Instagram is one of the biggest social platforms to date. In fact, according to TechCrunch, as of June 2018, Instagram has reached 1 billion monthly users! With over 500 million active daily users. Now, that’s an insane amount of people! And Instagram just keeps growing, attracting all sorts of users.

From the casual person simply sharing their selfies or personal photos, to social influencers, to all sorts of creative content creators. And even business owners!

You name it!

And this is why almost any business or brand you see today, has their own Instagram account. Whether they’re promoting digital products, or physical products like baked goods. You can be sure they have an Instagram account. If they don’t, then they’re most likely losing a lot of potential reach and customers.

However, joining Instagram doesn’t guarantee reaching the intended audience immediately. Like everything else, you’d have to pour in a lot of time and effort into it first. You need followers, and if you want to really make a name for yourself, you’d need LOTS of them!

Hence, our topic for today: Get your first 1,000 followers on Instagram. This is probably one of the most common searched guides for Instagram.

A lot of Instagram experts each have their own special method for reaching this goal. But ultimately, there are two methods in doing this. We have the free-way, or the organic way. And then there’s the paid way. There are pros and cons to each.

1. The Free Way (Organic Growth Method)

This method is very time-consuming, because you would need to create a lot of high-quality content. It also requires a lot of research, so you know you’re marketing to the right people and speaking their language. You also have to spend a lot of time on Instagram, and constantly interact with other accounts, typically accounts with a similar niche or goal as you. This is to help you boost your accounts reach.

The Instagram algorithm tend to prefer accounts that make users spend more time on their website. Which is why videos and carousel posts are usually the more effective type of posts to focus on. In fact, a lot of brands are posting more and more carousel posts. There are even so many comprehensive guides on how to make effective carousel posts out there.

However, you need to keep in mind that you shouldn’t just be posting whenever. You have to make sure you’re posting during the optimal hours. It’s often best to avoid working hours. Since engagement during those times are really low. Make sure your account is registered as a business account, so you can take advantage of the Insights feature on the Instagram app.

Instagram Insights help you gain more useful information about the people who engage with your content. From followers, to passers-by. Instagram Insights provide you with information such as age, location, and time of activity. To learn more about Instagram Insights, click here.

CONS

These methods take longer to see results. It took me a painstaking year to hit my first 1000 followers organically on my personal account. It’s also very high-maintenance, and requires a lot of attention. Since you’d be spending a lot of time on Instagram, instead of doing other tasks.

PROS

However, this method is quite effective because compared to the paid approach, you’re guaranteed to get more long-term, and genuine followers and supporters. Apart from that, you’re bound to learn plenty of new skills and knowledge that will help you with your business.

If you're not in a rush, then you can surely go through this route.

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2. THE PAID WAY

Now we have the paid way. Instagram advertising is where you pay an amount, depending on a couple of factors. There are also many different ad types, depending on your goal. You may want to run ads for brand exposure, increase in website engagement/traffic, or you want to generate leads. Ad types range from simple photos, to carousel posts, and videos.

If you have the budget, it’s a really effective way to gain followers, and get your brand out there. If you’d like a more comprehensive guide on this, you can check out Instagram’s official guide.

There are other paid methods out there to get your first 1000 followers like:

hosting a giveaway
collaborating with influencers, and
promoting your account offline.

I don't recommend any of these until you have surpassed your 1000 follower mark. Since you might not get the desired amount of engagement.

CONS

Running Instagram ads is also very time-consuming. You need to constantly monitor your ads, to make sure they are meeting their full potential. It needs constant updating and managing. Eventually, your Instagram ads will begin feeling repetitive, and might drive away people rather than attracting them. It’s very important to maintain a fresh feel.

It costs money (duh!). If you want better results, you need to spend more money. If you want more specific and targeted ads, you will need to shell out even more money. And as we mentioned earlier, people you get from ads may not be genuine or long-term because of the lack of real interaction.

PROS

It really works! A lot of brands and businesses have achieved success from running ads. It brings in more people, and faster! Giving you a better conversion rate to leads. Enabling you to sell more, eventually getting your return of investment.

Plus, there are so many varieties and options to choose from when creating your ads. You can play with different styles, keeping things interesting and eye-catching. Either way, once you’ve done all the planning, Instagram will handle the rest. Spreading your ads far and wide. If you have the budget, we recommend this method.

We have tried this in our effort to grow Fempreneur Secrets Instagram account from 300 followers (mostly friends) to our first 1,000 followers. Our total ad spend was $80 which helped us jump by 700 followers in 1 month.

For ease of calculation, if I had spent $80 to get 800 followers, it would mean that it costs you just a mere $0.10 to get 1 follower. Often, these are the followers that will stay as your follower because you had something that they are looking for.

While running ads requires further knowledge and expensive testings, you can see that it totally worked for us.

Which method should you choose?

In the end, the method you choose will really depend on your goals, your deadline, and your budget. And a little bit of experimentation goes a long way. After all, running a business is all about the trial and error process. Try them both, and see which method works the best for you!

As a bonus, one of the ways to help you grow your Instagram is to have a consistent feed. That’s what I’ll teach you in our quick course Creating a Beautiful Instagram Feed. I normally charge $97 for this course, but I’m now making it available for you at a low price of $27 ↓