Instagram is one of the most popular social media sites out there. More than 1 billion people use it every day to share their daily lives with friends and family through photos, videos, or stories! The problem? You don't have enough followers yet?? Here's everything you need to know about how best to gain new ones so that your profile doesn’t seem neglected by comparison.

PMD Digital has created this guide tailored for musicians to help them promote their content through Instagram.

Set Up Your Bio in a Professional Manner

Do you love music? Your Instagram bio should be to the point and updated frequently. It needs to updates of the upcoming concerts and tour dates. Be sure to add hashtags such as #rock inside of your description so people can find their way onto yours.

Using Instagram to promote your music is a great way for musicians. You can easily integrate smart links into the bio of your account, which will allow people who listen on streaming apps and websites such as Spotify or Apple Music to your tracks/albums that are linked with your Instagram profile.

An Eye for Visual Aesthetics Goes a Long Way

Your Instagram profile mosaic should be tuneful just as your music is. Come up with feed ideas that are original yet catchy. The purpose is to make your profile stand out from the rest so people visit it more often and give a follow soon after they see it.

There are a lot of ways to increase your Instagram following, but the best way is by figuring out what is it that you want to portray; is your persona and image more important? Is it your skill as a vocalist or instrumentalist? Is it just so they can see music videos? Photos from shows in their area or any other event happening now that might be relevant to your fans.

You know what they say about a picture worth a thousand words, right? Well, this is true for videos and pictures as well. If you want to capture the attention of your fans and followers quickly it is better to upload one good picture or video rather than many poor ones. Also, utilize carousels, cascaded posts, etc.

Timeline of Your Posts

Instagram is all about the flow of your content. Rather than feeling obligated to post an old poorly captured photo from the past, figure out how do you want to go about your posts in the future by creating a calendar and remembering the milestones in your as a musician. For example, you can share a picture of the first concert ticket you attended as a kid. You can use hashtags such as #TBT Throw Back Thursday which have proven to gain sentimental value from your fans.  

Well, you’re an incredible musician, but who knows how good of a baker you are? That's the kind of thing artists can share with their followers in small doses. Once every so often though (or when it makes sense), try to let your more private side shine through on Instagram – maybe tag some friends who live near each other or geolocate posts for added authenticity? You're certainly going down the path as one big star; don't forget that while being human means sometimes living out these emotions publicly too.

Give Thought to Who You Have to Follow

To increase your Insta credibility, always make sure that the ratio of your followers to the people you are following should be greater in favor of the followers. The difference between these two numbers should also be even more for best results when projects start taking off!

Avoid clicking the follow button on different profiles at the same time (you'll get punished by Instagram) and untimely follow/unfollows. Both will decrease the engagement rate with your followers.

When it comes to Instagram, the best way is not always clear. There are many different opinions on what works for an account and which tools you should use when creating your feed or post-production process but one thing that seems certain: engaging followers who will stay active over time helps guarantee success.

Be sure to avoid paid followers since, in recent times, Instagram has been strict with unusual engagement or activity on its platform. It is possible that they shadow-ban you.

Instagram Stories Go a Long Way

There are no rules for Instagram stories; it’s up to you how much time and space they take. You can experiment with different types of content, like filming bits from concerts that go onto your feed or taking polls among followers: what do we should eat next? A more direct tone may also work well if this resonates personally for yourself – think about creating an ecosystem outside just your project through reposting other people's videos alongside tags connecting them together in one network (like " Concert footage").

This is a great opportunity to showcase your most memorable moments via stories and group them by themes on Instagram. You can even create visuals for each theme if you want. Share the feedback that's come in about how wonderful these events were or show behind-the-scenes pictures from your recent trip abroad too; it'll make everyone feel extra special.

Pay Instagram to Sponsor Your Profile or Posts

Sponsoring your posts on Instagram is not that heavy on your pocket. Plus it’s worth it. The best way to make the most of your sponsored ads on Instagram is by targeting a specific audience. You can target the audience by region, age, interests, etc. Do not underestimate the power of Insta’s algorithm. The more accurate information you feed to the algorithm, the better your chances of gaining more followers who will become your fans. From your profile, you can target them to your Spotify and YouTube channels.

Make Frequent Fan Interactions

Always take the time out to reply to the comments you think are witty and tag the user when replying. You can also start contests and giveaways. In your stories, you can make polls to increase engagement. Because remember, fans are always excited to interact and participate whenever they get an opportunity.

Go All In

The best way to make your Instagram stand out is by being unique just like you are as an artist. Don’t just post the same things as everyone else, because people will be bored in no time!

You should talk about what you're going to do beforehand to amp up the hype. Make sure you live up to it because that will create engagement and more interactions for future such events.

Lastly, you can also give your Instagram handle responsibilities to PMD Digital. We have an in-house social media team that handles content for various musicians.  We’ll take care of everything and help increase your following and reach.