How to Get Followers on Instagram Without Following

Are you wondering how to get followers on Instagram without following other users?

Following other users to get followed back is a classic strategy to get more Instagram followers. However, it shouldn’t be your ONLY strategy for growing your Instagram account. 

Spam-following Instagram accounts could lead to an unhealthy and unattractive follower-to-following ratio.

Not only will this affect how users perceive your popularity, it can also affect your earnings if you’re an influencer. 

In this post, we’ll uncover the best marketing tips and IG tools to grow your Instagram followers without following other users first. 

Table of Contents

• 7 ways to get followers on Instagram without following
  • Schedule Instagram posts at the right time
  • Promote your Instagram profile on other channels
  • Engage comments from other Instagram users
  • Try new content pillars and track results
  • Leverage influencer marketing
  • Run a hashtag contest
  • Get smart with hashtags
  • Use video content
• Get truckloads of organic followers with Vista Social

7 ways to get followers on Instagram without following

Here are 7 ways to boost your follower count organically and successfully: 

1. Schedule Instagram posts and post frequently

High-quality and relevant posts win Instagram followers. And if you post frequently, you’ll consistently get more followers. 

It’s that simple. 

However, you can’t just blast a chockful of posts in a row.

You need a posting strategy that aligns your posting frequency and timing to the activity patterns of your ideal Instagram followers. 

Vista Social can help you build an automated posting schedule around optimal times.

To do this, head to “Publishing Settings” and scroll down to “Publishing Queues.” From there, select the Vista Social account entity you want to work with.

Not sure when to publish posts on Instagram? 

For starters, consider posting once or twice during the following times: 

• 11 AM to 1 PM
• 7 PM to 9 PM 
• Monday, Wednesday, Thursday

You can also use Instagram’s built-in Insights tool to monitor the most active times of your existing followers. Just tap ‘Total followers’ in the “Insights Overview” section and scroll to the bottom. 

Suggested Article: 431+ Best One-Word Instagram Captions to COPY & PASTE! [2022]

After building the posting schedule for your Instagram account, the next order of business is to queue up some content. 

This can be done from the “Publish” menu, which can be found right on your dashboard.

In the “Publish” window, build your Instagram post as usual by writing a caption, injecting hashtags, and so on. Just be sure to select ‘Add to queue’ when finalizing your post before you click ‘Next.’

As the final step, you need to decide if your post goes at the top or to the bottom of your queue. 

Vista Social should present you with a visual calendar for an overview of your posting schedule. That will help you decide whether your new post should be published in the soonest available time slot or once everything else in your queue has been posted. 

(Also read: Loomly vs Hootsuite vs Vista Social: Which SMM Platform is Right for You)

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2. Promote your Instagram profile on other channels

In most cases, using a “Follow me on Instagram” CTA can help anyone get free Instagram followers. In doing so, you utilize the content and presence you already have in other social channels to bring more attention to your Instagram account. 

For example, on Twitter, you can tweet a follow request with a clickable link attached to your Instagram handle.

A long-term strategy is to include a link to your Instagram account in your social media bios and post descriptions on video-sharing platforms. Big-name influencers like Marques Brownlee constantly include a link to their social media accounts, including Instagram, in their content descriptions.

If you run a website, embed an Instagram follow button to places that make sense, like your page header, footer, and sidebars. AddThis is the best app to do this if you’re looking to drive new visitors for free. 

Just use the straightforward interface to build your follow button and add the code to your website.

3. Engage comments from other Instagram users

To get more Instagram followers, you need to take on a more active role in engaging your target audience. 

Responding to their comments—be it on your post or that of other popular Instagram accounts—will help you turn some heads. Just be sure to load up on funny things to comment on Instagram to make your brand more likable and approachable.

Suggested Article: 142+ Instagram Poll Questions to Ask Your Followers

Don’t ignore your direct message inbox, either. That’s probably where your most interested leads will attempt to reach you. 

For that, use Vista Social’s Inbox tool to manage all your social media conversations in one place. 

4. Try new content pillars and track results

When was the last time you reviewed your Instagram content strategy?

If you’re not satisfied with your content’s performance, experiment with other content pillars for Instagram. 

To help you come up with a great idea, here are some examples of Instagram-level content pillars: 

• Inspirational content — Before and after photos, image quotes, results, etc. 
• Behind-the-scenes content — Company meetings, lunch outs, team-building, etc.
• Informative content — Video tutorials, infographics, screenshots, etc.

How do you know which content pillars will work on Instagram?

That’s the fun part—you don’t.

Sure, you can take a look at what your top competitors are doing on Instagram. But there’s no guarantee that they will generate the same results for you.

What you can do is implement a performance tracking strategy using Instagram’s built-in analytics. Or, if you want something more in-depth, you can run a “Post Performance” report on Vista Social.

Within seconds, Vista Social will present you with a detailed report of your social media content’s performance. 

If you scroll down to the “Posts performance” section of the report, you’ll see an overview of each post’s user engagement metrics.

Monitoring these metrics will help you determine which content pillars stick and which should hit the dirt. 

5. Leverage influencer marketing

If you want to gain Instagram followers fast, it’s time to take a more serious approach. 

Influencers can help promote your Instagram account to a wider audience. This, of course, comes with numerous benefits, like gaining followers, ramping up user engagement, and generating leads.

Instagram features Branded Content Tools to make it easy to work with influencers. This lets you whitelist influencers for automatic tag approvals and enable manual approvals for more control. 

Don’t know how influencer marketing works on Instagram? 

You should see brands working with influencers all the time on Instagram. Just look for the “Paid partnership” tag and you’ll know you’ve found one.

For your reference, here’s a paid partnership post between Addicted to Tools and the company Optus: 

Below are some ways to work with influencers to gain followers: 

• Plan a collaborative project: Think of collaboration opportunities like interviews, Q&As, and live virtual events to give the influencer something meaningful to share.
• Give influencers early access: Ship them free products they can review and encourage them to upload their findings. 
• Share an influencer’s existing Instagram post: Instagram lets you share your influencer’s existing content as branded ads. 

6. Run a hashtag contest

Promising your target audience a chance to win something valuable is a great way to incentivize following your account. In exchange, you can ask your potential followers on Instagram to simply follow your page, tag their friends, write something creative, or all of the above. 

You don’t need to purchase any tool or hire any service to run contests. Simply come up with a prize, contest mechanics, and content for your contest post. 

There are loads of hashtag contests on Instagram you can use for inspiration.

In addition to getting more followers on Instagram, hashtag contests will also stir up user engagement. 

Comments, likes, shares—all this will be picked up by the Instagram algorithm. Cumulatively, they will help make your brand more visible on the platform.

There are other Instagram contests you can try:

• Caption contest: Ask your followers to write the most creative caption they can think of for your image.
• Trivia question: Ask a question and pick from a winner among users who gave the correct answer. 
• Voting contest: Pick the top submissions from your audience and run a poll on who should win.

A crucial component of any Instagram contest—not just hashtag contests—is a unique branded hashtag. 

Suggested Article: 487+ Best, Most Popular, Viral Hashtags for Instagram this 2022

This takes us to the next strategy.

7. Get smart with hashtags

It takes a little brainstorming with your team to come up with the perfect hashtags for Instagram marketing. This is especially true if you want to create unique hashtags that you want people to associate with your brand.

If you can’t come up with anything, you can draw ideas using tools like the All-Hashtag. 

To use it, simply enter any word that describes your brand, product, or contest.

Keep in mind that you can choose between top, random, and live hashtags as your search filter. 

• Top: Find the most-used hashtags related to your keyword.
• Random: Find hashtags randomly.
• Live: Find the most recently-used hashtags.

All-Hashtag will provide you with multiple lists of 30 hashtags. To generate more, simply click ‘More hashtags’ under the right list.

These hashtag ideas can be used to increase the searchability of your posts on Instagram. However, using too many of them can make your post descriptions look cluttered. 

Here’s a tip: use Vista Social to automate a first comment that contains these hashtags. 

All you have to do is paste your hashtags in the “Leave the first comment” field when scheduling a post.

8. Use video content 

With the success of TikTok, Instagram rolled out features that focus on short-form videos. 

Instagram Reels, for example, allows brands to reach an engaged audience using videos up to 60 seconds long. You can also publish regular Instagram video posts to catch the attention of your ideal followers. 

For ideas, start with the most viewed Instagram video in your niche. Chances are, you’ll find the following types of videos: 

• Video posts from influencers and famous people
• Funny videos
• Product unboxing and review videos
• Product demos
• Videos using trending effects and sounds

There’s also Instagram Stories, which comes with a list of audience engagement features. A good example would be the Questions sticker, which can pique the Instagram crowd’s interest and win over followers—given you know the best questions to ask on Instagram story. 

How to get followers on Instagram without following: FAQs

1. Is it hard to get followers on Instagram?

It’s not hard to get real followers on Instagram if you know the right strategies. Blend a user-oriented content strategy with various promotion tactics, like Instagram Stories and influencer marketing, to get the best results.

2. Does posting daily on Instagram help?

Posting frequently will help your page become more discoverable on Instagram. However, make sure each post is created and published with the same level of commitment to quality, relevance, and timeliness.

3. What is the best time to post on Instagram?

To generate the most interactions, the best time to post is Wednesday evenings between 7 PM and 9 PM. Just be sure to check Instagram Insights to optimize your posting schedule over time. 

4. Can buying followers on Instagram get you banned?

No, you can’t get banned for buying followers or hiring services that aim to get you more followers on Instagram. Just be sure you’re getting real, active followers and not inactive accounts that can’t engage your content. 

5. Can you get verified on Instagram if you bought followers?

Yes and no—there’s no required number of followers to get verified on Instagram. While you need a substantial amount of followers, verification happens to accounts tied to a registered business entity or a real famous person.

(Also read: Sendible vs Hootsuite vs Vista Social: 2022 Review)

Get truckloads of organic followers with Vista Social

You can’t get new followers on Instagram if you just read about the best strategies. 

What you need to do is turn information into action—and find the best tool for the job. 

Vista Social fits the bill perfectly with a combination of post scheduling, user engagement, and analytics reporting features. Get started today by creating a free account.