How Many Followers Do I Need on My Instagram Account?

It depends. Ugh, I know. No one likes that answer but it really depends on what kind of business you have and what its goals are. In some cases, focusing a lot of time and energy on Instagram may not make even make sense for your business. (Keep in mind, there's power in your personal instagram account and/or another account you may create to share what you're most passionate about. (more on that topic in the next blog!)

Do Your Research

I did a lot of research before relaunching my business and as soon as I started to post, my feed was flooded with webinars that would increase my following to 10,000 in no time. I also found lots of articles, one specifically on Instagram Pods that caught my eye because it shared how I could work with other companies to mutually build our accounts. I truly believe that "none of us is as smart as all of us"; at the same time I believe, in my case, that building slowly and wisely with the goal of strategic engagement is important.

Example 1: A doughnut shop (because I love doughnuts!)

I can participate in an Instagram Pod and have other, hopefully, real businesses and not bots, like and comment on my post in the first hour it publishes and likewise, I will like and comment on their posts and my engagement will dramatically increase.

With all that time and effort, will I really find the people that love doughnuts and benefit from their ugc (user generated content) or will I just be connected to other foodie businesses? Again, networking is awesome; at the same time my time is money too.

Example 2: A small marketing business (That's my jam!)

If all the small marketing businesses like and comment on each others' posts and fill each other's feeds with what I am sure will be awesome captions, they are marketers after all, will all of us really find the people that need us?

Keep Your Focus Your Focus

If your goal is to be an influencer or your company has expansive reach, rapid growth may be important for you and you might want to consider pods and other rapid growth formulas. My focus and passion as a small business owner, is to find other independent small business owners and individuals who want help in telling their story so that they can do what they do best.

It's not so much about numbers as it is about finding and addressing needs. Providing free, quality content will go a long way in building trust and ultimately relationships. In the doughnut world, that translates into fun freebies or custom creations. (if you live in our area, you remember the Anthony Fauci and Betty White tribute doughnuts!)

If I focus too much on how many followers I have, I will lose focus on how many people I want to help and quite honestly, I'll want to tear my hair out if I'm constantly comparing. I'd rather view other small marketing businesses as my colleagues rather than competitiors. The pie is big enough for everyone to have a slice.

Organic is Good for You

Manually following other accounts will organically grow your followers. I know because I have grown mine from 18 to 88 in a week. Somewhere, some marketing person thinks that number is absolutely pititful. To me, the number represents accounts:

• I respect or I'm passionate about

• want to learn more about.

• small businesses in my community and small businesses in other communities.

• recommended by Instagram (and yes, I drilled into each profile before following)

• found by typing in hashtags.

The process was and is intentional based on my goals.

Advertise Intentionally and Authentically

After spending a month, growing my Instagram account manually, I'll implement an ad campaign with specific behaviors and interests to grow brand awareness and to generate leads. I have found that even minimal investments can yield solid results. I'm not anti-advertising by any means; I'm just more of a slow-and-steady-wins-the-race kind of girl.

I could fall on my face. No worries. Failing forward is an art. I've also looked into companies that will help grow followers (some had scary reviews from small business blogs) but others seem like they might be legit.

Here's a list I found from a wordpress hosting company, WP Dev Shed: https://wpdevshed.com/instagram-growth-services/

I'll check a few out (especially the ones with a free trial) and let you know how it goes.

In the end, none of us will get the Instagram Followers we need without a plan.

If you're not sure what your business needs,

if you don't have a social media and/or digital strategy,

consider contacting us today and taking advantage of our consulting services.

In the meantime, I'll keep you posted. (#seewhatIdidthere)