How we grew our social media following by 25% in 8 weeks without advertising

Hopefully, we all know by now that a successful social media strategy is not “build it and they will come.” Yes, sharing pretty content is great and it’s important to keep your audience interested and engaged, but what about attracting that audience in the first place?

We recently double-downed on our own Instagram channel where we organically grew our following by 25% in just eight weeks without spending a dime on advertising. And YES, these are real followers, NOT BOTS! Here is how we did it.

1. First, we prioritized high-value content creation.

   Before they come, you do have to build it! Every month, batch-create your content and make sure that it adds value to your audience in a very specific way, such as:

   • Content that is entertaining.

   • Content that is educational.

   • Content that is inspirational or transformational.

   These are the content types that drive engagement because they are most likely to be saved, shared, or liked. A rule of thumb we like to follow is “give, give, give, give, give, give, give, give, and THEN ask.” In other words, don’t make every post about how to buy your product or service. Give away something for free (i.e. something educational) more often than direct selling. And when you do want to directly sell, ask your followers to DM you instead of leaving the platform. (Why? Because of point #2.)

   2. Share content that is “sticky.”

   There is a reason why you’ve heard that Instagram prioritizes Reels over other content – in addition to usually being entertaining, educational, or inspirational, they also drive a higher volume of time spent on the app, which is exactly what Instagram wants to see: more time spent on the app (and in turn, more time spent on viewing ads, let’s be honest). If Reels are too much, carousels are great, as well. It sometimes takes even more time to swipe and read 10 slides, making them very sticky, and more likely to be prioritized by the algorithm and ultimately discovered! Remember to ask yourself – will this piece of content deliver on its promise enough to get people to stop scrolling and watch, save, or share it?

   3. Write your captions with SEO in mind.

   Hashtags are not as important as the keywords you are using in your captions, which are searchable on Instagram. This is great for discoverability, just as it is for SEO on your website. So, repeat after me: LESS IS NOT MORE! More is more!

   4. Most importantly, ENGAGE.
   This has honestly made the most significant impact on our Instagram numbers, and we are undoubtedly going to continue to pursue vigorously for our channel and our clients. It’s not rocket science, but it is a time investment. We spent a couple of hours a week engaging with the followers of similar brands and targeting people who we knew would find value in the content that we shared. For us, this included journalists, influencers, and lifestyle brands. Because what is the point of spending all this time to gain more followers if they might not stick around, or worse, they aren’t even real?

   5. Participate in partnerships
   Something like a joint giveaway, sharing influencer content, and so forth are great ways to elevate visibility for your brand and ultimately, increase your follower count.

   6. Share media coverage
   First impressions are so important, and if a potential new follower or customer sees at the top of your feed that you’ve been featured in major media publications, it gives you credibility which translates into value (and hopefully, a new follow!).

   7. Literally, show up
   Show your face in your content or better yet, post Live or on Stories. Yes, it’s sticky, but it’s also authentic and helps form an emotional connection. We’ll take more of that any day!

   These are just a few of our growth tactics. Depending on the brand, its audience, and the goals, there are certainly more. But the most important thing to remember is to be consistent!
   

   At FACTEUR PR, we don’t just build your social media – we grow it! If you’d like to chat more about how we can help garner more visibility for your brand online, get in touch!