Top 25 Instagram Tools You Need to Build Your Following
Accelerate your Instagram growth with these 25 tools
Sponsored By Social Growth January 15, 2020
Building an Instagram following from scratch can feel like an uphill battle. Everyone is currently vying for attention on the platform, so knowing how to gain an edge can give you a significant boost. From design to analytics and everything in between, running a successful Instagram account involves plenty of knowhow.
If building an Instagram following is something you’ve been struggling with, we’re here to help. We’ve gathered a few of our favorite Instagram tools to help you start gaining a following quickly. Check them out below.
1. ViralRace A must for anyone who’s looking to buy Instagram followers, ViralRace is one of the better algorithm-based growth engines on the market. They aggregate from real accounts across Instagram, so the following you’ll establish comes from people who have a genuine connection to your content. With pricing that’s competitive across the board, ViralRace also enables you to buy Instagram likes, giving you a boost that will help sustain your following from the outset. Check out ViralRace if you’re in the market for a boost to gain followers quickly. 2. YoViral Another great place to obtain likes, YoViral does an excellent job of sourcing real likes from real accounts. Offering the ability to start getting you likes in less than 60 seconds, YoViral has an impressive engine that drives engagement quickly and efficiently from the right sources. It can give your campaign that extra something that puts you in the lead. As well as an unlimited post limit, YoViral comes with all the bells and whistles you’d expect, including matching views, dynamic likes, drip-style liking, and even a money-back guarantee. Give YoViral a shot if you’re trying to get your posts to the next level of engagement. 3. BuzzSumo A big part of being successful on Instagram is aligning yourself with the right people. This is why using a tool like BuzzSumo is crucial. As an influencer-research tool, BuzzSumo enables you to get connected to the right people quickly. BuzzSumo is especially great if you’re running a lot of full-circle campaigns across multiple channels. It does an excellent job of giving you a bird’s-eye view of how much reach someone will have for your brand, thus maximizing the ROI of your influencer efforts and budget. With its highly competitive pricing, BuzzSumo should be part of your arsenal if you’re going to be using influencers. 4. Later One of our favorite Instagram platforms, Later enables you to visually plan posts in a convenient calendar. It also comes with a bunch of other robust tools to sink your teeth into. After first grabbing attention with their clever link tool, LinkInBio, Later has recently been on a roll in their buildout of other items, including a re-posting tool that helps collect content via hashtags, as well as enabling you to pull high-quality photos. Additionally, their analytics can help you find the best time to post, allowing you to optimize your content. As a tool belt that’s unmatched in the industry, Later is a platform for anyone looking to get a good grasp on how to progressively grow with their content. 5. VSCO Considered a mainstay in Instagram for a while now, VSCO is perfect for editing and enhancing your photos to become the visually stunning masterpieces they were destined to be. What makes VSCO so successful is the depth of their editing tools, giving you the ability to create exclusive looks that go well beyond those of most editors. Made by creators, for creators, VSCO has an intuitive feel. The platform is especially useful if you’re looking for something you can edit with on the go. 6. Lightroom If you’ve got a little more time to sit down and really dive into editing, Adobe’s Lightroom can be a huge help. If you’re not familiar with Adobe’s lineup of creative tools, then you’re in for a treat, as they’ve built a reputation for being some of the most immersive on the market for the better part of two decades. A staple for any professional photographer, Lightroom will give your photos that extra pop they need, which is especially useful if you’re going to be running campaigns that require top-notch photos. 7. Layout As an internal tool that’s included in Instagram, Layout enables you to put different photos together as a collage. With a bunch of different fun combinations to choose from, Layout is a simple but effective way to tell a story with your content. Poke around among their choices and see if any entices your creative spirit. 8. Boomerang Another tool provided natively on Instagram, Boomerang provides a way for you to make short, repeated loops of a soundless video. A cute way to grab people’s attention, Boomerang videos are something worth playing around with. To keep your videos interesting, try using a tripod or getting a friend to record, giving you the chance to create action shots. Remember, Boomerangs are meant to be flashy: they should be used for short bursts of action, so let your hair down and get creative! 9. AR Effects AR Effects is another tool offered by Instagram. This is user-generated content that has gone viral lately, with different trivia options (for example, What Harry Potter Character Are You?), face filters, and dancing/actionable figures that you can use in your posts. Browse through a few of these to see if anything might match your brand (especially if you can latch onto a trend early to maximize shareability). You might even consider creating your own. As the AR Effects trend is expected to grow, this a good time to start studying how you can get ahead of the curve. 10. Buffer If you’re working with a team, Buffer can be an excellent scheduler, especially if you’re aiming to post across multiple channels. Buffer gives you the ability to customize and tailor all your posts to each social network. Recently, Buffer has been getting into analytics and insights as well. It has one of the best user experiences for teams looking to collaborate on their social efforts. Although priced competitively, this is definitely a product for professionals looking to scale up their Instagram game. 11. Facebook For Business One of the most robust digital-advertising tools on the market, Facebook For Business is Instagram’s advertising platform. Giving you the ability to dive deeply into people’s profiles, the advertising potential of Facebook For Business is limitless. You can drill down to the details of where a person is from, how much money they make, the type of vehicle they might have, and even where they went to high school. Facebook For Business is scary good at creating customer demographics, which is why a little bit of cash behind some ads could go a long way toward helping you build your Instagram base. 12. Sprout Social A solid Instagram-management tool for businesses, Sprout Social helps with scheduling posts, managing comments, monitoring hashtags, and running reports. The nice thing about Sprout Social is that it enables you to manage multiple Instagram accounts from one platform, which can be helpful if you have several different channels for an ecommerce shop or media platform. With its focus on customer relationships, Sprout Social has all the tools you need to work more with your base, providing back-and-forth engagement for the long haul. 13. Bitly A simple but effective tool, Bitly is a URL shortener that helps you keep track of links. Built initially to help people on Twitter include a link under the character count, it’s use on Instagram involves keeping campaign links in the same place. Boasting a 34 percent higher click-through rate for their branded links, Bitly can help you maximize your performance on social media. It provides options for creating links and shareability, which is especially helpful if you want to create a link that has a sense of privacy to it. 14. TapInfluence Another influencer-research tool, TapInfluence does a great job of sourcing and providing influencers for you to consider, especially in the areas of food, fashion, beauty, and lifestyle. With a reputation for bringing on great content creators, TapInfluence also has some of the best pricing for influencers on the market, giving you someone who is going to have significant long-tail effectiveness. Boasting performances that are over 2x impressions per post, TapInfluence is a platform that can help those who are searching for the right influencers. Their services can turn up someone who will ultimately give you the best bang for your buck when it comes to earned media. 15. Keyhole An underrated but important practice in boosting your Instagram base is not only utilizing hashtags but studying which ones are trending. As one of the most advanced hashtag analytics tools, Keyhole is a must-have for anyone trying to bring themselves into a new conversation, especially if you’re trying to get in better touch with your industry and conduct market research. Keyhole can help keep track of important events, branded efforts, and what influencers are saying. With its fair pricing, Keyhole offers tools that will help you distinguish yourself from the competition. 16. Planoly An excellent visual planner, Planoly does a great job of helping you design and edit how your Instagram photos look lined up next to one another. Planoly has a good mix of tools to consider, offering the ability to schedule, discover, and analyze content. Check them out if you’re looking for a platform that also can do seamless cross-posting to Pinterest. 17. Figma One of our favorite design tools on the market, Figma is an excellent collaborative tool for designing Instagram posts. What makes Figma so great is that you can work on designs in real time, which is especially useful for teams that have multiple hands working on posts and stories; for example, you might have a copywriter compiling content and then a designer cleaning up the results and making them look good. Figma, which is free, is one of the best design tools to come out in the past few years, providing teams with the ability to work together seamlessly, saving a tremendous amount of time. 18. SocialStats A simple, free analytics tool, SocialStats enables you to check out account insights natively on their website. With full analytics that help you understand different aspects of your base, SocialStats’ reporting is pretty rich for a free service, and includes weekly emails, cross-comparisons, and PDF reports. If you’re not familiar with analytics or are just starting to get into them, SocialStats is a good opportunity for you to get your feet wet in viewing your Instagram base. 19. SkedSocial SkedSocial enables you to visually plan out and schedule your Instagram posts and stories from one intuitive platform. They offer a free trial period, so you can test their offerings before you take the plunge. As a growing brand with a focus on both teams and freelancers, SkedSocial is one to keep an eye on. Plus, with its smart method of handling management, SkedSocial is an excellent organizer for content to use as an individual or with your team. 20. Linktree If you’re looking to put all your links into one place, Linktree is an excellent option. Linktree differs from services like LinkInBio in that it has all your URLs in one place without the grid format, enabling you to place the types of links you’re offering into a few basic categories. For example, a lot of musicians will use Linktree to create links to their Spotify, Apple Music, SoundCloud, or other streaming platforms. With pricing that starts at free and goes to $6/month, Linktree is a steal. 21. Crello Another great design tool, Crello is a simple alternative for creating excellent deliverables. With an intuitive interface, the free program can help you whip up and get out the right Instagram posts and stories quickly. Crello helps you create content by providing superb templates, including over 4,000 animated templates. If designing isn’t your forte, Crello can be helpful in crafting top-notch content. 22. Renderforest If you’re aiming to make Instagram videos that have a more narrative structure, Renderforest is a great platform to check out. An impressive piece of free software, their editor is pretty straightforward and comes with a great introductory course on how to create with their platform. With a solid lineup of templates, Renderforest has the game on lock when it comes to producing an array of videos quickly and efficiently without having to sacrifice much in quality. 23. AutoHash While hashtags are a necessity if you’re looking to bring people to your Instagram, coming up with them can be a headache. This is especially true if you’re not trying to go hashtag crazy, but still want to have a solid lineup. AutoHash does a superb job of giving you the list of tags you need. Designed to be intricate and specific, AutoHash does a great job of analyzing your photo and deciding what hashtags should be in the mix. AutoHash is one of the smartest products on the market. It takes away a lot of the pain that comes with generating tags, letting you focus more on creating the content. 24. Socialbakers One of the best analytics platforms on the market, Socialbakers is an enterprise-level piece of software that helps tremendously with research, strategy, and insights. As well as offering services for management and influencer research, Socialbakers is for teams that are looking to scale their social media efforts into a large-scale business. Brands see unmatched results with Socialbakers, and many Fortune 500 companies trust the platform to take their Instagram to that next echelon of growth. Although they come with a hefty price tag, Socialbakers is worth every penny for teams looking to make a sizeable return at a national level. 25. Canva One of the most popular design tools across the board, Canva is a great source for creating customized Instagram posts. Two big reasons for Canva’s success are the simplicity of their platform and their large selection of templates, which allow practically anyone to start designing. Winning over teams across the board, Canva offers a lot of their core services for free, but with pretty affordable pricing available at $9.95 per month for the Pro version, they’re one of our favorite tools for those who don’t have a ton of experience with design. Check them out if you’re looking to crank out visuals quickly. What are your favorite Instagram tools that have helped you build a following? Comment with your insights below!