10 ways to get your first 1000 followers on Instagram
Whether you’re just getting started with zero followers or you already have that magical 10k plus on Instagram, it’s not an overnight journey for anyone. (Unless you’re buying followers, which we already talked about why that’s a bad idea.)
Instagram is known for having the highest level of engagement for businesses & brands, with an average of 2-7% percent of users interacting with each post. But it’s more than dance memes and pretty pictures that drive sales for your business.
Follow these steps to getting to your first 1000 followers on Instagram.
1. Fill in your bio
This may seem obvious BUT you will be surprised how many people set up their account and don’t fill in their bio or information on their account.
This is the first impression that a potential new follower has and the deciding factor if they are going to follow your account or if they are going to move onto the next one! So make sure you are filling out ALL the parts when setting up your account.
Fill out your name. This should be your brand so it’s easy to identify you.
Fill out your bio. This should tell people what you offer.
Use your logo as a profile picture (unless you are your brand, in which case use your photo)
Fill out your link - there are a few strategies for this, use what works for you.
Let’s look at my bio as an example.
2. Connect with friends and family
As soon as you sign up your new business account, check to see which of your family and friends are already on the platform and follow them! Search through your Facebook Contact list or post on your other social platforms that you have an Instagram account.
Once you follow one of your friends they will get a notification that you are following them and hopefully they will follow you back. Friends & Family will be your first followers.
3. Be Consistent
Where the social media algorithms control who sees your content, the more consistent you are the more there is a chance that your followers will see your posts and that non-followers will see them on hashtags they follow.
Post consistently to your feed, to your stories and to reels. The more quality content you share, the more people will love it and engage with it. The more people that engage with your post, the higher it will appear in your followers’ feeds.
When you post regularly, you consistently get on your follower’s radar, staying top of mind with your ideal clients. When you don’t post for a while, you stop showing up on peoples’ feed and even if you start posting again, you may lose your connection with some followers (because remember: not everyone sees every post; they see posts from accounts they engage with the most).
Be consistent in your posting even if it is just a few times per week. Don’t try to run a marathon from the first day or you will get burned out fast.
4. Make it interesting
Create quality posts over quantity. No one arrives on Instagram knowing exactly what to post, so trial and error what type of content your followers are looking for. Look at some of your competitors and see what type of content that they are posting, or take in content from other industries and figure out how you can use it for yourself. Try different things and see what your followers like and engage with.
Here are some ideas:
Before/after posts of your service or product
Testimonials
Educational posts about your product or service.
Quotes that are relevant to your business Providing inspiration via a quote from time to time can help further engagement. Just be careful not to post too many too often since that can tend to look spammy.
Implement a branded hashtag and encourage your followers to use it in their captions and stories for a chance to get featured on your account.
Remind your followers and past clients to tag you when sharing about your services or products so you can re-share on your account, giving them free press and exposure.
Sharing behind the scene photos or videos showing the process of your work.
It’s important to be posting a variety of content, so make sure to mix things up! Vary educational posts by alternating between your 2-3 main brand colours for the cover. If your feed is image-heavy, alternate between a tight, zoomed-in shot and a zoomed-out shot with more breathing room. Sprinkle in a quote graphic now and again. Variety is the spice of your Instagram life.
Before you tap the ‘Post’ button, always ask yourself if it fits your brand and if you would actually engage with the post? Is it worth sharing? If you answered ‘No’ then why would you think others would engage with it?
5. Start a conversation
Figuring out your content is just the first step. Next, you want to have a conversation with your followers to give them more context on how your content will provide them value. The easiest way? Ask them a question! Something simple but an open-ended question in the post. I LOVE asking questions and doing polls in stories. Followers love to engage with them and it’s an easy way to start a conversation.
In the beginning, your engagement may be low but keep asking and people will start replying and you’ll figure out what works best to engage them.
One way to get more engagement is to engage with other accounts. In most cases, if you engage with someone’s feed they will start following you and engaging with your content too!
Don’t forget that if you want to connect with someone that you can send them a DM to introduce yourself and let them know what you like about their content. Yes, this can be time-consuming, but this is a way to create real connections.
6. Use hashtags
Hashtags can help you be found by other people. By using popular hashtags you can appear in a search and others can easily find you! On Instagram, you can add up to 30 hashtags so use as many as possible on all posts. Do a search for relevant hashtags for the topic, industry, and business you are posting about.
A tip so you don’t need to type out the hashtags for each post? Find a list of 10-15 hashtags that are related to your business and that you want to include on a regular basis. Save them on a note or a doc and then copy/paste them into your IG post when you need them.
Using hashtags in your stories and reels can definitely help! Some of the ones I use on a regular basis are: #Halifax #SocialMediaMarketing #SocialMediaConsultant #SmallBusiness #KASocialMedia
7. Use videos and Instagram Stories
If you’re hoping for video content to be a passing trend, it’s time to let go of those hopes and get used to being in front of the camera. Videos, both live and pre-recorded, are still the most viewed content on social media. (People are wanting to watch videos as opposed to reading.)
There are 4 different ways that you can use videos on Instagram:
Feed
Instagram Stories
IGTV
Reels
Video content is known to get at least 34% more reach/engagement than a static picture. Since you want to grow your following and overall engagement, implementing videos into your content mix is a great option.
Here’s the difference between the videos that you can use on IG
Feed = 60 second videos
Story = 15 seconds or a series of 15 seconds videos
IGTV= up to 10 minutes
Reels = Series of video clips for a total of 15-60 seconds
Live= Up to 4 hours
8. Use Reels
Reels were mentioned above but holy-moley reels are the ‘in’ thing and are performing so well right now! The reach for reels is crazy compared to anything else on Instagram currently.
This isn’t an official word from Instagram but it seems that the algorithm is weighing heavily and giving more exposure to reels and videos in general right now.
For a full breakdown of the pros and cons of Reels, Stories and more, you can read my blog post here.
Reels videos are 15 to 30-seconds of educational, inspirational or entertainment fun. Many of my clients and students are seeing that reels are making a HUGE impact on their overall reach.
9. Create educational or funny carousels
Since you can include up to 10 images in a single Instagram post, carousels are a great way to tell your story or provide a mini-lesson on an educational topic without doing multiple posts on the same day.
The good thing about creating carousels vs. stories is that it’s easier for your followers to save and re-share your posts that with a story they need to be tagged or screencap to be able to share it and also it disappears after 24 hours. By having the information right on your feed it’s easier to reshare and it has a long shelf life to be shared.
No matter what you create online, make sure that as a small business/brand that your posts provide value to your clients or potential clients so they want to hit that ‘follow’ button.
10. Remove fake accounts that follow you
You may think this has no effect on your account as having lots of followers is better than having a lower number, but resist this idea. Remember that more engagement = more reach which can = more new followers.
If your followers are fake, that means that they will not be engaging with your content which will bring your reach down and not expose you to new potential followers. Lower engagement tells the algorithm that your content isn’t valuable and therefore your content won’t get shown to new potential followers which in the end is the last thing you want to happen.
I recently have deleted over 1000 followers that I no longer engage with, or follow me. So get in the habit of going through your followers and clean out fake accounts or accounts that no longer serve you. Simply hit the “Remove.” button. Fake accounts are usually pretty obvious to spot from their username/ name, lack of content and most times no bio or pictures.
Consistency & Quality
Overall it’s important to have a strategy or theme to your feed to make the aesthetic generally pleasing and inviting. It’s known that new followers or potential followers will glance at your last 9 posts (aka your grid) to determine if they want to follow you or not. Can someone tell what your business is or what they should expect when looking at your last 9 posts? Does the colour scheme match? Is it all selfies? Is it all over the place? Are you using the same font?
As frustrating as it is to slowly build up your authentic following on Instagram, know that you are not alone! Getting even your first 1000 followers involves consistent work. But once you get that first 1k, every other thousand after that feels easier!
If you are focused on creating quality content with consistency, you’ll be well on your way to your first 1000k followers.