So you want to gain 100K Instagram followers? I get it! Maybe you have been posting a lot and grew a little already, but you are ready to take your growth up a notch. Or maybe, you feel like you haven’t grown in a while and want to get off the plateau. Regardless of your reasoning, if you want to know how to get 100K Instagram followers, you have come to the right place.
It took me about 12 months to grow my Instagram to that point, but I have to admit, I was trying and failing at growing for a longgggg time until I finally found the “secret sauce.”
And that’s what I want to share with you today.
I’m not going to sugarcoat it, growing on Instagram isn’t easy, but it is doable! So let’s dive right into my best tips on how to get 100K followers on Instagram.
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Written by influencer coach Dani The Explorer
Why Instagram Followers are Important
I wish I had known this before becoming an Instagram influencer: the number of followers you have actually doesn’t matter.
I have Instagram influencer course students making a full-time income with as “little” as 10,000 followers.
It’s all about a) how you sell yourself (like pitching to brands) and b) having the RIGHT followers.
When trying to get paid Instagram sponsorships, brands won’t care about how many followers you have but will care that they’re engaged followers.
So in the following sections, we’re not going to just cover how to get 100K followers because it’s the “sexy” thing to do.
Instead, we’re going to go into my best tips for growing a community of fans who love and support you and your content so your influencer biz grows WITH your following.
10 Tips on How to Get 100K Followers on Instagram
Here we go! Before you dive into the 10 tips, I would like to say that these aren’t your “typical” influencer tips. This is really a list of things I wish someone had just told me upfront so I could save time guessing how to grow.
These are the fundamentals for building a strategy that will allow you to see long-term results with your influencer efforts!
So let’s dive in!
#1 Have a Niche
If your fashion, food, travel, whatever it may be, you need to find your “one thing.”
And you need to create content around that. People want to go to your page for a specific reason.
If you’re a workout person, I don’t necessarily want to see your makeup routine; I want to see workouts. Same thing with a travel person: I’m following you because I want more inspo for my next vacation.
The sum of it: you need to stick to a niche.
And your niche should be a topic you want to create content around for a WHILE, because results will take time to happen.
#2 Expand Your Content Overtime
Overtime niches can 100% change, so don’t feel like you’re locked into a niche forever.
As time passes, your followers will become more interested in other aspects of your life.
Let’s use the workout example:
You could create weekly workout videos and post them on your feed. But on your Instagram Stories, you show “day in the life” content that features what you’re doing when you’re NOT working out.
Out of curiosity, your followers may naturally ask you where your outfit is from or what your favorite recipes are.
You can start branching into other niches at that point.
But the point is, those things come with experience. So while you’re trying to grow, you have to niche down.
#3 Post Consistently
There’s really no way around this one! Many of my influencer coaching clients don’t like to hear this, but posting consistently is KEY to getting 100K Instagram followers.
Daily posting is best, but showing up about three times a week can be a good start.
The key is to ensure you’re posting high-quality content your followers want to engage with—that goes for Reels and photos.
When I first started my influencer journey, I would just post whenever I felt like posting, but that didn’t do anything for me.
Finally, I created a content plan and stuck to it no matter WHAT was happening.
Even if a post tanked, I just kept posting. Being consistent helped me improve at creating content and building a solid connection with my followers—they were actually looking forward to my posts.
Pro Tip: If you wan to get paid to post make sure you also check out my free Influencer Rate Calculator!
#4 Plan Your Feed (How to Get 100K Instagram Followers Top Tip)
Plan. Your. Feed. Plan a day or a couple of days before you post something to ensure that your feed looks cohesive.
Also, IDK about you, but I write more engaging Instagram captions when I take the time to think about them in advance over trying to do them at the last minute.
So if you struggle with the caption game, planning will be a must! You’re much more likely to remain consistent when you plan out your feed.
Planning gives you no excuses not to post something.
Andddddddd guess what? Instagram lets you schedule posts!
Yep, you can even schedule Instagram Reels to go live. In other words, posting doesn’t have to be super time-consuming or cumbersome.
So if you feel like time is an issue, focus on planning and scheduling your content so it’s out of the way.
If you’re really big into photo aesthetics and making sure your feed looks a certain way, I suggest downloading an app like Planoly to help you plan your content.
With Planoly you can preview what your feed will look like so you can rearrange photos as you see fit.
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#5 Use Hashtags Wisely
While I don’t think they’re EVERYTHING, using hashtags can help.
You must make sure you’re doing hashtag research and finding tags that describe what your content is all about.
But think of hashtags as a bonus tool for helping you increase your reach. Using the right hashtags helped make my content more discoverable to new followers.
Pro Tip: To start, try to find hashtags that have under 1 Million pieces of content under them.
Make sure they’re in your niche and the content under that hashtag is similar to what you’re posting.
It’s all about experimenting with the right hashtags that get more eyeballs on your posts.
And here’s a bonus tip: Don’t just take hashtags from another creator. You know what I’m talking about, lol. While it might be tempting just to use the same 30 hashtags another creator uses, this strategy prevents you from finding what works with YOUR content.
Read Next: How to Beat the Instagram Algorithm
#6 Engage with Your Community
Engaging with my community was a massive game-changer for me! I used to post and then run away from the app.
But after a while, I found that while I was gaining followers, they weren’t sticking around.
That’s when I knew that to get 100K Instagram followers, I needed to do a better job at showing up for my audience.
So, in addition to responding to comments, I turned to Instagram Stories.
Instagram Stories are a GREAT, no-frills way to engage with your followers.
With fun Stickers like quizzes, polls, and sliders, you can make your Stories super interactive and enticing for people to watch.
They’re a great engagement driver!
Read Next: How to Get More Instagram Story Views
#7 Network with Other Influencers
Let’s remember, other creatives are a part of your community too, so it’s good to build some relationships with other influencers in your niche or your area.
Networking was actually super helpful for brand deals too.
As you start to monetize your Instagram, you and other influencers in your niche end up working with the same brand clients.
Heck, you might even end up going on press trips with the same influencers!
So knowing other creators to stay “in the know” with what’s happening on your side of Instagram can be beneficial.
Networking with other Instagram creators also allows you to cross-promote each other.
You can do that with the Instagram collaborators feature; it’s for creators to get more exposure.
So if you have some IG friends, you keep up with regularly, that’s a great way to help each other reach more followers!
#8 Make Sure You Have a Business or Creator Account
Switching to a Creator account did help me get 100K Instagram followers.
How?
Insights.
You need them. You need to look at the numbers and understand what is and is not working with your content strategy. Guessing isn’t enough!
A business or Creator account gives you access to tools, like a professional Dashboard, to review content performance.
And from a money perspective, you also get access to things like Bonuses and the Creator Marketplace.
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#9 Understand Your Insights
When you post content, you should keep track of how many non-followers and current followers it reaches.
Reaching more “non-followers” means your content is seen by people who may eventually want to follow you.
And as you get more experienced, you’ll want to know how many people are clicking to your website or any contact buttons you have on your feed—you can use Insights for these too.
A helpful insight I love to look at is:
Insights >> Content Your Shared >> Post or Reel >> “Any” “Follows” “Last 30 Days”
These settings help you see what content brings in the most new followers.
If you can analyze and understand why this content works so well for you, you can create a content strategy around those pieces.
Read Next: How to Make Money as a Content Creator
#10 Don’t Take Post Performance Personally
When followers don’t like your content, it’s easy to take things personally.
However, there is SO much content out there and so many other influencers in your niche. It’s impossible for everyone to like everything you specifically share.
And it’s impossible to get everyone out there to follow you.
There’s no reason to take low-performing content personally and let that discourage you from continuing to post.
Remember, the key is to be consistent with posting. If a piece of content gets little engagement, you need to analyze it and understand what you can do better next time.
Remember, this is business, so treat it like one!
Don’t blame the algorithm for your troubles; just strategize and keep going!
How Long Does it Take to Get 100K Instagram Followers?
I would plan for a year.
Sure, you can have a viral Reel and grow overnight, but this isn’t the reality for MOST people.
A year is enough time for you to develop some good content creation habits and start making a plan for your growth!
Final Thoughts on How to Gain 100K Followers on Instagram
Growing is challenging, but you can do it with strategy!
So I hope this post gave you some food for thought and some pointers on where to start with growing.
I suggest you read my other influencer tips posts too:
