We did the research and found 10 proven ways to grow your Instagram following and increase your engagement. Try these today! 1. Post consistently (at least once a day) 2. Try videos, live videos, and Stories 3. Study and use quality hashtags 4. Share user-generated content 5. Collaborate with others 6. Post at your best times 7. Use your analytics 8. Engage your fans 9. Host contests 10. Cross-post Read the full blog post here: https://blog.bufferapp.com/instagram-growth Try Buffer for Instagram: https://buffer.com/instagram

1. How to Gain a Massive
Following on Instagram
for Your Brand

2. 10 Proven Tactics
to Grow Followers and
Engagement

3. 1. Post consistently (at least once a day)
2. Try videos, live videos, and Stories
3. Study and use quality hashtags
4. Share user-generated content
5. Collaborate with others
6. Post at your best times
7. Use your analytics
8. Engage your fans
9. Host contests
10. Cross-post

4. 1. Post consistently (at least once a day)
You can almost double your follower growth
rate by moving from less than one post per
week to 1-6 posts a week.
You can more than double your follower
growth rate again by moving from posting 1-
6 times per week to once or more per day.
Tailwind (2017)

5. 2. Try videos, live videos, and Stories
Average engagement for
videos is growing faster
than that for images
NewsWhip (2017)
125
100
75
50
25
0
400M+
400M+ people use
Instagram Stories every
day
Instagram (2018)

6. 3. Study and use quality hashtags
Simply Measured (2014, 2015)
+
Instagram posts with both hashtags and a
location tag get the highest average engagement

7. 4. Share user-generated content
15,000
10,000
5,000
0
We grew our Instagram following
by almost 400 percent in a year
using user-generated content

8. 5. Collaborate with others
Swedish watchmaker Daniel
Wellington grew their Instagram
following from 850,000 to 2.1M in
one year by sponsoring Instagram
influencers
@donutscookiesandcream (2018)
Mediakix (2016)

9. 6. Post at your best times
There isn’t a universal best time
to post on Instagram!
Your brand has your own best
times to post.
Use your Instagram Insights.

10. 7. Use your analytics
Do you notice any trends?
Does a certain type of image or
video get more impressions or
engagement?

11. 8. Engage your fans
When your followers take the
effort to comment on your post, it
feels great to reciprocate by
continuing the conversation.
Instagram algorithm = The more
engagement a post has, the more
people will see it in their feed

12. 9. Host contests
With the help of either the algorithm or your
followers, you could reach many people who
might not have heard of your brand before.

13. 10. Cross-post
Test both posting the Instagram post and
posting the image directly on the other platform

14. 1. Post consistently (at least once a day)
2. Try videos, live videos, and Stories
3. Study and use quality hashtags
4. Share user-generated content
5. Collaborate with others
6. Post at your best times
7. Use your analytics
8. Engage your fans
9. Host contests
10. Cross-post

15. Now with direct scheduling
to Instagram