Are you trying to build your personal or professional brand? If so, you need to get some action going on your Instagram page. Because Instagram is becoming such a great tool for internet marketers, many are asking about the best website to get free Instagram followers.
The fact of the matter is, there is no “free” trick to get instant followers. When the question was posted on Quora, the consensus was that to get more followers, you need to put in the work. That is where the real payoff is. Another option that people have used to boost their followers is websites where you buy followers.
What Is Instagram?
I realize most of you know what Instagram is, but I wanted to give a little run down for those who may not be as familiar with it. Many people have heard about it, but don’t exactly know what its purpose is.
Basically, Instagram is a social network platform that was designed to allow a user to share photos and videos from their Smartphones. As with other social networks like Facebook, each user has their own profile, and their followers’ pictures and videos appear in their news feed. Users can then comment, like, and share these posts.
You choose who to follow, and people can choose to follow you, but contrary to Facebook, just because you follow them, does not mean they will also follow you. On your profile, people will see how many followers you have and how many people you are following.
Instagram gives you the option to set up your account so that everything you share on Instagram will also be shared on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Flickr.
Although Instagram was started as a way for people to be creative in their photography and share it with friends, according to their website, they now have 800 million followers including celebrities, musicians, brands, and “anyone with a creative passion”.
For a more detailed view of how Instagram works, Tech Boomers provide us with a great video that explains in detail how to use Instagram.
Pros and Cons of Buying Instagram Follower
There is only one plus side to buying Instagram followers and it’s that when people see you have a lot of followers, they will be more inclined to check out your profile and possibly tap the little follow button. They say that followers make followers. And the more followers you have the more your brand will grow.
Seo Lab Forever, a New Jersey SEO company, explains that there are a few cons to buying Instagram followers. Yes, it’s true you will have more followers but how useful will these be to you. Here are some of the downsides to buying followers:
- It could affect your reputation. If most of your followers are “fake” or have been bought, this will come across when people look at your profile and they won’t even take a second look. This will not provide an image of authenticity.
- These bought followers will not engage with you much. These people are being paid to follow you, they don’t care about you or your brand. In the long run, these followers will be much less useful than the ones you acquired organically.
- The famous purge of 2014 could happen again. For those who don’t know, in 2014 many Instagram users saw their followers drop overnight. This was because Instagram got rid of all the fake accounts. There is speculation that another major purge could be in the works. So even if you were to acquire followers by buying them, you risk losing them at any moment if they are seen as fake.
How to Get REAL Instagram Followers?
Instagram is a great marketing tool to increase your brand awareness, but to do that you need to get some followers. As with most things in life, the best way to increase your Instagram in through hard work. Here are some tips to help get you going:
- Use hashtags and use the well: Be creative, think of something that will draw attention or make people laugh. Just have fun with it. Create a signature hashtag for your brand and use it. This means having it on business cards, displayed in your store, and wherever you do any other type of advertisement.
- Join the trending conversations: As important as it is to create and use your own hashtags, participate in other trending hashtags like #tbt, #picoftheday, or even something like #fashion depending on your industry.
- Add captions: Don’t be afraid to describe your photos. People like to know the story behind it and it will encourage interactions.
- Follow brands that can help you get ahead closely: Identifying companies or people who are influencers in your industry and who can help grow your brand is important. Go to their profiles and click on “Turn on Post Notification” this will let you know whenever they post something and allow you to interact with them and possibly building a professional relationship in the future.
- Monitor tagged photos of you: If you were tagged in a photo and you don’t want people to see, you can hide them from your profile. Know what your trying to portray and make sure that this is what is coming across on your profile. You can also change the setting so that you need to approve all tags before they are posted. This will allow you to monitor it more closely.
When all is said and done, there are no magic websites that can increase your likes and be extremely profitable for you. It is best to invest time in working on the page yourself and provide your followers with engaging content that they will want to share with others.