How to Drive Instagram Organic Growth [+ Expert Tips]

Truth be told, driving Instagram organic growth is no cakewalk. It takes sustained efforts backed by strategic marketing to outperform the 2 million businesses that exist on Instagram today and grow organically, without resorting to paid marketing and artificial tactics. 

Putting things in perspective, the average organic reach on Instagram is a mere 20%, contingent on account size and industry. Understandably, it will take more than just great content to grab eyeballs on the saturated platform. Meticulous Instagram marketing strategy backed by audience research, algorithm-friendly scheduling and strong customer relationships can give you the desired edge.  

Is it worthwhile to invest in Instagram organic growth? 

Yes, it most definitely is. The path to Instagram’s Hall of Fame may be rocky but it sure is rewarding. Brands that are able to grow organically amidst stiff competition are known to win massive audience trust, industry supremacy and a glowing brand reputation. They also have a good chance of permeating the buying ecosystem which is ruled by Gen Z at the moment. 79% of Gen Z users claim to buy only from brands they trust. Instagram is a great place to win their trust since they dominate 62% of Instagram’s user base. 

Sounds like a winning deal? 

Then, dive into this article. We demystify Instagram organic growth for you, arming you with 11 expert tips, tools and trends you can start leveraging right away. 

What is organic growth on Instagram?  

Organic growth on Instagram refers to increasing your followership on the platform, without using any paid ads, paid promotions or quick-fix tactics (like buying followers). It involves using unpaid marketing tactics to attract genuine followers to your business and building strong follower relationships to expand your reach.  

It is a measure of how well your content penetrates your follower base and beyond, solely by virtue of the platform’s algorithm and users’ interactions with your content. Organic growth is inevitably followed by expanded reach, engagement, conversions and a healthy image for your brand 

If you seek a formal definition, the organic reach on Instagram refers to the number of unique followers an account garners without using paid promotions. While Instagram organic growth rates vary widely by industry and account size, a growth rate between 10% and 20% is considered strong. This baseline rate swings wildly as the algorithms update and the audience’s content consumption habits evolve.  Brands with healthy Instagram organic growth reap rich dividends since their followers are authentic and keen to engage with them meaningfully. There are many other benefits as well. Let’s discuss them.  

Why should businesses care about organic growth on Instagram? 

Organic growth on Instagram is directly tied to a brand’s success on the platform. Businesses using Instagram for growing their engagement, ROI and brand health should prioritize organic growth because it offers: 

• Long lasting, genuine engagement: Organic growth comes from an audience that is naturally interested in your brand or offerings. They are far more likely to convert into paid customers or become brand advocates.  
   
• Improved brand reputation: Organic growth comes from authentic, engaging content rooted in the real pain points, interests and needs of your target audience. Brands rising on the back of good content and authentic tactics earn the trust of the audience as well as the platform algorithms.  
   
• Sustainable and cost-effective marketing: With advertising costs rising year on year, organic Instagram marketing is an affordable option for smaller brands and individuals. Since the investment is nearly zero, the social media ROI is sky-high. Additionally, it’s easier to run organic campaigns for longer periods because you’re not paying to keep them going.  
   
• Reliable analytics: Organic growth allows for more reliable analytics data that is not skewed by fake followers or bots. Investment decisions founded on real analytics are well-informed and risk-free.  

11 strategies to achieve organic growth on Instagram for your brand 

Besides following the basic tenets of Instagram marketing, go a step further and implement the strategies below if you want to build your follower count organically. 

1. Invest in audience and market research  

Audience research or audience analysis is essential for your Instagram growth strategy as well as larger business objectives. It examines the interests, location, demographics, social behaviors, preferences and other characteristics of your target audience group. It reveals their specific characteristics – psychographics, demographics, behavioral indicators and sentiment – allowing you to build content personalized just for them. Tailored content hits the right notes with your audience, spurring them to reshare it within their networks and yielding new followers for you.  Let’s understand with an example.  If you own a chain of cloud kitchens, audience analysis can arm you with the following data about your prospective customers or followers: 

• Demographics: Your audience’s age, gender, location which helps build localized menus and use the right geo-location tags for expanded reach. 
• Preferences: Types of foods, cuisines or dishes your audience prefers, which helps build customized menu offerings. 
• Behavior patterns: Active times of your audience for more targeted scheduling and increased engagement. 
• Engagement metrics: Brand affinities and preferred influencers of your audience, which enables you to adjust your Instagram strategy in real time. 

Based on the above insights, you can build detailed social media personas of your audience and segment them into groups based on common criteria. Then, proceed to hyper-personalize your messaging, posting time, campaigns and offerings for each group separately.      
 

🔍 Seeking Unfiltered Audience Insights? Tune into Relevant Online Conversations!  

Gathering raw, unadulterated insights about what your audience thinks about your brand (sentiment) or what they expect from you in terms of offerings, customer support, pricing etc. is the dream of every data-driven marketer. Today, this is possible through social listening.   

To quote the linked article:   

“Social listening refers to the process of examining and monitoring online conversations, mentions and discussions to extract valuable insights about your brand, industry, competitors or specific market trends. It involves understanding the context, emotions and preferences of customers and followers across online communities and social media channels.”   

Use Instagram social listening to tune into relevant conversations where your brand, competitors or specific keywords are mentioned and know the pulse of your audience, specifically: 

• What hashtags your audience is using 
• What is the overall brand sentiment 
• What is your share of voice 

Take a look at Sprinklr’s social listening dashboard that pinpoints share of voice and breakdown of mentions into positive, negative and neutral. Use these insights to sharpen your targeting, messaging and positioning on Instagram and amplify your organic growth today.  

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2. Optimize your Instagram profile 

Your Instagram profile should, at a glance, convey your values, offerings and customer focus. It should give visitors a reason to stick around and scroll, as well as click “Follow.” From incorporating the right keywords in an informative bio to having a link directory, there are many smart ways to optimize your profile and attract the right followers for organic growth. Not only followers, but Instagram’s algorithm also favors profiles optimized for social SEO, surfacing such profiles on the “Explore” page of potential followers. Here are the profile elements to refine for giving a best first impression: 

• Profile Picture: Upload a high-resolution picture of either your brand logo or own headshot, measuring 110 by 110 pixels for the best resolution on mobiles. When viewed on desktops, the recommended profile picture size is 180 by 180 pixels.  
• Username and Bio: The username (limited to 30 characters) should represent your brand personality and be easy to memorize. The bio (limited to 150 characters) should succinctly articulate your offerings and achievements and also include relevant keywords for better reach and visibility. It’s also a good practice to include other account pages you patronize or own, as business coach Sabrina Philipp does in her bio: 

• Links in Bio: Instagram allows only one clickable link in the bio, so choose one that leads to a landing page with multiple links to your other assets (Wikipedia page, social media pages, website/blog etc.) or your latest campaign/vlog/video/published article. Take a cue from clothing brand Spanx using a Linktree link in their bio:

• Stories: On Instagram, the recommended size for stories is 1080 by 1920 pixels with an aspect ratio of 9:16. Images should be either PNG or JPG and under 30 MB. For video files, maximum length is 15 seconds and maximum size is 4 GB. Adherence to these technical specifications ensures your Stories render as intended and make a lasting impression on viewers. 
• Highlights: You can collect and group your Stories into permanent Highlights and design aesthetic covers for your Highlights. Highlights should follow some logical categorization (product categories, BTS, reviews, etc.) as Itele footwear does. Their Highlight covers are monochromatic and chic, which adds to the page’s aesthetic appeal. 

3. Leverage varied content formats 

Gone are the days when you could post images day after day and rake in followers on Instagram or any other social media platform. Instagrammers expect brands and creators to offer content variety and experiment with different content formats, like Stories (for ephemeral content, Reels (for short videos), Insta Live (for live streaming) and IGTV (for long-form videos).   

Content diversification keeps your feed engaging, caters to audiences with diverse content consumption habits and encourages them to follow you.  

Let’s take a deeper look at the content formats that matter on Instagram. 

Insta Stories: Volatile social media stories are immensely popular with marketers since they are uber-effective in driving FOMO. Posting daily Stories can help you stay top of mind with existing followers and pique the curiosity of prospective followers. Stories offer immense creative scope with interactivities like polls, quizzes, ask-me-anything questions and more. They can also be used to hype upcoming campaigns and events and share exclusive behind-the-scenes content. 

Insta Live: You can go live on Instagram to host and stream question-answer sessions with your audience or with social media collaborators in your niche. Insta Live is also great for broadcasting product launches and sharing time-sensitive deals with your network. Word travels fast on social media and you may soon find plenty of new users on your radar! 

Reels: The Reels feature allows businesses and users to upload video clips up to 60 seconds long. The videos can be edited, dubbed and infused with cool effects to delight and interest users. 

IGTV or Instagram TV: IGTV allows brands to share long-form videos (up to 60 minutes long) that are perfect for tutorials, interviews and in-depth discussions. 

In-feed Posts: Share high-quality static images, videos or Carousels (< 10 pictures/post) in your Instagram feed to maintain engagement rates and drive organic growth by tagging potential followers.  

👉 Bonus: 15 Creative Instagram Post Ideas to Try in 2024    

4. Identify the best times for posting 

Posting during optimal times is another surefire way to reach your target audience’s feeds and increase the probability of getting them on your page organically. Our research shows that ideal Instagram posting times (in PST) are between 7 AM- 10 AM and 7 PM – 10 PM overall. This window varies quite a bit on some days of the week, specifically Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.   

Interestingly, the best posting time varies by industry, country and content format as well. Retailers should post between 7 PM and 10 AM on Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday to catch people before they get busy with their day. Same goes for brands in hospitality and healthcare sectors. Contrarily, technology brands see more activity in late evenings on Mondays and Fridays. 

🕜 Find the Best Posting Times to Reach Your Target Audience – For FREE! 

Sprinklr’s Smart Scheduler, a feature of our Social Media Scheduler and Publisher, analyzes 30 days of data to find the best times to post based on your audience, the day of the week and time zone.  

It uses AI to determine the best times to post by calculating engagement scores for every hour of the day. It considers shares, comments, likes, impressions and the number of followers online. If your account lacks data, it starts predicting the best times as you post more.   

Based on its analysis, Sprinklr Scheduler suggests a range of time frames with the best time highlighted in green and secondary options in gray.  

The best part? Sprinklr Scheduler is up for a free 30-day trial on first come, first serve basis. Grab your trial now 👇 

FIND YOUR BEST POSTING TIME NOW

 5. Create a content calendar for consistent posting 

Out of sight, out of mind is a norm on social media platforms. Brands that post sporadically lose share of voice and engagement on fast-moving platforms like Instagram. Conversely, regular posting drives consistent Instagram organic growth. Many factors are responsible, including: 

• Algorithm love: Social media algorithms favor accounts that post regularly. Consistent posting signals activity and relevance, improving your chances of appearing in users’ feeds. 
• Audience expectations: Regular content establishes expectations. Followers start anticipating your posts, which is a precursor of engagement and loyalty. 
• Engagement rate: Consistent posting maintains engagement momentum. Higher engagement rates lead to better visibility and reach. 
• Online presence: Frequent posts reinforce your brand’s online presence. It keeps your business top-of-mind for potential followers and customers. 

While steady posting is good, over-posting is a no-no. IG algorithms restrict users to 5 posts per hour, but the recommended limit is 1-2 posts per day. If you’re a new user, stick to this limit to convince IG algorithms that you're a legit user, not a bot.  Posting consistency calls for proactive planning. Planning content on the fly can be a pain for busy social media marketers. That’s where creating a social media content calendar comes in handy. Use a calendar to have your content locked and loaded in advance for hassle-free, uninterrupted publishing. Use it to streamline your content lifecycle and set expectations with stakeholder teams so collaboration is seamless. 

We have a free Social Media Calendar Template to help you plan your content proactively and drive growth on Instagram organically. Download it now! 👇 

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6. Be strategic in your collaborations 

Social media collaboration is your highway to new relevant followers that were previously out of your reach and network. In simple words, social media collaborations work on the principal of “Together we are stronger.” Brands join hands with other brands or influencers to co-create content and share it on their respective pages, getting direct access to their partners’ follower networks. Ultimately, it’s one masterstroke that leads to expanded reach and brand awareness for both collaborators. 

You can use Instagram’s Collab feature (works on Instagram Lite app and mobile devices only) to tag and invite collaborators. Once they accept your collaboration invite, the tagged post will automatically show up on both profiles, carrying both usernames, as it did for rizeupbakery and charleschoco. 
 

7. Take hashtags seriously 

When used effectively, nifty hashtags can become conversation starters and follower magnets for businesses on Instagram. They give you access to prospective followers who use the hashtags you use, enhancing your reach and engagement considerably. Moreover, the audience you reach is highly relevant to your business or niche which increases their chances of becoming your follower.  

For example, travel agencies using non-generic hashtags like #travelgram and #traveladdict can meet and engage with travel enthusiasts and travel bloggers who will most likely follow them and boost their organic Instagram growth. 

Now, let’s discuss Instagram hashtag limits. It’s advisable to use 3-5 highly relevant hashtags per post, taking special care not to overstuff hashtags and risk getting de-ranked by the algorithm.  

Next, get rid of the idea that the best hashtags for organic growth are the ones with most posts attached to them. More often than not, niche-specific hashtags are more effective since they have more passionate, engaged patrons.  

In essence, your Instagram organic growth boils down to finding and using the right hashtags. Create listening queries around the hashtags (also called hashtag listening) you want to monitor and assess the relevance and recency of the content therein. This way, you can eliminate hashtags with passive users and irrelevant content, simplifying hashtag selection.  

🔱 Search, Analyze and Curate Custom Hashtags Right Away  

For hashtag listening, Sprinklr offers the Instagram Hashtag Manager that helps: 

• Search hashtags specific to your brand, niche or campaign 
• Filter hashtags based on content volume and engagement 
• Export hashtags to Excel files for easy sharing and advanced analysis 
• Audit hashtags to divulge the creator’s name, creation date etc. 

 The Hashtag Manager comes bundled with Sprinklr Social Listening. Book a demo of Sprinklr and get your hands on customized hashtags today!  

The Hashtag Manager comes bundled with Sprinklr Social Listening. Book a demo of Sprinklr and get your hands on customized hashtags today! 

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8. Leverage user-generated content 

44% of people claim they take inspiration from “friends and acquaintances” when buying or trying new products. It’s no wonder user-generated content (UGC) has become a powerful tool for organic growth on social media.   

For the uninitiated, UGC is the content shared by a brand’s fans, customers or employees of them using the brand’s products and services. Think of it as organic word-of-mouth marketing. It’s the hallmark of authenticity and trust that attracts new followers better than any paid advertising campaign or celebrity endorsement can ever do. It builds brand credibility and helps brands penetrate new networks.  

Still skeptical of using UGC in social media? These numbers are sure to win you over: 

• 60% of consumers say user-generated content is the most authentic form of content. 
• 84% of millennials say UGC influences their purchasing decisions. 
• Shoppers spend 90% more time on a website that features UGC. 

Looking for inspiration? Look no further than NatGeo, a brand known for iconic photography, placed its photo community “Your Shot” on Instagram. Photographers can tag their photos with #YourShot, have their images shared by Nat Geo, and have their work seen by the brand’s massive Instagram audience.  

This is the gold standard of user generated content. On Instagram, #yourshotphotographer and #natgeoyourshot tags on Instagram have 11 million photos combined. Their Your Shot website, which ran over 14 years before Instagram, got 10 million submissions. In one year on Insta, Nat Geo got more submissions than 14 years of their very well-known website.    

9. Respond to comments and questions timely 

Engage with followers’ comments as quickly as possible. Directly address their questions, provide relevant links, and thank them for their time and attention.  Responding in a timely manner with right information will build trust and loyalty in the brand. This automatically encourages folks to follow the brand, leading to growth.

In terms of the dos and don’ts of responding to online followers and commenters, we go into granular detail in the blog - How to Respond to Customers on Social Media (+ Examples).  

10. Engage and interact with other brands 

People respond positively to brands trying to engage with their audience and other creators. You might have seen brands commenting on other brands’ posts or reels. This allows businesses to become visible to target audiences without openly promoting themselves.  

For example, if the Insta profile of Ragu (pasta sauce company) leaves a funny comment on a reel demonstrating Italian cooking, they are automatically noticed by an already interested audience – everyone else in the comment section.  

This humanizes the brand (especially if the comment is well-crafted and timely) and allows other users to easily communicate with it.   

Engage with posts and reels of other brands too, especially probable future collaborators. Each brand gains higher organic visibility from a new audience and opens to new potential customers on Instagram.   

11. Monitor performance and refine strategy 

Once brands post content, social teams must monitor and analyze Instagram Insights to evaluate performance. You will have to judge content based on pre-determined metrics like comments, likes, views (on Stories), reach, impressions, website clicks and follower growth %.   

Social media monitoring identifies and evaluates online conversations, opinions and discussions taking place across various social media platforms and online channels. It tracks and analyzes keyword mentions, comments and overall sentiment associated with a particular brand, individual or product.  

Once the numbers start reflecting results, you must refine and adjust strategies to make up for any gaps. For example, if a certain kind of post does not seem to gather enough likes and shares, analysts must dig into what is missing in the content.   

Did you know: With Sprinklr, you can tap power to tap into 500 million conversations every day. You can go beyond your core brand channels and transform unstructured data into valuable insights into what customers really want. Use them to push business growth & elevate customer experiences. 
 
Read More: How to Determine Social Media Marketing Effectiveness 

Social media metrics to track organic growth on Instagram 

Gauging content performance on Instagram requires marketers to track and analyze certain key social media key performance indicators (KPIs), including:  

• Impressions: The number of times a piece of content has been seen.  
   
• Reach: The number of times a piece of content has been viewed and has generated a click.  
   
• Engagement Rate: The ratio of total engagement to total follower count.  
  Total engagement/total number of followers X 100 = Engagement rate 
   
• Follower growth rate: The % of how quickly an Instagram account is growing – gaining or losing followers. 
   
• Engagement by follower: The average number of times each follower engages with the brand’s content.

Dive Deeper: Social Media Analytics Guide to Level up Your ROI 

Final thoughts 

Organic growth on Instagram is both an art and a science. Sprinklr provides a platform through which social media marketers can grow their social media followership by masterful social listening, hashtag manager, social media analytics and industry-defining AI. 

We offer a 360-degree view of your Instagram marketing operations – your content calendar, audience sentiment, competitor keywords, engagement monitoring and more. If you are curious, can we interest you in a free trial of Sprinklr today?