How to Grow Your Instagram

I started off spring 2017 with just under a thousand followers. I honestly didn’t think fast growth was possible for me on Instagram. My other platforms, including Pinterest and Twitter, had more followers and a faster growth rate than my Instagram and I assumed it would always stay that way. I was wrong! Today, Instagram is my largest and fastest-growing platform. It was the first of all my social media to reach 2k.

Gain Instagram Followers

Now, numbers aren’t everything! As a smaller blogger, I’ll be the first one to say that I’m more focused on my engagement rates than my numbers, because that’s what’s important to me. But growing your accounts also means you can reach more followers who are interested in your content. You may wish to grow for the fun of it, or because you want to get brand collaborations and sponsorships that come with a higher following.

I’m also no Instagram expert. I’m an ordinary blogger with only 2k followers. I’m not here to tell you the latest secret, formula or magic trick for success on Instagram. I’m just sharing my story about how I increased my growth rate by ten times in just two months. This is what I did and what worked for me.

Here’s what I did to reach 1000 Instagram followers in two months.

The basics of Instagram growth are: make good content + follow others + engage.

Here’s a specific breakdown of things I changed to gain 1000 more followers.

I committed to posting once a day. There are still days that I end up skipping because I’m in a National Park or something, but having a schedule helps.

I followed a lot of people. Now this may be obvious and you’re rolling your eyes right now. But to be honest, I wasn’t actively following accounts before this. To grow, I had to follow 100-200 per week. I don’t follow random accounts, however. I check their profiles first to see if they show signs of liking content similar to mine. You can find people who are interacting with hashtags you use to find like-minded accounts to follow.

I upped my engagement. I commented on others’ pictures. I do this authentically when I like the content and have something to say about it. So I don’t go around spam liking and commenting, but I set aside time each day to engage on Instagram.

I strategized. I focused my energy on accounts with similar numbers to mine. If an account has 15,000 followers and they’re following 600, do you really think they’re going to follow and engage with your content? It’s unlikely.

I organized my content better. Since I cover lifestyle and fashion content, I have to balance the variety of my photos (see what it looks like). Instead of haphazardly posting several fashion shots in a row, I’m trying to bring balance to my feed.

I still have a long way to go in branding my content, keeping it consistent and engaging more on Instagram. But I hope reading my experience was somewhat helpful to you.

Do you use Instagram? How are you working to grow your account?