How to Get Your First 1000 Instagram Followers (This Actually Works)

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How do I get 1000 REAL Instagram followers organically and fast?

If you’ve ever asked yourself something along the lines of this questions, then you’re in the right place.

I’m going to share with you my no-BS method with practical tips on how to grow your Instagram account.

You might have a small business or maybe you just want to start creating an online presence for yourself. You definitely need an Instagram account for that.

But how do you actually get people’s eyes on your posts?

How do you get them to follow you?

And most importantly, how do you get them to engage with your content?

Because who wants a big 10k following number when your audience is pretty much crickets?

That’s exactly what happens when someone buys followers.

Yes, they will get a high follower number quickly, but it is so obvious to brands that the account is empty of value when they look at the engagement on each post (ie. number of likes and number of comments).

There IS a way you can grow organically with real people who actually enjoy your content and WANT to follow you.

Instagram can be frustrating. I get it.

Everyone talks about this magical “algorithm” that apparently makes or breaks your account. Well today I’m sharing what you can do to work with the algorithm in your favour.

how to get your first 1000 real followers on instagram

SWITCH TO A BUSINESS ACCOUNT

If you haven’t already, switch now to a business account.

It is completely free and it gives you a lot of insight that will help you grow faster.

You will be able to see stats about your followers, when they are most active, when to post, what posts perform the best and so much more.

How to do this:

Go to your Instagram profile > Tap the icon with three lines on the top right corner >Tap on Settings at the bottom of the screen > Go into Account > Tap on Switch to business account.

how to switch to an instagram business account and get more followers

FIND OUT THE BEST TIME TO POST

The ever-so-controversial Instagram algorithm takes into account the activity on a post within the first hour since it’s been posted.

So when that post gets likes, comments, saves and shares, it will be promoted by Instagram in the hashtag pages (more on that later in this post), which will in turn bring you more followers.

So it’s important to know when your audience is most active.

You can go into that top right button with three lines again, hit Insights > Audience and scroll to the bottom.

There you can see what time your followers are active on Instagram for each day of the week.

My audience, for example is most active at around 6 pm to 9 pm. So that’s going to be the time I TRY to post more often.

USE GOOD HASHTAGS

I’ve talked about hashtags in this post all about Instagram hacks you should know.

Hashtags are THE secret when it comes to being discovered by more people.

But how do you know which ones to pick?

Should you just use the ones that really big accounts are using?

Not really. Here’s why.

Generic hashtags (like “mom” or “beauty”) are overly saturated and you will not get discovered in those with a small following.

It’s simply the truth.

You need to go more specific.

You will go into the search page on Instagram, type in hashtags in the category you’re interested in and see what hashtags pop up as recommended.

From those, you will pick the ones that are relevant (duh! obviously), but only the ones that have a reasonable amount of posts.

The sweet spot for me has been hashtags between 10k-100k posts. You can go with ones that have a lower or higher number, but don’t go in the ones that have millions.

It is just pointless to be honest.

These 10k-100k tags will help the chances of your post appearing in those first 9 at the top of the hashtags page.

When you have a good post with decent engagement that is properly hashtagged, Instagram will promote it in those hashtags pages.

And that’s how you gain more followers faster.

That’s where the majority of mine have come from.

USE A THEME OR A PRESET

It is a fact that you need a pretty aesthetically-pleasing feed if you want to grow on Instagram.

It is a platform similar to a coffee-table book – beautiful pictures that are nice to scroll through. With an added story to them.

It’s no wonder these Lightroom presets have become so popular nowadays. That’s exactly what they do – they help you achieve a beautiful theme in a cohesive manner.

The Lightroom app on mobile is free, so you can start using it today.

I suggest either playing around with the settings to find what works for you or maybe watching some YouTube tutorials on how to edit in Lightroom.

Or you can take the easier route and just download already made presets. Lots of people sell them, but finding free ones that are good can be tricky.

I am currently working on sharing one of my presets in a post soon.

UPDATE: Find my free presets here.

Make sure you are subscribed here so that you get notified when I post that preset and future ones:

POST FREQUENTLY

Once a day can feel like quite a big commitment. I know.

I’ve felt like that too. But I’ve come to realize that the more active you are, the faster you will grow.

A few things happen when you post frequently.

For one, your audience has more posts to engage with. You have more posts that are likely to end up on the front page of a hashtag.

You start to realize patterns in your posts.

For example, you might notice that you get more engagement on posts with quotes text, or portraits, or outfits photos, or home details.

When you notice a post does well, make sure you post more of that.

BE SOCIAL

Who would have thought that getting ahead on a social media platform would be…uhm…being social?

Here are a few things you can do to boost the engagement on your own account.

Respond to people’s comments, let them know you appreciate that they took time out of their busy lives to chat to you.

Start DM conversations with like-minded people.

Comment on other people’s posts.

Start conversations in popular instagrammers’ comment section.

The more connections you make to people, the more you will grow. And this way you will grow an actually engaged community that truly cares about what you post.

I know, it can seem overwhelming.

You’ve got this! You CAN and WILL grow you account, along with your online business.

We’re in this together, so feel free to drop me a line with what you’re struggling with at the moment.

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3 thoughts on “How to Get Your First 1000 Instagram Followers (This Actually Works)”

  1. Hi! Great tips! I have a question. I just started an account for my son to showcase his style in hopes of becoming a brand rep. I started it about a week ago and just reached 100 followers. Is it too early to make it a business account?

  2. I love your content! You post such helpful and applicable posts, and I have been putting your advice into action. I have just been struggling with trying to get a pretty aesthetic going – and I have tried many different presets.

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