Growing Instagram Followers Organically // Social Media Tips

Hi, loves! I’m back today with a post all about growing Instagram followers organically. I already have a post showing you guys how to DOUBLE your Instagram followers in 6 months, but I’ve actually gained a lot more followers since then so I thought I’d let you guys know some more tips and tricks I’ve learnt for growing Instagram followers organically.

Growing Instagram Followers Organically

Use hashtags correctly

I have a whole blog post with 114 hashtags for ALL niches & my top hashtag tips, but I’m going to expand on that a little more in this post to give you guys more in depth tips and tricks that have worked for me. Hashtags can be incredible for growing Instagram followers organically, but they only work if you use them correctly. Hashtag research (it sounds more complicated than it is) is super important if you want to get as much hashtag impressions/reach as possible.

If I don’t do proper hashtag research, I tend to get as little as 100 reach/impressions sometimes. However, when I spend time researching my hashtags beforehand I can get around 2,000-4,000 impressions. This means that 2-4k people are seeing my post JUST through hashtags, which can help you with gaining Instagram followers organically and super quickly. I learnt this tip from my friend Kate! Hashtag research basically means looking up different hashtags on the Instagram search bar.

The amount of posts the hashtag has in it is super important and can indicate whether or not the hashtag is going to get you a decent amount of reach. For example, if you have under 1,000 Instagram followers I’d recommend going for any hashtag that has between 100k-500k photos. Anything over 1 million is a no go. This helps you with growing Instagram followers organically a hashtag having less photos means you are more likely to rank in the top 9 photos of that particular hashtag, meaning more people will see your photo!

Engage with the hashtags you use

It has been proven that engaging on Instagram for half an hour-45 minutes before and after you post a photo can give your photo more reach and engagement, therefore giving you a higher chance of growing Instagram followers organically. If you want more exposure, I would definitely recommend doing this as it’s 100% worked for me so far! Don’t sleep on Instagram engagement, folks.

I don’t tend to engage much before I post (I forget to, but this is definitely something I need work on doing more regularly) but I do engage with the hashtags I’ve used for at LEAST half an hour after I’ve posted a photo to my feed. I do this by simply clicking on each hashtag I’ve used and engaging with the top 9 (sometimes more) photos within that hashtag. This shows Instagram you are actively engaging with and using the hashtags you are using, rather than just using them to get exposure yourself and not helping other accounts grow to.

Simply posting a photo to your feed and then clicking off the app is NOT enough anymore when growing Instagram followers organically. We shouldn’t really be doing that anyway, it’s fun to interact with other people’s posts on Instagram and help each other grow! Also, engaging with other people’s posts means you have a higher chance of people seeing your comment and curiously clicking on your photo, liking your feed and giving you a follow, so it’s a win-win situation really!

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Post to your feed at least 5 times a week

I used to be good at posting on Instagram super regularly, but once I finished university and started working full time I found it really difficult to keep up with shooting content, writing captions, researching hashtags, engaging etc. Many regular Instagram users don’t realise how much effort actually goes into posting just one Instagram post – we don’t just post the photo and leave, so much effort goes into it!

I would recommend creating a schedule for yourself showing what days and times you will post throughout the week (for example Monday-Friday at 7pm, so you have the weekends off). This should be helpful as it means you get 2 days off throughout the week where you can either create content or have your own relaxing time to yourself to catch up on hobbies, see friends or relax.

Remember – Instagram should be fun! If you’re finding yourself becoming way too consumed by Instagram and social media in general, it may be time to take a break. I have a blog post with some tips to prevent social media burnout, so that should help you learn how to feel less stressed and enjoy Instagram more! You can still gain Instagram followers by posting less than 5 times a week, but it’ll be much slower as not as many posts are out there for people to see and engage with.

Post high quality reels

This next tip is super important as Instagram LOVES when you utilise all of it’s tools. The app has reels and stories there for a reason – use them! It can be super daunting to use these features at first when it’s a brand new concept to you, but trust me it gets way easier the more you use them! I was terrified to do story videos and reels at first, but I actually really enjoy it now!

You can create any reels you like, e.g. fashion content, food, books, makeup… Reels are pretty much a shorter version of a TikTok video, and they’re super fun once you get the hang of them and figure out how to make them all pretty and edit them well! Reels are a good way of growing Instagram followers organically as, if you upload a high quality one that gets a bit of engagement when you upload it, it can make it into it’s own section at the top of a hashtag next to the top 9 posts!

Reels can also make it onto the ‘explore’ page, which is super handy if you’re thinking of growing Instagram followers organically as the explore page has thousands of users on it that are more likely to see your content if it reaches them. Focus on quality rather than quantity when it comes to reels, and I promise it will pay off! You got this. Now, let’s talk about utilising Instagram stories…

Engage through stories

Instagram stories can be a tricky one to get the hang of at first. As I said above, I used to be terrified of speaking on my Instagram stories, but now I love it! It genuinely just takes practice and time. The more you video yourself on your story, the more you get used to it, the easier you will find it, the more confident you will become speaking to your fllowers and the higher quality your stories will become.

Speaking on your stories is an amazing tip if you’re growing Instagram followers organically, as it can help your followers feel closer to you when they actually hear your voice (rather than just reading text in a photo caption). You can also add polls and questions to your stories, which makes engagement with your followers super easy and fun as you get to know them a little more!

Stories are a great way to gain Instagram followers, as they’re more casual and less staged than a feed photo. I personally judge whether I want to follow someone mainly off their story content, as that is what Instagram pushes most. I am more likely to see someone’s story content pop up at the top of my Instagram feed than I am to see their picture, as the algorithm is so messed up, so I always follow people if I love their aesthetic story content!

So, there we have it! Those are my top tips for growing Instagram followers organically. Make sure to follow my Instagram, as well as my Twitter and TikTok, as I am super active on all 3 and I will follow you back! What tops do you have for growing Instagram followers organically? Let me know down in the comments. Stay safe, guys. <3