New to Instagram and don't know how to get more followers? You've come to the right place to learn how to grow your account and attract more people to follow you.

This year, Instagram turns a big ten years, and you could say that it has changed many lives since its existence. The social networking platform that first started as a photo-posting app has grown into an excellent source of revenue for creators, a great sales channel for brands, and a popular content source for its users.

Instagram is huge these days, having one billion active users in 2018, and other 26.9 million users are expected to join the platform by the end of this year. Moreover, the platform is the second most logged social media app, after Facebook, having six in 10 of its users log in at least once a day.

So, that being said, there's no better time than now to have a business or a personal brand on Instagram because that can gain you financial freedom. Here are five tips on how to get more Instagram followers.

1.   Figure out what your audience wants to see

If you're doing everything by the book with your Instagram account but still can't manage to get more followers, you may be addressing the wrong audience or not know how to engage it. Always remember that engagement is king.

Yet, to engage your audience, you must be relevant to it, and to be relevant, you must give your followers content they really want to see and that brings value into their lives. So, you may want to spend some time understanding what your audience is looking for.

Are there themes or styles that resonate best with your audience? Do you get better engagement when posting videos or pictures? Do Instagram contests work best at attracting more followers? The secret is to test everything out and see what works best for attracting more people to like your account because that's what your audience wants to see.

2.   Recommend products really worth buying

If you are an influencer and work with brands to promote their products or services, you should know that there's some great responsibility on your shoulders. Not only that 49% of customers depend on the recommendations made by the influencer they follow, but 40% of them had actually purchased something after seeing it on YouTube, Twitter, and, you've guessed it, Instagram. Thus, like it or not, the quality of the products you recommend reach your followers' expectations, you may be losing some of them for your poor recommendations.

On the flip note, if you carefully select what and for whom you promote, you'll gain the trust of your audience, which will undoubtedly recommend you to their peers for your excellent recommendations.

3.   Use hashtags

No, hashtags aren't just for teenage girls on Instagram! In fact, they are a compelling tactic for creating awareness and making your content a lot easy to be discovered by Instagram users who don't already follow you.

Think of hashtags as a "search" tool because attaching them to your images or videos allows your content to be found by those users who search by specific keywords. But make no mistake, using hashtags is one thing, using the right ones is an entirely different thing.

Let's say, for example, that your Instagram account is all about nutrition. Search for the most popular hashtags in this niche, such as #nutrition, #fitness, #healthylifestyle, or #healthyfood, and attach them to your posts. Next time an Instagram user searches for these hashtags, your posts have an increased chance to be found.

4.   Edit your pictures with the right filters

When you edit your Instagram photos, do you ever think of the impact the filter you choose has on engagement? If not, it's time you start doing this.

Instagram filters are all about making your pictures look better, from increasing their brightness to highlighting essential elements in your pics or making the image look alive. Yet, there's a lot more the right filters do. They can increase engagement.

According to Inconsquare, the ten most famous Instagram filters are normal, Calderon, Juno, Lark, as well as Ludwig, Gingham, Valencia, X-Pro II, Lo-fi, and Amaro. But, according to a study from TrackMaven on how filters affect engagement, Mayfair, Hefe, and, Ludwig filters led to the most engagement.

Yet, more important than the general Instagram's community preferred filters are your audience's favorite ones. So, pay attention to which filters trigger most likes and comments and use the same ones for all your posts.

5.   Steal your competitor's followers

It's always good to take a sneaky look at what your competitors are doing, no matter the nature of your business. There's always a mistake your competitor does, and you learn not to do it, or there is always a great idea to "steal", including your competitor's followers.

Your competitor's followers are people that have already shown some interest in the products or type of content your account promotes simply by following your competitor's account. So, they are the type of users that will genuinely engage with your posts.

But how do you "steal" your competitor's followers? By engaging with them by following them yourself, like a photo of them, and comment on a photo of them. Once again, engagement is king, and the more you engage with people, the more you'll get out of it.