How to Get Your First 1000 Followers on Instagram?

This weekend, I had the pleasure of seeing an Instagram account surpass the 1,000 followers mark! One of my goals for the one month that I am pleased to proudly check off. 

And to celebrate that I decided to share with you my method (not at all miraculous) to gain your first 1000 followers on Instagram. 

These 1000 followers mean a lot to me, but above all, they illustrate two things that are close to my heart:

• It is still possible today to get started on Instagram and grow an account (and no, the algorithm is not a dirty idiot who puts obstacles in your way).
• Most importantly, it is possible to do this in a completely ethical way without using obscure techniques (follow/unfollow).

Warning! If you are here hoping that I will give you a miracle method that will make you gain 1000 followers in 30 minutes using an obscure secret technique, I will stop you right there!

Here we are talking about gaining 1000 followers ethically and giving yourself the time to achieve it. But these 1000 followers will be hyper-engaged with you and will accompany you for a long time.

First and Foremost: Give Yourself Time

That’s my first point: we have to give ourselves time to get there.

My method is not a miracle method that allows you to gain your first 1000 followers on Instagram in 2 days.

It took me 3 months to get to this result, and frankly, I’m okay with that.

I know that many accounts achieve this result in 2 weeks, or even 1 month. And I know that we come across many videos on the subject, but I ask you the following questions:

• Do these accounts receive 5-10 messages per day from their followers with compliments and questions?
• Do they have an average of 60 comments per post?
• Do these accounts have an audience that clicks through to their site, follows their Facebook page, and signs up for the newsletter?

Because my followers do all that.

Even though it takes me longer to build my community, it is a qualified community, with whom I enjoy interacting every day and whom I am getting to know.

My Opinion on Following/unfollow 

Follow/unfollow is this technique which consists of following lots of accounts masse on Instagram, waiting for them to follow in return, then unsubscribing once it is done.

There you have it, just with this summary, you can already see the problem.

I find that following/unfollowing is extremely disrespectful to the person concerned.

Remember this: your followers are PEOPLE, human beings with sensibilities, desires, and dreams. And how do you think they react when they realize that you are using this technique with them? That they are just a “+1” on your follow list? How would you react? 

I’ll help you out: they’re super pissed off and unlikely to engage with you afterwards (most will even unfollow right away). 

So yes, follow/unfollow is very effective in quickly increasing the number of followers on an account, it’s proven. But tell yourself this:

• This is already a practice penalized by Instagram, so watch out for your account. 
• Your follower count will grow very quickly, but it will be a “hollow” number that won’t mean much and will bring you very few customers.

Also, note that buying followers to increase your number of followers is a practice banned by Instagram and very quickly detected by its bots!

How to Gain Your First 1000 Instagram Followers (and the Following) Ethically

Now that my rant is over, let me tell you exactly how to get your first 1000 followers on Instagram. This is the method I applied (because yes, there are still methods to do it). An ethical, calm, stress-free method without making fun of my followers.

Some of these techniques are the ones you read about everywhere on the net. But you know what? They work. So I’m putting them here again.

1) Post Every Day (at a Fixed Time)

Or every other day, minimum.

Providing quality content regularly is the key (as it is everywhere on social networks) to quickly grow your audience and reach more people. But posting every day (or once every two days) has two benefits:

• Already the Instagram algorithm loves it.
• Then your community gets into the habit of seeing you every day at a certain time (or time slot) and this creates a little daily meeting.

For the account, I post every evening between 6 pm and 7:30 pm, because I tell myself that people finish their day at that time, take transport and check their social networks.

Other accounts post early in the morning (between 7:30 and 8:30) and it works for them too.

I don’t know if my reasoning is correct, but I can assure you that posting regularly and at a fixed time is already a very good start to gaining your first 1000 followers on Instagram.

And if you’re afraid of forgetting, don’t hesitate to schedule your posts in advance using a scheduling tool! There are plenty of them with the possibility of creating a free account: Later, Planoly, Hootsuite, Buffer, etc.

2) Make Stories

Instagram’s stories feature is very powerful (it’s the new social media trend of the moment and a quick way to increase your number of followers).

It is already very likely (even if no one has had confirmation) that Instagram accounts using stories are appreciated by the Instagram algorithm.

But it’s also a great way to connect with your community: ask them questions, ask them to react to a topic, and keep them up to date with your latest news.

I love using the “poll” feature in stories to ask my audience mundane (but funny) questions. It makes everyone laugh and helps me get to know them a little better!

It’s also a very powerful way to strengthen your branding on Instagram.

3) Engage Your Community

As I said above: to gain your first 1000 followers on Instagram you will first have to engage them (because we are not celebrities like Kardashian with her beautiful Instagram photos and her millions of followers).

Ask them questions in your posts (that will make them want to comment) and then respond to their comments.

Ask questions in stories. Go comment on their posts.

This way you will increase your engagement rate and gain relevant followers.

Engaging with your community is time-consuming, let’s not lie to ourselves, but it is effective and above all, it pays off very quickly.

I still see too many accounts that just post their post of the day but don’t respond to anyone. 

Does that make you want to comment?

4) Provide Value to Your Followers

I think this is the most important point of all, but let me put it in context.

To gain your first 1000 followers on Instagram you need to ask yourself a simple question.

What is the thing that interests users the most (generally in life)?

(and the day you have understood this, you will have understood everything)…

What people are most interested in… is themselves (unless you are an influencer, in which case your Instagram followers are drawn to your life and the sushi you ate for lunch).

Their little person, their life, and their problems (no need to roll your eyes you know I’m right).

And once you understand that, you understand that your Instagram posts have to give them something.

So I’m not saying that every publication should be a lecture, not at all. Quite the opposite.

But if you want more followers, your audience must get something out of your posts. They must get some satisfaction from them:

• This may be useful information.
• Something funny that will make them laugh.
• Or something that distracts them for a short while.
• Questions that get them talking about themselves, that show them that you are (sincerely) interested in them.
• Content that re-engages them when they need it etc.

5) Don’t Just Wait for People to Discover Us

There are a lot of people on Instagram, I’m not telling you anything new. And luckily there are already people in the same industry as you. So to gain your first 1000 followers on Instagram you’re going to have to take the lead. 

So sitting quietly, passively, waiting for people to miraculously land on our account, fall in love with our content and follow right away is purely utopian.

So you need to be proactive and show your ideal followers that you exist.

How to do it?

First, define who your ideal followers are (little tip: they are also the ideal customers for your business).

Look at what hashtags they are using, then go to Instagram Explore and search for those hashtags.

Then create interaction with the accounts of your ideal followers: like their posts, and comment on them (with real constructed comments, not just 3 smileys duelling).

At this point, you don’t even need to follow these accounts (unless you want to).

Simply, creating and interacting with them will help them discover your account without stress, without pressure.

Believe me, they will thank you for that. And then if you like some of these accounts, follow of course!