more than essential. You have to be able to know how others are creating their content, and what they are doing.
To make it simpler, here is a list of exactly what you need to do:
- Find leading accounts in your industry
- Check how they are creating their content
- Study their content strategy
- See how they are engaging with other profiles
- Check how they have optimized their page
- See what hashtags they are using
- Spy on them every single day to immediately see if there is something that has changed
When you know what they are doing, you will also know how to get started yourself.
Spying on the leading accounts in your industry is more than helpful and it works. Do not skip this step under any circumstances.
2. Understand Your Target Audience
Whether you like it or not, you have to understand your target audience. Otherwise, you are not going to be able to appeal to them, and in the end – sell them.
Before you even start with Instagram marketing make sure that you ask yourself these questions:
- What do they dream about?
- What do they desire?
- What do they love?
- What do they fear?
- What frustrates them?
- What angers them?
- What do they hate?
- What arouses their skepticism?
- What embarrasses them?
- What are they most thankful for?
- What are their sources of shame and guilt?
- What are their secret self-doubts?
- What are they proudest of?
- What makes them happy?
Yeah, I know, it is a loooong list!
But if you will answer all of these questions, you will be able to know them better than they know themselves.
And because of that, they will more likely follow you in the future, because they will feel understood.
Remember, they don’t care about you unless they know how much you care about them.
That is just the thing that works.
So, take the time to go to Q&A platforms like Quora and go through the questions they ask, take the time to survey the audience, ask them on other social media platforms…
…or even check the data your competitors have gathered. (Only if you can.)
It will help you change your positioning, and because of that, you will explode the speed you build your Instagram following.
3. Your Positioning
Now, when you know the market and your target audience you have to define the market extremes, find what is lacking, and fill the gap.
Unless you are solving some kind of a unique problem in the market that nobody is solving except you, your growth will heavily slow down.
But if you are unique, or you position your solution as the new vehicle for the change that they are looking for.
So, identify what are the current opportunities that others are providing, and give them something new.
When you do it, people will love you, you will grow your Instagram following off-limits, and you will have zero competitors as well.
So, what does need to be solved that nobody else created a solution for? How can you solve it?
Answer these questions carefully.
4. Join The Instagram Community
Alright, now when you know what you have to do, and what you are going to stand for in the marketplace, you have to join the community.
If you want to grow your account you have to contribute to the community and do everything in your power to get your Instagram account exposed to other people.
The first thing that you should do is interacting in the story polls of others.
The creators can see the answer and if it is good, they are going to visit your profile…and follow you.
It works really well, but you have to do it daily.
The next thing that you should do is to engage with smaller accounts like yours.
By that, I mean commenting.
It is one of the simplest ways to start building a strong Instagram following.
When you start commenting on other people’s posts, and your comments are valuable, they are going to appreciate them, and they will follow you if they like your content.
That is the power of commenting.
And the more comments you will make, the better off you will be.
So, do not neglect this step. It is more than powerful.
Next, you should interact with the industry leaders.
Even if the leaders are not going to engage with you themselves, it is a win for you.
Why?
Because when you comment on their posts, their followers will see your comments, and that way you will be able to “steal” their audience and grow your own Instagram following.
It is more than powerful.
Then you should also interact in Instagram lives. It is a great way to connect with the ideal Instagram followers on a much deeper level…
…as well as with the creators.
Not many people are usually on Instagram live streams, and if you will be there often, the creators are probably going to remember you.
That will help you with the next step.
But it is a great way to grow your following as well.
Be active in the chat and the people who watch the live stream are probably going to check your profile.
And if they will like it, BOOM! You have another Instagram follower.
It is working more than you could ever imagine.
But the biggest Instagram growth bomb that will explode your following is collaborating with other creators.
Why? Let’s say that the creator has 100K followers and 40,000 people will see your guest post.
Guess what is going to happen? A huge portion of the 40K people is going to check your profile and follow you.
There is no better way to get your message out there and grow your Instagram following. And I believe that you see why.
That’s why I want to give you a deeper look at how it looks like…
5. Set-Up Collaborations
Again, collaborating with others is the best way to grow your Instagram following.
Here are few ways to collaborate with other people:
- Invite people to Instagram live
- Do part 1/2 with smaller accounts
- Invite BIG accounts to IG live
- Offer guest posts to a curation page
- Do part 1/2 with bigger accounts
The only thing that you might find confusing on this list is “do part 1/2 with smaller/BIG account”, right?
Well, here is what it means.
When you create part 1/2 with a smaller or BIG account, it means that part one of the concept that you talk about is on their profile and if they want to get the full context of the topic you are talking about, they will have to go to your profile to get the full message.
It is probably the most powerful way to collaborate as a HUGE percentage of followers is going to visit your profile…
…because they will eagerly want to get the full message. Curiosity works.
And maybe you find “guest posting” confusing as well.
Well, guest posting means posting on someone else’s profile (and vice versa) to gain more exposure.
What are some ways of guest posting?
- The other person creates a post for your account
- You create a post for their account
- You can both create posts for each other’s accounts
The third option is the most common one. But remember that you also have to choose the right person.
Make sure that they have an audience with similar interests as yours, has a similar size following as you, and you already have relationships or at least follow them…(that is why participating in the Instagram lives they do is so powerful.)
But how do you contact the right person? What are you going to tell them?
Don’t worry, I got a template for you…
“Hey, [First Name],
I love your content! I was especially inspired by your post about [insert what the post was about].
Since I can see you’re into [insert what their profile is about] and our audiences are similar, I thought I would reach out to see if you would be open to collaborating with me!
We could create posts for each other’s profiles to get some extra exposure.
Here are a few of my pst ideas: [Insert your ideas].
Let me know if you are interested. Thanks!
[Your Name]”
So, now you know everything you need to start collaborating with others…and to get the first 10,000 Instagram followers that you are chasing.
Filip Konecny 