Get Your First 1,000 Instagram Followers (Without Paying for Ads)
15 tactics for organic Instagram growth.
👋 Hey, I’m Casandra. I share research-backed business ideas to help you start and grow a business. This is a 🔒 Premium Edition 🔒 of Really Good Business Ideas.
If you’re like me and you dread building a new audience from scratch, then this article is for you.
Getting your first 1,000 Instagram followers is rough.
Getting your first 100 is brutal.
No one wants to be that person with 17 followers. It feels awkward.
But everyone starts from zero. So everyone has been there.
Today, I’m sharing 15 tactics to speed up the process of getting to your first 1,000 followers.
These tactics will still work for you if you already have 1,000 followers. But the bigger your account gets, the less useful these tactics will be. Eventually, the quality of your content will drive almost all your growth.
Welcome back to Really Good Business Ideas. We’re in the midst of exploring Instagram theme pages as a business opportunity.
Whether you’re interested in starting an Instagram theme page business or growing an Instagram account, today’s article is a must-read.
Table of Contents
But first, this week, I came across some interesting theme pages that might spark some ideas.
This account is focused on providing educational content for pilots. It uses a free course about flying Boeing 737s to capture leads, which can be monetized on the back end.
This account shares memes for Sarah J. Maas's book fans (one of the author’s series is called A Court of Roses and Thorns). The account doesn’t appear to monetize yet, but with 80K followers, it certainly could!
💭 Leave a comment if you’ve encountered any interesting Instagram theme pages! I’d love to check them out.
15 Organic Instagram Growth Tactics 🚀
It should go without saying that the most important factor for Instagram growth is the quality of your content. If people don’t find it valuable in some way (funny, entertaining, educational, inspirational, etc) they’re not going to engage with it and follow you.
Quality content is the minimum price of admission, so when you find a format that resonates with your audience, you should replicate it as much as possible.
But that doesn’t mean there aren’t other things you can do to grow your Instagram account. Especially, when you’re first starting.
1. Optimize Your Bio
To improve Instagram growth, you should ensure your bio is optimized. When people visit your account, you want to use your bio to capture attention and incentivize them to follow you. Here are a few options to consider:
Name: Use your name field to include relevant keywords rather than duplicating your username.
For example, @layupzone writes “Basketball Videos | NBA Memes” in their name field.
Description: In the description, explain what your account is about and its value so visitors know what to expect.
For example, @bookswithnaman writes, “I share impactful learnings from Non-Fiction / Self-Help Books” and “Book Reviews | Book Recommendations” in their description.
Community: Consider something more community-focused to make people feel a sense of belonging by following your account.
For example,
writes for “busy women" who could use a cozy destination online to unwind.
2. Give Your Post a Hook
One of the most important ways to make your content engaging is to start with a hook—something enticing to draw users in. We’re conditioned to keep scrolling on Instagram (and most places online) but a hook creates curiosity and gives users a reason to pause and check out your post.
The reel below creates curiosity with the hook that ’90s design trends are making a comeback. Viewers immediately wonder, “Which ‘90s design trends?” and feel motivated to keep watching.
