How To Get More Followers on Instagram: 10 Ways in 2026

Instagram followers are the people who’ve subscribed to your account’s posts, and they remain a signal of audience size and potential organic reach.

Although non-follower views are on the rise, thanks to the Reels discovery algorithm, a 2025 peer-reviewed study found that follower count is still associated with revenue performance.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to get more followers on Instagram, with expert tips from Ben Fingeret, vice president of social at communications agency Full Picture.

10 ideas for how to get more followers on Instagram

1. Optimize your profile and bio
2. Focus on Reels
3. Tap into analytics
4. Follow your audience
5. Build your personal brand
6. Post every day
7. Run a giveaway
8. Share user-generated content (UGC)
9. Try Instagram Ads
10. Create a series

Here are 10 strategies for getting more followers on Instagram: 

1. Optimize your profile and bio

A great Instagram bio and profile can help you attract followers. “Think of it as your visual business card,” Ben Fingeret of Full Picture says. 

Verified Instagram accounts often share a few traits:

• A quickly identifiable profile photo
• Essential information about who they are and what their business sells
• A unique selling proposition (why should visitors follow you?)
• A call to action (CTA)
• A link in bio that makes it easy for visitors to take that action

Skin care brand Dieux, for example, has a profile photo that shows the Dieux logo and brand name. The bio “Effective skincare down to a science” communicates the brand’s unique selling proposition. The two CTAs urge viewers to DM the brand or shop their ecommerce site, while the link in bio lets visitors start shopping right away.

A blue checkmark shows that Dieux is verified on Instagram, which Ben says signals credibility.

When it comes to your bio text, Ben says that many of the best lines follow the same format. “It’s a little active and maybe a little humorous,” he says. “It says who you are and why people should follow you.”

Ben encourages creators and brands to add Story Highlights and pinned posts. You can pin up to three posts, which appear as the first three squares in your grid.

“Those are the three standout things that they want people to see,” says Ben. “Some people, especially brands, will either do the latest promotion they have, or they’ll do something that really speaks to their brand origin or DNA, like an intro video.”

2. Focus on Reels

Instagram users reshare 4.5 billion Reels every day. Instagram Reels are short-form videos that viewers can come across without following you or visiting your profile, giving you a chance to reach new audiences through Instagram’s discovery algorithm. 

“Reels tap into Instagram’s algorithmic For You channels, meaning businesses can reach new audiences organically without ad spend,” says Steven Fingar, vice president of Untitled Social, a social studio. “They’re also favored in the algorithm, so posting Reels can accelerate growth and engagement far faster than static content.” 

Mimi Ikonn, the entrepreneur behind Luxy Hair and an influencer with a million followers, echoed this in a recent episode of Shopify Masters. “The algorithm on Instagram is not very conducive to growth, unless you do things in a certain way,” she says, citing Reels and text-based carousel posts as the best strategy right now. 

While nothing can truly guarantee follower growth, greater reach gives you the best chance to achieve it. According to Buffer, Reels get 36% more reach than carousels and 125% more than single photo posts.

3. Tap into analytics

Instagram’s native analytics track how many new followers you gain from specific pieces of content. Once you identify which posts are actually converting viewers into followers, you can double down on that content type. 

Tique Chandler, founder of Chandler Honey, told Shopify Masters that using Instagram’s built-in analytics software allowed her to spot what was drawing in followers. 

“I know that people love to see my face,” she says. “They love to see what I’m doing behind the scenes. They love to be involved in new flavors that I’m creating.”

It’s also worth tracking non-follower reach and engagement, as this is who you’re trying to bring into your orbit. This metric shows how many people who don’t already follow you are seeing and interacting with your content. You can focus on increasing this metric by prioritizing discovery-driven formats like Reels and collaborating with creators to get in front of new audiences.

4. Follow your audience

Engaging with and following people with a demonstrated interest in your business can yield follows in return. For instance, Book Box earned early views and follows by seeking out and following local “Bookstagram” micro-influencers. 

“We just followed a bunch of Bookstagram and local Aussie influencers,” cofounder Kate Blazeska tells Shopify. “They followed us back, and that’s sort of how we got views on our page. We worked closely with them to bring that attention and hype over our product.”

5. Build your personal brand

If your brand is founder-led, the founder’s personal Instagram can work in conjunction with the brand account to increase the follower count for each.

Pia Mance was a model and influencer with 45,000 followers on Instagram before she started her accessory company, Heaven Mayhem. On an episode of Shopify Masters, Pia says that she started posting photos of herself wearing Heaven Mayhem jewelry on her personal account. 

“I was just wearing it and promoting it,” she says. “My following wasn’t a diehard, converting following. They were just interested in these one-off necklaces. As soon as someone liked the post, I would DM them straight away, like, ’Hey, so you liked it? Are you interested in purchasing it?’ I was after every sale, really wanting to connect with every single person.”

Since she already had an established personal account, Pia was able to build interest in her brand by subtly promoting her products. That led to both sales and account growth for Heaven Mayhem.

6. Post every day

Posting every day—or close to it—helps new viewers discover your content. Raquel Acosta, the ceramist and owner behind Glaze Me Pretty, says on Shopify Mastersthat she saw her audience grow from 2,400 to 11,000 followers by increasing her posting schedule from every other day to daily. 

Posting daily may feel like a tall order, but it can pay off. Buffer’s analysis found that you can double your follower count by posting just three to five times a week. 

Here are a few posting ideas for inspiration:

• Anniversaries. Celebrate your business’s first social media post, sale, or launch. 
• Inspirational figures. Share who has inspired your business and why. 
• Audience appreciation. Show your followers what their support means to your brand. 
• Behind-the-scenes. Give audiences a peek into how you run your business.
• Customer testimonials. Let viewers know why your product or service is special. 

To stay organized, create a content calendar. Cross-reference a standard calendar tool like Google Calendar to stay on top of events like Valentine’s Day and April Fool’s Day that can spark content ideas. 

7. Run a giveaway

Running a giveaway can help increase your follower count. To enter, brands and creators will ask followers to complete one or more actions. 

For MiJa Books, giveaways were a meaningful way to gain followers on Instagram and grow its email list. “Part of the criteria [for the giveaway] was to subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on social media. And we saw that that was working … not just working, but it was a huge unlock,” says cofounder Stephanie Reed on Shopify Masters.

They started small and scaled up when a couple of their fans made a cash donation, which they used to fund more giveaways.

Beyond follows, you can also require giveaway entrants to:

• Like the giveaway post
• Tag one or more friends in the comments
• Leave a comment on the post
• Share the post to their stories
• Fill out an entry form on the brand’s website with additional information

These additional engagements can create a visibility flywheel on Instagram. Tags get your content in front of potential new followers, and engagement signals to the Instagram algorithm that your post deserves wider reach.

There are several rules to follow (and to ask your entrants to follow) when you set up a contest or giveaway on Instagram. Instagram has its own set of rules and guidelines about eligibility requirements. 

8. Share user-generated content (UGC)

User-generated content (UGC) is any content—videos, photos, written reviews, audio, and more—that a fan, customer, or follower creates about a brand. UGC helps humanize your brand and gives it credibility because it serves as a trustworthy review from a real customer, providing social proof for potential followers. You can use the repost feature to share UGC content with your followers.

“UGC works best when it feels authentic and aspirational,” Steven says. “Choose content that aligns with your brand’s aesthetic and showcases the product in a real-life context your audience can relate to.” 

Blume, for example, shares before-and-after acne treatment UGC, showing Instagram users real results from people with the same skin concerns.

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A post shared by Blume (@blume)

9. Try Instagram Ads

As the old adage goes, sometimes you have to spend money to make money—or gain followers. In July, 2025, Meta introduced an “Instagram follows” metric in Ads Manager that allows you to directly track and attribute follows to Instagram ad campaigns.

Instagram Ads are accessible through a self-serve platform that allows you to set your own goals and budgets. These ads help you reach Instagram users with matching interests or in locations where you do business. 

If you have a Shopify store, you can download the Facebook & Instagram app to manage ads directly in your Shopify admin. 

10. Create a series

By creating a series of videos on Instagram, you encourage people to follow your account to catch up with new installments. Instagram recommends this path for content creators as a way to increase follower count and overall engagement.

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A post shared by Instagram’s @Creators (@creators)

Start your video by letting viewers know which part of the series they’re on, and close it out by encouraging them to follow you for future additions to the series. Leave viewers on a bit of a cliffhanger so they have more of a reason to hit that Follow button. 

Should I buy Instagram followers?

No, you shouldn’t buy fake followers, because it’s been outlawed by the Federal Trade Commission. According to Instagram’s Terms of Use, you can’t do anything unlawful, misleading, or fraudulent or for an illegal or unauthorized purpose.

Purchased followers are typically bots or inactive accounts, which means they won’t engage with your content anyhow, hurting your engagement rate and making your posts less likely to be shown to real users. Instagram’s algorithm relies on signals that you are engaging with actual users. If you have a high follower count of inactive users, you’ll have a lower engagement rate than if you just did things organically.

If you’re a creator, buying followers can negatively impact your ability to make money on Instagram. “If you’re trying to do a brand deal with someone, they’re going to ask for your stats,” says Ben. These stats include engagement rate as well as the location of your following. If a large percentage of your followers are located in a particular foreign country and you’re not creating content targeted at users in that country, Ben says that’s a “huge signal that you’re buying followers.”