How to Get More Followers on Instagram in 2022

Are you a creator? Are you a business? Are you a brand? 

Have you been wondering just how to grow on Instagram in 2022, especially after all the updates to their algorithm? 

Well, look no further, because in this ultimate guide to Instagram growth, you will be taught the necessary information to learn how to grow organically on the platform! 

It is easy, and if you take the “social” part of social media seriously, you will be growing in no time. Using all these methods, I have managed to gain 600 quality and organic followers in one month.

Things to Know Before You Start

Before you embark on your Instagram journey. You must first get these three different aspects of what you want to do down to have a smooth growing experience.

Have a good profile picture!

A decent display avatar will give potential fans a snapshot of who you are and what your account represents. It may not seem important, but it is the first thing people see when you comment or interact with them on the platform. Think about is a window to your soul, and remember, first impressions are extremely important. 

Build up a repertoire of content!

Instagram will not go away if you blink! Take some time to build up some content to be able to upload every day for a while. Think about it, during those days you do not have to focus on creating content, you can be creating more to add it your existing bank! Always make sure to stay ahead of the curve. After all, it is easy to burnout.

Personally, I go out one weekend or day and take pictures of everything I think pops out to me or is cool. Something you will learn to get rid of quick is social anxiety! Little by little make baby steps to gain confidence around people. Anyways, you will want to make a day of it. Eventually at the end of that day, you will have a huge amount of content you will be able to edit and later post. This is general advice, just tweak it to match whatever type of content you are doing.

For example, if you are an artist, take one day and drink a bunch of coffee and pump out a bunch of pieces! Document the creation as well, and you will be inundated with content that you can post for weeks. Think about it, if you already have a bank of content, and you create more and more, you will be a dragon hoarding massive amounts of metaphorical gold. Except, you will be showcasing the gold for everyone to see! 

Have an idea of what you want to do. 

Do not make your account and go all willy-nilly. You are in no rush. Sit down and think about you really want to do with this account. Breathe, and just think. What will you focus on? What are your goals? Are you unique? How can you make people want to follow you? What is attractive about your profile? Write this all down so you do not forget and can continue to make notes. Ideas are easily forgotten, so have a notebook where you can jot down any that come into your head. If you do not, you may never have it again. 

Now, let us get into the real meat of this article! Here is the ultimate guide on how to grow on Instagram after all the dreaded algorithm changes.

Growing on Instagram Organically in 2022

 

Pick a niche! 

You need to have a niche, a subject your account will focus on, for people to know what they will receive by following your account. A niche is defined as “a specialized segment of the market for a particular kind of product or service.” A niche is not, “Photography” or “Fitness”. Those are general markets. A niche is, as said in the definition, a specialized segment. My niche for example, is aesthetically edited photography and content creation. I try to deliver a specific mood or message through the images and videos I create. A sense of confidence, growth, nostalgia, fun, pondering, or melancholy. Once you do this, I guarantee an easier time will be had in picking what you want to upload and what you are aiming to do.

Furthermore, uploading a bunch of different styles of pictures or videos that do not seem to have anything to do with each other will put people off, as they will not know what to expect from you.

 Niching down will give them an idea of your vibe, so to speak. Exclusion is good! Exclusion allows the people you seek to reach connect with you and connect with the content you provide. After all, you should have a certain demographic in mind, otherwise, you will be a jack of all trades, yet master of none.

 You need to engage with the community! 

To be successful on social media, you need to be social, it is in the name! By engaging with others, you show other people who you are and what you are about. Through this, you get profile clicks and impressions from other people. That translates to “eyeballs” on your profile. These “eyeballs” then make the decision whether to follow you or not depending on the value you provide them. You can also gain followers and lifelong fans just by leaving a compliment on other people’s content. Psychology tells us, that being positive will usually give us a positive response.

Comment on at least 5 pictures on 5 different hashtags that you will use, have used in your pictures, or have to do with your niche. If you can, comment on at least 10 pictures in 10 different hashtags. This might sound like a lot, but you can do it throughout the day! Time management would look like 5 comments on 2 hashtags every hour. It is very easy to accomplish if you focus hard for 10 minutes. Be genuine in your engagement. You do not want to copy and paste comments on to any post you see. Instagram has tools to detect spam, do not have it frame you as a spammer.

Therefore, it is also a good idea to spread out your engagement throughout the day. Focus on content you personally really like and genuinely wish to comment on. Leave a compliment as a comment or about a detail in the picture or a question about it. Sprouting a conversation on a person’s post not only helps you but also helps them rank higher on the algorithm. Instagram sees these conversations as more time spent on the app, of course it is going to promote it!

Remember; be genuine.

Post at least one video and one reel a week

Instagram has taken a liking to the way TikTok operates and is applying the same mechanics of the app towards its own platform. The more time a user spends on the platform, the more a user sees ads, which at the end of the day is how Instagram makes a profit.

That is why they added Reels. Short videos designed to keep a user scrolling for hours. I am guilty of the same thing. Any newly added feature of an app will give a boost to the profiles using it. Through using these short form videos, many users can be reached in moments if it takes off and gains virality. This means that Reels can spark tremendous growth in your profile. Format your content to fit the Reels’ 9:16 video format to maximize the reach your profile gets. Upload one at least once a week to take advantage of these benefits. If you can upload more than one, do not hesitate to go for it.

Network, network, network.

Social proof is paramount in gaining any sort of following in life. Yet, you can only get social proof by having a following. It is a catch-22 situation. There are ways to circumvent this situation. Get your friends to follow you! Some of your biggest supporters will be the people around you. Getting those few first followers will be hard, but you can have some of those first few followers be your friends! The other way to beat not having social proof is just by getting out there and using the tips I have given you in this guide. After all, someone must be the first person to follow you. Once you have a bit of social proof, and people can see you are not just a random bot, life will get exponentially easier.

In your niche, there are other people that are more successful than you. They know what works, what does not and the different nuances that you just will not be able to find online or in this guide. To learn from them, it is as easy as just talking to them! They are people too. Even if they have 50k, 125k, 200k followers, launch a dm, and ask them how they grew their accounts! Some will not reply, but some will. Start a conversation, be a nice person, and you will reap the rewards!

Post high-quality content, consistently.

Anyone can post a random picture stolen from another person on google images and post it onto their account on Instagram. The barrier of entry into posting content is extremely low, however most people post low quality content and then end up giving up. That is 99% of people. If you are the 1% that keeps going and posts high-quality content you put effort into, you will succeed. Not immediately, however you WILL succeed if you do not give up. So, if you get anything about this paragraph, DO NOT GIVE UP!

Upload every day, once per day during your audience’s peak online times. These peak times can vary from day to day, so make sure you use your insights to your advantage. At very least, upload 3x a week with one of those uploads being a reel.

You need to use momentum / virality to your advantage. Being consistent and uploading every day is a part of that momentum. The algorithm will pick up that your posts are getting engagement, and if you keep on chugging it will exponentially pick up. Treat social media as a game. I will use cookie clicker as an analogy. If you have not heard of it, cookie clicker is a game where you click a cookie to get one. The goal of the game is to get the greatest number of cookies, of which you can get an infinite amount. At first, it is tiresome clicking until you unlock automated machines which makes your job easier and easier until you are rolling in millions of cookies per second. The first 1,000 followers are the hardest. After that, it is way easier and eventually you will get people following you just because others are. Do it organically, and without botting behavior.

Summary

To grow on Instagram, you must:

1)    Have a great profile picture.

2)    Build up a content bank.

3)    Have an idea of what you want to achieve.

4)    Pick a niche.

5)    Engage with the community.

6)    Post at least one reel a week to drive massive growth.

7)    Network with others in similar paths.

8)    Post high-quality content consistently.

In Conclusion

It is easy to grow on Instagram, however, it is not a fast process by any means. You will have to put effort into it, so you must be passionate. If you consistently upload quality content, people will follow you. People will engage with you, and people will eventually see you as an authority figure who has viable information to share. From there, you can expand and pivot to anything you would like!

Social media is only becoming more ever-present in our lives. As you can see, it is not going away. Do not sulk about missing the beginning of the tidal wave that was the very beginning of social media, because that tidal wave is just getting started. Become prepared and show the world what you are capable of.