Get Followers on Instagram: 7 Tested Growth Strategies

There was a time when brunch pics and filtered selfies were all you needed to harbor engagement. Now, it’s not that simple. Gaining followers on Instagram in 2025 is harder than assembling IKEA furniture— and no, cat memes aren’t going to cut it. So if growing your Instagram cult feels like yelling into the void, don’t worry, we have some good news. As a social media marketing agency, we’ve tested (and perfected) the strategies that actually work. Read on to discover seven proven tips to gain followers on Instagram without losing your mind.

How to Grow on Instagram: 7 Effective Strategies to Increase Followers

Ready to explore tested strategies to get followers on Instagram? Here we go!

Switch Your Account Type

A personal account on Instagram doesn’t give as detailed analytics as a professional account, so making a switch to a professional account can mean a great deal of  If you own a brand, switch your account type to business, and if you’re trying to leverage content development to get monetization opportunities, switch to a creator account. Go to Settings, choose Account type, and select your preferred category. You’ll notice that the app will show you more insights after the switch, which will help you adjust your tactics to get followers on Instagram.

Don’t Buy Fake Followers, Ever

Everyone’s chasing clout on Instagram. We get it. But don’t even think about buying followers. It will do more harm than good. First, the followers you buy aren’t actual humans; they are bots. They won’t interact with your account. Second, it is against Instagram’s Terms of Service, so sooner or later, the app can take action against your account, which means suspension, if not a permanent ban.

Third, anyone with a little knowledge about how the app works can easily spot fake followers. It’s very easy to tell ghosted bot accounts from actual profiles, and your engagement rate will not be as good as your follower count, so no brand deals for you! Fourth, Instagram's algorithm favors accounts that are growing organically, so buying followers will only work as a vanity metric for you and not a real growth-driving factor.

Create Insanely Great Content

Instagram essentially is a content-driven app, so great content is paramount. We are not here to tell you what should and shouldn’t be a part of your social media strategy. If dancing on trending audio works for you, go for it. What we really do recommend, though, is:

• Invest in good lighting and a high-quality (phone) camera
• Shoot your content at perfect angles
• Do all formats, not just reels
• Write creative captions, master storytelling
• Create snackable content with clear hooks and great music
• Be relevant to your niche, genre, or industry
• Engage the audience with polls and questions
• Be creative and original (hopping on trends will not always work)

Optimize Your Profile

Your Instagram Profile is your front page. If you want to know how to get Instagram famous, you need to optimize your front page. From username and bio to highlights and grid, everything should be as appealing as possible. A new visitor is most likely to hop on your profile before clicking that follow button, so if your profile fails to convince them to follow, they might never return.

Here are a few tips to optimize your profile:

• Create highlights with themed highlight covers.
• Give them a reason to follow you in your bio, such as women-owned, handmade, etc. Take full advantage of your bio space.
• Take full advantage of your link button. You can create a link-tree and add valuable links to relevant blogs, discount pages, and a portfolio.
• Have an attractive Instagram grid layout. Choose your post covers and filters wisely. Every element reflects your personality and brand.
• If you run a business, create a space for your customers to leave reviews.
• Provide a way for potential partners to contact you (keep your DMs open).

Make sure your profile is 100% complete. Instagram favors fully optimized profiles.

Learn About the Right Posting Times

Instagram’s built-in analytics can offer great insights about what content works at what times, and posting on peak online times is pretty much hacking the algorithm. When you’re trying to build a community, your posting needs to stick to the hours when your audience is most active.

This can mean evening posting on weekdays and midday posting on Sundays, depending on how the insights roll in. But what if these hours differ from when you are active? Well, that’s where Scheduled Posts can help you. There’s a catch, though: Scheduled Posts do not have all the features of a normal upload, such as alt text, which is great for Instagram SEO.

Comment on Others’ Posts

Commenting on other profiles’ posts is a great way to gather an audience and give them a sneak peek of your brand. If you own an apparel business, you can comment creatively on the content shared by models or other fashion brands. Similarly, if you are a creator, you can engage in the comment sections of other creators. This will expose you to your competitors’ audience and, possibly, lead to more followers.

Collaborate With Other Accounts

Collaboration usually happens when both accounts have something to gain, such as access to an audience that resembles their customer base. But you shouldn’t aim for accounts with a large number of followers if you can’t match. That may just be a waste of time.

Instead, look for accounts in your niche with around the same number of followers as yourself. You can partner with a smartwatch brand if you sell gym water bottles. Similarly, if you sell sneakers, you can partner with a skateboarder or a football player. Finding the ideal account to collaborate with might take some time, but a good partnership is like striking gold.

The Bottom Line: Be Consistent

Growing on Instagram isn’t about chasing every trend and pulling off viral stunts—you don’t want to be a one-hit wonder. What you need is consistency in creating quality content so that you can foster sustainable growth on the platform. Because let’s be honest. You will never learn how to get followers on Instagram without posting.

As long as you keep posting, the insights will keep coming in, and you’ll keep figuring out new ways to create and upload content that truly resonates. Growth is not an overnight game. Keep experimenting, keep showing up, and your follower count will soon skyrocket.