We’ve been talking lately about how to boost your business marketing with Instagram. Unlike what lots of people still believe, Instagram isn’t just a fun app where one can post food, holiday and family pics.

Instagram has turned into a powerful brand-building, audience-building and content-marketing tool for businesses. It has over 200 million active monthly members sharing 60 million images and 1.6 billion likes per day.

A note of caution: there are many people on the market who promise to cultivate your Instagram followers by the thousands, but beware. Most of them use fake accounts developed by bots to inflate your numbers.

These kind of followers have zero value. Actually, they can even be dangerous, attempting to steal your password or photos or infect you with a virus.

In line with the data security company Imperva, these bad bots take into account 28.9 % of bots on Instagram.

The easiest method to build your Instagram followers is when you are authentic to your brand and your audience.

Here are 3 tips to help you to get real Instagram followers:

Tell a Story with Hashtags

It’s great to use your organization name as a hashtag, but you need to think beyond that.

In order to use your Instagram posts to get followers, use other hashtags that tell the story of the image you’re sharing. You wish to start a conversation when you’re sharing posts for things like:

Events

Promotions

Contests

Product launches

A good example of a brandname who does this well is @Tostitos. They use the hashtag #GetTogetherAlready to encourage visitors to get together and share their chips, and also to use the hashtag when they share photos of these meetups.

Through the use of engaging, relevant hashtags, you will be discovered in Instagram searches and hopefully build-up followers on Instagram.

Get Creative

Instagram is all about photos, so many people think about the caption being an afterthought.

free instagram followers neglect the image caption! You will generate engagement and promote sharing through the use of descriptive words that will engage, inspire and entertain your followers.

Here are some suggestions to help you build-up followers on Instagram with your posts:

Use questions in your caption. Write your question at the beginning of the post in order that people see it first.

Get personal with your post. Tell a tale about yourself, or how your product helped or inspired another person.

Ask people to tag others. Asking people to tag three of their best friends or tagging someone they’re grateful for brings other potential followers into the equation.

A great example of a brandname that does personal posts well is the @NatGeo Instagram account.

They create breathtaking Instagram Stories with informative captions to teach the user on the plight of animals around the globe.

Remember with regards to using Instagram posts to obtain followers, it’s all about being authentic. Don’t use questions atlanta divorce attorneys single post or tell a personal story that isn’t genuine.

Go Local

One of the best methods to build your Instagram followers would be to get to know your neighbours!

Whether you’re creating Instagram ads or desire to promote your event in a particular area, you can see what’s going on near you by going to the search page and clicking on the Places tab.

Type in the location to start to see the geotagged posts for that area. Then visit relevant and recent tagged posts – not those of competing businesses, obviously – and leave a comment as well as an emoji and follow the person if you like what you see. Hopefully, this is the start of a natural interaction.

For example, if you offer life coaching services, you could type in your location followed by “entrepreneurs.” Local entrepreneurs may be searching for more work and life balance or help with life goals or career challenges.

Similarly, if you have a physical location that folks have checked into on Instagram, touch upon those posters’ pictures to make certain they’re aware of your Instagram presence, and follow them.

These are among the best methods to build Instagram followers the proper way: no bots, no shortcuts, just old ways to build relationships your audience and turn them into followers!

Susan Friesen, founder of the award-winning web development and digital marketing firm eVision Media, is a Web Specialist, Business & Marketing Consultant, and SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING Advisor. She works with entrepreneurs who struggle with getting the lack of knowledge, skill and support needed to create their web business presence.