I’ve been writing about Instagram for a while now. I obviously love this site and I honestly believe it’s the future of social media marketing. And a lot of you are reading my posts and even starting Instagram accounts. Which is awesome!

But for all the things I’ve written about Instagram, I know a lot of you are still having problems getting Instagram to work for you.

You may not be getting as many likes as you want. You may not have as many followers as you’d like. Or maybe you’re not generating any traffic to your site. Whatever your issue is, if you feel like Instagram should do more for you, keep reading.

Share More Posts

As with other social media sites, people aren’t using Instagram all day long. And different people use it at different times. If you really want to increase your reach and engagement with Instagram you will probably need to share more than one photo a week. Whatever your current posting schedule is now, try increasing your frequency to see if you achieve better results.

A word to the wise though, don’t start posting irrelevant or inconsistent images. If you want to share more posts, you need to spend more time crafting good, relevant content. You can also read my previous post about best practices for sharing Instagram images.

Share Better Posts

I realize “better” is a subjective term. People are on Instagram because they want to see great images (and videos). That’s why sunsets, landscapes, and pets get more interaction than product posts. It’s understandable if you think about it from a user perspective – which posts do you tend to “like” more? So if you want to get more interaction on your product posts, then you need to create images that are more in line with what people want to see on Instagram.

Use new settings, create surroundings with vivid colors, focus on current trends. Find ways to incorporate what you do with what people want. Instagram is a social media site like all the others – you need to give users what they’re there for in order to get them to interact with you.

Get More Followers

Let’s face it, if you only have 40 followers, you’re not going to get hundreds of likes on your posts. Even if you’re creating great posts, if no one sees them, they’re not going to generate engagement. You need to build up your followers! And, NO, I absolutely do NOT recommend buying followers.

There are a couple methods I use to garner new followers every week. Feel free to try any of these to grow your followers as well.

Advertise that you’re on Instagram! If no one knows you’re there, they’re not likely to find you. Tell your customers, put social icons on your website and blog, include your handle on your business cards, and invite followers on your other social media sites to follow you on Instagram.

Go to your notifications page. You’ll notice there are two tabs at the top – Following and You. The page defaults to your news – your notifications of activity. If you click on the other tab (Following), you can see what the people you follow are liking. This is a great way to find new people on Instagram. Go through and click on the images that you like. You will be taken to that user’s image where you can then navigate to their profile. If they have other images that look to be of interest to you, like their posts, comment on some of them, and then follow them. Instagram is fairly reciprocal and if your content is what they enjoy, they will usually follow you back too.

Use the search function. While I generally believe Instagram’s search function could be a lot stronger, it can still be of value. Type in keywords that are relevant to your industry to find other Instagramers that might be worth following. Again, engage with them and they will likely follow you back.

Follow the followers of those you follow. This is similar to what a lot of Twitter users do to gain more followers. Find some of the people you follow who have similar interests or are in your industry. Go to their profile and click on the “followers” tab to see who’s following them. If these people are following people similar to you, they will likely follow you too! Scroll through the list and follow anyone who looks of interest. Again, engage with them to encourage them to follow you too.

I know, these aren’t “easy” ways to gain new followers. But if you want to find quality followers, you’re going to have to work for it.

Be More Active

If you’re not liking and commenting on other Instagramer’s posts, why would they engage with yours? So start being more active! Check Instagram at least a couple times a day and scroll through your feed. It’s sooo easy to actually like a post – just double tap the image. So start tapping away. Anything of interest – like it. Brands and other Instagramers you want to connect with – like it and comment! I’ve told you before the importance of using comments to develop significant relationships through Instagram.

Spend More Time on Instagram

You’re probably thinking that these tips sound all great but that now you need to spend more time on Instagram. YES! You do. Instagram can work for you and it can drive traffic to your site. However, you will get what you put into it. If you treat it as a lower priority, it will generate lower engagement and traffic. Spend more time on the site and you’ll see better results!

What do you think? Do you have any other tips to generate better results from Instagram? Join in the conversation in the comments below.