How to Get More Followers on Instagram: 9 Tips That Work

Whether you’re just starting out or are simply looking for some new ways to grow, you might be wondering how to get more followers on Instagram. 

Sure, we can all agree that technically “follower count” is a vanity metric. But that doesn’t mean that seeing consistent follower growth isn’t still a major indicator of a healthy Instagram account.

So let’s talk about it. We’ve got 9 tactics for you to try to boost your Instagram follower growth this year.

1. Optimize your Instagram account for discoverability

Instagram is continuously improving its platform’s searchability, so you need to make sure your profile and the content you post is optimized for discoverability.

See our quick search for the term “marketing” below to see what we mean—both keywords and accounts are popping up, and this is before we’ve even tapped “Enter” to see the full scope of results.

On top of Instagram search, your Instagram content can now show up in Google search results, giving you even more potential to be discovered by new followers.

To improve your chances of appearing in both Instagram and Google search results, do the following:

• Include keywords in your Instagram name: If you run a project management software, include “[Company Name], Project Management Tool” or something like that as your Instagram name. You have up to 30 characters, so why not use them?
• Include keywords in your Instagram bio: Help your account appear in both Instagram and Google search results by including industry-related keywords in your bio. Make sure they fit naturally and it doesn’t feel like you’re forcing them or else it may read funny.
• Write descriptive captions for your Instagram posts: A short and sweet Instagram caption might fit the bill every now and then. But it’s also good to be descriptive when you can so the algorithms know exactly what your content is about.

At the end of the day, if your Instagram profile and its posts can be found more easily, you’re that much more likely to gain new followers.

2. Jump on trending audio clips

There are two reasons that hopping on trending audio on Instagram can help you reach more people and generate more followers:

• First, people who recognize an audio clip or a trend they like will be more likely to stick around, watch your content, and potentially give you a follow
• Second, people can find your content by searching for other videos using trending audio clips

Users can tap on the audio clip icon in the bottom right corner of any Instagram Reel to see other videos using that audio, giving them the opportunity to discover more content. You can see what this looks like below:

Before you can turn Instagram users into followers, you need to get their attention first. And trending sounds improve your chances of being seen. 

Just use audio tracks that your target audience likes to start gaining traction. You can find these by paying attention to audio clips that others in your industry are using.

Or take a look at Vista Social’s trending sounds library, curated weekly by our product team. If you head to the post creation platform and upload a video, you can click the three dots in the top left corner of your video thumbnail and choose Pick sound.

Then the Trending sounds library will appear. This is also how you can connect trending sounds to your video content, but it can be useful for finding potential audio clips as well.

The people want fun, trending content from brands, and we just need to give the people what they want. This is a fun and easy way to reach wider audiences and hopefully gain some new followers in the process.

3. Collaborate with other brands and creators

Partner with influencers/creators or complementary brands to get your Instagram profile in front of even more potential followers. You can create collaborative posts that show up on each partner’s feed as a way to put your brand in front of an entirely different audience with each brand or creator you partner with.

Here’s an example of a collaborative post we made with one of our users. By including both of us on the post, we reached even more people, making it one of our better performing Instagram posts.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Social Media Management Tool for Agencies (@vistasocialapp)

Start reaching out to complementary brands for co-marketing partnerships and see if there’s a way to work together on Instagram posts.

A complementary brand is one that:

• Does not compete with yours
• Has a similar target audience to you
• Has a product that could work well alongside your own

For example, a brand that sells furniture and home decor might run a co-marketing campaign with a paint company to provide fully curated room ideas, from the furniture and decor all the way down to the color of each wall.

Start brainstorming some brands to reach out to and see if you can come up with co-marketing ideas that can benefit both of your brands—and boost your Instagram followers.

The same thing goes for working with influencers. Partnering with micro-influencers is a great way to reach more potential followers without needing a huge influencer marketing budget. Creating a collaborative Instagram post makes this even more beneficial for both of your accounts.

You can create collaborative posts right inside Vista Social while you’re scheduling and publishing the rest of your content. Just click Invite collaborators in the publishing interface and they’ll get a notification to accept once the post goes live.

4. Post consistently

If you’re hoping to build a following, you need to actually show up. Why would anyone choose to follow your brand if you only post once every few weeks? Consistency is (almost) everything—our next tip is probably even more important.

To stay on top of your posting schedule, build out an Instagram content calendar that can help you plan ahead, batch create your content, and schedule ahead of time so you can keep putting great content out for your audience to enjoy.

If you need some help putting together a good content calendar, snag this social media calendar template to help.

5. Build a “save-worthy” content strategy

If you really want to grow your Instagram followers and you get nothing else from this list of tips, at the very least, pay attention to this one.

Our head of social here at Vista Social Alexus Brittain explains that we’re in an era of “lurking.” She shares, “People are following less and less—unless your content is REALLY, REALLY good.”

So if you want to grow your Instagram following, you need to put a major emphasis on content quality. One of the best indicators of content people on Instagram enjoy is “saves,” or bookmarketing posts for later. So you need to build a strategy that people want to save.

Start by using the platform yourself. This is honestly the best advice we could give you for building out any kind of social media strategy—make sure you know each platform and the types of content you enjoy (and that you see other people enjoy) inside and out before you even consider creating content for that platform.

Once you’ve spent a solid amount of time as a content consumer, only then can you switch sides and become a creator.

Alexus is candid with her advice: “If I had to give one ‘growth tip,’ it’s probably not what everyone wants to hear—because it’s really just to make better content. If your content sucks, you won’t gain followers. That’s just the world we live in now.”

This is especially true on Instagram where users are very picky about who they follow. A lot of other platforms see users giving follows or connections away more easily, but Instagram is much more precious.

So this tip is really just this: Spend a lot of time thinking about what content actually makes sense for your brand. You need to consider:

• What your target audience would like to see
• What your target audience would actually interact with
• What makes sense for your specific brand to share

6. Leverage user-generated content

User-generated content is a strategy built for Instagram. It’s all about sharing content that your users or customers have created on your behalf.

Here’s a great example of what this could look like. Subscription company Completing the Puzzle shared a video from puzzle creator Jigsaw Jessa on their own feed, reaching two similar audiences at once with a piece of authentic, unbranded content:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jigsaw Jessa (@jigsawjessa)

User-generated content can be:

• Posts of your product that your customers have shared
• Posts related to your industry that someone in your target audience has created
• Product reviews, overviews, or unboxings
• Anything else that someone else has created (usually of their own accord, but you can also work with UGC creators) that relates to your product/industry and that your followers would enjoy

Sharing user-generated content helps make your own posts feel more authentic, ultimately leading to more people wanting to follow your brand. UGC posts aren’t created by your brand trying to tout your own offerings—they’re from a genuinely satisfied customer. And that speaks volumes.

7. Engage with your audience

If someone takes the time to leave a comment on your Instagram post, you should always be commenting back. Social media is meant to be social, so you need to hold up your end of the bargain.

Take a look at this example. Plant shop BWH Plant Co. spends time responding to every comment left on their Instagram.

Even a quick thank you is a great start to building a relationship, but it’s even better if you can work to keep the conversation going. Sure, as an SMM, you’re simply the face behind the brand, but it still pays to be human as you communicate with others on each social channel.

The more you interact with other users on the platform, the more memorable your brand is going to be, and the more likely users are to want to follow you.

8. Play with different types of content

Instagram gives you a ton of different content types to work with, and you should be taking full advantage of those.

You’ve got Reels, carousels, single image posts, Stories, and even longer-form content through captions. While you might find that a certain type of content resonates best with your audience down the road, it’s important to test things out to see what brings in the most followers.

Reels, Instagram’s version of short-form vertical video is currently all the rage and tends to get the most reach across the board. But that doesn’t mean you should ignore everything else.

Carousels, for example, also get a ton of engagement. In fact, carousels are our Instagram’s highest-performing content type. They encourage people to swipe, which signals to the algorithm that your content is worth sticking around for.

Plus, carousels will often show up in the feed multiple times, first on the first slide and another time on the second slide, giving you even more potential to reach people who would be interested in your content.

Here are the different content types you need to be testing:

• Reels: Short, attention-grabbing videos that engage your audience or deliver instant value. These are your best bet for reaching people who don’t already follow you, especially if you test out trial Reels.
• Carousels: Multi-slide posts that are perfect for step-by-step guides, listicles, telling a story, photo dumps, and more. Great for driving saves and shares.
• Stories: More casual, behind-the-scenes content that keeps your existing followers engaged and reminds them you exist. Use polls, questions, quizzes, etc. to get your audience to interact with you. This is also the perfect place to reshare your feed content to reach even more people.
• Static posts: Don’t sleep on a good single-image post. Sometimes a strong image or graphic with a compelling or well-written caption is all you need.

Eventually, you might find that one or two specific types of content get you the best results, and you can run with that strategy. But until then, you should be testing everything.

9. Set up DM automations

Take a look at this Instagram post:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Social Media Management Tool for Agencies (@vistasocialapp)

Do you see how at the end of our caption, we say, “Comment AUDIT and we’ll send the template your way.”?

This is the setup for a DM automation. Users can comment “AUDIT” on the post, then automatically receive a link to the template in their DMs.

But Vista Social actually has a secret weapon that lets you turn this tactic into a growth hack. When setting up your DM automation, you can turn on the toggle for “Followers only.” This means that only followers will receive your link, and anyone who doesn’t follow you will be prompted to do so before the rest of your automation fires.

This way you can promote lead magnets, discount codes, and other offerings and keep it behind a follow-only gate. People who are really interested in what you’re offering will be more than happy to give you a follow in order to get the goods.

Start growing your Instagram followers today

At the end of the day, growing on Instagram isn’t about gaming the algorithm or finding some secret hack. It comes down to showing up consistently, creating content that’s actually worth following for, and being genuinely engaged with the people you’re trying to reach.

Will it happen overnight? No, probably not. But if you start putting these tips into practice—optimizing your profile, experimenting with different content types, collaborating with others, and actually talking to your audience—you’ll start to see the needle move. And once that momentum kicks in, it builds on itself.

So pick a couple of these strategies, start testing them this week, and see what works for your brand. Plus, get Vista Social’s help so you can start building your own follow-gate DM automations.

How to get more followers on Instagram FAQs

How do you get 1,000 followers on Instagram?

Getting your first 1,000 followers is all about nailing the basics. Start by optimizing your profile so people immediately understand who you are and what you offer. Then focus on posting consistently and making sure every piece of content you share is genuinely worth someone’s time. Engage with other accounts in your niche by leaving thoughtful comments, responding to everyone who interacts with your posts, and collaborating with other small creators or brands. Your first 1,000 will be the hardest to earn, but once you build that foundation with quality content and real engagement, growth starts to compound.

What is the best time to post on Instagram?

The honest answer is this: It depends on your specific audience. The “best” posting time varies based on your followers’ time zones, habits, and when they’re most active on the app. The best way to figure this out is to check your Instagram Insights (or your social media management tool’s analytics) to see when your audience is online. That said, if you’re starting from scratch and don’t have much data to work with, late mornings and early evenings on weekdays tend to be solid starting points. Test different times, track your results, and adjust from there.

Is it hard to get more followers on Instagram?

It’s definitely harder than it used to be. Instagram users are pickier about who they follow compared to other platforms, and organic reach isn’t what it was a few years ago. But “harder” doesn’t mean impossible—it just means you need to be more intentional. The brands and creators that are still growing are the ones putting real effort into content quality, showing up consistently, and actually engaging with their community. There’s no shortcut or hack that’s going to do it for you. But if you’re willing to put in the work and stay patient, growing your Instagram following is absolutely doable.