10 quick tips to get more Instagram followers

1. Post quality photos

If you're posting poorly shot, blurry pics with grease on your lens, then don't be surprised if no one is interesting in subscribing to old Grubby McBlur's channel.

Instagram is great for sharing photos from your cell phone, but if your camera phone isn't up to snuff, you might want to consider taking photos with a DSLR and uploading those via your computer instead. Instagram is meant to be a photographer's dream, not a nightmare.

2. Use hashtags

Hashtags let you tap into communities immediately. Add a trending hashtag to a post, or shoot a photo targeted at a trending hashtag, and watch the interest level in what you're posting rise.

If you're using hashtags already, look at the photos using that hashtag, and see which get the most likes and engagement. Emulate the winning formula and watch your followers grow.

3. Mention people

If you're on Instagram then you're probably following people who post the kinds of things you like. If you follow them, talk to them. If you can spark up a conversation with someone with more followers than you, their followers might click your profile to see what you post and, if you've followed our first tip, this should lead to more followers in no time.

4. Post at the right time

This tip is etched in stone on the list of all-time social media commandments. No matter what platform you're on, think like your prey. Who are you trying to target and what are their habits?

If you're posting about breakfast, do so in the morning – but be sure to post in the right time zone for those you want to follow you. Read up on the best times to post social media content. Knowing when people are sitting on buses and trains or on their lunch break means you know when you can get their attention.

5. Engage your audience

You know what makes you stop and look when you're scrolling through your feed. But stopping is one thing, interacting is another. If you post an average photo but give it an awesome caption, the chance of someone stopping to comment increases.

Once someone's contributed to your post, you've made them part of what you were doing. Asking questions and being funny or provocative are easy ways to lure people into engaging with your posts more.

6. Use Instagram more

This may sound silly but you can't expect followers to appear out of thin air. Generally speaking, the more people post, the more followers they get. If you only make a post once in a blue moon, you can't expect followers to come flocking. Check out the feeds of the people you like and see how active they are.

7. Learn from the pros

There are tons of guides to better social media strategy on the web, some of it brilliant, written by people who get paid for this kind of thing. These guys get more Instagram followers for breakfast, build brands on a toilet break, increase engagement in the line at the supermarket and make it all look easy.

Learn from them. If they're sharing this information for free, you'd be silly not to make use of it. Check out Guy Kawasaki for starters, the most popular guy on the internet.

8. Cheat

If all this seems too hard, you can cheat, and buy followers. Most Instagram users have a few followers who only post pics about getting more followers, so you could buy into that.

Or you can hit Google search and find yourself a paid service that guarantees thousands of real followers for actually pretty decent money. I recently saw an ad that promises 5,000 followers for just over fifty bucks. That's not a bad price to pay to save a ton of effort.

9. Post from venues and places

If you've ever been at a gig or at a venue and posted photos, you've probably had the bar or venue like your photo. This is ultimately because they're looking for free promotion.

Posting about your city is also a great way to get followers, either from others in your city or people who like the look of where you live. If you're posting good shots of popular places, the chance that people will see them and follow you to see more is much higher.

10. Make every post count

This is the single best golden nugget of wisdom. When you consider how many posts stream past everyone's eyes each day, making yours stand out is not easy. So don't just post any old thing, treat each post as if it were your only one.

Give it some thought, word your caption well, offer some insight or humor, make your post relatable, clever or funny, mention people, ask questions, tell people something they didn't know. Do that often enough and you'll be surprised by how many people come back for more.

How many followers do you have on Instagram? Any tips you can share to get more?