If you’re an influencer on Instagram you definitely have a massive following that’s not easy to get, you might have spent years before building the massive following you currently have.
Massive followers on Instagram don’t come easily, it requires a lot of dedication, you have to invest your time and in some cases, a financial investment might be needed especially if you want to outsource content creation like the graphic part.
Situations might arise that require moving your Instagram followers, it could be that you change a brand name or for some reason you just want to abandon the current Instagram account you’re using and want to move your followers along to a new account.
In such scenarios you’re wondering how you could transfer your followers to another profile, the question now is; can you transfer Instagram followers from one account to another?
This is the topic we’re going to discuss in this post, we’ll take a look at the possibilities of transferring your Instagram followers to another account and then share some useful tips that will ensure that your followers are still your fans on another profile you’re trying to build for your business or brand.
Reasons for Transferring Instagram Followers from One Account to Another
Build a New Brand Following Fast
The fast way to build a brand on Instagram is to build a massive following by utilizing other profiles that have a lot of followers to promote your brand.
The wise business owners on Instagram will contact influencers with massive followers and seek help from them to promote their profile.
It won’t be free most of the time, you’ll have to negotiate a certain amount with them before they promote your profile.
If you already have an influencer profile with massive followers, things are much easier, you just need to promote your content since you already own the profile.
Instead of spending a lot of time promoting your new brand trying to acquire more followers, you just find a way to ensure that the followers in your previous account are following your new brand.
Save Time and Money
One way or another, you’ll end up spending a lot of time and money before you build a massive following on Instagram.
Most of the celebrity accounts you’re seeing on Instagram have spent a lot of time and money to attract the following they currently have.
A lot of them are buying engagement when they’re starting out, they’re known to buy fake followers and likes to their posts.
They follow the quote that says “Fake it, till you make it”, Instagram has spotted a lot of celebrity accounts and have been removed, some were even suspended.
Instead of going with this trend, you can save yourself time and money to transfer followers from one account to another on Instagram.
Establish your Profile as an Influencer
Most of the accounts on Instagram with a massive following are considered to be influencers and a lot of users won’t think twice before following these accounts.
If you create a new profile for your brand with a few followers, you will not be considered as an influencer.
If you however find a way to transfer followers from your old account to the new account, you’ll have the influencer perception from other users which will help in promoting your content and also attracting new followers.
If you create a new Instagram profile and you left your followers from the old profile, things will be hard when it comes to building your new follower base.
Create more Engagement on your New Profile
If you want Instagram to rank your posts and stories on top of the user feed, you definitely need engagement. If your followers aren’t engaging with your posts and Stories, they’re as good as nothing.
They’ll be considered fake in the eyes of other users. It doesn’t make any sense to have like 100k followers but to end up having not more than 50 likes on your posts.
If you want to promote your content you definitely need engagement and by transferring your followers from the old profile where you already have engagement, your new profile will also receive the same engagement provided you’re posting the same content as with your previous profile.
Transfer your Potential Prospects
If you’re running a business profile where you have a brand, you definitely know that your followers are potential prospects for your business.
If you left your followers without bringing them on board to the new profile, consider that you have lost most of your prospects.
You’ll have to start things right from the beginning, but if you find a way to make them follow your new account, your prospects have not been lost since you can get in touch on the new profile you created.
These are some of the major reasons why I believe it’s beneficial to make sure that you transfer your Instagram followers from your old account to the new account you’re going to create or have already built.
Let’s take a look at the possibilities of transferring Instagram followers from one account to another.
Is It Possible To Transfer Instagram Followers From One Account To Another
There is currently no provision on Instagram that allows the transfer of followers from one account to another even if you own the two accounts.
No other tool can do this job directly, we’re talking of exporting your follower list from an old account and then importing this follower list to the new profile you created or another account you want to upload.
In more simple words, you cannot export and import followers by any means on Instagram.
There are however some ways you can follow to ensure that your current followers are with you on the new profile you created. Let’s take a look at the possibilities.
Change Username
Instead of creating a new profile, why don’t you change the username of the current profile you’re using.
One of the major reasons why businesses create another profile on Instagram is because of changing the brand name, you can save yourself from the trouble of transferring Instagram followers from one account to another by changing your username.
This way no transfer of followers is needed and they are still with your profile, you just need to make announcements in your posts that your username has changed so that they can watch out for your posts.
When you change the username, you don’t want to change your display name and avatar at once.
You should first change the username and after making an announcement and they’re aware of the change of username, you can now change the display name and photo avatar as well.
A lot of users don’t even care about your username, they only recognize the avatar or the display name. Once they’re familiar with the new username, you can upload a new avatar picture.
Instagram provides the option to change the username and if you realize that you can’t change to the new username you have picked for your profile, there are some reasons for that. Here are the reasons why you can’t change your username;
- The username is taken; you’ll receive an error message that the username isn’t available, you have to choose a variation of the username.
- Invalid characters; Username though can have letters, numbers, underscores, and periods. Any character out of these categories, won’t be accepted, you’ll receive the message invalid characters included.
- Contain trademark of a company; A lot of users will create a username that resembles the trademark of a popular brand or company. Even the Instagram trademark is used by many users, they’ll create a username with words like “Insta” or “gram” or any word that contains the trademark of Instagram. This type of username won’t be allowed, you need to change to something.
If the new Username is rejected, you need to pick another option until you come up with the one that’s accepted.
Changing a username is pretty simple, you just need to tap on your photo avatar so that you can view your profile page and then the ‘Settings’ gear icon to select the “edit profile” option.
You can see the username and you’ll notice the option “Edit”, tapping or clicking on it will allow you to create a new username for your account.
Transfer the Followers Manually
If changing your username isn’t an option for you, you can then consider the option of transferring your Instagram followers manually.
This method still doesn’t mean picking your followers one by and then adding them to your desired account. It involves using some tricks that ensure that your followers end up following the new account you have created.
In short, you’re persuading your followers to follow the new account you create or you’re about to create. Let’s share the steps you can do that;
- Creating the new profile: You should make sure that the profile information stays the same as the previous account, I am talking about having the same avatar picture, profile name, contact details, and so on. This might not be possible for most due to the nature of the reason why you’re switching to another profile. You should however ensure that there are similarities in a way that it’s easier for your followers to recognize you on the new profile.
- Duplicate your posts: After setting up the new profile, you should duplicate your posts especially the ones that received the most engagement. This is also another attempt to make sure they can relate your new profile with the old one.
- Add your new profile URL in the old account: Since you have now set up the profile with many similarities to the previous one, it’s now time to start promoting your new profile and you need to start by including the profile URL in the description of your old profile.
Not just the profile URL, you should include some text telling users that you’re moving to a new profile as well, something like “we’re closing this profile, follow us on our new profile”. This will help them understand that you’re abandoning the profile and if still interested in following you, they should consider visiting the new profile for better content. - Make announcements: You should create a new post telling your followers that you’re switching to another profile and provide the new profile link so that they can follow you there. You have now made it clear that you’re retiring the current profile and hence you’ll find that a lot of users will follow you to the new profile you’ve created.
- Mentioning the new profile in all your posts: Making the announcement only once won’t make all your followers visit the new profile you have created, but you’ll definitely find some of them visiting your new profile and hitting the follow button. The next thing that will increase the transfer of your followers to the new account is by mentioning the new profile URL in every post you make. Make sure to always use a call to action in the post telling users that you’re retiring the current account and will be active on the new profile only.
- Offer freebies: This is another trick that will transfer them to your new profile. What you need to do is offer freebies in the old profile, but they will only receive or apply for the free gift on the new profile you created. You have to make sure the gift is something that grabs their attention and is something valuable. Mention that they have to follow the new profile before accessing the free gift. This will skyrocket the transfer of your followers from your old account to the new account. Offering freebies isn’t a big deal because you can offer digital gifts that aren’t hard to create or even buy, digital gifts can be downloaded by as many users as you want without any extra cost.
- Follow them back: you can view the list of your followers from settings, you should start following all profiles in your old account and if possible, include a private message as well letting them know you have moved to a new profile. You’ll find a lot of them following you back since Instagram users have the habit of following back every profile or account that follows them. For users that are already following and you’re just requesting them to follow the new profile, you’ll certainly notice an increase in your follower base.
This method is very effective and I assure you that it’ll help you transfer most of your followers from one account to another.