James Shamsi is a 22-year-old social media savant who makes his living creating viral PR stunts, ranging from a Chrome extension that bans all Kardashian content to an app that adds a puppy to your Tinder profile.
It’s safe to say that he’s familiar with the best — and worst — ways you can go viral, as well as how to hack the system to your advantage. (He doesn’t make daily rates of $1,500 at his company Chameleon.LA for nothing, after all.)
Tech Insider recently asked Shamsi how people can grow their follower counts on Instagram organically. Keep reading to see the ultimate growth hacker’s best advice.
1. Get as personal as possible
Whether you’re commenting on other people’s Instagrams or writing your page’s bio, Shamsi says it pays to be as specific as possible.
"Tiny little things like that can really add up," Shamsi says. "For instance, I put in the name of all the page admins, and got way more follows. Then I put their ages on their bios, and I got even more follows. All these tiny little hacks can really help you grow."
Being upfront about your age, gender, and who you are will help people feel as though they have a relationship with you and your brand, thereby increasing your followers.
2. Be consistent
Some of us, myself included, may only post an Instagram when the mood strikes or when the locale is just right. But it’s important not to get lazy if you want to build your follower count.
"I said on the Instagram bio how many posts were going up per day, and I got way more follows," Shamsi explains.
Being transparent about how and what you post — and then following through — will build trust with your audience.
3. Don’t be shy about using programs like Instagress
Instagress is a company that automates Instagram activities so you can automatically like, comment, and follow people who have done certain actions, like following a similar brand to yours or commenting on a page.
While it sounds spammy, Shamsi says it works surprisingly well, especially if you get specific with your settings.
"For instance, you can have it comment, like, or follow people based on location," he says. "So if you’re a small coffee shop, you can easily reach nearby people, which works really well for the smaller businesses."
4. Keep experimenting
There's no instant fix for gaining followers, Shamsi says, except to keep experimenting and trying new strategies.
"A lot of the big people who are social media pros in the industry, all they ever say is 'put out good content and you’ll grow' — and that's true, but it's just so slow," Shamsi says. "I think people hear that and they turn off creatively and don’t bother experimenting with new strategies."
Shamsi insists there are always little tactics to help yourself and your brand keep growing. Sure, producing great content is half the battle, but getting big on social media is just like anything else — if you stick with it and keep practicing, change will come.
