How to use your Instagram stories to get 10k followers

500 million people click through Instagram stories every day, quick to engage with content that won’t be visible after 24 hours. Did you know that stories are also directly viewable from the ‘Explore’ tab of the app? Now more than ever they are essential to promoting your feed. Here are 5 ways you can use your stories to grow your follower count.

Mention brands and other users

This is a great way to connect with new accounts and get noticed. Instagram feeds move so fast that interactions through comments can often get buried too quickly to be noticed. If someone mentions my account in a story, however, I’ll always check the message. I've even got a publisher collaboration through tagging them in my story. Mention accounts that you love in your stories, tag brands that you’re using – share the love! Instagram is all about connecting with people, and stories give you another way of doing that.

Use hashtags

Hashtags are vital for increasing the reach of your Instagram posts, and it’s the same for stories. You can use up to 11 hashtags in a story, so use them! I would recommend using smaller hashtags in your stories, because they’re more likely to get seen. Hashtags with millions of posts will have so many stories tagged that it’s unlikely many users will click through to see yours. Top tip: shrink down the text of the hashtags. You can make them so small that they’re not even visible to the naked eye. No ugly hashtags, but all the reach!

Tag locations

Similar to using hashtags, tagging your location in your story is another way for new users to find your account through the location’s own story feed. Plus, it’s a fun graphic to add to your image and a way to show your followers what you’re up to (more on this below).

Use Instagram polls to gauge what your followers want to see

This may seem more orientated to maintaining rather than growing your following, but it’s very important. When my account first started to grow back in July, I was constantly putting up polls asking my followers which type of content they preferred. Warm tones or cool tones? Pictures with me in them or not? When you’re posting new content on your feed, you want the majority of your followers to engage with it by liking and commenting. The higher the immediate engagement on a post, the more likely it’ll trend on Instagram in either the ‘Top’ hashtag pages or the Explore page. How are you going to know which posts will do best? By asking your followers which content they like to see the most from you.

Show another side of yourself in your stories

There’s no point trying to deny it – everyone on Instagram is nosy about who they’re following. Stories are a great way to inject your personality into your feed. When I’m deciding whether to follow a new account, I’ll often watch the stories they’ve posted. If I see updates on someone’s daily life, or videos of them talking about what they’re up to/a book they’re enjoying, I’m more likely to follow them. I like to do Q&A sessions in my stories to let a bit more of my personality shine through, and it’s always had a good response!