How to Get More Followers on Instagram: 6 Free & Top Strategies

Not everyone on Instagram worries about their follower count. Some may not even notice it.

People who use their account simply to share photos and videos with family and friends probably have all the followers they want or need. Maybe a new friend joins the party from time to time, but these folks simply don’t care about the raw number of followers they have.

Other users pay attention to their IG follower count but don’t live and die by it. It may give them some satisfaction seeing that a growing number of people want to view the content they create, or it may make them feel "superior" to friends with a smaller number of fans — but it’s not that big a deal to them either way.

Then there are the individuals and businesses to whom follower count really matters. Would-be influencers need lots of followers if they want to join Instagram’s monetization program or find sponsors for their posts. Companies often want a large community of current or potential customers to promote their brands or sell their products.

This article will describe six different strategies for building an Instagram following. The first is essentially the only one that will be of much help to aspiring influencers and companies looking to build an important presence on the app. The other five are better suited to those who’d like to increase their follower base but don’t care about powerful account growth.

One warning to the folks who aren’t overly concerned about their popularity, though: if you decide to try the first strategy — and see your fan base increasing rapidly —you could get addicted to growing your followers and importance on the app.

Let’s get started.

Influencers’ #1 Strategy: Buying Instagram Followers

This strategy isn’t what you might expect. Big-name influencers with half a million followers didn’t buy all of them. They only purchased a fraction of their fan base.

The reason that buying Instagram followers is a powerful strategy is that it jumpstarts popularity and account growth on the platform.

Recommended Sites to Buy Real Instagram Followers

You can find trustworthy Instagram providers in several ways. You can use trial and error, but making an "error" and buying from a scammy website can cost you your IG account. You can ask influencers for recommendations if you happen to know any, but most people don’t.

Or you can use one of the three services widely recognized as the best providers of real Instagram followers.

• Twicsy: The most popular site used by the world’s leading celebrities and influencers, Twicsy has won several awards for their overall quality of service. They’re generally viewed as the "premium" brand delivering "premium" results.
• Buzzoid: This company began selling real IG followers much before Twicsy, and quickly became popular for their reasonable prices, outstanding support, and powerful results.
• Rushmax: A more recent entry in the IG service market, this provider has earned a large following for prices, support, and results that are competitive with Buzzoid and Twicsy.

Not ready to buy Instagram followers yet? There’s nothing wrong with starting smaller.

We know that sounds odd — but trust us. Once you understand how Instagram handles content and visibility, it will make a lot more sense.

Instagram and Content

It’s almost impossible to comprehend how much content resides on Instagram’s servers. Users make about 100 million posts every day, meaning there are billions of videos and photos stored in the system. Needless to say, not all of that content can receive widespread exposure.

The IG algorithms decide "who sees what." They’ve been programmed to allocate visibility for users’ posts, and the winners are the app’s most popular accounts. They’re provided with an enormous audience for their content, while the videos and photos posted by small accounts receive virtually no extra exposure; only small accounts’ followers are likely to see their posts.

That’s a real problem if you want to build popularity on the Gram. You’ll never be able to add significant numbers of followers if only your friends can see your posts — but you’ll never be able to have your posts seen widely if you don’t already have lots of followers.

Thankfully, there’s a path around this roadblock.

The IG algorithms also recognize a metric called "follower growth." In short, if they see that your account is gaining followers rapidly, they’ll reward you with greater visibility across the platform.

So how can you add followers to your account quickly? By purchasing them.

The True Value of Purchased IG Followers

When you buy Instagram followers, the algorithms give your videos and photos a bigger audience. And that’s exactly what you need to become popular: people who have never seen your content before will get their first chance to see what you’re posting, like it, and decide to follow you organically.

It doesn’t end there, either, because your new organic following signals the algorithms that you’re getting even more popular. Your audience continues to grow and contributes to greater follower growth. That’s the point at which smart IG users buy another package of followers to supercharge the process.

Follow this strategy, and before you know it, you’ll be well on your way to becoming an Instagram influencer or a company with a large and important customer base.

That is, if you’ve been purchasing the right type of followers.

Fake vs. Real Followers

It’s easy to find vendors selling Instagram followers. Just do a Google search and you’ll see hundreds of listings. However, it’s also easy to make a huge mistake that could cost you your Insta account. Just buy followers from one of those random websites you find online.

Here’s what you need to know before pulling out your credit card.

The majority of sites selling IG followers are untrustworthy at best, scammy at worst. Most of them sell what’s known in the Instagram service industry as "fake followers," a numbers trick made possible by the use of bots and hacks. After you purchase fake followers, your follower count will seem to rise briefly — and then it will fall right back down to where it started.

The explanation is simple. Fake followers aren’t linked to real Instagram users or real accounts, so the algorithms can easily detect and delete them. Your follower count doesn’t really increase at all, so there’s no real follower growth, no increased audience, and no organic account growth. You’ve lost the money you spent, and you may see your account deleted for "cheating."

The only type of purchased Instagram followers that will help boost your popularity and importance are called "real" followers. They’re available from trustworthy social media services; they have huge networks of real IG users who will follow you as soon as you place an order for real followers.

And since they’re all following you from their real accounts, you’re not violating the app’s rules. You’ll see your follower count grow and your content will be shown to an entirely new audience on the platform. And that will jumpstart your organic account growth, leading to higher levels of popularity and importance on the platform.

If it sounds like buying real followers from reputable providers is difficult, it can be. Trustworthy service providers are greatly outnumbered by the scammers operating online. We have a shortcut you can use, though.

Beginners’ Strategies: Slow but Steady Growth

Before using any of these strategies, it’s important to realize three things:

1. They take much more time and effort than buying followers.
2. They’re not going to make an enormous difference in your Instagram follower count. At best, you’ll be picking up a handful of followers at a time, not hundreds or thousands.
3. And just as when you purchase IG followers, you’ll have to "optimize" your IG account in order to maximize the number of people who will decide to follow you.

Let’s talk about that last point for a minute.

Just because someone is exposed to your content, that doesn’t mean they’ll want to hit the "follow" button. Your videos will have to look good and sound good, they’ll have to be planned and edited so they hold the audience’s interest throughout, and they’ll have to be compelling viewing. The quality of your photos, of course, is just as important. 

Equally important is the type of content you post. A random mix of selfies, family videos, and food pics may interest your friends, but it won’t do much for random visitors. To attract a large and dedicated group of followers, your content should focus on a single topic that’s widely popular. That maximizes the likelihood that you’ll be able to build a large, dedicated following.

Ready for those beginners’ strategies? Let’s go fishing for followers.

1. Fish in friendly waters: You probably already have followers on other social media apps. Make it easy for them to find your Instagram link in your posts and profile on TikTok, Facebook, or wherever else you hang out. If they follow you there, they’ll be likely to follow you on the Gram, too.
2. Fish in familiar waters: Once you’ve chosen a topic for your posts, find other IG accounts that focus on the same topic (the larger the account, the better). Regularly comment on their posts, making sure that you’re making real contributions to the conversation. People who follow those accounts may notice you, check out your account, and follow you as well.
3. Fish in familiar waters, part two: If your posts focus on a popular subject, there are undoubtedly plenty of forums and websites that also focus on the same topic. Find them, sign up, and participate in the discussions. As you become a regular contributor, you’ll be able to promote your Instagram account and content to like-minded potential followers.
4. Fish in unexplored waters: Many Instagram users don’t pay much attention to their feeds or Explore pages; they prefer to hang out in the app’s Reels or Stories sections. You’ll never get them to follow you just by uploading content to your account, but creating short versions of your videos and posting them to Reels and Stories can expose you to an entirely new group of potential followers.
5. Make it easier for other fishermen to find you: The Instagram search function doesn’t look at posts or content; it only returns usernames (or real names) as results. If you rename your account to identify your niche ("BassFisherman1" instead of "TeddyJ18," for example) your account will immediately be found by searchers who share your interest.

These are easy steps to take, and they may give you ideas for other fishing spots stocked with potential followers. Just be patient and keep your expectations in check; you won’t become an Instagram influencer with any of these strategies.

At the very least, however, they should satisfy your desires to slowly build your follower count. And don’t be surprised if watching your fan base grow incrementally makes you anxious to buy real followers and trigger more powerful Instagram growth.