The number of followers you have on your Instagram account plays a massive role in determining how successful you will be. If you have more followers, more people will see your posts and like them. And if you get more likes, your posts will be more likely to get featured on the explore page. This will help you attract even more engagement, followers, and sales.

The problem with getting more Instagram followers is that it is a slow process and can take years. But there are a few growth hacking techniques you can use to grow quickly. I have listed some of them below…

Use ads

When you are growing an Instagram account, you have two choices. Rely on organic methods and grow slowly or use ads to growth hack your account. If you don’t have a budget and plenty of time, you can focus on growing slowly. But if you don’t have the time and a good budget, you can use ads that promote your account and ask people to follow you. These are actually very affordable as Instagram likes it when ads don’t take people away from the network. They will reward you with more impressions.

For this strategy to work, you need to combine it with good content. Your aim should be to publish content organically and then promote the best-performing content with ads. In your ads, you can include a call to action that asks people to follow you to see more of your best posts.

When you use this strategy, make sure you zone in on the target audience. Only try to attract an audience that will buy your products in the future. As all that money you put in should show a return.

Buy an account

If you don’t have time to wait and you need followers today, you can buy an Instagram account. There are a lot of sites where people sell their Instagram accounts. You can find accounts in hundreds of niches and buy one that already has your target audience.

If you go down this route make sure you do your due diligence. Don’t just consider the number of followers the account has, but also the engagement rate as a lot of people will build accounts with fake followers and sell them.

Engagement rate can also be faked, so it’ll be a better idea to hire an agency or an expert who is good at assessing Instagram accounts.

Team up with influencers

If buying an account seems expensive. An alternative choice is to work with an influencer. When you work with influencers, in a way you are renting their account. You can ask them to post one of your photos and tag your account in both the image and the caption and ask them to include a call to action that asks their followers to follow you.

You’ll get the best results if you work with highly relevant influencers with real followings. So, do a ton of research here as well. As fake followings are a big epidemic on Instagram. People like to add fake followers and charge more for it.

Run a contest

A great affordable tactic for getting followers is a contest. If you ask people to follow you to take part in the contest it can lead to a massive number of followers in a couple of weeks. You can also ask people to sign up to your email list to take part. As the email list will help generate more revenue.

To attract the right kind of followers and subscribers, make sure you give away a highly relevant prize. Usually, it is best to give away one of your bestselling products. You can combine this with ads as well to generate more attention to your contest.

Get featured on top publications

If you get featured on top publications like New York Times, Business Insider, and The Washington Post, and you are credited with a link to your Instagram account, it can get a ton of traffic to your Instagram account. If it’s set up properly it can lead to a lot of followers. You can get on these sites with services like HARO or through a sponsored post.

Conclusion

If you aren’t in a hurry to grow your account, you can follow a traditional Instagram content marketing strategy and grow slowly. But if you want to grow quicker, you should invest in these growth hacking methods immediately.