Have you been wasting hours engaging on Instagram and still struggling to get more followers? Well luckily for you, I’m going to teach you how to write the best comments to get you more followers on Instagram, as well the mindset you need to have when leaving such comments.
The best comments to leave on Instagram are the ones that are personal, genuine, selfless and full of value. That value can be provided in the form of information, perspective, humour and more. Above all, your comment should entice the content creator (and their followers) to click on your profile.
Much like hashtags, your comments will only serve as the gateway between the user and your profile. That’s why it’s important to note that if your account isn’t optimised or your content just plain sucks, then it’s highly unlikely that a comment is going to do much for your account’s growth – regardless of how good it is.
The Golden Comment
A while back on Instagram, I came up with the concept of the ‘Golden Comment’. This would be a comment that contained all of the above qualities and would increase your chances of gaining new followers.
This would be the template for one of the best comments to leave on Instagram to get more followers.
The Golden Comment can be broken down into five steps, and although this structure might first appear to go against the whole point of being ‘genuine’, it should be noted that these steps should serve as nothing more than a guideline, and should only be used when you genuinely mean what you say.
Following that, the five steps can be broken down as follows…
#1 – Read The Post
If you want to get more followers on Instagram, the best comments start with actually reading the post.
Seems simple, right? The problem is, I’ve noticed that hardly anyone actually does this.
Instead, they just leave some generic comment like “Love it!” or “Great post!” and move onto the next post.
These comments often end up being ignored or even reported as spam.
Why?
Because not only is it super-generic, it’s also not relevant at all.
You also risk saying “Love it!” on a post that you definitely shouldn’t love, like the passing of a relative!
Trust me.
I’ve seen it happen. It ain’t pretty.
With that in mind, you’ll want to make sure that you actually read through the post properly before writing anything.
It’s just common sense really.
You might even find that the creator has included an open question in their post caption, which makes coming up with comment ideas a whole lot easier!
#2 – Get Personal
It might seem obvious but including the creator’s (first) name is such an underrated aspect of writing a great comment.
It’s an easy way to show that your post isn’t just a generic copy & paste job, and is in fact tailored to them specifically.
This is where a lot of the Instagram bots fall short, because they aren’t capable of pulling the creator’s name and including it in their templated comments.
So, if you don’t want to get compared to a bot then you should probably start making your comments more personal.
Anyway, this point doesn’t need to be dragged out any further.
So, let’s move on.
#3 – Compliment Them
Everyone loves praise, but…
Before you rush into this one, I need to make it very clear that you should only compliment someone when you really mean it.
Otherwise, you come off as being unauthentic and desperate.
If you really do like what you see though, then feel free to drop a genuine compliment within your comment.
Now, I’m not talking about your generic “Great post!” or “Love this!” compliment that we mentioned earlier because we see those lame comments everyday.
Instead, you’ll want to dig deeper and leave a compliment that is specific to the creator and their content.
As a creator myself, I often welcome constructive feedback. That’s why I can appreciate it when someone leaves a comment that digs deep into a specific aspect of my work.
It helps me to decipher what I should build on content-wise. Alternatively, feedback like that can also advise me on areas that I should either improve on or move away from entirely.
All in all, if you can include a kind, genuine compliment within your comments then it’s also going to help build a connection with the creator.
#4 – Show Some Personality
This one goes a bit further than just mentioning the creator’s name, and instead focuses more on sharing your own personality.
The reason why we connect with others is often that we share common interests, many of which include our favourite hobbies, likes, foods, movies etc.
So if you’re looking to build solid connections on social media, it makes perfect sense to share your likes & dislikes every now and then.
If they resonate with you then that’s great! If not, well then that’s fine too 🙂
To give you an example of sharing your personality…
I was recently having a conversation with my friend Travis.
I call him my friend, but we’ve never actually met. He lives on the other side of the world and I just really liked his branding content, amongst other things.
Anyway, I digress.
He recently shared a post about mental health and the effect it’s had on both him and his close friends. He went on to mention that he was deeply affected by the loss of one of his favourite music artists, Avicii.
Whilst many people rightfully went on to say how brave it was to open up about this dark subject, I chose to go down a more light-hearted route.
I, like Travis, am a massive fan of Avicii and the EDM genre. So, I began having a genuine conversation with him about DJ’ing, favourite songs and of course, Avicii.
I didn’t bring it up because I wanted an ‘in’ with Travis, but instead, I because I actually like talking about that stuff!
And that’s the whole point of this.
You should be commenting on things because you actually want to, and not because you think it will take your account from Point A to Point B.
#5 – Ask A Question
In a not so different point to showing your personality, it always help to ask a question in your comments.
The main reason being that it invites conversation.
And if you’re serious about growing your Instagram account – and monetizing it – then you expect to have many conversations with people.
That aside though, with the number of comments that some creators have to reply to, you want to make it super- easy for them to respond.
Which is why a simple question can help them with how to respond, rather than you just making a statement to them and having them respond with that depressingly blunt thumbs-up emoji.
Nobody really cares for that.
So I would recommend following steps 1-4 and then adding an open-ended question at the end of your comments.
In doing so, you should give yourself the best opportunity to not only gain the creator’s attention but to also build a solid relationship with them too.
The Golden Example
Now, I wouldn’t just leave things there without showing you an actual example of the best comments to leave on Instagram to get more followers, would I?
Of course not.
So let’s take a look at this example of a Golden Comment which is in response to a post about perfectionism.
You’ll notice that the comment starts with a “Great post!”, which actually goes against what I said earlier in this article.
The thing is though that this is just a small part of the comment, and acts as nothing more than a throwaway remark.
Either way, my advice would be not to overthink it.
What it does do well though is to mention my name, which immediately shows me that the commenter has taken the time to look at my profile or perhaps even knows me by name anyway.
The comment goes on to actually discuss the purpose of the post and their own experience with perfectionism.
Again, it shows that they’ve actually read through the post and haven’t just copy & pasted a generic comment that they leave on every post under the sun.
The best part about this comment though, for me, is the little bit of personality that they add at the end there, regarding the AC/DC shirt.
I’m far more likely to connect with someone if I know that we have something in common, like our mutual love for 70’s rock bands.
This is what I mean by building a rapport with someone, by sharing your common interests and hobbies.
Immediately it gives us something exciting to talk about, outside of the original scope of the post.
To top it off, the comment does include a question at the end, however, I would recommend making it more open-ended so as to avoid getting a boring Yes/No response.
Other than that, this is a great example of a Golden Comment!
Conclusion
The ‘Golden Comment’ simply serves as a guideline for what the best comments to leave on Instagram to get more followers might look like, however, such a comment could come in all shapes and sizes.
I personally like to mix it up between asking a simple question, having a bit of fun with the creator or in cases where I’m really invested in the content; I’ll leave a longer, more valuable comment like the one broken down in this article.
As mentioned already, I only leave longer comments like this because I genuinely want to – not because it’s going to get me more followers.
Although it can be a great way to get more followers, that shouldn’t be your sole purpose when engaging with people.
Instead, you should focus on establishing a genuine connection with others and gradually build a solid community of like-minded people.
Forcing yourself to write a long, calculated reply just for the purpose of getting the reader to follow you – will be super obvious.
As well as a huge drain on your energy!
That’s why I recommend that you only say what you actually want to say – when you want to say it.
Nothing more, nothing less.
Do you have any questions or feedback on this post? If so, feel free to drop it in the comments below!
11 Responses
Keep up the excellent piece of work, I read few blog posts on this internet site and I think that your website is real interesting and has got circles of good information.
Hey Khan, thank you for the kind words. I really appreciate it. Do let me know if there’s anything in particular that you’d like me to write about or help you with 🙂
This is a very nice post. It is also very helpful for us. I have been searching for these types of posts and some days ago I read a similar article but this one was so much better!
Thank you Shimul!
This is great – as a new startup brand, I have tried to set a target to comment authentically on 20 target audience accounts daily…. and generally, my comments get liked, but I don’t get followed (which is what I really want).
Let me know your thoughts on how I could specifically increase follower probability without leaving a ‘follow us’ CTA on the comment.
Hello Ben, just looking at your account I would say that you should make sure to optimize your account before engaging with other people. At the moment I would say that you are wasting a lot of energy drawing people to an account that looks empty. If you need help with creating a killer profile then drop me a DM on Instagram @mike.walterz
Great Post and work, Its really helpful and I just watching these types of post and work on there types of posts and articles your articles is better than many of other. Thanks
Thank you, I appreciate it!
Nice Article, The best comments to leave on Instagram are the ones that are personal, genuine, selfless and full of value. That value can be provided in the form of information, perspective, humour and more. Above all, your comment should entice the content creator (and their followers) to click on your profile.
Exactly right! Thank you for commenting 🙂
Yes, the “golden” comment as you say is an outstanding way of gainng followers not only in Instagram but also on Youtube and other social networks. Usually if your comment on top of high audience profile post it will attract a great visibility. But comment should be “something special” to get more likes and climb on top, that is the challenge. ) Welldone mate, great helpful article.