How to Get 10k Instagram Followers

Tune in or read the blog version below!

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Today we are diving into a frequently asked question: how do you grow your Instagram to 10,000 followers?

It has been honestly quite the journey over the past few years, growing my Instagram followers to now over 114,000 and the strategies that worked five years ago are so different to the strategies that work today.

But whether you are a business owner, influencer, or just someone who wants to grow your personal brand, today I’m sharing current strategies and seven actionable steps that actually work in today’s social media environment that will get you to 10k followers.

Followers Does Not Equal Income

I want to first preface this episode by sharing that I have worked with hundreds of clients over the years, and the matter of fact is followers does not equal income.

It does not equal success. And there is no direct correlation between how much money you’re making in your business and the number of followers.

In this episode, we’re going to grow your following, but there is so much more that needs to be done to then convert those people into paid clients and customers and to make all of this time worthwhile.

So I encourage you to not only have a target number in terms of followers, but also have a revenue goal for your business as well. Let’s get started!

Choose A Niche

First things first, step number one is that you need to pick a niche. I cannot stress this enough. I’ve helped so many clients grow their followings to over 10,000 and we always start with what is it that they are going to post that will make people want to follow you.

If your Instagram is all over the place, it’s going to be really hard to attract the right audience. Even if they find your page, they’re not going to press follow if it’s unclear who exactly you are and what exactly you offer.

When you focus on one specific niche, like travel, fitness, fashion, or business, you become the go to person for that topic.

Think of it this way: if someone lands on your profile, they should know within seconds what you’re about and why exactly they should follow you.

I personally have favorite pages for home decor, family travel, couples travel, luxury travel, off the beaten path travel, entrepreneurship, podcasting, investing, real estate, and I have separate accounts for all of these people.

But if you are one person talking about all of these topics I just mentioned, the messaging is going to feel off and unclear, so the majority of your content should fall within this one niche that you choose.

If you don’t know what niche to choose, I would recommend sticking to one where you’re already a perceived expert and one that is sustainable for you to create content on.

For example, a lot of my clients will come to me and want to at first be in the travel niche and they want to post about their travels.

But over time, they will realize that they don’t have enough travel content because they’re not traveling full time. Some of them will only have like 15, 20 vacation days a year, and that’s simply not enough time to dedicate an entire account around travel.

So think about what is sustainable for you to create on and what you are already a subject matter expert on. It does not have to be travel related.

If you want to travel full time, you can create a business that just operates online around your subject of expertise, and it’s going to allow you to create the freedom and the online brand, and most importantly, the momentum for your account to grow.

So step number one is to decide on your niche, commit to it and own it. If you’re struggling to pick a niche, you can check out this blog post that can help guide you.

Create Reels

Once you have your niche, step number two is to create reels – REELS ONLY!!

I’m sure you’ve noticed that Instagram reels are the place to be right now. If you want to grow quickly, I recommend creating reels and that is a non negotiable.

Because Instagram prioritizes video creation now, they show your reels to people who aren’t already following you.

But most other forms of content like carousels, photos, your stories, those are only shown to people who are already part of your audience.

So if you want to reach a majority of people who aren’t already following you, you need to stick to video content, specifically reels.

And you have to get really good at creating reels. People love short videos, so make sure you are picking up on latest trends, you are studying other reels that show up on your reels tab, so which ones are working to target you, because most likely you’re not following the people who show up on your Reels tab.

• What are they doing right?
• How are they going viral?
• How are they hooking your attention?

And you want to do the same. It doesn’t necessarily have to be from learning from people within the same niche as you.

There is so much to take away from other creators in other niches as well, so just see what is working and add your own unique spin to it.

Consistently posting reels will expose you to a wider audience and it will fast track your way to the 10,000 follower milestone.

This is the main way that works this year that you’re going to want to focus on to grow your audience.

The other thing I want to point out is creating reels doesn’t mean just recording a normal video like you would normally record and then adding some music and posting it.

There is an art to Reels creation. There is a certain format. You definitely don’t want horizontal videos. You want that 9:16 aspect ratio. You want to make sure the lighting is good. You want to make sure it’s quality content. It’s valuable content.

It hooks the viewer and you want people to watch until the end, so how do you make it so that they don’t get bored after the first three seconds.

You want to keep them entertained and on your reel for as long as possible. Ideally, you also want text over it. You want subtitles, but just learn about all the ways you can optimize and get better at making reels.

It doesn’t have to be perfect on your first try, but you can just expect your first reel to do really well because there is so much you have to learn about this form of content creation.

Create A Consistent Brand Image

Going off of that, step number three is to edit your reels so that they are on brand.

Once you have practiced making reels, you want to make sure that they are on brand, which means use the same fonts, use the same colors, the same filters, and keep the same overall vibe in everything you post.

This creates consistency so when someone comes across your content, they instantly recognize it’s you.

It also comes across as really professional when a new person lands on your profile and they say, see that your last 12 posts look really good aesthetically as a full grid.

You don’t have individual filters on each of your photos that make it look really disjointed. You want everything to look cohesive.

This is similar to how online with your personal brand, you want the same aesthetic, you want the same vibe to come across all of your platforms, not just Instagram.

It starts with each of your posts on social media, but then it also translates to your website, your other platforms, podcasts, how you come off with your voice, like you want everything to be on brand.

Once you figure out what your branding is for Instagram, it’s going to translate to more followers because people are going to see you as a credible content creator, as an established business owner that’s not just posting for fun.

You’re doing this for a purpose, so you want everything to look good.

If you take my feed for an example, I’m just going to point out what I do intentionally to make everything look on brand.

I use the same fonts on every single one of my posts. It’s like the one that kind of looks like Times New Roman for my reels. I have all my texts on either a white background or a black background.

I use the same filter for all of my photos, all of my videos In reels in stories, it is the K3 filter on VSCO, which is an app where you can easily import photos and videos and just apply a filter.

The point is, no matter what photo or video you take. You use the same filter, or you try to use the same few.

I know in the beginning it can be a struggle because there’s different colors, there’s different vibes, but you really want to choose one and stick with it for at least 12 posts at a time so that, again, your grid looks cohesive.

The other tip I have is that you don’t need to post everything that you take content for. You don’t have to post things that are out of your aesthetic.

So if you normally post about travel and you really want to share something about a book on your feed, you don’t need to post that on your feed. You can share it in a story and create a highlight around it.

This goes back to step number one, where you have to be super clear about what your niche is because once you can niche down, you’re going to be able to eliminate the content that isn’t on brand for you.

People don’t have to know 110% of your life. They just need to know what they want from your page. So make it as clear and cohesive as possible.

Create A Posting Schedule

Okay, next step number four is to have a posting schedule. The algorithm loves consistency.

If you are starting a new account from scratch, I recommend posting at least once a day, one reel a day.

But if that feels overwhelming to you, try just sticking to a posting schedule that works for you.

Whether it’s three times a week, four times a week, five times a week. Try to post at least once a day for the best results.

However, quality over quantity, always. If you are just churning out content with no strategy or thought behind it, you’re just trying to record videos for the sake of recording videos and trying to turn them out in five or ten minutes, you’re not going to get the engagement you’re after and you’re not going to get the visibility because it’s probably going to be a video that doesn’t represent your brand really well.

With that being said, you never know, like, obviously there’s no rule that if you spend more than 10 minutes on a reel, it’s going to do well.

So sometimes you’re going to get those one offs that perform really well with minimal effort.

Post as much as you can, but don’t sacrifice the quality of your work is what I’m trying to say to help you with this.

I’ve created an omnipresence content calendar that you can download in the show notes. This will help you stay organized and consistent with your content because you’re going to be able to batch them all together.

You’re going to know which reels you’re posting on which days, and you can prepare for them instead of having to think of new ideas and create new reels every single day.

As with any form of content creation, done is better than perfect, and you literally just have to go and dive headfirst with the mindset that you’re going to learn from every reel that you put out there.

Don’t be afraid to go in front of the camera. Don’t be afraid to mess up.

My first year of content creation was so cringe and i’m sure like i’m gonna look back in five years to my content now and think it’s so cringe life goes on and you learn so much from just doing.

So commit to a posting schedule and get yourself out there.

Be Engaged & Analytical

Step number five is to be active and track your analytics.

Another major key to growth is being active on the app, being a great creator on the app, and being active within your community.

You cannot expect people to follow and engage with you if you are not doing the same for others, especially if you’re just starting out.

You want to create that network of other creators, a few steps ahead of you, or maybe starting out at the same time to support each other, engage with your followers, respond to comments, spend some time every day, liking, commenting, and interacting with other accounts in your niche.

This boosts your visibility and helps you build genuine connections on the platform. And a lot of people are likely to follow you back and stick around for your content if you are reaching out first.

Another way to be active on the app is to simply consume content for 5 to 10 minutes a day, but intentionally consume for the sake of building and growing your business.

So consume content, spend time on Instagram, studying what types of content perform well, how other people are filming their videos, how other people are editing their videos.

What kinds of captions and call to actions others are using? What are the trending audios? What are the different trends?

Engage with accounts, ask questions and just be an active member of the Instagram community.

Once you’ve done that you want to make it a weekly habit to just track your analytics. See if some forms or pieces of content are performing better than others. See what is working for your own account.

There are many tools that you can use on Instagram to show you how old your followers are, what the demographics are, what time of day, most of them are active on Instagram.

So you just want to get familiar with the platform and also see and analyze what is working for you so you can make better informed decisions going forward. 

Cross Promote On All Platforms

Step number six is to direct people to your Instagram on every other platform.

One of the most effective ways to grow your Instagram is to leverage your audience on other platforms.

I remember when I first started my Instagram page, I posted on my personal Facebook page telling everyone to go follow because that was previously what I was the most active on.

If you have a podcast, or a YouTube channel, or a TikTok, or a blog, or even like your family group chat, make sure you’re directing people to your Instagram.

Do not underestimate how far one of those links that you post once can go because people are going to find it again and again.

Let them know where they can follow you for more content, behind the scenes moments, and don’t forget to link your Instagram account.

So if you have LinkedIn, if you have any other social platform, just add your Instagram link and include a call to action for people to follow you.

This multiplies your reach because you’re tapping in to audiences that might not have found you on Instagram otherwise, right? So you are multiplying the chances of people being able to see you.

I include my Instagram on every single one of my email newsletters. I have my Instagram linked on my website, on my LinkedIn, on my podcast, like everywhere you go, you can see a link to my Instagram and over time that is going to help you build and grow. 

Paid Advertising

Last but not least, step number seven is to use paid advertising.

If you are serious about getting to 10,000 followers quickly, do not underestimate the power of paid advertising because this exponentially speeds up your reach.

This exponentially speeds up the number of people who get to know you because you are paying for the visibility.

I recommend doing this in the Facebook Ads Manager, so in the Meta Ads Manager. Check out this guide if you want some tips for running Facebook Ads.

You can run ads on both Meta and Instagram. You don’t want to click boost post on the corner of your posts.

You want to go into the Ads Manager because then you’re going to be allowed to target specific audience that are most likely to be interested in your content, and you’re not going to be charged a ridiculous fee.

If you’re promoting something like a course, a product, or service, Instagram ads are a great way to boost your visibility and attract new followers who are interested in what you have to offer.

So even if you’re not sending people directly to your account and you are sending them to a landing page or a paid offer, people are going to follow you because they’re going to be interested.

Maybe they don’t want to buy or sign up right now, but they’re going to be interested and they’re going to see you and want to follow you.

Even a small budget every day can make a big difference. Think starting from 5 to 10 a day. You can see a huge spike in your followers by just introducing paid advertising.

What I love about this is you can specifically target which audiences in which areas of the world, which languages, which demographic, so that you can make sure that it’s just not random people on the internet seeing it who aren’t your ideal clients or customers or audience.

You can actually target specifically your ideal people and show them your account.

Conclusion

So those are seven solid strategies to help you grow your Instagram to 10k followers.

Remember that growing a social media presence takes time and consistency, and you never know which one of your posts are going to be the ones that make it, so don’t get discouraged if you don’t see immediate results.

You want to stick with it.

Follow these steps and you will be celebrating your 10k milestone before you know it because it is already on its way to you.

Have an amazing week, my loves!

If you’ve enjoyed this episode, it would mean so much if you could leave a review on Apple Podcasts. This helps us spread The Wanderlover mission to those who need a dose of inspiration today.

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