It’s exhausting to constantly post on Instagram and get next to no real engagement from any kind of audience.  

You’re posting consistently, pouring your time and effort into creating reels…

Yet your views still barely scratch 1k, and followers trickle in at a painfully slow pace. 

Doubts start to creep in…maybe you’re just not interesting enough for social media? 

Of course not. (Trust me, I know some pretty dull people who are HUGE on social media)

The truth is, if you want to get 10k followers on Instagram in 2026, time, effort, and posting consistently are no longer enough on their own. 

You’ll also need a repeatable system that allows you to:

• Post content your audience wants to see
• Never run out of these content ideas, and 
• Convert viewers into followers

Think about it this way…

Thousands of people started from scratch right where you are now. 

And they were able to build their Instagram businesses using the same simple, trackable plan. 

That system is exactly what I’m going to teach you today.

Note: In this guide, I’m going over slightly more advanced strategies to take your account to the next level. If you’re starting from scratch, check out my guide on how to get 1k followers!

How to Get More Followers on Instagram: Learn How The Algorithm Works 

A LOT of people complain about Instagram’s algorithm. They think it’s random and no one can understand it, or even that it’s “evil.” 

In reality, Instagram’s algorithm is pretty straightforward: it’s designed to keep people on the app for as long as possible. 

The Head of Instagram explicitly said that they’re looking for content with: 

• High view durations
• High likes per view numbers, and 
• High share/send rates

He also said that if you’re trying to reach new viewers, view duration and shares are the most important metrics. 

That’s why if you’re gunning for more followers, the goal of your content should be to target these two metrics…here’s how: 

Step #1: Rework Your Reels for the Important Metrics

So…how do you increase your average view duration (AVD) and send rates? 

There are three parts of your reels you need to analyze and improve.

Hooks

The first 3 seconds of your reel are the most important part. 

This is your hook, and if it doesn’t instantly catch people’s attention, it doesn’t matter how good your content is because people will just scroll past. 

You can’t have a high view duration if people leave immediately, can you? 

So work on creating the most catchy, controversial, and scroll-stopping hooks you can. 

Here are some general ideas you can work with for any niche: 

• Nobody tells you this part
• I wish someone told me this sooner
• This completely changed how I think about this
• Stop doing this if you want better results
• If you’re struggling with this, watch this
• This looks simple, but almost everyone gets it wrong
• I didn’t believe this until I tried it
• Here’s the part everyone skips
• This is why this isn’t working for you
• I’m going to say this once, so listen closely
• Let’s fix this in under 30 seconds
• Here’s your reminder for today
• You’re not lazy – here’s what’s actually happening
• This is your sign to stop overthinking
• Do this before you quit
• Most people won’t like this, but…
• If this makes you uncomfortable, it’s for you
• This isn’t motivation – it’s a reality check
• You don’t need more information. You need this
• Save this. You’ll need it later.

These hooks work for a variety of reasons. So tweak these hooks to fit your niche, and more people will stop to listen. 

Not sure if your hooks are working? 

Click on “View Insights” below your reel, and you should see the percentage of viewers who watched past 3 seconds: 

Anything above 60% is great. 50% to 60% is okay. But anything below 50% is a weak hook and needs work. 

Retention

Once you hook people, how do you keep them watching to the end?

First, you’ll want to cut anything that slows down the pace.

You want your reel to be irresistible from start to finish. If there’s a slow or unimportant moment, people can scroll away. 

One thing I like to do is put my script on ChatGPT and ask it for ways to tighten things up without removing any of the important bits. 

If something doesn’t directly connect to your main point, it’s gotta go!

Next, you should change the scene every two seconds. 

If your reel is one long, continuous shot, people could zone out and skip your video. But if you change the scene every two seconds, people can’t look away because there’s always something new. 

That’s why, even if you’re shooting a talking head video, make sure different visuals pop up every two seconds. This is a psychological trick to keep people watching longer. 

Then, you’ll want to structure your reel as simply as possible. 

Popular formats like before and after, this vs that, a day in the life, step-by-step, and listicles keep people watching because they’re very simple, people know what to expect, and they want to see what’s at the end. 

Avoid complicated explanations on Instagram, because people aren’t ready for brain dumps. 

Finally, you’ll want to study your average watch time and retention graphs. 

You can find your average watch time by clicking “View Reel Insights” below your reel. Aim for an average watch time of 10 – 15 seconds for a 30-second reel, and 15-25 seconds for a 60-second reel. 

Some accounts also have retention graphs in their insights. This tells you the percentage of people who watched until the end of your reel. 

Ideally, you want a smooth retention curve like the image below. If your retention has a sharp drop at any point, this is the weakest point in your reel. See what it is (and avoid things like that in future reels). 

Note: not all accounts have retention graphs available. If you can’t find yours, download Instagram’s official Edits app, and you’ll find the retention graph under the “Insights” tab. You can also find retention graphs on Meta’s insights if you’re cross-posting to Facebook. 

Payoff

What makes people send your reels to their friends? 

The answer is the payoff at the end of the video. 

I don’t mean saying things like, “Send this to your friend!” at the end of every reel. Instead, you need to make people feel something after watching the whole thing. 

Whether that’s feeling:

• Seen because your reel is super relatable
• Inspired to take action on something
• Amused by the humorous ending
• Educated because of the information you shared
• Excited to try what you’ve shared
• Happy because your reel had feel-good vibes

Or any other feeling. 

When people feel something after watching a reel, they’re not only more likely to like and comment, but they’re also far more likely to share it with their friends. 

When you feel seen by a reel, you send it to your friend and say, “This is so me,” or “This is so you.” 

When you see a funny reel, don’t you send it to your friends right away? 

And when a reel showcasing a beautiful island resort or gorgeous mountain hike pops up, aren’t you inspired to go and bring your friends with you? So you send it to them and say, “Let’s start planning!” 

Those are the feelings you’re aiming for. So think about that angle when you’re working your payoff. 

Step #2: Fix the “Views But No Followers” Problem

If you’re already getting 500 – 1,500 views per reel, but your follower count is at a standstill, there might be a problem with your profile. 

Because here’s what happens:

People see your reel and find it interesting → they click on your profile → they land on a messy, unclear profile → they leave because you don’t give them any reason to click follow. 

Instead, your profile should look something like this: 

This profile has: 

• An interesting username – you can use a catchy play on words to give people a hint of what your profile is about. Or, just use your name, because that signals to people you’re an authentic person (and not a spam account). 

• A name | what you do – notice how Soph doesn’t just put her name, she adds a little tagline that tells people exactly what she does. 

• Clear profile picture – people are much more likely to follow a real person than a company. So avoid logos if you can, and use a clear, professional picture that makes your face recognizable.  

• Catchy bio – don’t just say “I’m a career coach,” make it interesting and lead with your benefit like “Making you better at your job in < 90 seconds.” 

Aside from the profile, you’ll also want to pin your best-performing reels to the top of your profile, so people can easily find your best content.

And if you have an “intro reel” where you introduce yourself (or a series you’re doing), pin that as well. 

Step #3: Pick 2-3 Repeatable Content Series

People don’t follow for one interesting reel. 

They follow because they want to see more of that interesting reel. 

That’s why creating an original series is one of the most powerful ways to get more people to hit follow. 

If a series works, you also get a ton of content ideas you can work with. 

Some great examples of simple series include: 

• “Soups to Help You Live Until 100” by @plantyou – a recipe series where the creator shares healthy soup recipes. The series is so popular that people instantly recognize the creator just by hearing the tagline. 

• “Hiking ABCs” by @peppersteps – a series where the creator explains simple and interesting trail lingo from A to Z. That’s already 26 reel ideas (and more if she decides to do a second and third run through the alphabet). 

• “Smarter in Seconds” by @blairimani – an educational series about a wide range of topics from the history of Jim Crow to birth planning. 

So work on creating repeatable and recognizable formats for your reels. 

If a series doesn’t do well, that’s okay. You can scrap it and try something else. 

But if it works? 

You’ll get far more followers from those reels, because people want to see more of the same thing. 

Step #4: Keep Testing So Growth Isn’t Random

Instagram success isn’t a one-time thing. 

You don’t create one viral reel and then ride that wave forever. 

Instead, you have to keep showing up again and again. 

The most successful people on Instagram are the ones who know exactly what their audience wants to see. So that every time they create, a ton of people watch, like, comment, and share it. 

So keep on testing. 

If you have an idea you’d love to do, but your reel doesn’t do well, try repackaging it. After a week or two, post the SAME idea, but tweak one of these: 

• Hook
• Pacing
• Visuals, or 
• Payoff

The same goes for your viral reels. 

Post the same idea again after a couple of weeks, but change something in it. 

If it goes viral again, you know your idea is super strong. If it flops, that shows you that the thing you tweaked is what was holding the idea together. 

Finally, use trial reels. 

Trial reels are not shown to people who already follow you. So you can experiment away without worrying about your followers thinking you’re repetitive. 

The 10K Milestone Ladder (what to focus on at each level)

There’s no magical timeline to reach 10k followers. 

However, there are certain things you need to focus on depending on how many followers you have right now. 

Here’s a quick guide based on what I’ve seen from my students: 

0 – 1,000 Followers

• Post Every Day
• Build a professional profile
• Don’t overthink

The single most important thing to do during this stage is to post EVERY day. 

You don’t have enough followers to get accurate metrics yet, so the only way to know what works is by publishing a lot of content. 

Posting every day not only puts you out there more, but it also helps you find what works and what doesn’t early on. 

Aside from that, you should have a professional profile already. 

One reason why getting to 1k followers is so hard is that people don’t trust accounts with fewer than 1k followers. This creates a vicious cycle where people don’t click “follow” because you don’t have 1k, but you can’t get to 1k because people don’t click follow. 

One way to break out of it is to make your profile as clear and professional as possible. So have a clear profile picture, a great bio, and pin your best reels to the top to gain people’s trust. 

Finally, don’t overthink, just post. 

Don’t try to find the perfect idea before posting. Just post anything that comes into your mind and see what sticks. 

Also, don’t worry about what your family or friends will think about you. Posting might feel cringy at the beginning. But you need to power through this stage if you want to turn this into a successful business. 

1,000 – 3,000 Followers

• Turn your best reels into repeatable formats
• Start studying your analytics
• Copy your competitors

Reaching 1k followers is not an accident. 

By the time you reach this number, you should already have a couple of reels that did better than others. 

Take note of those, and turn your best reels into repeatable formats. 

Focus on the topics that did well, and move away from the topics that got stuck in the 200-view jail. 

Aside from that, you should also start studying your analytics. 

This is the stage when your analytics starts recording enough numbers to be valuable. So study your view rate past 3 seconds, your average watch time, your retention graphs, and your share rates. 

Finally, you’ll also want to copy your competitors. 

By this stage, you should already know who your competitors in your niche are. So take a look at what content does well for them, and copy their ideas too. 

You can also go to Instagram search, type in a keyword related to your niche, and steal the ideas of the viral reels there. 

3,000 – 5,000 Followers

• Create a clear promise
• Create “start here” content
• Build a cohesive series

At this stage, it’s time to take another look at your messaging. 

When you’re first starting out on Instagram, it’s easy to come up with ideas for your “message.”

However, as you start to post and experiment with different ideas and formats, your original message is very likely to change (or even be completely replaced) based on what gets views, likes, shares, etc.

So by the time you get to 3k followers, ask yourself…

What message do you want to get across? What promise do you want to make to your followers now that you know more about what you can make (and what your followers enjoy watching)? 

This way, your account is no longer a random account posting about anything interesting; it now has a purpose. 

A purpose that people can get behind and follow. 

Once you’ve decided that, create “start here” content. 

This can be a pinned reel where you explain the goal of your account, or story highlights that talk about your message. 

This way, new followers can get up-to-speed with everything you do. 

Finally, you’ll want to create a cohesive series. 

A series that’s not just a random collection of reels, but one that has continuity from one to the next. 

This way, people will HAVE to click follow if they want to see the whole thing unfold. 

5,000 – 7,500 Followers

• Double down on shareable content
• Increase carousels 

By the time you get to 5,000 followers, something interesting happens:

Suddenly, YOUR followers are the ones driving your growth. They know you, know your message, and become very active at sharing your content with their friends. 

Instagram growth IS exponential, so take advantage of this and double down on shareable content. 

Aside from that, you’ll also want to mix in more carousels. 

Reels are primarily shown to non-followers, while carousels are primarily shown to followers. 

I usually recommend 80% reels and 20% carousels for people who are focused on growth, but 60% reels and 40% carousels for people whose priority is to keep their follower base happy. 

7,500 – 10,000 Followers

• Double down on winners
• Refresh pinned content
• Let your originality shine

This is the home stretch, so double down on content that’s proven to work for you. 

By now, you should already be a lot better with hooks, scripts, retention, and payoffs. So making better versions of your best content is a great idea here. 

You may also want to refresh your pinned content. 

If your video introducing yourself and your mission is already old, make a new one. 

And don’t be afraid to let your originality shine through. 

When you’re just starting out, it’s very important to strike a balance between copying what’s working and adding a slice of your originality. The risk of leaning too much on originality early on is that, without knowing the fundamentals, being too original might not work. 

But now that you know what works and what doesn’t, you’re freer to let your personality shine. 

And guess what?

People LOVE following original creators! 

Instagram Growth Strategy Case Study: 1.3 Million Views with Just 2 Videos

So what do these steps look like in action? 

Here’s the story of my student, Sinika: 

She started with only 1.9k followers, and her posts only got around 700 views. 

But then she made tweaks to her hooks, improvements to her retention, and made her content shareable. 

With these changes, she started noticing more people viewing past the first three seconds of her reels…

…more likes and engagement…

…and a LOT more shares than before. 

And it wasn’t long before her first video BLEW up with 500k views, and 2-3 days later, a second video blew up with 834k views. 

So if you’re feeling stuck like Sikina, make these changes to your content too. 

Who knows? With better content and a little bit of luck, you could go viral too. 

Common Reasons You’re Stuck (and what to fix first)

Feeling stuck? 

Here are the most common complaints I hear from my students (and how to fix them!).

“I’m posting, but it feels like Instagram isn’t showing my content.”

If you have the numbers, check your analytics and analyze where you’re failing. 

Is your view rate past 3 seconds low? Work on your hooks. 

Average watch time and retention falling off a cliff? Improve your scripts and tension. 

No shares? Think about what people feel after watching. 

“I get views, but nobody follows.”

Take a hard look at your profile and ask yourself why people should follow you. 

Are you posting an interesting series? Or just one-off posts?

Does your target audience know that your profile is for them? Because if your profile gives off random vibes, people won’t follow. 

“I don’t know what to post anymore.”

Steal ideas from your competitors and the algorithm! 

Go to your competitors, see what’s working for them, and copy those ideas. 

Or, go to Instagram search, type in keywords related to your niche, and copy the ideas of the viral reels there. 

Finally, start an original series, so you don’t run out of content to post. 

That should leave you with tons of content ideas you can post. 

“My content looks like everyone else’s.”

Inject your personality into your reels. 

If you’re just copying what everybody else is posting, you’re not giving people a good reason to follow you. 

So add your personality, even if it’s controversial. 

Speak your mind, and show the imperfect sides of things. 

When people feel you’re authentic, they’re far more likely to follow you than someone who just copies everything that’s viral. 

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does it take to get 10K followers on Instagram?

It should take between 3 months and 1 year to reach 10k followers, depending on your niche. 

If you follow all the steps above, you should reach this milestone relatively easily. 

But if you publish random posts inconsistently, you might never reach 10k. 

How many Reels should I post to grow?

You should post once a day if you want to grow your Instagram account quickly. 

If you already have a loyal follower base, you can get away with 3-5 posts a week.  

But if you’re just starting out and trying to reach 10k, you need to post every day to learn what works, get more content out there, and grow your account as fast as possible. 

Why do my Reels get views but not followers?

Your reels get views, but no followers if they don’t give people a reason to hit follow. 

Creating an interesting series, building a professional profile, and showing your personality are ways you can increase your follow rate, because those are reasons for people to want to see more of you. 

What matters more: likes or shares/sends?

Likes matter more for showing your content to people who already follow you. Shares/sends matter more for reaching people who don’t follow you yet. 

Do hashtags still matter?

No, hashtags no longer matter for reach. Instead, you should use keywords in your captions. 

This was recently confirmed by Instagram head Adam Mosseiri in a Q&A session on his Instagram stories. 

Instead, use keywords in your caption, because that gets picked up by Instagram’s algorithm and categorizes your reel. 

Once categorized, the algorithm shows it to people who may be interested. 

Should I use trending audio?

Yes, trending audio helps with reach. 

However, it’s not a magic pill that automatically makes your reel go viral. 

You still need to pair it with a solid hook, idea, and payoff to make things work. 

Also, you can definitely go viral without using trending audio.

How do I reach non-followers?

Posting reels is the best way to reach non-followers. 

This is because reels reach more non-followers than carousels and other post types. 

You can also use the trial reels feature to show your content to non-followers only. 

Ready to Reach 10k Followers?

10k followers might seem like a dream that’s light-years away for you. 

But the truth is? 

Getting to 10k is really not that difficult if you know what you’re doing. 

So don’t fret. Don’t complain about how the algorithm hates smaller creators. And don’t post randomly without a plan. 

Follow the system above, and you should reach this milestone faster than you think. 

Still need more help? 

Check out my complete Instagram growth guide, where I go deeper into more strategies you can use. 

Max Tornow
Founder, Smartphone Freedom Lifestyle

He’s helped thousands of creators across any niche and language turn content into views, followers, and income – with or without showing their face.

Over the past decade, Max has built multiple 7-figure brands, generated over $30M through content and social media, and coached creators worldwide to grow faster with proven systems, strategy, and human support.

→ About Max Tornow
→ About Smartphone Freedom Lifestyle

• YouTube
• Facebook
• Instagram