Wondering how you can get free Instagram followers to generate awareness, drive conversion, and build your business brand? Then, you are at the right place.
Moreover, not all social media platforms work the same, so you give each what it demands for your business to thrive.
If you are struggling to build a following or finding it difficult to attain Instagram success for your business, then it’s probably because you’re committing some of the biggest Instagram mistakes.
I know a lot of people who engage in growing followership fraudulently.
To those people… All I will say is, “For your own good, don’t buy fake followers!”
This is a necessity! It may be easy to fall into the trap of paying some cheap fee to get a boost of 50,000 followers to make your Instagram look good. But where the suspicion lies is when your real followers pick up the lack of engagement on your photos.
55,000 followers with 50 likes and 3 comments on each photo aren’t very convincing!
Also, Instagram these days has regular clean-ups of fake profiles by deleting them, which then obviously reduces your followers count considerably in an instant.
So, what’s the way forward?
In this article, you will learn some tips and tricks on how to utilise Instagram to build a culture, drive engagement, and grow followers for your business.
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Let’s get right into it!
How to Get Free Instagram Followers (13 Best Ways)
1. Have an Attractive Username
Having a good username is essential to having a successful Instagram profile. Aside from the “username”, you also have a “name” section that must be utilized properly as well.
Having a good username is essential to having a successful Instagram profile.
A good idea for a business is to use your business name as the username if available, then use keywords relating to your niche in the name section.
2. Add an Eye-Catching Biography
You need to pay attention to your Instagram bio. Every time someone clicks on your account, your bio will be right in front of them and they will most times read it.
A well-written bio can be the reason a person decides to follow your page or go somewhere else.
A well-written bio can be the reason a person decides to follow your page or go somewhere else. It should incorporate what your business is all about, how to get in contact with you/your business, and any relevant hashtags relating to what your business does or offers.
However, you have to make it short and sweet, the 150 characters get used up very quickly; so utilize it well!
3. Make Your Own Photos and Watermark Them
Another beautiful way to get more free Instagram followers is by doing this.
While it’s quick and easy to just repost other people’s photos and credit them, you do need to go through the effort of taking your own photos.
Especially when you run a motivational page, ensure to make your own motivational photos.
While it’s quick and easy to just repost other people’s photos and credit them, you do need to go to the effort of taking your own photos.
If you run a pool-cleaning business, take your own photos of the pools you have cleaned: a before and after photo.
If you’re an athlete, take action photos of you competing, training, etc.
And remember to watermark your own photos that you make/take. Not only will this help with people stealing your photos without your permission or without tagging you in them; but they’re also absolutely great for marketing.
When your content is re-posted by other Instagram users, your logo will pop up in the news feeds of lots of users who aren’t yet following you. Even if you weren’t tagged in the post, if they love the photo and see your watermark, there’s a greater chance they will find your page.
There are two types of watermarks that we recommend, they are:
First is an in-text watermark of your brand/individual name or Instagram username. This type of watermark is easy to blend into the picture without taking the attention away from the main subject matter.
The text watermark can be easily made in most quote-making apps including Instaquote, Wordswag or Piclab. You can also adjust the transparency of the text in these apps.
Second is the watermark of your logo. This stands out and it’s more professional, however, it takes some attention away from the photo. An app we like to use to put our watermark on images is Photomarkr, be sure to check it out!
4. Write Highly Engaging Captions with Your Photos
Even with high-quality photos that suit your niche, you will still need to write an enticing caption that builds a relationship with your audience.
Sometimes ask questions to get a response in the comments from your followers.
For instance, if you post a motivational quote, explain it in further detail and how it relates to your life/brand/product, etc.
Sometimes, you need to let your post incite answers or responses from your followers. You could also ask questions to get a response in the comments from your followers.
5. Don’t Be too Salesy – Make 80% of Your Posts Valuable
A general rule from our observations on Instagram is to make about 80% of your content engaging; people should get value for free. While the other 20% should be on advertising content relating to the selling of your products or services.
People don’t want constant ads on your page, even if they’re happy customers and enjoy your products. There are certain words and phrases you should always avoid so as not to sound too salesy.
So, be sure to repost photos from other people that are relevant to your niche along with your own content.
Yours can include behind the scenes, random fun pictures from your day, and your own photos with a quote you made. Or it could be any other relevant content targeting your niche that isn’t demanding anything from your followers. It should just be about providing value to them.
With that, potential customers or followers will find your account interesting and not salesy. And, might consider following you.
5. Use other Individual or Business’ Photos
Generally, most people are okay with you reposting their photos as long as you tag them in the photo and give them credit in your caption.
This is a great way to post more content, especially if you don’t have the time some days to create your own photos. Relevant content posted within your niche by someone else could help in those days.
And the truth is the more content you post, the higher the chances that new followers might follow your business page.
6. Ask Questions
A great way to get engagement on your page is to ask your followers questions.
It can be as simple as asking what they are up to that day, or something more specific. For example, a stock trading page asking its followers for the tip of the day and why.
7. Post at least 3 Times a Day at the Right Time
Most of your followers would rather have you post at least three times a day instead of once or twice a week. Considering that they are following you for your content, it only makes sense to engage them and give them what they want.
Not only will your current followers see your posts/brand more often, but you’ll also get more free Instagram followers with more photos. You’ll end up with more likes, comments, and more tags.
Most of your followers would rather have you post at least three times a day instead of once or twice a week. Considering they are following you for your content, it only makes sense.
Try and make 1 post early in the morning, one in the middle of the day, and one at night. The idea is to spread your posts out to get as many free Instagram followers as possible. Ensuring they see your content throughout their day, wherever they are in the world.
Also, keep in mind the time-zone differences.
It is essential when starting out that you use the 30 available hashtags. Yes, all 30 are available per photo! Some may consider it spam to use all 30, but we don’t believe so. We strongly believe that in the early days of your Instagram page, you need to get your brand out there. And you can do this with whatever hashtags people might search for, especially when you are looking for followers desperately!
Although, you must make sure the hashtags are relevant to your brand and are used by others, by doing that you are guaranteed people will be searching those hashtags.
You can check how many times a hashtag has been used by clicking on a particular hashtag and then looking at the top right corner where it says x,xxx,xxx posts.
We put 30 hashtags relevant to entrepreneurship in the first comment of our images.
Basically, as soon as you post your photo, paste the 30 hashtags (save the hashtags into your notes on your phone so you can easily copy and paste them) into your first comment. They won’t be seen on the photo once you get a few comments from your followers.
This gives the impression of a cleaner caption with no spam hashtags and you will still end up being seen in the feed of 30 different hashtags.
A great way to connect with your audience is to start a hashtag that is unique to your business, allowing followers to further connect to your brand.
Even though they can tag you in photos they want you to see, followers want to be reassured that you will see their photos. So, a promise of “use the hashtag #xyz for us to see the photos you want to be reposted would go a long way!
10. Tag Your Relevant Posts to Celebrities
You can tag up to 20 users on each photo you post.
A great idea in the early stages of your page is to have your photo appear in as many places as possible. To do this, you can tag your photos with celebrities relevant to your niche.
As fans of these celebrities are likely to check the photos celebrities are tagged in, your page will get to be noticed more. Sometimes, even the popular users you’ve tagged will see your photo and check out your page.
But, ensure to do your research first because each user has the option to either add photos that you’ve tagged them in automatically or manually. If a popular user has opted for manual, chances are they won’t bother going through and accepting your photo, making it a waste of a tag.
So, be sure to check the profiles of potential users you want to tag, by checking if they automatically appear after tagging them. With celebrities, you’ll get a feel of whether they are automatically accepting tags because people will be tagging them very frequently.
Sometimes, with a bit of hard work, you get lucky and celebrities get to either follow you back or repost your photos. This obviously gets to help your page build brand awareness and acquire free Instagram followers exponentially.
11. Give Genuine Comments on others Posts
Another way to be seen by your target audience is by commenting on their posts, and on popular pages they will be visiting.
Try and comment on at least 20 posts a day with a genuine comment, it doesn’t take long. The idea of a genuine comment is basically it should not sound like it was copied and pasted.
Make sure you tag them in your comments.
For example, you want Chike or Chike’s followers to follow you because he is interested in nature photography, and you run a nature photography page.
An example of a genuine comment can be on his photo of Olumo rock in Ogun: “Breathtaking photo @jackie!
Your comment: Where in Ogun state was this taken? I’d love to visit there one day!
If Chike or one of his followers replies, be sure to reply again to build rapport with them. Simple as ABC!
12. Have Multiple Accounts
Depending on your niche, a good idea can be to have more than one Instagram account to grow your brand quickly.
Having more than one account allows you to shout out to all other accounts using each. With that, they all grow at a faster rate.
Just because a person is following one of your accounts, doesn’t mean they will follow your second account. So, using this tactic, you will reach a larger audience.
For example, I have seen accounts in the fitness niche that have a variety of sub-niches for accounts all linking to the same website and all giving shoutouts to each other.
The sub-niches include men’s bodybuilding, female fitness, diet/nutrition help/recipes, correct lifting form, and a funny gym photos account.
13. Run Competitions
Another great way to get more free Instagram followers and build rapport with your current followers is to run competitions on your Instagram page.
This can be done in a couple of ways.
The most useful way to have your brand get lots of shoutouts from your followers, which is obviously awesome!
This involves asking your followers to repost a photo you have chosen with a caption that states why they want to win your competition.
Also, in their post, they must tag your page directly. It also helps if they tag their friends on the page as this will get their interest on your page. This can be used by any brand!
Another way to go about the competition is to post a photo of the voucher/item to win and get your followers to tag 5 people in your comments for a chance to win. This brings heaps of traffic to your page from people who most likely aren’t a follower of your page. With a high probability of becoming a follower from the social proof that your page is good they will likely trust the opinion of their friend who tagged them.
How do I get free Instagram followers for real in the most effective way?
The most effective way to gain real Instagram followers for free is through genuine engagement, compelling content, and strategic use of hashtags.
While some platforms offer free followers, it’s important to consider the potential risks and long-term sustainability of such services.
Focusing on authentic interactions and the creation of valuable, shareable content can lead to sustainable growth in your Instagram following.
Conclusion
So, there you go. Effective ways you can get free Instagram followers without having to buy inactive followers.
Those are ways in which you can get free Instagram followers without spending money or using the black hat way!
Before you leave, why not check out other relevant articles on our blog site?
FAQs on free Instagram followers
How to gain followers on Instagram fast for free?
To gain followers on Instagram quickly and for free You can engage with other users, share and watch videos, and use relevant hashtags.
While some platforms offer free followers, it’s important to consider the legitimacy and potential risks of such services.
Organically increasing your following through genuine engagement and compelling content is a more sustainable approach.
How to get followers on Instagram without following?
You can attract followers on Instagram without following others. Start by creating high-quality, engaging content, using relevant hashtags, and interacting with your audience.
Additionally, participating in Instagram engagement groups and collaborating with other users can help increase your following without the need to follow a large number of accounts.
How do I get free ig followers and free ig likes?
While some services offer free Instagram followers and likes, it’s important to approach such offers with caution.
Genuine engagement and the creation of compelling content are more sustainable methods for increasing your following and receiving likes.
Additionally, using relevant hashtags and interacting with your audience can help boost your visibility and engagement.
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