How to Get Your First 1000 Followers on Instagram
One of the biggest signs of popularity on Instagram is the number of followers you have. For every aspiring influencer, reaching their first 1000 followers can be a very important milestone. If you have just opened your Instagram account or feel like your number of followers have plateaued, it can seem impossible to get your foot in the door and cross 1000 followers. But the biggest tools you can have on your side to reach this number is patience and perseverance. By spending time everyday implementing these useful tips, you can easily gain your first 1000 followers on Instagram!
1. Create an interesting Instagram bio
Before you can start trying to get more followers, the first step is to focus on the quality of your own profile. People can follow you only when they visit your profile, so it needs to be able to capture their attention. Your description should let everyone know who you are and should be interesting enough to make you stand out. Your bio is one of the best ways to let your personality shine through, so try to avoid cookie-cutter descriptions. Instagram also allows you to add a link in your bio, so if you have a website or blog, this is your chance to promote it. Short links work best on Instagram, so try to use a service like Bitly to shorten your URL.
2. Fill out your feed
If an Instagram user visits your profile and finds your feed empty, they aren’t very likely to follow you. Posting a good number of pictures before you try to get more followers will help people understand why they should follow your profile. It also gives them the assurance that you regularly post quality content. 7-15 is usually the minimum number of posts you should have on your Instagram feed before you start publicising your profile. This way, when a person visits your feed, they will see a full screen of images.
3. Create your visual aesthetic
Apart from the number of posts you have on your profile, the quality of these pictures matter too. Random pictures with no common theme running through them might confuse users as to what exactly you are offering and why they should follow you. Before you start posting, figure out what your Instagram identity is. Do you want to become a popular beauty influencer, top fitness influencer or something else entirely? Once you decide upon your identity, you should make sure that your posts (especially the first few) all reflect it. It’s also a good idea to have a cohesive visual theme in your feed. You can be minimalist or colourful, but look at your feed as a bigger picture, instead of individual posts.
4. Learn the art of taking beautiful pictures
Instagram is a visual medium, so unless your pictures are striking, no one is going to want to follow you. When you are posting pictures on Instagram, you need to put in a little more thought into them than just pressing the capture button. When you are taking pictures for Instagram through your phone, try to look at your subject from a new perspective. This will help you take a unique picture that people will actually find interesting. Even after you take a great photo, few pictures are Instagram-ready without some basic editing. You can try out a couple of photo editing apps on your phone to make your picture look more professional. The final step of your editing can be using Instagram filters. Research has shown that the Mayfair filter brings in the maximum engagement from followers, so use this to your advantage.
5. Use hashtags to become more discoverable
One of the easiest ways to help people find your profile is by using hashtags. Instagram allows you to use up to 30 hashtags in every post. Studies have shown that the more number of hashtags there are in a post, the higher engagement it receives. 11 hashtags should be the minimum number you try to use on every post. However, using random hashtags for the sake of it can also backfire and prevent you from gaining new followers. Do your research on the popular hashtags related to your content which will help people find you. One of the easiest ways to do this is by using the ‘related hashtags’ which pop up when you search for your main hashtag in the ‘explore’ tab. You can also use trending hashtags like #ThrowbackThursday and #MotivationMonday to help your profile get greater exposure.
6. Engage with other Instagram users
The principle of reciprocity can be your greatest tool when you are trying to gain Instagram followers. When you comment on someone else’s posts and follow them, they might visit your profile and follow you in return. The key to gaining instagram followers through influencers successfully, however, is engaging with other them in a meaningful way. When you comment on their post, talk about something you genuinely like about it, instead of leaving generic comments. Comments that are made just for the sake of publicising your own profile are very easy to spot and won’t help you gain any new followers.
You should also pick out profiles to comment on carefully to ensure that they help you increase your followers. Try to find similar Instagram profiles that have around as many followers as you do because these are the users who will appreciate your engagement. Very popular Instagram accounts aren’t likely to follow you in return because they don’t need your support as much. You should also leave comments on posts that have fewer than 5 comments to ensure yours gets maximum visibility. You can also join mutually beneficial Instagram pods to find high-quality followers with the same goals as you.
7. Resist the urge to find shortcuts
There are many services that will help you grow your followers quickly, however, don’t be tempted to use them. While you can gain thousands of followers in a very short time with these, the quality of your followers will be very low. Apart from risking a shadowban by Instagram, using bots to gain followers won’t let you create a community that genuinely engages with your posts. It also makes your follower number very precarious because Instagram routinely deletes fake bot accounts. Building your follower base organically does take more time, but it’s worth it in the long run.
Once you reach your first 1000 followers, you will have a strong community that genuinely engages with your posts. This can be your biggest asset as you try to grow your follower base even further and become a successful Instagram influencer in India.
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