To use shout out or not on Instagram to get more followers?

So I have been reading quite a few threads regarding gaining more followers on Instagram and most advice, if not all, tell that you do shout outs. Now I'm against this advice, at least in the beginning. Why? Well first it will likely cost you money because you're basically paying for advertisement and most business that are just starting out don't have such a big budget. Second there are ways to find followers using the features IG has to build awareness of their brand that are absolutely for free.

Shouts out have their place, and I'm not going to lie they do build your followers real quick, but are they really the right audience you want. Why not immerse yourself first in the IG community and learn how it really works before paying to get followers.

I mean, do you want to pay for followers who are just going to be a number or do you want real followers who can become paying customers and profitable to you?

With that said I would like to offer some advice when it comes to marketing your business on Instagram before doing shout outs.. try them out, what have you got to lose.

Utilize your Profile Information
Your profile bio is the only place on Instagram where people can learn about you, so use it! This is your chance to quickly tell your story and what you are all about. Don't forget about adding your website address as well - this will be the only location in Instagram where you can place a live link. If your website address seems obscenely long you can create short a customized link through bitly.com



Have a #Hashtag Strategy
One of the best ways to get found on Instagram is through hashtags. Now I don't mean any random hashtag, it has to be related in one way or another to the picture that you shared. For example including a "#dog" in the description when the picture you shared is about a cat just doesn't make sense, but perhaps #lovemycat or #petlovers might be more appropriate. Now it does take a little bit of research to find the right combination of hashtag that will get your business found, my suggestion is to explore the users of Instagram who could be your target audience and see if there any common hashtags being used that you could also incorporate to your hashtag strategy. I would suggest you keep your hashtags to maximum of 10 - any more than this is just bordering on being spammy. If you can create a hashtag that is unique to your business then that is even better.



Use the Geo-Tagging Feature
This feature is extremely useful for businesses who have a physical location as it can drive foot traffic to your store, and who doesn't want that. Having a geotag to your post allows who ever is viewing your post to find your business on the map - it will literally pin point your business to them which so cool! Needless to say anytime you post something about your business on Instagram make sure geotag too!



Hope this helps anyone looking to grow a following on IG.

 

In my mind it is very interesting account! I will be your followers! Also, it is great marketing idea and interesting adversiting!

 

Great post. Thanks for sharing these insights! The struggle with these tactics is that the accounts you reference are already very well known and have brand equity outside of Instagram. For new accounts, shout outs make sense because they can drive results quickly. IMO, it's the best approach to growing an account quickly BUT it doesn't have to be costly. The key is giving shout outs in exchange for shout outs. You reach out to an account with a similar audience & follower count and ask them to do a shout for shout.

 

When your tweet or shoutout is something interesting then surely it will ignite the tweeter world's curiosity. There is a big probability that they will follow you.

 

Great post, however I'm wondering why one would only utilize 10 of the available 30 max hashtags? I use 30 every time and post them as a comment rather than a caption so they don't look as spammy. My account has 10,000 very targeted followers and using 30 hashtags each time I get 400 to 600 likes per post and gain about 100-200 new followers per day. Granted it's not just the hashtags getting me followers, but it is a big part for sure.

 

I think now is the best option to grow up if you don't want risks or bans. It's slowly and a little bit expensive compared to other ways like buying followers or promotiong posts but it works better, at least for me (if you have good content). I'm photographer and I use Photoshoutouts , wich is a website focused only on this niche.

 

I was thinking the same thing. My question is when you do the hashtags on your post, (in comments) do you do it with the account making the post or another Instagram account.

Account A - post - account B comment hashtags?

Or

Having account a do both the post and hashtagging in comment... I feel like instagram might penalize the account because you are commenting on the post before anyone else... When you made the post.

I'm a noob so please correct me if I'm wrong. Trying to learn Instagram and it's limits

 

Shoutouts can be great for gaining quick followers but it's probably good to already have an existing fan base as well.

 

So of course shout outs are one of the best ways to grow on Instagram! the only thing that's even better is automation which all big instagrammers use but this is pretty expensive.. so I would say shout outs are the best option for you to grow. Fortunately I have an really active Instagram account: @millionized with about 1.7k active followers and could give you a shoutout... check it out ! so others would ask around 15 euros for that but because I mainly want to help you I can give you a 3 day shoutout for only 5€. you can just dm me on Instagram in case you are interested and send me the euros to my PayPal if you want !

 

Automation really isn't that expensive if you look around. There is a very good piece of Instagram software for around $40 which is easy to use and with a little practice very effective.

 

hi, in my opinion if you have a business page never don't shutout, but if you have a page with less than 500-600 followers it's good do it, but after a time you must delete that, also if you wanna do this test instazood.com
it's a website to grow your instagram.

 

What does instazood do?