How to Get New Followers on Instagram

Building a following on Instagram is about more than just vanity numbers, it's about connecting with a community that cares about what you have to say. This guide breaks down the practical, no-fluff strategies you need to attract the right people to your account. We'll cover everything from optimizing your profile for discovery to creating content that pulls in your ideal followers.

Optimize Your Profile to Act Like a Welcome Mat

Your Instagram profile is the first thing a potential follower sees. Think of it as your digital storefront. If it's confusing, incomplete, or doesn't immediately tell people what you're about - they’ll move on without a second thought. Here’s how to make a great first impression that turns visitors into followers.

Nail Your Name, Username, and Bio

These three elements work together to help users find you and understand why they should follow you.

• Username (@handle): Make it simple, memorable, and easy to spell. If you're a person, use your name. If you're a brand, use your brand name. Avoid using excessive numbers or special characters that make it hard to find.
• Name Field: This is prime real estate! Unlike your username, you can change your Name field whenever you want, and its contents are searchable. Include keywords that describe your niche. For example, a nutritionist might set their name as “Sara Jones | Gut Health Nutritionist.” When someone searches "gut health," Sara’s profile is more likely to appear.
• Bio: You have 150 characters to convince someone to hit “Follow.” Don't waste it. Use your bio to clearly state who you are, what you do, and who you do it for. Use line breaks and emojis to make it easy to scan. End with a clear call-to-action (CTA), like pointing to the link in your bio.

Have a Clear, High-Quality Profile Picture

Your profile picture is your tiny, circular handshake. For personal brands, use a clear, professional headshot where your face is easily visible. People connect with people. For company brands, use a clean, high-resolution logo that is recognizable even when small. Avoid busy images or pictures where your face is far away.

Create Content That Pulls in Your Ideal Follower

People follow accounts for the content, period. Your goal is to create posts so valuable that people not only want to follow you to see more, but they also want to share your content with their friends. Focusing on value is the most sustainable way to get new followers on Instagram.

Find Your Niche and Own It

You can't be everything to everyone. The most successful Instagram accounts have a clear focus. Are you a minimalist home decor expert? A vegan recipe developer? A small business marketing coach? Pick a lane and become the go-to resource in that space. When you post consistently within a niche, you train the algorithm to show your content to people interested in that topic, and you make it an easy "yes" for a potential follower who shares that interest.

Master Short-Form Video with Instagram Reels

Video is a discovery powerhouse on Instagram, and there is no faster way to obtain new followers than with Reels. The Reels tab is designed to show users content from accounts they *don't* yet follow. This is your single best opportunity for organic reach. Your Reels don't need to be Hollywood productions, but they should be engaging. Here are a few formats that work:

• Educational Tips: Share quick, actionable advice related to your niche. Point-to-text videos are simple and effective.
• How-To's and Tutorials: Show a process from start to finish. This could be a recipe, a styling tutorial, or a quick software tip.
• Trending Audio: Look for sounds that are trending (they'll have an upward arrow next to them) and find a creative way to adapt the trend to your niche. This hooks people in with familiarity.
• Relatable Humor: Make content that makes your target audience say, "That's so me." Poking fun at common struggles in your niche builds instant connection.

Use Carousels for Deeper Value and Saves

While Reels are great for broad discovery, carousels are fantastic for converting that discovery into a follow. Carousels allow you to tell a story or teach a concept across multiple slides. Because they require more engagement (swiping), they build a stronger connection with the viewer. Focus on creating carousels so helpful that people want to save them for later - this is a strong signal to the Instagram algorithm.

Example Tip: Your first slide is your headline. Make it bold, and promise a clear benefit (e.g., "5 Mistakes You're Making in Your Skincare Routine"). The following slides deliver on that promise step-by-step.

Use Hashtags as a Discovery Tool

Hashtags aren't just for decoration, they categorize your content and make it discoverable to people who aren't following you. Using them correctly is a simple way to increase your reach and get more followers on Instagram.

Create the Right Mix of Hashtags

Don't just use the biggest, most popular hashtags. Your post will get buried in seconds. Instead, use a mix of tag sizes to give your content the best chance of ranking.

• Broad/Popular Tags (500k+ posts): Use 3-5 of these. They describe the general topic of your post (e.g., #socialmediamarketing, #reels).
• Niche-Specific Tags (50k - 500k posts): Use 5-10 of these. They get more specific about your industry or audience (e.g., #contentcreationtips, #smallbusinessgrowth).
• Community/Targeted Tags (Under 50k posts): Use 10+ of these. These are highly specific and connect you with a dedicated community (e.g., #austinlocalcreatives, #yogabeginnersguide).

Put your hashtags in the first comment immediately after posting, or at the bottom of your caption. The effectiveness is the same, so it's down to aesthetic preference.

Engage On and Off Your Page

Instagram rewards accounts that are "social." Spending just 15-20 minutes a day engaging with others can have a huge impact on your growth. Don't just post and walk away.

Interact Meaningfully on Other Accounts in Your Niche

Find 10-15 larger accounts (but not massive celebrity accounts) in your niche. Turn on post notifications for them. When they post, leave a thoughtful, genuine comment that adds to the conversation. Don't just say "Great post!" Ask a question or share a relevant experience. Other people reading the comments will see your insightful contribution, click on your profile, and if it's well-optimized, give you a follow.

Reply to All Comments and DMs

When someone takes the time to comment on your post, reply to them. This simple act builds community and shows potential followers that you're an active, engaged account worth following. It also boosts your post's engagement metrics, telling the algorithm to show it to more people.

Create an Engaging Series in Your Stories

Create an ongoing series your followers would be interested in! Whether it's to teach lessons related to your content or to discuss something more profound. It's a great strategy for showing users who you are as a content creator.

Use Collaboration to Tap into New Audiences

You don't have to build your audience in a vacuum. Partnering with others is one of the fastest ways to get in front of a warm audience that is already interested in your niche.

Use Instagram's "Collab" Feature

This is Instagram's built-in tool for co-authoring a post. When you partner with another creator on a Reel or a feed post, it appears on both of your profiles. This means you get direct exposure to their entire audience right in their feed. Reach out to creators who are at a similar size to you and have a complementary, non-competing audience, and suggest a collaboration idea where you both provide mutual value.

Encourage User-Generated Content (UGC)

User-generated content is when your followers create content featuring your brand or product. It's powerful social proof. Encourage it by creating a branded hashtag and prompting your audience to share posts using it. Reshare your favorite UGC posts to your Stories or feed (always with credit!). When people see you highlighting your community, it makes them want to be a part of it - and follow you.

Stay Consistent and Analyze What Works

Growth doesn't happen overnight. It's the result of showing up consistently over time and continually refining your strategy based on what your audience responds to.

Post on a Consistent Schedule

You don't need to post 3 times a day, but you do need to find a sustainable schedule and stick to it. Whether it's 3 Reels a week or 5 feed posts, consistency signals to Instagram's algorithms to trust your account as a reliable source of content. More importantly, it trains your audience to know when to expect new content from you.

To find your best times to post, check your Instagram Insights (under Audience > Most Active Times). Look for the days and hours when most of your followers are online and try scheduling your content for those peaks.

Check Your Analytics

Don't just guess what's working - look at the data. Once a week, open your Instagram Insights and pay attention to two things for each post:

• Reach: How many unique accounts saw your post? Look at the percentage of non-followers reached. This tells you how effective your post was at discovery.
• Saves & Shares: These are the super-engagements. A post with high saves or shares is one that your audience found extremely valuable. This is a huge clue about what you should be creating more of.

Your analytics are a roadmap. Find your top-performing posts from the last month and create more content in that style or on that topic. Double down on what moves new followers in your direction.

Final Thoughts

Getting new followers on Instagram boils down to three things: optimizing your presence, creating consistently valuable content for a specific audience, and engaging genuinely with your community. By focusing on giving more than you take, you’ll attract people who not only follow you, but who become true fans.

Of course, staying consistent with all of these moving parts - planning your content calendar, posting Reels at peak times, and replying to every comment - can feel overwhelming. For this, we built Postbase from the ground up to solve these modern challenges. We designed a visual calendar that makes mapping out your content strategy straightforward, with reliable scheduling built specifically for Reels, Shorts, and the short-form video that drives today's follower growth. It combines all your social media messages and comments into a unified conversation experience.