How To Get Your First 1000 Fans Involved on Instagram
If you stay with your Instagram account and hope it will grow into a dedicated Instagram followers (without thinking about how to get more followers on Instagram), you’ll have to wait a long time.
If you look at the statistics, most adults in the U.S. Six out of ten Instagram users use it daily. This forum has a high level of product engagement, with 2-7% of users interacting with each post. It may seem like you just need to log in and post beautiful product images, some quote quotes and Reels or two. But building a truly engaged building ready to buy your products and services still requires effort
There are many tips on the Internet to expand an Instagram account. However, most of them work with large accounts and will not work well with a few hundred followers.
Finding your first thousand followers on any social media platform is often a very difficult number to call because people don’t care about small accounts.
Most of the people who follow you are usually your friends. It’s okay if it’s your personal account, but for growing your business or personal type, that’s not enough.
You can buy followers, but those are just numbers, and they are useless with the way the Instagram algorithm works. Real engagement (that is, how many people like your post, comment on it, save it, share it with others and bookmark it for later viewing) is more important than empty metrics (a number that makes you “look good” without affecting your success on the platform) as the number of followers you have.
But if you can increase your number of committed fans, well that is not in vain. Those are the people who really care about what you say = the more people who engage with your content = the more people who will see your content (reach) = the more engaged (growth) fans = the more people you can convert to email or sell.
In short, trying to increase the number of your followers involved (vs. the total number of followers) makes perfect sense. And if you start with just one to two hundred followers, learning how to get more followers on Instagram (committed!) Is a good goal to set up.
In this article, we will go step by step to show you how to find your first 1000 followers on Instagram.
1. Complete your bio
There are two sections you can use when creating your profile:
Your username
Your name
Both can appear in Instagram search results.
Your username
When you create a product around your name, your username should be your name. If your business name differs from your name, your username should be your business name.
Your name
In the Name field, enter your keyword: something that briefly describes your business or your target audience.
There is no need to rewrite your name twice in the Name field, but you can do it if you like and add 1-2 words to your business.
Let’s look at my bio as an example. My username, marinabarayeva, my name. Since my name is already in my bio, I do not repeat it in the Name field instead I enter my keywords, Photographer + and social media.
All your information is not searchable. However, let them know what you are doing, so that people will know you better.
2. Connect with your friends
Follow the people you know. Search for your Facebook list and contacts. They will receive a notification about your follow-up and can follow you back. They are your first followers.
3. Look at your audience
From the beginning, describe your potential audience (create an image).
Next, look for other accounts that serve your audience. (Not your competitors, but those who focus on their posts to the people you want to attract.)
If you are a designer of children's clothing, then maternity accounts, children's training centers, children's events, or other children's fashion accounts may suit your audience.
If you are a fitness trainer, gyms, sports stores and healthy living accounts in your area may have the audience you need.
How do I get accounts to help me find followers on Instagram?
Get regular accounts and get a good engagement with their content (because you can't see the storage and sharing of other people's content, see comments and post likes).
The key to finding existing, established accounts when your relevant audience is already hanging out so you can use their audience. Using hashtags related to your business or issues or interests of your customers is a good way to get these accounts.
Create a list of such products for your product and start sharing.
Go to their profiles. Comment on their posts. Follow their followers and connect with those new people. You need to pay attention and connect before they are ready to buy from you.
4. Consistency is the key to how to gain more followers on Instagram
Obviously, not all followers see all of your posts. As Later explains, "If you follow a lot of people, then Instagram has a lot of options to choose from, so you probably won't see everything posted across the account."
So what can you do to get your content in front of your many fans and stay on top of it?
Constantly post your feeds, stories and Reels. The more content you share, the more people will engage with you. The more people engage with your post, the more likely it is that their feed or the beginning of their news feed on their homepage. All of this helps to increase your reach, helping you gain more followers.
5. Post content that interests your audience
Examining various posts in different small business accounts, I found that in addition to posting product images or sales, there are many other types of posts that work well:
- Before / after the post using your service or product.
- Sharing your customers' news through your service or product. Whenever you have the opportunity, share success stories that help your potential clients draw themselves into your customers' shoes, experiencing that success.
- Evidence. Don’t be ashamed to ask clients to go through reviews or testimonials. Or if they post something on social media about working with you or using your product, ask if you can share it on your Instagram as well. Whenever you want to share someone's information, ask their permission. Most of the time people will not have a problem, but if they do not want it shared, you will avoid unnecessary problems.
- Educational posts about your product or service. Sometimes people do not know what they will get, what they can expect or other ways to use your products / services.
- Incorporating questions or CTAs (call to action) in posts can increase engagement.
- Quotes related to your business message or desires or fears of your relevant customers. Providing inspiration in moderation from time to time can help keep you engaged. Just be careful not to post too often because that may look like spam.
- Use a branded hashtag and encourage your fans to use it in their captions and stories so they have a chance to be added to your account.
- Remind your fans and past customers to mark you when you share your services or products so you can reshare your account, giving them free press and exposure.
- Post-photo sharing photos or videos showing your work process.
Hold your media resources at the highest levels depending on the content you produce. Never think of yourself as an online magazine representing your product. Before tapping the 'Submit' button, always ask yourself if it is compatible with your social media 'magazine' and can you join this post? Is it worth sharing? If the answer is 'No' or you doubt that you will be involved with the post, that post is weak. Think about how you can improve the post and do that editing before sharing it.
6. Be consistent
Remain consistent in your delivery even if it is a few times a week. Choose a comfortable schedule. Do not try to run a marathon from day one or you will get burned quickly.
Once you get used to your right plan, you can start posting more. When you post regularly, you always get on your follower’s radar, you always keep an eye on your potential customers.
If you do not post for a while, you stop popping up again and even if you start posting again, you may lose contact with some followers (because remember: not everyone sees all posts; they see posts from accounts to engage more).
7. Start a conversation
When engaging with your fans, start writing a simple open-ended question in the post. Ask them about something. In your case, you can use a poll or a sticker to ask a question.
At first, they will probably not write anything. However, keep doing this even if it seems that you are currently talking to yourself. The important part is that you want people to start sharing your feed and news.
You can also go to your client's relevant profiles first, comment on their feed for a while, view their stories and leave comments. Don't forget to photograph DM to introduce yourself and let them know what you like about their content.
Yes, it takes time. But if you do that, you will see that people are starting to answer your questions and your interactions with other posts will grow.
8. Use the correct hashtags
Hashtags help you find other people. On Instagram, you can add 30 hashtags. Use more or all.
Search for relevant hashtags on the topic you are writing.
Next, make a list of them on each topic you post. Select one of the 500,000 posts or less available. Those search results are a little refreshing. You can also add 1-3 high hashtags, great for getting 'instant' engagement in posts for the first few minutes.
Save them to your phone app. When you publish a photo, just copy and paste it into the caption or first comment.
Don't forget to use hashtags in your Stories!
9. Access high-quality Instagram Search results
You can get a lot of exposure with fans when you get to the top Instagram posts of certain hashtags. This is the top of Instagram search results.
While Instagram does not tell you the algorithm for selecting images to upload, there are some things you can do to increase your chances of your emerging content.
The point is to get more engagement with your post within 1-2 hours after it is published.
Here are some tips:
- Post at a time when most of your online followers. If you have a business account, check your stats to see what time it is.
If you do not have a business account, you should consider getting one. But for now, look at your post and see which posts are most engaging and try to remember the time you posted. Is there a tendency? If so, that's probably where most of your fans are online.
- Always create images that fit your niche.
- Choose hashtags that match your niche. Remember, they should not be overly popular. If it is very popular, it becomes difficult to get to the top of the recovery page if your account is not yet big.
- If your photo has other people or products in it, tag them. They receive a notification about your post, and there is a chance that they will join or reshare it, too.
- It's good to have relationships with big accounts in your niche. If you don't have one, start working with them. The best result is when they follow you and start liking and commenting on your post. When accounts with a large number of followers share your content, then you get more opportunities to get to the top.
- Lastly, send your photo, story or Reels and track the results. Check the search results for the hashtags you have used.
Posts usually disappear at the top within 24 hours.
Also, your two posts may be up for grabs, but they will compete.
It seems complicated, and you can't always get to the top, but if you do it right, there is a good chance you can get there often.
10. Post videos and use Instagram news
There are four ways to use videos on Instagram: main feed, Instagram news, IGTV and Reels. Video content may receive 34% more connections than still image content. Since engagement is the name of the game, incorporating video content into your mix is a good idea
Depending on the complexity of your product or service, tutorials can go a long way in making sure people know exactly how to use it.
In this step, we will focus on news and videos on the main feed.
The main feed allows you to capture a longer video, and they stay there (until you decide to delete it).
Each Instagram story is 15 seconds. You can use it to show a quick tutorial or step-by-step process for each video. For example, for fashion designers, it could be a way to add some style accessories to a dress. Food bloggers can share each piece of the recipe.
Share a review about new blog posts or limited sales. Use the Instagram Stories Live feature to connect with your fans from everywhere. The holiday? Conference? Meeting? Spread it right there.
If you are not selling a body product, grab a tutorial that covers why your app is important. Include testimonials and success stories from previous clients.
Show how your product or service is unique. Put yourself next to others with a little skill.
Also, if you go to the search feed, at the top you will see the most interesting news on all Instagram. They are designed for user interests, so your story can be shown to completely new people. Just make sure you use hashtags in your news, too!
11. Use Reels
Whether officially announced or not, it is clear that Instagram is adding a huge weight algorithm to allow for their latest content feature: Reels. Short and fast, Reels videos are designed to be 15 seconds of educational fun, inspirational or fun. Many members of the public who are focused on building Reels content currently see a major impact on access to their accounts.
As a symptom, Reels is a great way to teach their right clients how they can help resolve a pain point. Think of it as a small 15-second study. Educate on anything that can help your right customer but that is related to your business in some way. Check out HoneyBook's Reels and Rising Tide's Reels for inspiration.
Don't forget to enter the names of your Reels as most Instagram users do not see audio videos.
12. Create carousel content
Carousels are a type of post for your Instagram feed. Since you can include up to 10 images in a single post, carousels are a great way to tell a story or give a little lesson on a topic. The advantage of making such content in carousel vs. The news is that it's easy for your fans (and potential fans) to store and share your carousels, and the news disappears after 24 hours. (And even if you save your stories as news highlights, it's hard for people to find them again because they can't bookmark you.)
Whatever you build, make sure that as a small business owner, your carousel offers a fair price to your right customers. So change your technology; get more shares and save; and is on its way to gaining 1000 followers on Instagram.
13. Delete the following fake accounts
Do you remember when we said that the more involvement your content gets, the more people will see the content, help you increase your reach and gain more followers? If a bunch of fake accounts follow you, they don’t share your content (and even if it passes bots and the like, the Instagram algorithm knows it and slows it down).
This shows an algorithm that your content is unimportant and your content will not be displayed to more people. What’s the last thing anyone trying to figure out is how to get the most followers on Instagram they want.
Pass on to your fans regularly (once a week or every week) and clean up fake accounts. Just hit "Delete." Fraudulent accounts are usually clearly identified from the username and name (some would call it a corresponding sales account). You can also take a look at their feed. Fraudulent accounts often do not contain a large number of posts that are usually the best spammy.
14. Don't waste time with follow-up / non-follow-up game
The next / non-follow-up game is exactly that: the game.
If someone asks you to follow him and he will follow you, his main goal is to increase their disrespectful metrics for fans. Which now, you know should NOT be your main goal. (Yours is to grow your followers by increasing your engagement.) If this old strategy sounds too good to be true, that's because it is.
15. Keep feeds that delight the beauty
Some people say that a good feed is dead. Others take the time to make their own beauty feeds and all posts. Whether you are in one camp or another, having a consistent feed certainly helps to attract your right customers. When they get to your feed, they should be able to quickly say what you do, who you help and why they want to stick to your content (suggestion: the total amount of water you provide!)
Don’t forget the part of the feed that delights the beauty of variety. So be sure to mix things up! Vary carousel posts by alternating between your 2-3 large cover colors. If your feed is a heavy image, switch between zoom, zoom in and zoom out and more breathing room. Sprinkle on the scale image several times. Diversity is the spice of your Instagram life.
Ready to get 1000 fans committed to Instagram?
Finding your first thousand dedicated followers can be a slow process. You can use one tip from the top, decide it probably doesn't work and leave it. To maximize impact and get better results, use a couple or all at once. Just go step by step. If you do it right, it will take you a month from 0 to 1000.
