Win more Instagram followers without spending a penny on ads. Everyone wants to know how to grow on Instagram, and I'm here to share the secrets I know: the way to do it is through a highly engaged following. A huge follower count means nothing if those people aren't interested in what you have to say. Anyone with money to burn can buy a few bots to pump up their numbers, but bot followers don't engage.

The Instagram algorithm prioritises posts in a user's feed based on the accounts they interact with most often, and if your account is a ghost town of followers who never engage with you, the algorithm won't like it. So before you spend serious money promoting your product, you need to take a step back and make sure you first have a fan base that genuinely loves you.

How Does the Instagram Algorithm Work?

Before we get into our engagement-packed Instagram growth tips, you need to understand how the Instagram algorithm works. There's plenty of speculation about it, but the platform itself has explained that "the order of photos and videos in your feed is based on how likely you are to be interested in the content, your relationship with the person posting and the timeliness of the post".
In 2018, TechCrunch reported the details of the algorithm at a press briefing held by Instagram.

• Interest – Instagram tries to show you content based on your past behaviour with similar content.
• Relationship – The algorithm prioritises posts from accounts you regularly interact with, through likes and comments, for example.
• Timeliness – New posts take priority over older ones.

Put simply, if you regularly engage with an account, the algorithm picks up on it and moves that account to the front of the queue.
And that's Instagram's mysterious algorithm. It wants to show you the things it thinks you'll love.

Instagram Growth Hacks to Grow Your Follower Count

1. Make the Most of Instagram Stories

Research published by Instagram found that more than 500 million users watch Instagram Stories every day. That's half of Instagram's user base! Through these 24-hour photos and videos, you can offer an intimate, behind-the-scenes view of your business.

• Use the many stickers Stories offer to get your followers interacting with you. Running polls, answering questions, prompting DMs and even quizzes are simple, fun ways to boost engagement.

Hosting a Q&A can be exhausting, but it's a chance to talk directly to your customers and followers. The Q&A can be about your brand, such as "Ask us anything!", or it can be a general question like "How's your mood today?"

Bonus tip: Ask your followers a question, invite their answers and share the replies in your Story.
Running a quiz is a fun way to boost engagement. It can also double as market research. Say you're about to launch a new coffee-scented candle. You could run a poll offering your followers a few scent options. If most of them pick cinnamon over coffee, perhaps you should consider launching cinnamon next.
The countdown sticker gets the least engagement, but it helps build excitement for an upcoming launch. Pair it with a few key hashtags and taglines for good branding and it can work brilliantly.

• If a follower mentions or tags you, make sure you share that content in a post or in your Stories.

Everyone likes a bit of recognition, which is why sharing the people who mention you in a Story or post encourages all your followers to share you too. You can also share other brands' content in your Stories, which helps you build a good network. It also tells Instagram you're an active user, so you'll keep showing up.
Location tags and hashtags help people who don't follow you discover your brand. Use location tags often.

2. Share an IGTV Video or a Reel

It's no secret that Instagram prioritises video content.
In particular, Instagram pushes Reels hard to compete with TikTok. Put real care into your Reels to win more followers and engagement.

3. Work with Influencers to Grow Your Own Following

Depending on your budget, you can work with influencers of different sizes. My advice, though, is to work with micro-influencers rather than paying big money to accounts with huge followings. Micro-influencers interact more with their followers, so your campaign is likely to get better results. If your account is new and you're doing influencer work for the first time, micro-influencers will suit you best.
So how do you find micro-influencers?

• Look at the posts you've been tagged in.

It's always better to work with what you already have. Search through the posts you've been tagged in to see whether any micro-influencers have already mentioned your brand.

• Search the popular hashtags in your niche.

Browse the top content and see whether any of the accounts fit your brand and would be good to work with.

• Look at the suggested accounts.

Rather than emailing, calling or texting micro-influencers, we recommend reaching out by DM. When you contact them through their DMs, they can quickly check your page to see whether your brand is a good fit. Even if you can't pay cash, you can still collaborate with influencers in other ways. It's common for brands to send micro-influencers free products in exchange for a post.
When micro-influencers post about your business, ask them to tag you. And focus on long-term relationships, as they tend to work best for both the influencer and the brand. Rather than worrying that it's a one-off job, influencers usually prefer knowing they'll work with your brand again in future. If you have a steady pool of reliable people you can work with again and again, you won't have to waste time constantly hunting for someone to promote you.

4. Grow Your Instagram Account Through Cross-Promotion

If you want to grow your follower count, you should seize every opportunity to promote your Instagram account.
Follow the popular hashtags in your niche. When you follow a hashtag, posts using it start appearing in your feed, just as they would when you follow an account. The advantage is that you can see them easily, so you can like and comment on them.
Show off your Instagram account at every opportunity. Add a prominent icon to your website, and if you have a shop, you can write your account name in a few spots around the store as a reminder.

5. Engage with Other Instagram Accounts

This may be the most important rule of the Instagram algorithm.
Instagram looks at things like which posts you like and which Stories you watch often. The more active you are on other people's content, the more likely your own content is to appear in people's feeds.
Instagram completely bins accounts that use third-party apps to like, comment and follow. So do all of this manually to keep everything genuine. Doing it by hand also means you'll get to know your audience closely and learn the right tone to speak to them in.
Make time to respond to every comment, DM and share. If a follower takes the time to comment on your posts, reply, even if it's just to say "Thank you". People are far more likely to keep engaging with your brand when they're rewarded with recognition.
Leave genuine comments on other accounts' posts. Comment manually on your followers' posts, on the posts of people you'd like as followers, and on brands similar to yours. Make sure those comments are real and add to the conversation. Rather than bot-like comments such as "wow" or "amazing", aim for comments that relate to the content.

6. Use Hashtags Wisely

There are a million theories about hashtags. But what you need here is a strategy built entirely around your own needs. Instagram has debunked the "shadowbanning" myth, so feel free to use as many hashtags as you can (30 at most). But don't stuff irrelevant hashtags in just to reach 30. Take care to use the hashtags that fit your account as precisely as possible. For most of the brands I managed, once I'd built a pinpoint list, I used 15 hashtags at most.
Where you put your hashtags is up to you. Most people try to hide them in the caption, but if you have a long caption you can also add them within it.
You should also consider creating a branded hashtag. When you create a hashtag specific to your brand, two things happen:

• You'll increase brand awareness.
• It'll be easier to find user-generated content to share, which we'll cover in the next section.

Take a look at the #güzelbakkendine ("look after yourself") hashtag from Gratis, the Turkish health and beauty retailer. Not only does it help you track what others are sharing about your brand and account, it also builds you a mini community or following.

7. Encourage User-Generated Content (UGC)

Building on the branded hashtags mentioned above, find ways to encourage user-generated content.
If you sell a physical product, you can tuck a small gift and a card in with each order, encouraging customers to follow you on Instagram, share a photo of their order and use your branded hashtag.
If you have a shop, you could dedicate one wall to a "from our followers" section. You can also run events and giveaways to get your followers competing.

8. Create Standout Content

To grow your Instagram account, create content that stands out from the crowd. Don't make content for the sake of it; make things you genuinely enjoy.
Followers can tell when content has been thrown together, and when that happens your account starts bleeding followers fast. If there are pages with the same concept as yours, make a point of doing something different. For example, there was a foreign van-life traveller. There are loads of accounts like that, and most people travel with a dog or a cat, but this person travelled with a snake. Thanks to that difference, they built a huge following across Instagram and YouTube.
You don't have to do something as unusual as living in a van with a snake, but you do need to find what makes your business unique.
Research your competitors to work out how you can approach Instagram content from a unique angle. What kinds of posts do they publish? Which ones get more likes and comments? Do your competitors have IGTV channels? If so, what are their videos about? As you analyse their Instagram accounts, look for the gaps: what they're doing wrong or not doing at all.

9. Look at Your Own Instagram Account

What draws you to certain Instagram accounts? If you have a personal account, look at the posts you've saved. Which posts did you like and comment on? Be a little self-critical, then see how you can apply what you've learnt to your business content so you publish posts your ideal customer will love too.
Brainstorm how you can stand out. Bearing in mind your competitors, your customer persona and your own Instagram activity, how can you stand out on this crowded platform? Find a unique angle, a fresh perspective that gives people a reason to follow you and engage with your posts.

10. Use Highlights and the Guides Tab

You can feature Stories that got good engagement, processes that stay the same in your business, and content such as office tours in your Highlights. If you're a boutique business, make sure your Highlights include feedback from your customers. The more Highlights you have, the longer people will stay and spend time on your profile. You can also add content to the Guides tab to showcase your evergreen posts.