How To Increase Your Instagram Followers Naturally: 5 Tips

Have you ever wondered how companies can generate Instagram followers? In this post, we disclose proven secret methods that will allow you to increase your Instagram following naturally.

 

• All methods below are proven to increase Instagram followers quickly and naturally.

• These are the same methods celebrities and big companies use to gain organic followers.

• This guide will show how we've naturally increased our client’s reach to over 25,000 followers.

1. Followers love a brand, not a page

 

75% more likely to follow

A branded page is 75% more likely to get a follow, as it carries the perception of knowledge and dedication to the niche your Instagram page specializes in. 

One of the main problems we've discovered at our agency with DIY Instagram marketing is that most users build a page, not a brand. When you focus on building a brand, you can target key areas of your page's perception. Use your goals and branding to turn a fly-by-night page into a professional brand! Build a brand rather than a page, and you can increase Instagram followers naturally.

Count on the 10-second rule

A great way to test the 10-second rule is on your friends and family. Ask them to skim through your Instagram page for 10 seconds. Can they tell what your niche is? Does the page come across as professional? If not, then read on!

Start with color. Establish a dominant color for your images and keep it consistent in every post. Stick to one hue for the simplicity of your users. Remember, less is more.

When users see a consistent color, they associate that color with your brand's overall message. Your chosen shade will help reinforce your brand image in people's heads. A clean, polished image with a consistent color increases your chances of turning visitors into organic followers.

What makes a branded image?

If your posts are of images in daylight, stick to that theme. Don’t swap between daylight photos and nighttime photos.

The same applies if you have filters on. Use the same filter to keep a branded feel on your page. Do you adjust the brightness/contrast of your photos? Applying the same brightness and contrast to your posts is also a nice trick to give them a professional feel.

Copy and paste is a no-go

Are you running a quotes page? Or a page where you copy and paste images from Google? Run the 10-second test on your friends and ask them if they think the images are from random sources. If this is the case, then that's a red flag.

Dealing with many clients, we've seen Instagram reward those who provide unique posts. Instagram’s advanced social algorithm can easily detect genuine and unique content.

What type of captions are you using? Is there consistency and originality? Once you've piqued an Instagram user's interest, they'll browse your posts. 

 

Image Text

Look at the posts submitted by car manufacturer Bentley (@bentleymotors). Their images are all consistently aligned with their brand. The colors, brightness, and contrast used are similar.

2. Use effective hashtags and locations for your followers

 

Celebrities using the power of hashtags

Large companies such as Nike, PrettyLittleThing, and Versace have mastered using tags and locations on stories to increase Instagram followers naturally. Celebrity entrepreneurs such as Selena Gomez and Kylie Jenner utilize the power of tags.

They've used every opportunity to use effective hashtags related to their niche. For example, PrettyLittleThing uses #EveryBODYinPLT in Instagram stories to grow the brand’s following. This effort is effective in their current campaign.

Monitor effective hashtags

Keep track of the most pertinent hashtags related to your brand and watch for trends. Instagram's algorithm can detect if a particular story is viral or will become viral. You want to fall under the latter category. 

Once you've been perceived as a viral-to-be story, Instagram will automatically feature you on the Explore feed based on the hashtag and location provided.

For example, let's say you've gone viral in Dallas, Texas. Users on the Discover feed in that area will start to see your viral story. This focused content also naturally increases Instagram followers.

Want to remove hashtags and still go viral?

If you feel like hashtags are ruining the look of your story, here’s a cool workaround. You can change the color of the hashtag to match your background. You're creating a bit of camouflage.

Another workaround we use for our clients is to change the size of the hashtag so that it is barely noticeable. Don't worry; Instagram will still recognize the hashtag on the story with both tricks.

Keep Instagram stories related to your brand

Remember when we were talking about branding? Your brand matters in the stories you share, so make sure they relate.

Our research shows that Instagram stories are still relevant for today’s algorithms. It's 2024, and Instagram stories are still booming for company and personal pages. The fact that you can publish a single story appearing on all of your followers' home feeds is a huge opportunity to increase Instagram followers naturally.

Image Text

The example here is hashtags being used in a post instead of a story. Can you see the difference between amateur and professional use of hashtags?

3. Reveal yourself to increase IG followers

 

Being transparent is key!

Instagram thrives on having genuine users with genuine interactions. Being authentic and transparent is key. What we mean by being transparent is to show your face.

Yes—showing yourself to talk about your brand's story and branded content affects your visibility and followers. Instagram pages that feature people on their pages are 39% more likely to get a follow.

When people do not see the person behind the brand/Instagram page, they automatically assume there's no transparency. Your content will be taken less seriously with no face to attach to a brand.

Increase your followers by showing you're confident

Being transparent and showing your face will increase your chances of gaining more followers and boosting your sales exponentially.

This tactic has worked for several clients who have seen the difference it makes to show their faces. Once a brand brings in a personal element, viewers become followers more rapidly. Build an attachment with your face and brand.

Being transparent also means reassuring your followers that you're trustworthy and confident. A personable approach puts them at ease. 

Who does this effectively?

Agencies are a great example of this. Not only do they post about their services, but the team uses Instagram stories to show their faces. Doing so increases trust and natural Instagram followers, many of whom may eventually become clients.

As mentioned above, the story and the page story highlights feature is an exceptional tool to showcase:

• Who you are

• What you stand for

• What you hope to achieve with your Instagram page

• What you want to change

• What services you offer

• How you came to start this brand

Image Text

@farsali was founded by Sal Ali. He is an expert in branding with years of experience. His company, Farsali, has mastered brand awareness and transparency. He openly shows himself as the company's founder and candidly explains the brand's ethos.

4. Create posts that excite your followers

 

What Instagram and people have in common

Instagram's algorithm LOVES unique and exciting content, but it’s not alone in this way. People love unique and exciting content. Instagram can also see which of your posts has the best natural engagement, using this data to calculate your average engagement rate.

When creating content for your posts, step back to the drawing board and think about meaningful content that excites the user rather than what will immediately go viral.

After applying the 10-second test on your friends and family, do they want to click on the posts? If they do, then your Instagram posts are onto something.

Bonus tip!

We'll give you a bonus tip: When designing your posts or deciding which photos to upload onto your page, load the picture up on your phone/laptop/device. Then, place your device at a distance and look at the photo. Does the image convey the excitement or feeling you want to perceive?

Include your brand's logo at the bottom when creating a post or image. This effort will stick into a user's head and earn more followers.

5. Collaborate to go viral

 

Collaborating sounds scary, doesn't it?

Collaborate with an influencer with thousands of natural followers to drive people to your page as quickly as possible. When we mention collaboration, it sounds scary, right?

Is it possible to collaborate with influencers? We've helped clients go from 200 followers to over 28,000+ followers through collaborations.

How we achieved 28,000+ followers

Here is one example of how we did it. One of our clients, who specializes in portrait drawing, wanted to know how to increase their Instagram followers naturally.

First, we bought Instagram followers to create momentum on their Instagram page. Then, we identified 134 Instagram influencers and models with large followings, sending messages to ask if they would give us a shout-out if our client did a portrait for them. Out of 134 direct messages, 12 responded and were interested. 

Our client posted four portraits on their Instagram page a week later and tagged the influencers. The influencers then reposted the images on their Instagram and tagged our client, who gained over 28,000 natural followers from the reposts!

Practice makes perfect

This process looks confusing and scary at first, but as they say, practice makes perfect. Through time and experience, you'll find this becomes a piece of cake!

Once you get these reposts back from popular pages, Instagram will automatically increase your page quality score, which is the measurement responsible for displaying your posts on the Discover feed. Showing up on this feed allows you to increase your followers naturally.

Ever wondered why celebrities like Taylor Swift get easily featured on the Discover page? It is because of their page quality score.

Conclusion

 

The first four methods outlined here are pretty easy if you take the time. We've seen that most DIY Instagram page owners found creating a branded page difficult at first, but through patience and practice, using the tips became second nature.

Which method is best?

Is there a single method we could choose out of all four to increase Instagram followers naturally? We’d recommend starting with the first and moving through them in the order they’re presented. 

For viral growth in your Instagram followers, we definitely recommend you continue on to the last method when the previous four are in place: collaborate to go viral.

Collaborate to go viral

 

Are you interested in learning more about how to increase your Instagram followers naturally and take advantage of the power of collaboration? Our team at Superviral can help build your online presence and gain followers.