How To Build a Social Media Following With Staying Power

You have beautiful pictures on all your social media platforms. But Instagram is not a photo contest. It’s a network for building community. You’ll have to be a little bit more tactical if you want to grow on the platform. Fortunately, we know how to build a social media following. 

We help creators like you do it all the time. With our help, your social media channels will grow in no time!

Great Benefits When You Grow Your Social Media Following

Having a small social media following is not a bad thing. Some creators target a niche sector of the Internet. Their followers are fiercely loyal and love to engage in content. You could have a small following and a very competitive engagement rate. That is something to be proud of. 

Still, there are many benefits to having a large following on Instagram. Learning how to grow your social media following could be a worthwhile endeavor. Let’s talk about some advantages of having a solid following.

Social Proof

Social proof is a potent tool on social media. It is the silent phenomenon that influences the following that some creators get. It has even influenced you on occasion. Let’s talk about what it is in a practical example. 

Let’s say you stumbled upon a video on Instagram. You weren’t sure if you liked it, so you looked at the number of likes it already had. You realize that it is a high number. You even recognize some of the people who wanted it before you. Somehow, that compels you also to like the video. This is just one place where it happens. 

What if you decide to tap on that creator’s Instagram handle? Instagram will take you to their profile page. You might not be able to peruse the entire profile. In the meantime, you glance at the creator’s current following. If it is a high enough number, you will follow it. Creators know this is how to build a following on social media.

You think that if they are popular, their content might be good. You can decide when you see more of their videos on your timeline. But for now, you are looking at their current popularity. This is social proof. The benefit of having a high following is the potential of getting an even higher following.

It’s a Bargaining Tool

A solid social media following will be helpful when it’s time to collaborate. What if a brand wants to sponsor you in exchange for promotion? The fact that you have a high follower count could be a bargaining tool. 

Of course, it’s not the only thing they consider. But it is one of the things they consider. The sweet spot you should aim for is a high follower count full of engaged followers. You just need to know how to grow social media followers that fit your niche. We discuss that more in this article.

Increase Social Media Followers Who Like Your Content

Do you want your followers to engage with you? It’s not enough to have a big following. You want to know how to build a genuine following on Instagram. We can show you how to increase social media followers with engaged followers.

Use Hashtags

It’s no secret that Instagram is a search engine. People go there to find information on viral topics or people. They do this by sometimes using hashtags, which is a deliberate attempt to find content about the keywords. If followers search using a relevant hashtag, they want to see the content. 

Some people even go as far as following these hashtags as they would follow a regular Instagram page. If you want them to find you, you should also use these relevant hashtags. You can put them in your Instagram captions. Stick them in at the end or insert them organically in the caption.

Be sure to use a good mixture of popular and niche hashtags in your content. This way, you maximize the reach of your content. You will find new followers with general and specific interest in what you share. This is how many popular creators grow their social media following.

You can even put hashtags in your Instagram Stories. Some people don’t know this. You can conceal them by putting the text in the same color as the background color.

Ask What They Want To See

This may seem overly simplistic. Sometimes, all you have to do is ask your followers what they want to see. Instagram has tools embedded in the platform to help with this. You can do an Instagram to get people to vote on the content they want to see more of. You can put this poll in your social media posts or Stories.

This approach gives people a limited number of options to choose from. This way, you can control the results you get to some degree. You could be a little bit more open-minded, though. You can use a question sticker to ask followers what they want to see. They can answer with anything. Just know that you may get suggestions you can’t make good on.

The idea is to capitalize on the content that is already working for you. If you have the followers you want, make content that this type of follower likes. Naturally, this content will attract more of the same kind of followers. This is how to build a social media following similar to the one you already have.

Why You Should Learn How To Grow Social Media Presence Without Buying Followers

We have to address the elephant in the room. We know that the option of buying followers exists. 

We see the websites, and we know the prices are competitive. Still, you should learn how to grow your social media presence without this method. We are not trying to make it hard for you. We have three excellent reasons. Let’s talk about them.

1. You’ll Only Get Fake Followers

You’re trying to grow your social media with real people. More than likely, the followers you get are not real people. They are Instagram bots who don’t have a mind of their own. Someone created them to inflate social media followings. This isn’t what you want for your Instagram account. 

Sure, they may add to social proof initially, but these benefits are very short-lived. You will soon find that you must pay far more than you bargained for.

2. Your Engagement Won’t Match

We will give you the biggest giveaway that lets people know you have fake followers. A huge Instagram following with very little engagement is the tell-tale sign. 

You may have seen a page with hundreds of thousands of followers. Then, you go to the Instagram comments. You will see maybe ten at best. And a few of those comments are spam. The followers this person bought do not comment on their content. They are bots; they don’t have interests. What they have done is waged war on their own Instagram engagement rate. 

Many followers with very little interaction will result in a poor engagement rate. You will need a strong engagement rate when it’s time to negotiate with brands. They can tell when your following is not genuine. 

Some creators have to keep up the facade. They buy Instagram likes and comments to match their inflated following. At this point, nothing on their social media is genuine. This is not where you want to head.

3. It Will Catch Up to You

Unfortunately, Instagram constantly looks for pages like these, and social media profiles with many fake followers don’t last long. At some point, the platform will get rid of these fake followers. An Instagram account could find itself back to square one. It will have to grow its account organically, as it should have in the beginning. 

Brands will notice that you don’t generate sales for their products. This is because Instagram bots cannot purchase goods. They’re only there for show. You will quickly see the difference between having an active following vs. followers who do nothing.

What’s worse is that Instagram may punish an account that engages in his practice. Instagram wants people on the platform to grow organically, and buying followers goes against that. The website you bought from is not obligated to refund you, and Instagram will also not argue on your behalf. It’s a very risky business if you ask us.

This topic arises when people ask how to build a big following on Instagram. It’s important to weigh the pros and cons adequately.

How To Get More Followers on Social Media When You Have the Funds To Do It

We see that you are in a spending mood. If you have bought followers, you may have some cash at your disposal. We can tell you more practical ways to spend your money. Here’s how to get more followers on social media by spending worthwhile money.

Purchase Instagram Ads 

You can advertise your Instagram page on the platform. We aren’t talking about using Google Ads. Instagram has a very intuitive process for promoting your page. You get to decide on the type of follower that the ad reaches. This means you won’t waste it on random people who would have never followed you. 

Decide on the demographic that you want to target. Maybe there is a specific age range that you want to flock to your page. Maybe they are a particular gender, and they live somewhere specific. You can target these specific people using Instagram Ads. You don’t have to worry that people who don’t fit the description scroll past your ad.

You can also choose how long this ad runs on Instagram. Keep track of the Instagram metrics to decide whether to boost a different post. You won’t get a huge bill that shocks you at the end of the period. You get to choose how much you spend before it even goes live. 

Instagram records all of its users. It knows the kind of users who should see your post. Just trust them to promote it to the right people. Think of how your Explore page always has the type of content you want to see. Instagram Ads are even better than that. Add “grow social media following” to your budget now!

Host a Giveaway

Maybe you can spare a prize for your following. It could be a gift certificate or some items from your stock if you are a business. Hosting an Instagram giveaway is a great way to drive traffic to your Instagram page. You simply require that people enter using a commodity you want. We are talking about engagement. 

Perhaps entrants can enter the giveaway by liking, commenting, and sharing a post. This brings a concentration of engagement to your page. It’s the kind of activity that will get the attention of the Instagram algorithm. Influencers know how to build a following on social media with this trick.

You Can Boost Social Media Followers Doing Things You Already Do 

You might already be doing things that attract a following. What if we tell you there is a better way to do these things? You can do them in a way that can boost your social media followers. We’ll let you know how.

Incorporate More Reels

You may have tried making Reels, but here’s how to improve them. Use Reel templates to create them very quickly. Then, you can schedule when they go live using Instagram’s scheduling tool. This way, you can ensure they go live at the optimal time to upload. 

Don’t forget to use trending audio clips so Instagram will boost your content to more followers. It’s great to know how to grow your social media following using this form of content. It has worked so well for so many creators before you.

Collaborate

Joining forces with other creators is a great idea. But are you doing it in the right way? Instagram lets you make a joint post with another creator. It is so much better than tagging them and hoping they share. 

There will be one post, and it will appear to the following of both creators. This means that you will get access to their following when you make this joint post. By posting with you, they effectively recommend you to their following. It is a great shortcut.

At Plixi, We Know How To Build a Social Media Following

Altogether, these are some great tips on how to build an Instagram following from scratch. You should be on your way to securing that target audience that you’ve always wanted. However, consistent content may not be enough to do this. And that’s even if you have the most remarkable visual content.

You may need the help of a growth professional to reach these relevant accounts. Do you want to have a following full of active users? We like that for you as well. Luckily, we know how to build a social media following. 

We have an in-house platform for Instagram influencers. They get fantastic support from our sophisticated AI technology. It’s time you use this for your shareable content as well. Start growing your following with Plixi today.