Freelance Career

Dear Freelancers, Here Are 8 Ways To Get Organic Traffic On Your Instagram Page For Free

. 5 min read . Written by Vanshika Goenka
Dear Freelancers, Here Are 8 Ways To Get Organic Traffic On Your Instagram Page For Free

Here’s how to get organic traffic on Instagram for freelancers at no added expenditure!

Instagram is all fun and games until it’s time to switch to your business account and look at that dreaded “followers” number that refuses to increase. 

Studies reveal that around 74% of the freelancers today use social media to promote their services. The same percentage which was at just 65% two years ago. This hike can significantly be attributed to the growing popularity of Instagram as a platform to seek business. Currently, the app boasts of around 21% of freelancers and independent professionals working for themselves.  

It’s the age of atmanirbharta and independent professionals like graphic designers and photographers are already starting to find more and more work opportunities come to them through Instagram. So for all the freelancers out there, stay strong and continue to hustle. Here are all the ways in which you can get organic traffic to your Instagram page without burning a hole in your pocket. 

If you’re wondering how to create your freelance Instagram page or how to market yourself on Instagram as a freelancer, click here.  

So here’s all you need to know about how to get organic traffic on Instagram page for freelancers!

Treat Your Page Like A Content Platform 

Remember that Instagram is first and foremost a content platform. People (and the audience you are targeting) come to Instagram to consume content. It is not a retail platform, it is not a marketplace and people don’t want to be sold products or ideas. So even if your Instagram page is trying to sell services or products, focusing only on that is not going to work very well. 

Think about some of the famous business pages on Instagram like MOM, or Zomato, or even some Instagram influencers like Kusha Kapila or Akshar Pathak. If you just know them through their Instagram content or following, there’s a chance that you wouldn’t know that Kusha Kapila actually started out as a writer of iDiva. Or that Akshar Pathak actually heads content at Zomato. But you know them because they’re known for their hilarious memes and their funny videos. And you follow them for the quality content that they’re offering to you. 

Similarly, Instagram is the kind of platform that will push your page solely on the basis of your content.

So treat your page like any other content generation platform and curate content that is relevant to your brand. 

If you’re wondering how to come up with content ideas, click here.   

how to get organic traffic on instagram for freelancers

As someone who’s been managing the Kool Kanya Instagram page for a while now, I’d suggest that it’s important to find the right ratio between hard selling as a freelancer and soft selling via your content. For instance, we keep a very small majority of our posts that link back directly to the Kool Kanya Community. A vast majority is dedicated to generally useful, fun and engaging content that sticks with the audience and keeps them coming back for more. 

Leverage New Features

Just as you struggle to maintain your freshness and relevance in the whirlwind of Instagram pages, remember that Instagram too, is working equally hard to stay consistently fresh. 

One way they do this, is by constantly coming up with new features to keep providing something new to their users. And when they do, they’d naturally push the content that uses their new features a lot more. Ergo: more visibility and more organic traffic

For instance, Instagram recently launched their #stayathome, #gharparraho and #supportsmallbusiness stickers. And if you have been on to the app lately, you must have seen that Instagram stories with these stickers were the first ones on your feed. 

Similarly, Instagram tends to push IGTV as well for the same reason that it’s their personal homegrown feature and not many people would create those long-ish videos. 

Leveraging these new features is a great way to get more followers to your page and increase your visibility.

Post Stories In A Staggered Format

The “right time to post” can severely differ for different audiences and different pages. But the time gap you leave between posting your stories (and posts too) can make a whole lot of considerable difference. 

Think about your Instagram feed for a second. You open the app and you see certain stories right at the top. You open a few of your liking and get back to work. A couple hours later when you open the app again, you might come across the same page’s story. If you’re fond of the page, chances are you will open their story again. And if you’re not too fond of them or for some reason are not particularly willing to engage with them again, they’ve still managed to make you think about them. 

The simple trick is to post intermittently throughout the day. Keep a gap of roughly 2-3 hrs between every coherent set of your stories. Or even stand alone stories. 

This will ensure that you keep popping up on the home feed of your followers.

This way they tend to engage with you more. Remember you more. Thereby increasing your recall and reshare value. 

how to get organic traffic on instagram for freelancers

Use Blind Hashtags In Stories 

This one’s a personal hack which very few people out there are perhaps in the know of. And this is a very unique way to get to your target audience even if they’re not directly following you. Especially if they’re not following you. Yet.  

You must be fairly aware of the importance of hashtags and how they help get you more visibility. But what many people don’t know is that using relevant hashtags on an Instagram story can be particularly helpful too. You see, relatively famous hashtags have their own ardent following on Instagram too. 

Hashtags like #mondaymotivation #tuesdaythoughts and #wednesdaywisdom boast of several million followers. 

Now I’m sure you spend a lot of time creating aesthetic stories and wouldn’t wanna ruin their appearance by lumping them with hashtags. Which is where the blind magic comes in. Use the ‘pick a colour’ icon to pick the colour of your story’s background and merge all of those hashtags into the colour and make them invisible!

This gives you the freedom to use any number of relevant hashtags on your story without impeding its visual appeal.

And have all those couple million hashtag followers get to see your stories and increase your page impressions.  

Use The Magic Of Geotagging

Just like popular hashtags, popular locations on Instagram too have their own set of dedicated following. This can especially be useful if you’re looking out for clients to render your services to. 

For instance, let’s say you’re a makeup artist, operating somewhere in Mumbai. Let’s say you post stories about makeup tips or makeup how to’s. Geotagging your stories with the Mumbai location will give a chance to all of those that are following Mumbai for various reasons (like looking for good restaurants, coffee shops, or potential clients looking out for freelancers in the area) to view your story in their home feeds. 

And if someone who’s been looking out for a freelance makeup artist happens to come across your profile and actually likes it, voila!

Use the same trick for other popular locations like cafes or restaurants too. Who knows which potential client has a penchant for which cuisine on some particularly lucky day for you?

Comment Actively 

Commenting is something that can increase your organic visibility by manifold levels if done right. 

how to get organic traffic on instagram for freelancers

To be able to do this right, first off, make a list of all the popular pages in line with your work and the ones that are relevant to you – even content wise. So if you’re a freelance writer, look out for other writers on Instagram with a decent following. (get the #writersofinstagram hashtag to help you out with this)

Next, turn on your push notifications for those popular pages so you get a notification every time they post something. That way you can be one of the first ones to comment on their post. Thereby finding a way for all of their followers (who are your target audience too!) to have a chance to see your page. 

A few things to get this right however: the comment has to truly add value to the thread. The people who see the comment should have a significant incentive to tap on your name and visit your profile.

Try commenting in a way that adds immense value to the existing thread – relevant fact, a smart question to start a discussion, a memorable insight, etc.  

The same process can be incredibly efficient and work wonders for you with relevant thought leaders in your domain too! 

Share Other Similar Pages’/Influencers Content

You’re not alone if you’re a little squeamish about reposting other people’s content. But you shouldn’t have to be. What we forget to consider in this process is that pages similar to yours’ tend to have your target audience as their followers. Because your target audience is in fact, their target audience. 

So reposting their content (with due credit and perhaps an insightful one-liner of your own) will more often than not, motivate them to repost you in turn. After all, who doesn’t like a little bit of flattery! 

So make use of this don’t-ask-don’t-tell mutually respectful Instagram relationship and begin reposting to find a way to get their followers to come on to your page.  

Talk About Topical Content

A not-that-great piece of topical content tends to get twice more engagement than an ordinary or daily piece of really great content. 

Instagram is all about topicality and trends. With the trends changing day in and day out, it’s no surprise that Instagram pushes out more relevant and time sensitive content too. 

Try keeping an eye out for those trends and integrate that into your content strategy.  

how to get organic traffic on instagram for freelancers

So there, you have it. Everything you need to know about how to get organic traffic on Instagram for freelancers. The hacks to drive traffic to your Instagram page, organically.  

You’re invited! Join the Kool Kanya women-only career Community where you can network, ask questions, share your opinions, collaborate on projects, and discover new opportunities. Join now.