How To Get Your First 1000 Instagram Followers In 2 Months

How to grow your instagram account organically from 0 to 1000 followers fast – in less than 2 months! You’ve come to the right place to learn how to get your first 1000 instagram followers.

How To Get Your First 1000 Instagram Followers In Less Than 2 Months

It’s a lot of work to get your first 1000 instagram followers: it takes time and effort – every single day! These 25 proven strategies really work to seriously grow your instagram following (updated in 2020).

This is a real life example of how I grew the new instagram account of my pet @khaleesi_theblackgsd in September and October 2018 from 0 to 1000 followers in less than 2 months! By the way, I took me one year to get my first 1000 followers on my blog’s instagram account @sewhistorically_costumes because I didn’t know much about instagram back then. 😉

Follow these effective steps to get more likes and grow your instagram following massively but organically in 2020.

How To Get 1000 Instagram Followers Fast
Screenshot of my dog’s instagram account @khaleesi_theblackgsd

-> Follow Khaleesi the black GSD

Statistics

100 Followers In 3 Days

My dog got her first 100 followers in 3 days (again, it took me months to get my first 100 instagram followers!) 😉 The first follower are the most difficult to get – so don’t dispair if it takes longer!

500 Followers In 3 Weeks

It took longer to get the next followers because I let the instagram strategy slide (because of my chronic migraine and my puppy was a bit difficult at that time) 😉

1000 Followers In 8 Weeks (6 Weeks)

After the first month I took a two-week break from instagram to see what would happen (I didn’t post new picture or like other’s pictures): In these two weeks I hardly gained any new followers, my engagement rate dropped (more about that below) and I even lost followers. But after 8 weeks (if not counting the two-week break, then 6 weeks) my dog had her first 1000 instagram followers! Yay! 😀

How To Get Your First 1000 Instagram Followers In 2 Months

The First Step

Before you start liking and commenting, post at least 6 or 7 pictures that show a glimpse of what you’re going to share in the next months. So if you plan to share clothes that you sew, sewing tutorials and your breakfast, show a photo of each in your first pictures.

A Theme

If you want to get a large following, it’s best to have a theme. A theme can be your dog, your handmade clothes, your food, your travels etc. If you’ve decided what your theme is, stick to it and don’t post a picture of your breakfast between your puppy pictures!

Color Scheme

To unify your instagram feed, you can stick to a specific color palette. The color scheme of my dog’s account is green, blue, sepia and black-and-white.

How To Get Your First 1000 Instagram Followers In 2 Months

Your Bio

Your bio is the first thing that your possible new followers see. It’s the place where you can tell your visitors what they can expect from your account.

Example: Bio Of My Historical Costuming Account

Historical costuming, historical hairstyles & makeup, refashion & DIY, owner of @khaleesi_theblackgsd

-> Follow me on Instagram

Bio Of My Dog’s Account

“Khaleesi the water-crazy, first of her name, the fearless, queen of lakes and rivers, mother of toys, destroyer of clothing and furniture”

High-Quality Pictures

Photos that are well lit, clear, well composed and have an interesting subject tend to get more likes and comments. If your photo is too dark but otherwise good, you can use a photo editing software to improve it. I use lightroom to edit my photos.

Hashtags

You can add up to 30 hashtags per photo. Use hashtags that describe your picture. For a photo of my watercrazy black German shepherd puppy I could use hashtags like #WaterDog, #BlackGSD and #BlackPuppyLove. But you shouldn’t use the same 30 hashtags for all your photos because instagram would classify your posts as spam. Variation is key!

Broad One-Word Hashtags

Don’t tag your photos with (too many) broad one-word hashtags with millions of posts under them, such as #Food or #Summer. Potential new followers might not even see your photo in the hashtag feed because the hashtag is so popular that hundreds or thousands of people are posting under the same hashtag at the same time. Use specific two- or three-word hashtags instead, such as #FoodFromScratch or #SummerHairDontCare. And follow-unfollow bots frequent one-word hashtags (more about the follow-unfollow game below).

Use The Same Hashtags (Updated in 2020)

A while ago I recommended not to use same hashtags again and again every day! But this advice is outdated. It’s much more effective to use the same hashtags for all your pictures! To use the same hashtags will give you more likes per picture. You can either use just your signature hashtags, or add other fitting hashtags to your signature hashtags that describe your photo.

Post Often (Updated In 2020)

Posting daily or every other day is best! Instagram’s new algorithm prefers account that post often. Because Instagram sees that accounts that post often are engaged and up-to-date. So Instagram shows their posts to more of their followers in their feed and even to potential new followers!

Don’t Post Too Often

Yes, I know that I just said you should post often. However, you shouldn’t post too often! 😉 Posting twice daily or even oftener will give you less likes per picture. Because of instagram’s new algorithm, your followers won’t even see all your new pictures in their feed: And that means you get less likes per picture!

Be Social

Instagram is a social media so you have to be social! Like, comment and follow other accounts in your niche. The more active you are the more likes, comments and followers you get!

Your Audience

Research who your audience is. Post when they’re active on instagram and post what they want to see.

I love to cook historical recipes and blog about them. In the past, I shared photos of my homemade historical food on my historical costuming instagram account @sewhistorically_costumes but the photos were less popular than my other photos. My followers want to see my finished historical costumes, read historical fashion tidbits and watch sewing and lace making videos.

My Most Liked Instagram Pictures Of 2018 - Instagram Roundup 2018
Best nine 2018 of my historical costuming account @sewhistorically_costumes

Like Photos In Your Niche

Liking photos with similar hashtags as yours is what works best to grow your instagram account fast. And it attracts the right followers: because followers with the same interests are more likely to like and comment on your photos.

For my dog’s account I browse daily through hashtag feeds, like #GSDPuppy, #BlackGSDPuppy, #GermanShepherdsOfInstagram and #PuppyLifeIsHard, and I like and comment on photos that appeal to me.

Follow Accounts In Your Niche

Follow accounts in your niche. Accounts in your niche are those accounts that use the same hashtags like you. So you can browse the hashtags you are using on your newest picture to find like-minded accounts! Do this often – best is once a day or even oftener! Tip: Liking about 5 pictures of the accounts you follow will increase your chance that they follow you back.

5 Likes + 1 Comment + Follow

To get the attention of your possible new followers, many instagramers use the 5 Likes + 1 Comment + Follow – Rule. They like at least 5 photos, comment on at least one of the photos before they follow that account. This strategy really works and I myself are more likely to follow back if someone likes my picture and not just follows me (fake accounts often follow – and unfollow you after one or two days – without liking your photos first).

Follow Back

I usually follow back accounts with similar interests: pet accounts on my dog’s account, and sewing and historical costuming accounts on my blog’s account. But I never follow back big account with a high followers-low following-ratio and fake accounts with a bio such as “Follow us if you like daily German shepherd photos” because those accounts unfollow you as soon as you follow them.

Following back doesn’t grow your account immediately but it’s great for your engagement rate.

Engage

Instagram’s algorithm prefers that are social and spend a lot of time on Instagram. The more social you are on Instagram – liking, commenting and following other accounts – and the more time you spend on Instagram, the more followers and likes you’ll get! I recommend to spend at least 1 hour daily on Instagram.

Engagement Rate

The engagement rate is a combination of how popular your last photos were (likes + comments), how active you are on instagram (liking and commenting on other’s photos) and your follower number.

The average instagram engagement rate is between 2 and 10%, while big account have a lower engagement rate and small accounts have a higher engagement rate.

How To Calculate Your Engagement Rate On Instagram

[(likes + comments of one photo)/number of followers] x 100

Or:

[(likes + comments of the last 10 photos without the most recent one/10)/number of followers] x 100

Example: Engagement Rate Of My Dog’s Account In November 2018

Likes + comments of the last 10 photos: 2029

Followers: 1401

[(2029/10)/1401] x 100 ≈ 14,48

So the engagement rate of my dog’s account in November 2018 was 14,5%.

Buying Followers & The Follow-Unfollow Game

Don’t buy followers or play the follow-unfollow game to gain new followers! This actually hurts your account, your credibility and slows your growth. You can usually tell if an account has bought followers or plays the follow-unfollow game by looking at their number of followers and likes per picture – you know those accounts with ten thousands of followers and just a mere 100 likes per post.

Bought followers and ghost followers provide low engagement on your posts and the instagram algorithm punishes you for that: your photo gets shown to less people in their feed and isn’t placed at the top of the hashtag feed. Furthermore your account looks spammy to new potential followers. I never follow back those spammy looking accounts or like their photos because I know they unfollow me after some days.

Instagram Challenges

Participating in challenges is a great way to find like minded people and attract new followers.

-> 30 Sewing & Historical Costuming Instagram Challenges

I participate regularly in challenges with my historical costuming account but not with my dog’s account.

How To Get Your First 1000 Instagram Followers
Best nine of 2018 @khaleesi_theblackgsd

Weekly Hashtags

On my dog’s account I often use weekly hashtags instead. Every day of the week has its own trending hashtag. Popular weekly hashtags are #MotivationMonday, #MondayMood, #TransformationTuesday, #TipTuesday, #FlashbackFriday, #Caturday and #SundayFunday. On my watercrazy dog’s account I often use #TongueOutTuesday, #WetDogWednesday and #ThrowbackThursday.

Respond To Comments

Try to respond to every comment, even if it’s just “thank you” or an emoji. It shows your followers and possible new followers that you care about what they’re saying. And instagram is more likely to show your picture in your follower’s feed if it has a lot of comments. Keep in mind that instagram only counts a comment as comment if it has three words or more.

Instagram Stories

Instagram stories are important for big accounts. If you have a large following, your followers might not even see your posts because of the new instagram algorithm. Posting stories reminds them of your account and your followers are more likely to visit your account again and like your photos and comment on them.

Exclusive Content

Don’t just promote your blog or etsy store or a product. Use your instagram account to show behind-the-scene pictures of your blog or business or share some exclusive information with your instagram followers that you don’t share on your blog or other social media accounts.

Followers Following Ratio

When you have a new instagram account, your following number is usually higher than your followers number – that’s ok. But eventually your following number should be lower or equal to your followers number.

Updated in 2020: A while ago I thought that the following number should be much lower than the follower number. But this is not true! When my following number was equal to or slightly lower than my follower number, I got more new followers per day and more likes per picture!

 

Let me know in the comments what works for you to grow your instagram account! 😀

Please Pin It!

How To Get Your First 1000 Instagram Followers In 2 Months

37 thoughts on “How To Get Your First 1000 Instagram Followers In 2 Months

  1. Such a great post Lina. I am so sick of those follow unfollow sites. Do you think it hurts you if you follow someone and then if they don’t follow you back you unfollow them after a week?

  2. Hi this is Kristina visiting from Making a Home. Thanks for the great tips. I know I should get started on Instagram one of these days. I will be referring back to this soon!

  3. Thanks for the great tips. I just joined Instagram recently and put up my first few posts this week and I’m still trying to figure the whole thing out so this post was very helpful!

  4. Not on Instagram yet, but from what I’ve seen in the post I’m inspired. I pinned it. Visiting you on Happiness is Homemade where I posted Healing and Recovery through Self-compassion.

  5. This was a very informative read. I actually got a little down about my #s but then I took a step back and just reminded myself that I am happy with what I have and for me interacting with people in authentic ways (as authentic as you can get on social media) is super important. I do want to use some of the tips you descried above and am really going to try to do a few challenges, while also working on the 5 likes , 1 comment, follow. Thanks.

    bosbodcaiousblog.blogspot.ca

  6. This was very helpful. I’ve struggled with Instagram since I started almost 2 years ago. I’ve tried to be engaging and present on there this past week, and have gained almost 100 followers! Thank you for sharing!

  7. Excellent tips. I was going to choose you as the Inspire Me Monday Linky winner but you already won! Congrats! I learned not to use one-word hashtags and to use the day of the week hashtags more. Thanks! How do I find challenges?
    Janice, your hostess

  8. Hey Lina!
    Very worthful tips! Some of them are new for me!

    I am struggling to grow my Instagram account since 2017, but i guess that the fact of posting in Portuguese (my language) and the ausence of a real vintage community interested on it here doesn’t help.

    Well, my question is: do you think IGTV videos helps the reach?
    thank you in advance!

    1. Thanks, Kati! 🙂 Sorry, I haven’t used IGTV yet, so I don’t know if it helps to reach more people. But even if write in Portuguese, you could add English hashtags to reach more people. Instagram provides a translation tool so your followers can read your posts in their native language.

  9. You have mentioned very valuable points here.
    In my opinion, The fastest method to raise your Instagram devotees is to begin following all your nearest competitors’ adherents. If you are running a local business this technique turns out great.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *