Instagram is one of the most popular social networks today, with 40% of US adults using it. This makes it a platform worth your time and effort, but establishing a following can be difficult. Here are 16 Instagram techniques to help you obtain your first 1000 followers.
Instagram is still one of the top venues for building an audience. It has over one billion users globally, and 71% of businesses in the United States utilize it. And did you know that Instagram may produce up to four times as many interactions as Facebook? Instagram is, of course, the place to be for ambitious entrepreneurs and content creators.
When researching how to boost your Instagram followers, it's easy to come across advice. However, most of these methods are more effective with larger accounts; they are more difficult to implement if you only have a few hundred followers. Reaching the first 1000 followers on any social media network is usually the most difficult step, because people tend to ignore small accounts.
10 Guidelines getting your first 1000 Instagram followers:
We've compiled a list of 16 free Instagram tactics to help you grow your following and hit the 1000 mark. Let's get started!
1. Make your Instagram bio count
Your bio will be the first introduction to new followers, and if you fine-tune it, you can target your ideal audience. If they like what they see, they’ll probably hit that follow button.
What are the main things you want to highlight here? Think of it as your 150-character pitch. And remember: your username and name are searchable, but the rest of the bio isn't.
Here are some bio elements that can help attract followers:
A sleek, high-quality profile image.
A call-to-action (a #hashtag to click and share, a link to follow, or contact info.)
Snappy copy that feels like it was written by a real person (not a robot.)
2. Connect with your network
As mentioned earlier, reaching those first few hundred followers is often the trickiest part of growing a social media audience. So, why not start by following friends, family, coworkers, and basically everyone you know? They'll most likely follow you back, and hopefully recommend you to their friends. Go through your Facebook and contact list too, ensuring you’ve utilized all your connections.
Depending on what kind of Instagram channel you’re running, it might be worth connecting with local or similar businesses, too. Of course, this article isn’t solely about ‘how to get followers on Instagram for your business,’ but it’s worth keeping in mind. Tagging them, commenting on their posts and sharing their content will encourage them to do the same!
3. Find your audience
When you start your account, try to describe your ideal audience to yourself. Write it down – what does your ideal customer avatar look like? Who do they follow, what do they comment on, and what makes them tick? Then, look for other accounts that gear themselves toward the audience you just described.
For example, if you're a travel vlogger, look for traveling accounts and travel vloggers that fit your audience criteria. Find the accounts and creators that post regularly and get high engagement with their content.
Now, the idea is for you to utilize their profiles and audiences. Comment on their posts.
Follow their followers and interact with them. Engage! You need to get your audience's attention and establish a connection before they willingly follow you and engage with your content.
4. Live and breathe the ‘5 likes, comment and follow’ rul
This doesn’t always work, but the ‘5 likes, comment and follow’ rule can increase your chances of getting Instagram followers. The idea’s pretty simple: find an account that you’d be proud to count as a follower – and, ideally, an account you’d want to follow – and like at least five of their posts. Drop a comment on your favorite post, then give them a follow.
Put time and effort into your likes and comments, because it helps show that you’re a real person. Fake accounts often follow without interacting. By liking posts and opening a dialogue – even if you’re just commenting on a dog video with the fire emoji – before following, you’re showing that you’re a genuine account that’s interested in their content. And, if it doesn’t work the first time around, keep at it! As long as you’re adding to the conversation and not spamming them, it’s worth being persistent and letting them know you’re worth following back.
5. Find your voice as a ‘brand’
Perhaps it sounds a bit corporate, but if you want to get Instagram followers, you have to think of yourself as a brand. That doesn’t mean you need to be super serious – it just requires you to think about your profile as a shop front, landing page, or customer service helpline for your favorite brand.
‘Tone’ is the word people might use, but overall, it’s about your brand identity. The way you write captions and comments should ladder up, so you’re not talking in text lingo on one post and ye olde English the next. Every brand’s voice is different, but a simple, semi-casual tone is a good starting point to get more Instagram followers.
This extends to your visual cues, too. Stylistically, it helps if you have a consistent ‘thing’ that’s yours. It's OK to have a personal Instagram account with random pictures and videos. But, if you’re looking to gain Instagram followers outside your friends, family, and colleagues, you need to curate your content so it looks uniquely yours
6. Write catchy, shareable captions
Being able to write a catchy caption is an art form. From questions to humor to fun facts, using captions effectively is a quick way to encourage activity on your posts and let your followers get to know you. Calls to action, emojis, and funny descriptions are all tried-and-tested caption options that can help you gain Instagram followers.
Engaging with your existing audience is crucial to getting more Instagram followers. Write a simple, open-ended question in a post; use a poll or question sticker to spark conversation in your Stories.
Remember that every comment is an opportunity to gain a new follower – or keep a current one – so respond to every comment you receive. Make your followers your friends, and it’ll be worth your while.
7. Post content that’s geared towards engagement
You not only need to write strong captions, but the content itself is equally important. Instagram is for viewing things, sure. But when people try to reach 1000 followers, encouraging existing – and potential – fans to like, share, comment, and vote on things builds a sense of community, no matter how small the actual following might be.
Here are some different types of content and captions you can use to get more Instagram followers:
Question-based posts
Recommendation requests or tips
Personal or funny stories
Tag-a-friend posts
AMA (ask me anything) posts
Jump on a trend
Post a 'before and after'
Share behind-the-scenes material
Host a contest
8. Optimize your imagery for Instagram
You wouldn’t try to play an old cassette tape on a PS4, so why would you post a photo on Instagram that just doesn’t look like it belongs there? You don’t have to be a professional photographer to snap top-tier photos, but you can’t just post random, blurry selfies. Well, you can, but that’s not how to get 1000 Instagram followers!
Using professional cameras and editing software is perfect if you have the time and money, but your smartphone will do fine. Ultimately, you need to make memorable, striking content that aligns with your brand voice, as we mentioned earlier.
Think about things like symmetry, small details, different perspectives, negative space, and only focusing on one subject at a time. Lighting is also essential for quality content, and if that’s something you want to edit before uploading your content to Instagram, check out our guide to key lighting here.
9. Post consistently
A common theme among successful content creators and social media Jedis is that they post frequently. And, not to forget, at the right time. Use your Instagram Insights to determine when your audience is most likely to be active.
By posting the right content at the right time, you increase your chances of scoring engagement with your audience. Making a point to publish something every day makes a statement: it’s worth coming back for more!
It’s also a smart way to let your audience know you better. The more people engage with your post, the higher it appears in their feed. This helps to expand your reach, helping you get more Instagram followers.
By scheduling your content in advance, you can pinpoint holidays and generate buzz for upcoming events. A structured content calendar will also bring you peace of mind, since you don’t have to stress-post something random on days when inspiration is lacking.
The Instagram algorithm dictates the order of the posts that users see when they're scrolling through their feed. This is based on specific signals, and it prioritizes the best-performing posts, pushing the most relevant ones toward the top and giving them the most visibility. So, the more people interact with your content, the higher it will end up.
10. Experiment, test, and analyze your content
To determine what works among your audience – and what doesn't – it’s crucial to experiment with the content you post and analyze the results. If you don’t test your content, how will you know what works best?
It’s a good idea to set up a content strategy for these three Instagram features:
Stories
Live
Reels
Your chances of discovery and engagement increase remarkably if you make a habit of using all of these features, and using them well. It's important you utilize all of them and test the content. Then, look at the metrics and find out which your top three – or even top five – posts are. This is your audience telling you what content they like best; if a certain type of content is performing poorly over a long time period, it's not worth doing in your followers' eyes.
On top of this, try to track weekly profile visits, assess follows from individual posts – analyzing this information will help you create content specifically for earning followers – and track bio link clicks. Any information you can gather is useful, as it helps build a clearer picture of what content to keep creating. Instagram Insights is a nifty tool to use to track these crucial metrics.