If you’re starting on Instagram or want to find a strategy that will help you get 1K followers on Instagram for free, this blog post will help you find the right answers. Before we start, here is a full disclaimer – I won’t talk about buying followers on Instagram.
Instagram has shown tremendous growth over the past decade, and one thing is sure – even in 2023, it will continue to grow. It doesn’t matter if you’re starting on Instagram or have been using it for years; it’s definitely a platform you want to be on.
Instagram has proven to have a significant impact on business growth. Even if you don’t operate a business account, it’s a great platform to build your niche and get an audience who’ll be keen to engage with your content.
It isn’t though easy to start on a platform that has 2 billion active users and where 95 million posts are shared per day. Instagram is competitive, and it has never been harder to grow, but there is good news: I’m about to share a bunch of strategies that work, and you’ll get your first 1K Instagram followers for free and fast!
I’ve recently found an interesting video on YouTube sharing some great strategies that’ll help you grow. You can check it out below. This is how the idea of writing this article was born.
I am sure you’ve read and tried multiple strategies before. The Internet is full of advice on how to get your first Instagram followers, but it frequently is either through buying followers or taking too long.
The tips that I’m going to share with you will get you for first 1K Instagram followers for free in 30 days. I want to share with you that getting started isn’t that hard, and if so many businesses made it, you could also make it.
You don’t need to follow tens of tips at one time. Stick to something that actually works.
Before we begin, I want you to set the purpose for your Instagram account and have achievable goals in mind. If you want to sell your product, don’t expect to get $100K in sales in the first 3 months. Instead, set a more realistic goal.
Having no clear purpose and a lack of goals will make you indecisive regarding your Instagram strategy. It will also make your Instagram account messy and with no clear direction.
Therefore, if you’re starting a new account from scratch, take a day or two to lay out the basics before jumping into content creation and posting.
What are the goals of your Instagram in 2023?
This step is essential.
If the only purpose for your Instagram account is to socialize, you may skip this section. However, if you want to use Instagram as a tool to market your business and potentially drive sales and revenue, please continue reading.
Starting on Instagram should be treated as a project by itself. If it falls under your general digital marketing strategy, you should ensure that the overall business goals are translated into your Instagram strategy. If you start off without a strategy, you’re setting yourself straight for failure.
81% of people use Instagram to help research products and services, while 2 in 3 people say Instagram helps foster interactions with brands.
Why do you need to prepare an Instagram strategy?
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Have a clear vision of what you want to achieve by starting on the platform;
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Build the content plan that’ll support your Instagram strategy and will drive the results;
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Measure your success and optimize your activities to improve.
Your goals should be as specific and as measurable as possible. Here are some examples:
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Increase referral traffic to your website by X%
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Convert X people to join your newsletter
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Improve your brand awareness
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Drive your product sales via Instagram
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Build a tribe of loyal followers
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Position your brand as an industry thought-leader
You can always adjust your goals depending on the results that you’re achieving.
How to get the first 1K followers on Instagram for free and fast?
Getting your first 1K followers on Instagram fast shouldn’t be a burden if you stick to the proven Instagram growth strategies that work.
Don’t put your Instagram account into jeopardy by buying followers because this will put you in a negative spotlight in the eyes of the Instagram algorithm, and it’ll be just harder to grow in the future.
Keep also in mind that the pace of you getting 1K followers will depend on your niche and overall interest that lies within your industry. Someone with a fashion or beauty account may grow faster than someone with an account in accounting or stamp collection.
However, whatever your niche is – I assure you you’ll get there.
So, let’s take a look at the strategies that’ll get your first 1K followers on Instagram fast.
Build up your content library
When it comes to launching a new Instagram account, it is essential to show consistency to your prospective followers. I always advise my clients to spend a week or more and build up a library of Instagram content that’ll be available on the go.
In fact, content creation requires the most work. That’s why so many accounts fail within the first month or two. It can be very demotivating to spend time creating content and posting it to get less than 50 likes per post. However, that’s the natural way to start, and you must be patient.
By creating 15-20 posts beforehand, you’ll be sure to post every day. This will show your audience that you’re serious, and they can count on seeing your content tomorrow as well.
Don’t expect people to start following you if you have fewer than 10 posts. New accounts have to spend time building up the content on their accounts before they can expect people to start following them.
In the first weeks (or even the first month), I’d heavily concentrate on content creation and less on other aspects listed below. Put 95% of your time into producing content, and use the remaining 5% to browse and discover other accounts within your niche. Use them to research keywords, main topics, and ways they engage with their audiences.
Once you create the visual posts, it’s time to add captions for them. You don’t have to use any third-party apps and pay money to plan. You can use an Excel sheet as your Instagram content calendar.
Make your Instagram account accessible
Once you have 10-20 posts published, it’s time to start shouting louder about your Instagram.
If you have a website, a newsletter, a podcast, or another social media account (Facebook, TikTok, Pinterest), make sure you add a link to your new Instagram page.
The reason is simple – if people are following and engaging with you on other platforms, chances are high that they’ll be interested in engaging with you on Instagram as well.
The content you use for the channels can be repurposed and adapted to Instagram. However, don’t post the same content, especially with watermarks from other platforms.
A common mistake is to publish TikTok content with a TikTok watermark as Instagram Reels.
Think outside the box: you don’t have to pay for advertising! How many emails do you send a day? Add the link to your Instagram in your email signature.
You can add a quick heads-up to your email recipients, such as “Have you checked out my Instagram?” and hyperlink it.
If you have business cards, along with the link to your website, add your Instagram handle or a QR code leading to your Instagram profile. This will certainly help you get your 1K followers on Instagram fast.
If you ship physical goods to your customers, add a thank you note and invite them to follow you on Instagram to get the latest updates and promotions.
Whatever channels you use for external communication, make sure to share your Instagram handle on them. You’ll notice getting a lot of followers from there. Actually, it’s one of the easiest and fastest ways to get new followers.
Engage with other Instagram accounts within your niche
You shouldn’t expect other Instagram accounts to discover you. Instead, present yourself to them.
A great way to engage with other accounts within your niche is to spend at least 30 minutes a day socializing with them. Instagram is a social media platform, and you are expected to be sociable.
So, if you find someone’s content interesting – like it, comment, and share it. If you have an opinion about what was shared – share it in the comments! If you like the content produced – follow that account.
You will notice that you start building relationships with other accounts that are stronger. Such relationships will improve your engagement rates and will also lead to even more potential followers noticing your account.
Once you build a stronger relationship, you can propose an idea to collaborate.
However, remember that collaboration should be beneficial to both, so don’t expect to collaborate with someone who has hundreds of thousands of followers with you who has only a couple of hundred.
Instead, look for accounts that are similar in size and find the best way for mutual benefit. Likely, the other account wants to tap into your followers base as well.
Write killer captions
Even though Instagram is a heavily visual platform, your captions are an essential part of your journey to success. This is often overlooked as it is understood (wrongly) that people only engage with images or videos and seldom read the captions.
More and more people use Instagram as a platform for micro-blogging, which means that longer captions have started to dominate. Instagram allows you to use 2200 characters in your captions. That’s a lot!
It may be annoying and discouraging to type so much in such a small space, especially on your phone. It is also hard to avoid typos and grammar mistakes typing on the phone. You surely want to avoid them in your captions.
Therefore, I use Notes on my iPhone. Not only will Notes allow me to break my text into paragraphs, but it will also make it easier for me to create as I can type on my computer and sync directly to my phone.
I can proofread my captions and ensure they are mistakes-free using tools like Grammarly.
You can also use Google Docs or any other tool that’ll allow you to sync your content between devices seamlessly.
Surely, your picture will lead the way; but it’s not enough to have captivating images anymore, as there are so many content creators who produce the highest quality content. This is where your killer captions will add additional value to your posts.
Sometimes, the quality of content doesn’t even matter. What matters is how the content is produced and presented to your audience.
Here are a couple of tips on how to produce engaging Instagram captions:
- Combine context with your personality
- Add a strong call-to-action
- Tell a story
- Be informal
- Use the right tone
- Make your captions easy to read
- Use emojis to translate mood
Measure your results regularly
Working on your Instagram content shouldn’t be only about producing content, promoting it, and engaging with other accounts. Set time aside to measure your success regularly.
Being able to assess your strategy and analyze the results will help you optimize your activities more fruitfully.
You shouldn’t expect that the same type of content that you have been producing will always bring results. Instagram keeps evolving, and so do the preferences of your audience.
I always conduct a thorough Instagram Audit every month to understand what has worked out and where I can improve. You can hire an unbiased professional to take a look at your Instagram strategy.
Some of the metrics that you should always measure:
- Impressions
- Traffic to your website
- Engagement rate
- Follower growth
- Interactions in a given period of time (e.g., number of likes received)
- Sales made (if you’re selling)
- Cart drop-off rate (if you’re selling)
Keep a look at the results after each adjustment you make to your content strategy and assess whether the results improve. Optimization is a key component of your Instagram success.
Prioritize Reels and video content
Reels have become an essential part of Instagram. Previously, content creators relied on posting images; however, it changed with the introduction of Reels. Today, Reels tend to perform much better than any image post.
Therefore, if you’re only posting images, you may be missing out on tremendous growth opportunities. Reels tend to perform so much better; currently, they are the best way to get higher exposure. Exposing your content to more audiences will lead to a higher number of followers and a better engagement rate.
However, keep in mind that Reels should be entertaining and engaging.
Tips on making Reels that get noticed
- Your content MUST fall into one of these categories: Entertaining, Inspirational, or Educational. These are the content pillars that will make your audience engage with your content, which is essential for Instagram.
- Instagram emphasizes attention and retention; therefore, Reels that grab attention AND make viewers watch the entire Reels will do best. Even better if the audience re-watches it!
- Try to get the hook within the first 3 seconds.
- Human elements tend to work much better in Reels.
- Always use Instagram native creative tools: editing, adding text, music, etc., via Instagram.
- Consume and engage with the Reels posted by the other users.
- Avoid single-shot and horizontal videos as they won’t perform well as Reels.
- Make sure to post Reels at the times when your audience is active. Use Instagram Insights to determine these times. The first few hours or so are crucial for Reels. If they don’t pick up engagement, Instagram will bury them, assuming that they aren’t interesting or relevant to Instagram users.
It’s pretty easy to get your first 1K followers on Instagram for free if you stick to creating engaging Reels. Make sure you’re consistent in your Reels strategy.
Getting 1K followers on Instagram for free isn’t that hard
I am sure that if you use the strategies described above, you’ll reach the first thousand in no time. Continue, and that one thousand will grow beyond your expectations.
I truly believe that Instagram is an essential place for anyone who wants to build a brand, sell online or share great content.
Yes, you may have tried in the past, or maybe you’ve read enough to get discouraged. It won’t be instant, but it’s much easier than it may look. Using the right strategies will only speed up your growth.
Many people and businesses have made it, and there is no reason why you wouldn’t.
I’ve used these 5 basic strategies for years while working with clients of various sizes. They have achieved substantial results and grown their presence on Instagram by thousands of percent.
All it takes is to start and stick to the strategy that works.
What are the main challenges that you’re facing on Instagram? Let’s talk about them in the comments below.
