How To Get A Million Followers On Instagram: Growth Hacks Revealed!

Internet users are spending more time on Instagram than ever. So, why should you stay behind?

Instagram is home to a massive user base, offering unique and efficient growth options for businesses of all sizes. If you want to grow your online brand and generate more visibility for your content, you need to incorporate certain social media management strategies into your marketing plan.

From building a well-rounded Instagram profile to dabbling in paid advertising on the platform, there’s a lot to learn in this guide! Explore the world of Instagram marketing with us and answer the question on everyone’s mind, “How can I get a million followers on Instagram?”

Connect with the Search Berg team today and get affordable social media marketing services at your convenience. Not only do we expedite the process, but our experts are constantly coming up with updated solutions to help you beat online competition.

Ready to learn with us? Let’s dive in!

Why Grow Your Presence on Instagram?

Before you start worrying about how to get a million followers on Instagram, it’s important to understand why the platform is worth leveraging in the first place.

All things considered, Instagram is an unbeatable asset when it comes to building an online presence. Whether you’re a business owner looking to expand your customer base or an individual looking to establish a personal brand, Instagram should be a part of your marketing mix.

Let’s dive into some of the critical reasons behind Instagram’s significance.

1. Vast User Base

Instagram’s massive appeal was apparent from the moment it was launched in 2010.

In the first half of 2023, Instagram was reportedly the most downloaded app on Android worldwide. On the Apple App Store, it was among the top five. If this tells you anything, let it be the fact that Instagram’s global reach is massive.

Right now, the app has over 2 billion active users (and counting). This means that social media management services that include an Instagram-focused strategy are necessary to distinguish your business on the app.

2. Unique Capabilities

Instagram’s uniqueness is its biggest selling point. The platform is widely regarded as the one to popularize a visual-centric approach to social media. Other apps, like Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) include picture-sharing features but don’t prioritize them.

The picture-sharing exclusivity of Instagram makes it an excellent tool for visual storytelling. You can engage users on a deeper level with compelling images, videos, and stories. Research has shown that posts with visual elements actually get more overall engagement than text-only posts. This gives Instagram the unique capability to retain users and garner more online attention.

3. Engagement Opportunities

Instagram is a goldmine for businesses of all sizes, but especially for small businesses.

Small businesses can benefit heavily from social media management services centered around user engagement. Simply posting compelling content isn’t enough anymore; your audience should interact with that content, too. This is where Instagram’s exceptional engagement opportunities come into play.

The platform lets you engage with users through polls, questions, quizzes, countdowns, etc. Higher user engagement leads to an increase in visibility and builds a stronger brand for your business.

4. Industry Networking

Instagram is a hub for industry networking.

One of the most innovative collaborative features on Instagram is the Instagram Collabs feature.

Let’s say you want to post insights from a case study you conducted in collaboration with another firm. Naturally, the other firm might want to publish the same post on its own account. You can forgo the extra steps and simply make a Collab post to have it appear on both profiles (despite being posted by only one of them).

To make a Collab post, choose the ‘Tag people’ option on the Instagram app and select an account to collaborate with using the ‘Invite a collaborator’ option.

5. Advertising Options

Instagram’s advertising options for businesses are unmatched. Every year, businesses of all sizes spend millions of dollars on Instagram advertising. This is because the platform lets you run personalized ad campaigns with precise targeting and retargeting options. You can filter and select an audience based on behaviors, demographics, specific locations, and interests. More on this later!

Recommended read: How to Use Instagram to Promote Your Brand 

Behind the Lens: How the Instagram Algorithm Works

If you ask an industry expert how the Instagram algorithm works, they’ll probably respond with, “Which one?”

You see, the world’s leading picture-sharing app doesn’t have only one algorithm. According to the platform itself, every part of your Instagram account has its own dedicated algorithm. These parts include your feed, stories, explore page, Reels, and search.

Every aspect of the Instagram experience is curated by a specific set of evaluations. For instance, everything that shows up on your feed is the culmination of your own in-app activity. This includes likes, shares, comments, and saves.

Ultimately, if you want to see more of something on your feed or explore page, your best bet is to regularly engage with that kind of content. Engagement is at the heart of Instagram’s mix and mash of various algorithms. Other factors include:

• Content Relevance: Instagram assesses a user’s past interactions, behaviors, and interests when deciding which content is relevant for them.
• Post Freshness: Instagram displays recent posts first, so the freshest content ranks the highest by default.
• Interactions: Relationship-building is also important. Instagram is more likely to show you a certain user’s content if you frequently interact with their posts.

The Journey to One Million Followers: Instagram Growth Hacks

Now, let’s get into the nitty-gritty of it all and answer the question on your mind, “How to get a million followers on Instagram?”

There is no singular way to boost your follower count. You need to leverage multiple strategies to get 1 million Instagram followers. If your goal is to attract industry peers, retain active users, and maintain stable growth, you must go the organic route.

Here are some tried and tested growth hacks for gaining Instagram followers, according to our highly experienced social media managers.

1. Properly Set Up Your Profile

First things first, you need to build a complete and proper Instagram profile (if you don’t have one already).

This may seem obvious enough, but many users miss out on important details when making an Instagram account. Whether you’re making a personal account or a business profile, there are some critical elements you should keep in mind.

• Profile Bio: Believe it or not, Instagram account bios make a big difference. The bio section is an excellent opportunity to introduce yourself or your business to unaware visitors. Bios for business profiles, specifically, should mention important information like the business niche, achievements, and goals. You can even add keywords to your bio to optimize search rankings.
• Profile Picture: Is your profile picture clear, relevant, and high-resolution? It should be! Low-quality profile pictures hurt business credibility, making your profile look shabby.
• Contact Information: If you sell any products or services, you need to add a contact number on your Instagram profile. Users who visit your profile should be able to connect with your business directly. If your profile is missing this option, you could miss out on potential leads.

• Username: Social media management companies often suggest making professional profiles on every major platform. This is so you can target online users on multiple channels. However, it’s important to ensure that your username is consistent across all channels. A discrepancy in usernames can cause confusion and hurt your credibility.
• Privacy: While getting a million Instagram followersis possible with a private account, it’s significantly less achievable than doing so with a public profile. Business accounts shouldn’t be private because it makes your posts less accessible and obscures your profile.

2. Create Compelling Content

The content you post on your Instagram account makes all the difference.

Research shows that people’s attention spans are getting shorter. This means that most users are no longer interested in consuming content they might deem “boring.” As somebody who’s trying to gain 1 million followers on Instagram, you must create compelling content that actually engages your audience.

Here’s what to consider:

• Know Your Audience: Your content will only garner attention and engagement if it’s relevant to your target audience. Start by researching what your followers and target users are already engaging with. Learn about their interests, preferences, and pain points. Then, use these topics in your content in an entertaining yet informative way.
• Explore Different Types of Posts: Engaging Instagram users requires diversity in content. Instead of posting only images, try experimenting with enticing reels, IGTV videos, and Stories. You can also present content in different ways by posting interesting graphics, carousel or slider posts, and GIFs.

Tip: Maintain a consistent overall aesthetic across your posts. Make sure the color scheme, typography, and theme are cohesive. Otherwise, your profile can seem poorly planned-out.

• Captions Matter: It’s important to focus on every aspect of a post, not just the visual elements. Write engaging captions that expand upon the picture or video you’re posting. Don’t forget to add hashtags, too! They help the right audience find your posts.

3. Engage with Your Industry

As discussed earlier, Instagram is a great platform for community building. You can use the app to find and interact with industry peers from across the world.

Key players in your industry are the ones most likely to follow you on Instagram. As a business account owner, your posts will likely revolve around a certain niche. This makes it easier to target other similar accounts. Let’s discuss how to go about this:

• Follow Industry Leaders and Monitor Competitors: Every industry has leaders or prominent figures whom smaller businesses can learn a lot from. Identify thought leaders and competitors in your niche and analyze their behavior on Instagram. See what they post, how often they post, and who they interact with. Use these insights to streamline your own content.
• Participate in Conversations: Chiming in on industry news and trends helps you gain recognition online. If you want to get a million followers on Instagram, you have to do more than just post pictures. Participate in ongoing conversations by leaving comments on posts by peers, sharing valuable insights, and asking questions. You can discover ongoing conversations by going through the ‘recent top posts’ filter for popular hashtags.

• Collaborate with Peers: Instagram offers many innovative options for collaborations — take advantage of them! Collab posts aside, you can also request to participate in Instagram Lives by prominent industry leaders, share their posts, and make collaborative content together. Direct messages are a great way to initiate these processes.
• Instagram Takeovers: Takeoversare also a popular way to stage collaborations on Instagram. During a planned takeover, a brand invites a prominent personality, like an influencer or blogger, to temporarily control their account. The influencer then shares diverse content, conducts livestreams, and interacts with the brand’s followers. This strategy helps increase engagement and reach for both parties.

4. Make the Most of Video Content

The great thing about prioritizing Instagram for social media marketing is that the app allows you to fully harness the power of video content.

Videos generate far more views than any other type of social content. Users are also more likely to retain information if it’s presented to them in video form. All of this makes video marketing an essential strategy for online businesses and influencers.

You can experiment with four different types of video content on Instagram:

• Reels: Since the skyrocketing popularity of TikTok, short-form vertical videos have become the most-consumed form of visual media on the internet. Leverage this trend by posting short-form videos, or Reels, on Instagram. They can be anywhere from 15 to 90 seconds long.
• Instagram Video Stories: Instagram lets you post videos up to 60 seconds in length on your Story. You can also share previews of Reels or feed videos on your Story.
• Feed Videos: Lean into long-form video content with Instagram’s in-feed video feature! You can post videos up to 60 minutes long on your feed, allowing you to market your brand with pre-recorded, informative videos.
• Instagram Lives: You can go Live on Instagram for up to 4 hours and invite up to 3 guests as participants — what better way to increase your credibility and engage with your followers?

5. Dabble in Paid Advertising

While organic growth should be your main priority in getting 1 million followers on Instagram, you can still benefit from smart paid advertising strategies on the platform.

Instagram offers a wide range of targeting and advertising options to help you promote your brand to the right audiences. Here are some paid advertising options to explore on the app:

• Targeted Ads: Instagram lets you target users based on specific demographics like age and gender, interests, behaviors, and locations. The platform also offers retargeting options, letting you cater to users who have previously shown interest in your content but didn’t follow your account.

You can use Meta Ads Manager to set up a targeted ad campaign on Instagram. This tool lets you define a custom audience, set a budget, and plan a proper schedule for ad posting.

• Sponsored Ads: Instagram lets you boost visibility for an existing post on your feed with its ‘Sponsored Posts’ advertising feature. To make a post appear in your audience’s feeds as an ad, you can simply open the post on your app and select “Boost Post”.

You can also make separate, vertical image or video sponsored posts on Stories and Reels. These ads appear in between regular Stories and Reels and often feature CTA buttons that lead users to a landing page.

6. Analyze Post Insights

Instagram lets you monitor Insights for your overall account, individual posts, and stories.

These insights tell you the number of accounts reached, views generated, accounts engaged, and overall growth in a certain time period.

You can also monitor detailed analytics for your sponsored posts and ads on the app. Key metrics like engagement, click-through rates, and follower growth help you track the performance and effectiveness of your ad campaigns. As a result, you get the opportunity to design better advertising budgets and streamline your campaigns.

Avoiding Common Pitfalls: What Not To Do On Instagram

Impatience can be your downfall when trying to get a million followers on Instagram. Social media marketing, in general, is a lengthy process. Regardless, many small businesses make some rookie mistakes and fall into the pitfalls of Instagram marketing. Here’s what to be wary of:

1. Buying Fake Followers:

Many users make the mistake of buying fake followers in the initial stages of their Instagram journey.

While a significant follower count, whether bought or natural, can make your account seem more authoritative than it actually is, this practice is still ineffective in the long run. It doesn’t lead to sustainable growth or long-lasting visibility.

So, allow your Instagram marketing efforts to show gradual results instead of making rookie mistakes for the illusion of instant growth. Fake followers can momentarily boost your follower count, but they won’t result in higher engagement, valuable interactions, or organic visibility. Strategic social media marketing is the best way to go!

2. Posting Inconsistently:

Consistency is key to maintaining and growing an Instagram presence! To keep followers engaged, you need to post fresh and interesting content on a regular basis. The posts don’t have to be complicated or require too much time to create and plan, either. You can plan ahead or work with our social media management company to create posts for your account.

As discussed earlier, Instagram’s feed algorithm shows recent posts to users first. This means that inconsistent posting can significantly hurt your account’s visibility and engagement. If followers don’t see your content on their feeds regularly, they won’t remember your brand. So, create a posting schedule and share content at least five days a week.

3. Ignoring Stories:

Stories are the single most interactive feature on Instagram. You can leverage the power of Stories in so many ways: polls, stickers, question and answers, reactions, and post sharing encourage followers to interact with your account directly.

Since an Instagram Story only lasts for 24 hours, you can use it to share insights that don’t require dedicated in-feed posts. Stories also enable you to engage with your audience in real-time. This makes the Story feature instrumental in your journey to one million Instagram followers.

4. Not Checking Insights:

Instagram has built-in features that let you track insights and analytics for your posts, Stories, and overall account. You can check your account analytics by viewing the ‘Insights’ tab on your main profile. Professional account owners can also access a Professional Dashboard to get advanced analytics.

Keeping track of analytics is critical for all business account owners on Instagram. It helps you understand what’s working and what isn’t. Analyzing account and post insights also helps you discover important metrics like non-follower interactions and views. As you regularly monitor such metrics, you gain a better understanding of your audience and improve your Instagram optimization strategy accordingly.

5. Being Robotic:

You should always maintain a professional tone and personality on your business account. However, this doesn’t mean your behavior has to be robotic. Instagram is a social app, which means people like consuming content made by other people, not robots.

Make sure there’s a human element to the content you share. Your posts shouldn’t be overly promotional or salesman-y. Otherwise, they might drive users away. Similarly, limit your use of automation tools on Instagram. Having a bot do all the liking, following, and direct messaging for you removes the human touch that social media platforms rely on.

Ready to Grow With the ‘Gram? So Are We!

When it comes to Instagram marketing, the sooner you start, the better!

Don’t wait to curate your Instagram profile any longer. Our team of social media marketing experts is ready to help you out at all times. You can make the most of our social media management services and start beating online competition by signing up today.

Team Search Berg conducts a thorough audit of your current social media profiles and creates a tailored strategy to overcome shortcomings. With consistent posting, personalized content creation, and industry-specific solutions, we can help you establish the online brand you’re dreaming of!

Sign up for our affordable social media marketing services today.