How to See the Percentage of Gender Followers on Instagram

Finding the gender split of your Instagram followers is a powerful starting point for refining your content strategy. This simple percentage gives you a clear picture of who is connecting with your brand, allowing you to create more resonant content, build a stronger community, and make smarter marketing decisions. This guide will walk you through exactly where to find this data and what you can do with it once you have it.

Why Your Follower Demographics Matter More Than You Think

Understanding the gender percentage of your audience isn't just about satisfying curiosity, it’s a foundational piece of data that can guide your entire social media strategy. When you know who you’re talking to, you can speak their language more effectively. Here’s why this seemingly small detail packs such a big punch:

• Smarter Content Creation: If you discover your audience is 75% female, you can start making more intentional choices with your content. This could influence the topics you discuss, the problems you solve, the visual style you adopt, or even the humor you use. For a fitness coach, this might mean creating more content focused on strength training for women versus general bodybuilding. For a retail brand, it could influence which products you feature in your feed.
• Informed Product Development: Your audience data is a direct line to market research. A SaaS company might find that a large percentage of its audience is female, even though they assumed their target customer was male. This could inspire new features or marketing campaigns aimed directly at this untapped demographic, opening up a whole new revenue stream.
• Laser-Focused Ad Targeting: Instagram’s ad platform is incredibly powerful, but it’s most effective when you give it the right information. Knowing that your organic audience consists primarily of women aged 25-34 gives you a highly qualified starting point for your paid campaigns. You can create lookalike audiences based on this proven demographic, making your ad spend far more efficient.
• Powerful Brand Partnerships: When you’re ready to collaborate with other brands or creators, they will want to know about your audience. Being able to say, "My audience of 50,000 is 80% female, primarily interested in sustainable fashion," is infinitely more compelling than just stating your follower count. This data proves you can deliver their message to the right people, giving you more leverage in negotiations.

First Things First: Getting an Instagram Professional Account

Before you can get any of this valuable data, you need to make sure your Instagram account is set up for success. Audience demographics, including gender percentage, are only available to users with a Professional Account (either a "Creator" or "Business" profile). If you're still using a Personal Account, you won't be able to access Instagram Insights.

Switching is free, easy, and gives you a ton of tools that are essential for growing your brand. Plus, you can switch back at any time if you change your mind.

How to Switch to a Professional Account:

1. Open the Instagram app and go to your profile page.
2. Tap the menu icon (the three horizontal lines) in the top-right corner.
3. Select "Settings and privacy" from the menu.
4. Scroll down to the "For professionals" section and tap on "Account type and tools."
5. Tap "Switch to professional account" and hit "Continue" on the next few screens, which explain the benefits.
6. Choose a category that best describes what you do (e.g., Artist, Blogger, Digital Creator, Entrepreneur).
7. Finally, you’ll be asked if you’re a "Creator" or a "Business." The differences are minor, but here's a quick guide:
   • Choose Creator if you're a public figure, content producer, artist, or influencer. This type offers more flexible profile options.
   • Choose Business if you represent a local business, retail store, brand, or service provider. This type gives you options to add a physical address and other contact CTAs.

Once you’ve made the switch, Instagram will begin to collect data on your audience. Note that it might take some time for comprehensive insights to populate, especially for newer or smaller accounts.

How to See the Percentage of Gender Followers on Instagram (Step-by-Step)

With your Professional Account ready, finding your audience gender breakdown is just a few taps away. Instagram keeps this handy information inside its native analytics tool called Insights.

Here’s how to access it directly from the mobile app:

1. Go to Your Profile: Open Instagram and navigate to your main profile page.
2. Open Your Professional Dashboard: Right below your bio and follower count, you'll see a button that says "Professional dashboard." Tap on it.
3. View Your Account Insights: In the dashboard, you’ll see an overview of your recent performance. Look for the "Account Insights" section and tap the "See all" link next to it.
4. Navigate to Your Audience Data: The main Insights page shows various analytics. Find and tap on the section for "Total followers." This is usually found by scrolling down or in a dedicated "Audience" tab.
5. Find the Gender Breakdown: After tapping "Total followers," you’ll be taken to a detailed page about your audience. Scroll past the follower growth chart. Below that, you’ll find breakdowns for "Top locations," "Age range," and, finally, "Gender."

Here, you will see a clear, simple bar graph showing the exact percentage of your followers who identify as men or women. This is the simple yet powerful piece of data you were looking for.

I Found My Gender Breakdown. Now What?

Having the data is one thing, using it to grow is another. How you act on this information depends on what you find. Let's look at a few common scenarios and the strategic moves you can make.

Scenario 1: Your Audience is Exactly Who You Expected

Let's say you run a men's grooming brand and your analytics show that 85% of your followers are men. Great! This is a sign of strong product-market fit and confirms your content is hitting the mark.

Your Next Move: Don't just stay the course - go deeper. Use Instagram Stories features like Polls and Question Stickers to ask this audience segment specific questions. What are their biggest grooming challenges? What kind of tutorials do they want to see? Use this as confirmation to double down on what’s working and build an even more engaged community.

Scenario 2: Your Audience is a Complete Surprise

Imagine you run a website that reviews tech gadgets, and you assumed your content would primarily attract men. But you check your insights and discover that 65% of your Instagram followers are women. This isn't a problem - it's a massive opportunity.

Your Next Move: It's time to investigate. Why is your content resonating with this unexpected demographic? Perhaps your review style is more approachable or practical, in ways that other reviewers are ignoring. Maybe you focus more on the aesthetics and design of products. Start creating content that speaks directly to this newfound audience. You might feature gadgets that solve specific problems they face or launch a "Women in Tech" feature. You've uncovered a potential competitive advantage without alienating your original audience.

Scenario 3: Your Audience Split is Close to 50/50

If your follower base is almost evenly split between men and women, it means you have broad appeal, which is fantastic. But it also means a one-size-fits-all content approach might be less effective.

Your Next Move: Consider segmenting your content. You don't have to create totally separate feeds, but you can be more intentional. For example, some Reels might address a topic from a masculine perspective, while others could address it from a feminine one. You could use collaborative posts to partner with influencers who appeal to specific genders. This broad base is a chance to experiment and see what types of content engage different segments most effectively.

Answers to Common Questions

Why am I unable to see follower demographics in my Insights?

There are two main reasons this can happen. First, you must have a Professional (Creator or Business) Account. Personal accounts don't have access. Second, you need at least 100 followers. To protect privacy, Instagram doesn't show detailed demographic data for very small audiences.

Can I see gender percentages for accounts I don’t own?

No, you cannot. An account's Insights data is strictly private and only visible to the account's owner or managers. Be cautious of any third-party apps or websites that claim to provide this information for other accounts, they are often inaccurate scams, violate Instagram's terms of service, and might compromise your own account's security.

How often is this follower data updated?

Instagram Insights are generally updated on a daily basis, giving you a very current look at who is following you and how your audience composition changes over time.

Final Thoughts

Knowing the gender breakdown of your Instagram audience is more than a simple metric, it’s a compass that can guide your content, product, and monetization strategies. Finding it is easy once your account is set up as a Professional profile, and the value it provides can completely transform how you connect with your community.

Managing analytics across multiple platforms becomes messy, forcing you to constantly flip between tabs to get a clear picture. Here at Postbase, we designed our platform to eliminate that headache. Our streamlined analytics dashboard brings all your key metrics from Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and more into one clean, easy-to-understand view. It helps you see what's truly working across your entire digital presence, freeing you up to focus on creating content that connects.