How to get followers on Instagram
The free, slower route, written up properly. Everything here works without spending a penny, and most of it is what separates accounts that grow from accounts that stall.
Updated 22 October 2026
The short version: make your profile instantly clear, post Reels and carousels people would send to a friend, show up at least three times a week for three months, reply to everyone, and borrow other people’s audiences through collaborations. Growth on Instagram is slow, then sudden.
1. Fix the profile before you chase anyone
Every follow decision happens on your profile, usually in under five seconds. A visitor arrives from a Reel or a tag, glances at the top of your page and decides. Make those five seconds count:
- Name field: it’s searchable, so use words people would search. “Sophie | Wedding Photographer Bristol” beats “Sophie ✨”.
- Bio: say who it’s for and what they’ll get. One line on what you post, one on why it’s worth following, one call to action.
- Profile photo: your face, or a logo that’s readable at the size of a fingernail.
- Top row of the grid: pin your three best posts. They’re your shop window.
- Highlights: a few clearly named ones (Prices, Reviews, How it works) do more than twenty unlabelled circles.
2. Post things people send to each other
Instagram has said publicly that sends (people sharing your post by direct message) are one of the strongest signals for reaching non-followers. That changes what “good content” means. A pretty photo gets a like. A post that makes someone think “Mum needs to see this” gets sent, and a send brings new eyes.
Content that gets sent tends to be one of these: genuinely useful (a how-to, a checklist, a price comparison), very relatable (a situation your audience lives every week), or a strong opinion people want to argue about with friends. Ask of every post: who would forward this, and why?
3. Use Reels for reach and carousels for depth
Reels are still the format most likely to be shown to people who don’t follow you. Keep the first second busy, put the point on screen as text (many people watch without sound), and keep them short until you know what holds attention. Carousels are where people save and share, because they can take their time. A good mix for a small account is two Reels and one carousel a week.
4. Be consistent for longer than feels reasonable
Most accounts give up in the flat bit. Growth on Instagram tends to look like nothing for weeks, then a jump when one post lands, then a new, higher plateau. Three posts a week for twelve weeks will teach you more about your audience than any guide, this one included. Pick a rhythm you can keep up when you’re busy, not one you can manage in a good week.
5. Talk to people
Reply to every comment in the first hour after posting; it keeps conversations going and tells Instagram the post is worth showing. Spend ten minutes a day leaving real comments (not “nice pic!”) on accounts in your niche and on bigger accounts your audience follows. People click on interesting commenters.
6. Borrow audiences
The fastest organic growth usually comes from someone else’s followers. Collab posts let two accounts publish one post to both audiences. Guest takeovers, joint giveaways with a local business, being featured by a bigger account in your niche: all of these put you in front of people who already care about your subject. For a UK small business, the café next door and the florist down the road are your best growth partners.
7. Go local if you’re a local business
- Add a location to every post, and name the town or area in captions.
- Use a few local hashtags (#LeedsFood, #CardiffWeddings) alongside topical ones.
- Tag the venue, the supplier, the event. They often share.
- Put your handle on receipts, packaging, the shop window and your Google Business Profile.
8. Check what’s working, monthly
Once a month, open your Insights and look at which posts reached non-followers and which brought follows. Do more of those. Our free engagement rate calculator gives you a number to track, and the follower goal calculator shows how long your current growth rate takes to reach a target.
A 30-day plan for a small account
- Days 1–3: rewrite the bio and name field, pin three posts, tidy highlights.
- Days 4–10: post two Reels and one carousel, each built around one useful or relatable idea. Reply to every comment.
- Days 11–17: repeat, and reach out to two accounts of similar size about a collab post.
- Days 18–24: repeat, and remake your best-performing post from the first fortnight in a different format.
- Days 25–30: check Insights, note which posts brought follows, and plan next month around them.
What about buying followers?
It’s an option, and we sell it, so we’d rather explain it honestly than pretend it doesn’t exist. A follower package changes how your profile looks on day one. It doesn’t do any of the things in this guide. Some people use a modest package so that a new account doesn’t look empty while the slow work gets going; that’s the only way we’d suggest it. Our guide to whether buying followers works covers the trade-offs, and ways to get followers compares every route side by side.
Things that don’t work (any more)
- Follow-for-follow and engagement pods. They inflate numbers with people who don’t care, and your reach suffers when they stop engaging.
- Thirty hashtags on every post. A handful of relevant ones is plenty.
- Automation apps that follow and unfollow for you. They need your login and are against Instagram’s rules, and they’re the kind of thing that does get accounts restricted.
- “Free followers” apps. Usually they want your password. See our safety guide.