Follower’s engagement is the key goal to grow your business on Instagram. That is why creating an account on the platform is not enough, you need to grow your follower and keep them engaged. Follower’s growth and engagement is not easy for startup and entrepreneur. Most times account management is outsourced to Social Media Marketer for faster result. If you are low on budget and you still want to grow your account then read along
Growing your account might take time but with consistency and effort the popular platform will soon become a strong addition to your business success
Here are the ways to grow your account with zero budget

Post Quality Content Consistently

Instagram is more about appearances. The content you choose to post must pass a message to your followers as well as the picture attached. It is very important you plan the message your account will be passing out. You may alternate between sharing your product picture to lifestyle picture. Apply your artistic vision to what you upload. You don't need to spend money on a camera to do this, your mobile phone camera and its filters are enough. Let your feed tell a compelling story about what you offer and let it communicate to your target audience. Stick to the process religiously.

Apply the Rule of Third 

In other to avoid being overly promotional, you have to apply the rule of third when posting content. This includes:

Promotional contents

This post includes contents that are brand related. Example of the promotional post is product shot, recent works, and brand development.

Conversational contents

This is the type of content that encourage your followers to interact with you.  Conversational contents are in form of a question, quiz, or contest

Shared Content 

These are content you share with your target audience form another account or platform. This include industry news, articles, blogs and post from other Instagram account.
Applying the rules of third is by ensuring your post cover the main aspect discussed above. One of the fastest ways of growing your account is by posting about your product, engaging your audience in conversations, sharing content of influencer in your niche and solving one or two problems of your follower through posts.

Monitor Hashtags in your Niche 

Hashtags are very powerful marketing tools on Instagram. Hashtags enable you to appear on search result thereby attracting new customers. You can achieve this by doing hashtag research daily or weekly. After posting any content add relevant hashtags you have researched on. Always update your post hashtags regularly because trending hashtags change regularly

Never Buy a Follower

Buying flower on Instagram is like building a house in the air. Followers bought are not interested in your product. They can't be converted into sales either are they going to engage with your content. This is because they are not real people in the first place. Another negative impact is that your account will look shady to real followers and that will compromise the integrity of your brand.

Pay Close Attention to Analytics 

Accessing the analytics section of your account will give you the insight of what is working for you and what is not. It will also guide you on how you can improve your account.  You can also use analytics to track down when most of your followers are online. You can schedule the time you will be posting your content based on this. Another thing to take note of is the number of likes you get from the picture you upload. The picture with the highest number of likes should be replicated in your next post.

Engagement, Engagement, Engagement 

Engagement is the key.  Building your account needs your activeness on the platform.   You will have to like, post and follow as many accounts as possible. Don't follow any account that won't be of benefit to you. Follow the account of your target audience. Lastly, comment regularly on your target audience posts. Comment triggers them to visit your page, likes your page, start following you or make contact.