Here’s the tricky thing about Instagram:

Getting a lot of views doesn’t always translate to more followers. 

Some people will see your reel, hit like, keep scrolling, and then never see or interact with your content ever again. 

So how do you get people to stay? How do you get more followers on Instagram???

In this blog, I’m going to go over 12 battle-tested strategies to get more authentic (not bot) followers on Instagram.

Let’s dive in.

How to Get More (Authentic) Followers on Instagram: 12 Battle-Tested Strategies

1: Pick a Hyper-Specific Audience

Before you even make an account, ask yourself:

“Who is my target audience? And what do I want them to do?”

Don’t give a vague answer. 

Anyone can say their target audience is “travelers,” “homecooks,” or “people who want to be fit” (newsflash: everybody wants to be fit). 

Instead, niche down and pick a specific type of person. 

Instead of “travelers,” go for “travelers who’d rather camp out then stay at a luxury hotel,” “travelers trying to visit all 198 countries,” or “travelers who are meticulous planners.” 

You might think that niching down lessens your reach. 

But the truth is, if people feel like you’re talking directly at THEM, they’re far more likely to follow you. 

When they watch your content, they’ll finally feel that somebody gets them. And they’ll want to see more of you. 

So don’t be vague. 

Pick a hyper-specific audience for your Instagram. 

2: Copy What’s Working (But Add Your Own Twist)

Now, it’s time for content. 

There are two BIG mistakes I see new creators making all the time:

1. Doing EVERYTHING differently and trying to be super unique, and
2. Doing NOTHING differently, and just copying whatever bigger accounts do.

If you want to gain followers, you’ll need to stay in the middle ground — where you copy ideas that work, but add your own unique twist. 

How?

First, start by searching what’s working in your niche. 

Go to Instagram search and type in a keyword related to your niche. 

Then watch the top videos on there, and study their hooks, ideas, and how they talk to their audience. Ask yourself, “why are so many people watching, sharing, and commenting on these videos?” 

Or… if you’re specifically trying to build a following, ask yourself, “What’s unique about this account that makes people hit follow?” 

Write your findings down. 

Next, ask yourself, “how can I add a unique spin to this content?” 

Don’t just copy the viral reels outright. 

That’s boring, unoriginal, and if your target audience already saw the original reel, they’ll call you out for being a copycat. 

You should always add your own spin to it. 

For example, do you remember during lockdowns when everyone was making dalgona coffee? 

Depending on your target audience, your unique twist can be making dalgona coffee…

• the EASIEST way (if your audience are lazy cooks who want to do things easy)
• using the most expensive ingredients (if your audience are the type of people who enjoy watching luxury food)
• but I don’t have a frother (if your audience are budget homecooks)
• using brown sugar (if your audience like experimenting) 

The possibilities are endless. 

So research what’s viral in your space, hop on trends when they pop up, but NEVER forget to add your own twist to things! 

Check out how this creator used this strategy to go viral TWICE (even though she just had 1,900 followers!)

EMBED: https://youtu.be/OLPAGqR1hDA?si=xgTHyHnbMNrN6mHJ 

3: Post EVERY Day

I STRONGLY believe that posting every day is one of the BEST ways to grow on Instagram. 

Some other coaches might disagree, but this is something that my students are having tremendous success with. 

Why?

Posting every day not only increases your reach, but it also teaches you what works and what doesn’t MUCH faster.

Let’s face it…

There IS some luck involved in going viral. 

Even if you craft a perfect reel, there are times when the algorithm just won’t spread it to everyone (and, let’s be honest, your “perfect reel” probably isn’t perfect). 

That’s why I don’t recommend pouring ALL your effort into creating one perfect reel. 

Instead, publish seven reels a week, and see which ones stick and which ones don’t. See which ones resonate with your target audience, and which ones fall flat. 

For the ones that stick and gain lots of views, make content similar to it. 

Eventually, you’ll start to understand what works and what doesn’t for your target audience. 

You won’t be guessing anymore, because you’ll have concrete data that shows what your people respond to, and what they ignore.

Now… imagine how LONG it would take for you to find that data if you only posted once, twice, or three times a week! 

That’s why I say…

Ignore the coaches who say posting three times a week is okay. 

Post every day so you’ll find what works and what doesn’t! 

#4: Make an Original Series

As you post every day, try creating a series that you can easily replicate many times over. 

Some super successful series I’ve seen on Instagram include: 

• Career Ladder (@maxoklymenko) — a street interview series where the host tries to guess people’s professions in 2 minutes. This series is a massive success, and it essentially gives the creator an unlimited amount of content. 

• Not Cutting My Hair Until Manchester United Win 5 Games In a Row (@theunitedstrand) — a funny series where the creator posts his face (and hair) every day. The only problem is… Manchester United are nowhere near as good as they were a couple of years ago, so hundreds of thousands of people tune in every day to see how long his hair is getting! 

• Rating Breakfasts From Around the World (@letskwoowk) — cooking series where the creator cooks, eats, and rates different breakfast foods from around the world. This series is a massive success since people from all over the world tune in to see how their national breakfast is rated! 

So take a stab and try to start a new series. 

If it doesn’t gain traction, no biggie, just scrap it and try something else (that’s the beauty of posting every day, scrapping something that doesn’t work won’t hurt). 

The amazing thing about this is that once you find a series that works, you essentially have an unlimited amount of content to post.

#5: Don’t Use Hashtags, Use Keywords

Having a clearly defined target audience is one thing…

Reaching your target audience is a whole different challenge. 

The good news is that there’s a proven way to do this — and it’s NOT adding hashtags! 

Instead, you’ll need to use keywords in your description. 

Gone are the days when you could just tack hashtags like #Travel #Homecook or #Fitness and it’d find your people. Nowadays, Instagram’s algorithm uses your description to find out what your reel is about and who might be interested in it. 

You can help Instagram’s algorithm by writing out a description that contains keywords like “easy 10-minute dinner recipe,” “budget travel tips for solo travelers,” or “beginner-friendly home workouts.” 

#6: Learn the Different Types of Content

I don’t mean reels vs. carousels vs. posts. 

I’ll touch on that later, but I’m talking specifically about the different types of reels you can make. 

Here’s a quick rundown: 

• Simple Clip, Simple Text — short reels with a simple, relatable text have the highest potential to go viral. They’re quick, easy to consume, and super shareable. However, while these reels bring a flood of views and new followers, they aren’t the best for keeping your existing audience engaged. So don’t only post these, mix it up. 

• Talking Head — showing your face, going into more depth into the topics your audience cares about is a great way to build a loyal following. It’s more challenging to go viral with longer reels, but if the algorithm picks it up and shows it to the right people, you’re bound to get a LOT of followers who actually believe in your message.

• Trends — joining trends with your unique spin is a great way to reach more of your target audience. People already know what to expect from a trend, but when they see you do it in a way that relates to them, they’re very likely to share and even follow.

• Behind the Scenes — showing behind the scenes humanizes you. Instead of just showing a super polished side, also show the struggles of doing what you do. People are drawn to authenticity, and if you show this imperfect side of you, more people are going to relate to you and hit follow. 

And then, of course, there are the series that I talked about above! 

#7: Let Your Personality Shine

No matter what type of content you post, it’s critical to let your personality shine.

Again, people are drawn to authenticity. 

So grab those viral ideas, and sprinkle in your personality, which is exactly what Jorge did to go from 0 to 2.3 MILLION views. 

Take a look:

EMBED: https://youtu.be/JEYPYuttWE8?si=5r7_CwQURx-b86Kq 

#8: Answer EVERY Comment

Sounds easy…

But when you’re juggling content creation with your day job (or running your business), taking care of the kids (or maintaining your adult friendships), and doing your hobbies, answering comments becomes tedious. 

Then there are those people who ask questions that you OBVIOUSLY already answered in your reel and/or description — and you start to wonder if they’re blind.

However, answering every, SINGLE, comment and DM is crucial for growth. 

And don’t be boring.

Talking with your followers through comments and DMs is one of the best ways to build a loyal following. 

When you do this, people won’t just be following some random creator — they’ll be following someone they know. 

#9: Turn Your Comments Into Content

Running out of ideas for new content?

Try this…

Next time someone asks a frequently asked question in your comments — or says something interesting or insightful — click on the “reply with reel” button. 

This allows you to create a reel with a sticker of the comment. 

You can answer the question, or say whatever you want about it. 

This is a great, simple way to make content. And if you give an insightful answer to a burning question in your niche, there’s also a chance your reel will go viral. 

Finally, showing that you turn some questions into reels will encourage a lot more people to comment — boosting your engagement numbers, and getting more people involved.

#10: Make Enemies (The Smart Way)

As the saying goes:

“Nothing brings you closer than a common enemy.” 

Study any “tribe” of people, and you’ll notice this is true. 

Android geeks bash Apple users. 

DC fans clash with Marvel enjoyers. 

And every big sports team has a “rival” that their fans hate with a passion. 

So ask yourself… 

“Who is the common enemy I can rally my followers around?” 

Is it people who are too scared to travel alone? People who are too lazy to cook at home? Or people who don’t like lifting weights because they don’t want to “bulk up”? 

Like your target audience, get specific with your common enemy. 

Now… you don’t have to outright bash your common enemy. 

But you can always find subtle ways to show your followers, “we’re not like these people.” 

For the solo traveler, make reels showing how awesome things are when you don’t have to wait for others. 

For the homecook, show how much money people waste when they eat out, or how cooking a delicious recipe takes less time than doom scrolling. 

For the weightlifter, you can talk about the science of why “cardio-only” is not a good fitness regimen.

Reels like these are polarizing. 

They’ll push some people away. But that doesn’t matter. Because they’ll attract and unify the people you want watching your reels anyway.  

Great art divides audiences, which is exactly what Johannes did to make 5,000 euros in just 3 days from reels. Take a look:

EMBED: https://youtu.be/NWREHiYvZrI?si=0Eo6QGKycYFEuL4C 

#11: Prioritize Reels (But Don’t Ignore Carousels)

If you have a great hook for attracting new people, but use that same hook over and over again, your current following is going to get bored with it. 

That’s why mixing in content that’s more for your followers than new people is a great idea. 

One of the best ways to do this is by mixing in carousels. 

Carousels are unique because they actually show up on your followers’ feed TWICE. Once on the first slide, and a second time on the second slide. 

Carousels don’t have as much potential to go viral as reels, but they tend to reach more of your current followers than reels do. 

That’s why if you’re focused on growth, I recommend posting 80% reels and 20% carousels. 

But once you have a big following, you may want to shift towards 60% reels and 40% carousels to keep your followers happy. 

#12: Argue With AI

I’m going to leave you with something you can do right now. 

Open ChatGPT (or whatever AI you prefer), and talk to it like you’re talking with an Instagram coach. 

Ask it what it thinks about your ideas, ask it for reel ideas, ask it what it thinks about your ideas for getting more followers. 

But don’t just do that. 

You see, many AIs have a tendency to agree with everything you say (or spin it in a positive light so you won’t feel bad). 

So ask your AI to argue against your ideas if it believes they’re not strong enough. And you should argue back. 

Don’t treat AI like some magic 8-ball that tells you everything you should do. 

Treat it like a person who knows what worked for a lot of successful influencers — it can give you great ideas that they used, but it can’t tell you exactly what you should do to be successful. 

So go ahead. 

Open that AI. 

And ask, “What do you think about my plan to get more followers on Instagram?” followed by what you’re planning to do.

Should You Ever Buy Followers for Instagram?

No. Buying followers boosts your follow count, but it doesn’t increase engagement; it damages your reach, and it could get you flagged or even banned. 

When you buy followers, you’ll get a flood of follows from bot accounts. Bot accounts aren’t real people. They don’t care about you or your message at all. 

To make matters worse, Instagram’s algorithm has become so advanced that it knows when your actual target audience starts following and engaging with your content. If you’re getting engagement from a bunch of random bots, your numbers might be higher, but you won’t reach people who actually care. 

Finally, this is against Instagram’s terms. If discovered, you could have your account flagged or even banned! 

How to Get 1k Followers and Beyond

And those are the 12 strategies you can use to build your following. 

So try them out. 

Mix and match. 

And you’ll start building a loyal follower base slowly but surely (or maybe quickly, who knows?). 

Now…if you’d like a more structured approach to reaching 1k followers, then check out THIS blog post next.