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

Instagram has become 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 plenty of people out there who promise to grow your Instagram followers by the thousands, but beware. Many of them use fake accounts created by bots to inflate your numbers.

These types of followers have zero value. Actually, they are able to even be dangerous, wanting to steal your password or photos or infect you with a virus.

According to the data security company Imperva, these bad bots account for 28.9 per cent of bots on Instagram.

The ultimate way to build your Instagram followers is when you are authentic to your brand and your audience.

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

Tell a tale with Hashtags

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

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

Events

Promotions

Contests

Product launches

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

Through the use of engaging, relevant hashtags, you can be discovered in Instagram searches and hopefully build up followers on Instagram.

Get Creative

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

Don’t neglect the image caption! You will 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 with your post. Tell buy instagram likes about yourself, or how your product helped or inspired another person.

Ask visitors to tag others. Asking visitors to tag three of their best friends or tagging someone they’re grateful for brings other potential followers into 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 educate an individual on the plight of animals around the world.

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

Go Local

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

Whether you’re creating Instagram ads or want to promote your event in a particular area, you can see what’s going on near you by going to 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 as well as an emoji and follow the individual if you like what you see. Hopefully, this will be the start of a natural interaction.

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

Similarly, for those who have a physical location that people have checked into on Instagram, touch upon those posters’ pictures to be sure they’re alert to your Instagram presence, and follow them.

These are among the best methods to build Instagram followers the right way: no bots, no shortcuts, just old ways to engage with your audience and turn them into followers!

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