How To Grow Your Instagram Page (Small Business Edition)

One of the most common questions I get asked is how I have grown my Instagram at a (relatively) fast rate over the past year. While I don’t mind answering and throwing out a few of my top tips to each of you individually, I thought I’d compile a list of the most important ones for you to be able to reference at any time!

Before I begin, though, I would like to point out that the definition of “growth” referring to social media platforms may look different to everyone. In my eyes, someone with 1,000 Instagram followers can be just as successful, if not more successful, than someone with 50,000 followers. So, take these tips as little bits of advice to reach YOUR definition of success!  

Okay, now here’s what you’ve been waiting for… the tips themselves!

Tip #1: USE REELS.

The number one way that I’ve grown my business platform on Instagram over the past year is by consistently posting reels! This past week alone I had ONE reel reach over 150,000 views and I’ve gained 800+ followers from that alone. Not only does a “viral” reel get your page more followers, but these followers can be turned into loyal customers, which introduces the next half of this tip. The reels that you post shouldn’t be random, low-quality videos. I’m not suggesting you spend hours upon hours making a single video, but, for the most part, a reel does best when you’ve put some effort into it! I’ve found that when I use an aesthetic filter, a trendy sound, and feature a product in a creative way, those reels are the most successful!

Tip #2: Be smart with your hashtags.

            Nearly everyone knows to add hashtags to every post they make, but it can be challenging to find ones that draw an audience to your content. A set of good hashtags alone can draw many new followers to your account after making just ONE post. Figuring out the best hashtags for my own business is still a work in progress but I’ve recently found an online tool that helps analyze potential hashtags based on a variety of statistical data. Neon Tools is a website that allows you to review your potential hashtags, identify if they will be successful based on their popularity, and curate hashtag “categories” that you can then copy and paste into the captions of your Instagram posts (disclaimer: this is NOT a sponsored post – I’m just sharing a few resources I honestly use myself)! By using this tool alone I’ve been able to drive new followers to my Instagram page just by adding 20-25 hashtags to every post I make!

Tip #3: Get active on IG stories!

            One of the top-rated ways to grow a personal connection between you, business owner, and your followers, is to be active on your Instagram stories as much as possible! Asking engaging questions about potential new products, generating polls, and running q & a’s, are all simple ways to get your followers engaging with you. Lots of business owners and content creators share little bits of their personal life on their stories as well, such as: posting pictures of their workspace behind the scenes, sharing quick videos of them packing orders or sending emails, or just random, everyday life things. Personal connection is key to turning a follower into a customer and IG stories are one of the best places to start!   

These are just a few tips that have helped me grow my Instagram page to this day and I hope that you’ve found them helpful! Leave a comment letting me know what you think of my blog content and ask questions you’d like to see featured in a future post!

Hayley :)