How to Get 15k Followers on Instagram in 2021

How to get more followers on Instagram? Ever since I reached 15k followers on my Instagram account, I get asked this question every day. Therefore, I wanted to write this blog post to give you all my tips on how I was able to grow my Instagram account and become an influencer.

Spoiler Alert: I don’t think there is any secret recipe, nor that we can get to that point easily. However, I think some of my advice can help you increase your engagement. There will always be ups and downs on your IG journey. Some days, you will get thousands of likes, and the next morning, you will only receive a handful. That is sometimes the reality of Instagram. The only way is to get through it and always continue being active on your account.

Without waiting any longer, here are my top tips on how to grow your Instagram account and get more followers!

PS: At the end of the blog post, you can download a FREE checklist that you can use before you post any picture to Instagram! Make sure you don’t forget anything!

How to get more followers on Instagram

To gain more Instagram followers, you should…

1- Have a short and intriguing bio

In mine, I talk about my studies, since it’s the main subject of my Instagram account. I also write my email address, where I live, and my blog. The objective is that any people who stumble on your profile will immediately know who you are and what kind of content you’re sharing on your account

2- Post new content regularly

On average, I post one picture or reels per day. Some people post up to 3 times a day and have good success. However, try to not be intrusive. If your followers are used to seeing you post once a day, it might be intrusive to suddenly post too many times every day!

3- Make reels

Currently, making reels is one of the ways that have the highest return on investment. The views on these videos are really high, and it makes sense, considering an Instagram executive recently confirmed that videos will become increasingly more important. It seems Instagram is becoming more like TikTok…

4- Add your location to your pictures

I don’t know about you, but it happens that I browse through pictures on Instagram with a filter on the location! Therefore, always use a location when you’re publishing a picture to your feed. It’s an easy way to again, make sure more people can reach your posts!

5- Tell a story, be a little personal, and be yourself

I believe that to get Instagram followers, you don’t need to always post perfect pictures. Actually, I got to 15k followers without even showing my faces on my pictures! All I was posting for a year was pictures of my laptop and my desk.

The most important thing is the message you’re sharing to the world: tell your story, and aim to inspire people through your photos and stories.

6- Always use hashtags

There is no exact science for. the number of hashtags you should use. The only rule is that you are allowed to use a maximum of 30 hashtags. Some people use 10 hashtags, some people use all the 30. I’m the kind of influencer that uses all 30 hashtags!

I have started using Flick to track how my hashtags perform on each post. It provides a nice dashboard and tracks exactly where your post ranked on each hashtag that you used.

Here are some of my tips on how to choose the best hashtags for your Instagram posts: 

• Try to find 5-10 hashtags that are directly related to the topic of your post. For the remainder slots, I use hashtags that are related to the topic of my account
• Switch up your hashtags every week – you can reuse a couple of the same ones every other day, but every time I am about to use a hashtag, I look it up on Instagram to see if one of my posts is already trending. If I’m already showing up in the 9 top pictures, I will look for a different hashtag to make sure that my posts will be seen to as many people as possible
• Use hashtags that are not too small, but not too big either for your account (there is no point in using an hashtags with millions of posts already, your picture will be lost in 0.1 second)

7- Tag other accounts on your pictures when it’s relevant

When you’re sharing a picture that has some products on it, or you’re at a restaurant, feel free to tag the relevant accounts in your pictures. That way, your picture will show up on their profile under the “tagged” section and will give more visibility to your account – another easy way! Furthermore, doing that will make the company you’re tagging aware that you’re using their products and love them, so they will recognize you and who knows… maybe in the future they will ask you to collaborate with them?!

8- Engage with accounts similar to yours

I engage with other accounts that are in my niche almost every day. I like and leave thoughtful comments under pictures that I found through hashtags related to my account. I usually do this when I’m commuting, it’s a perfect way to make that time productive! 

9- Reply to your comments

I always do the best I can to reply to all the comments that I receive on my pictures and reels. This sometimes can be a huge time commitment, but I believe that some people have taken some time out of their day to comment on my content, and the least I can do is to take the time to reply to them and thank them!

10- Reply to your private messages

Something else that is a huge time commitment, but that is definitely worth it in my opinion, is to reply to every single private message that I receive! Sometimes it can take me a couple of days or even a few weeks to get back to everyone in my DMs, but I eventually always do it. I feel like that way, we can develop a friendship with our followers that sometimes have been following you for years, so it’s definitely worth it!

11- Have a balanced number of following and followers

It is important a good ratio between the number of followers that you have and the number of people you’re following. It doesn’t really matter when you have small numbers, but an account that follows 2000 people and has 5 subscribers, in comparison, is a little weird!

To get more Instagram followers, you don’t have to…

12- Have a theme

Hear me out: you don’t need to have a perfectly curated feed that follows a certain theme. Instagram may have started out with themes being very popular, but now in 2021, I think people actually prefer spontaneity over a perfectly planned feed. The most important thing is to be true to yourself. Post what you like, what you want, otherwise you will get burnt out anyway by the pressure of always posting on Instagram!

13- Only post pictures made on Photoshop or Canva

For similar reasons, I personally don’t like accounts where all of the pictures were designed on Canva. I feel like this removes a lot of personality. I’d rather have a bit more of the “behind the scenes”.

14- Plan all your posts in advance

You don’t need to always schedule all your posts! My reasoning behind that is for similar reasons than explained abone. Too much planning removes the “spontaneity” that your subscribers might be looking for .

15- Post a picture of a flower and talk about your gym workout

This situation probably occurs when people plan their publications too far in advance, but it irritates me when someone posts a photo and their “caption” tells an entirely different story. In my opinion, it is necessary to have a connection between the image and the story that is told in the caption…

Related | 15+ Facebook Groups to Promote Your Blog!

How to promote your blog on Instagram

• Enter the link to your blog or YouTube channel in your biography in the space provided
• I make stories every 2 or 3 days to tell people to visit my blog and use a recurrent task on Todoist as a reminder
• If you have more than 10k followers, you can you swipe up links in your stories
• When I publish a new article, I also announce it in my publication of the day to remind my subscribers to visit my blog!

Conclusion

I hope this blog post was useful and that I was able to give you some good tips about how to get more Instagram followers!

Do you think shared all the right habits to have on Instagram – do you think I forgot something important? Let me know your opinion in the comments, I’m always happy to discuss!