We’ve been talking lately about how to boost your organization marketing with Instagram. buy insta likes to what lots of people still believe, Instagram isn’t just a fun app where you could post food, holiday and family pics.

Instagram has turned into a powerful brand-building, audience-building and content-marketing tool for businesses. It has over 200 million active monthly members sharing 60 million images and 1.6 billion likes per day.

A note of caution: there are several people on the market who promise to cultivate your Instagram followers by the thousands, but beware. Most of them use fake accounts developed by bots to inflate your numbers.

These kinds of followers have zero value. In fact, they can even be dangerous, attempting to steal your password or photos or infect you with a virus.

In line with the data security company Imperva, these bad bots take into account 28.9 per cent of bots on Instagram.

The easiest way to build your Instagram followers is when you are authentic to your brand as well as your audience.

Here are 3 ideas to help you get real Instagram followers:

Tell a tale with Hashtags

It’s great to use your business name as a hashtag, but you have to think beyond that.

If you want to use your Instagram posts to obtain followers, use other hashtags that tell the story of the image you’re sharing. You want to start a conversation when you’re sharing posts for things like:

Events

Promotions

Contests

Product launches

A good example of a brand would you this well is @Tostitos. They utilize the hashtag #GetTogetherAlready to encourage people to gather and share their chips, and to use the hashtag if they share photos of their meetups.

By using engaging, relevant hashtags, you could be discovered in Instagram searches and hopefully build up followers on Instagram.

Get Creative

Instagram is focused on photos, so many people think of the caption being an afterthought.

Don’t neglect the image caption! You can generate engagement and promote sharing by using descriptive words that may engage, inspire and entertain your followers.

Here are some ideas to help you build-up followers on Instagram together with your posts:

Use questions in your caption. Write your question at the beginning of the post in order that people see it first.

Get personal together with your post. Tell a story about yourself, or how your product helped or inspired someone else.

Ask visitors to tag others. Asking people to tag three of their close friends or tagging someone they’re grateful for brings other potential followers in to the equation.

A great example of a brand that does personal posts well is the @NatGeo Instagram account.

They create breathtaking Instagram Stories with informative captions to teach an individual on the plight of animals around the globe.

Remember in terms of using Instagram posts to get followers, it’s all about being authentic. Avoid questions in every single post or tell a personal story that isn’t genuine.

Go Local

One of the best methods to build your Instagram followers is to become familiar with your neighbours!

Whether you’re creating Instagram ads or desire to promote your event in a specific area, you can see what’s happening near you by visiting the search page and simply clicking the Places tab.

Type in the location to see the geotagged posts for that area. Then visit relevant and recent tagged posts – not those of competing businesses, obviously – and leave a comment and even an emoji and follow the individual if you like what you see. Hopefully, this will be the start of an organic interaction.

For example, if you offer life coaching services, you can type in your location followed by “entrepreneurs.” Local entrepreneurs may be looking for more work and life balance or help with life goals or career challenges.

Similarly, should you have a physical location that folks have checked into on Instagram, comment on those posters’ pictures to be sure they’re aware of your Instagram presence, and then follow them.

These are among the best ways to build Instagram followers the proper way: no bots, no shortcuts, just tried and true ways to build relationships your audience and turn them into followers!

Susan Friesen, founder of the award-winning web development and digital marketing firm eVision Media, is really a Web Specialist, Business & Marketing Consultant, and SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING Advisor. She works together with entrepreneurs who struggle with having the lack of knowledge, skill and support needed to create their web business presence.