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Are you struggling to manage your YouTube content, keep up with regular video uploads and social media post scheduling? Then knowing how to schedule YouTube videos can be a game-changer strategy. It helps you maintain consistency, reach your audience at the optimal...
Oct 24, 2025
Let’s face it: gaining an impressive following on Instagram is the dream of, well, anyone with an Instagram account. If you’re wondering how to get 10k followers on Instagram, you’re not alone—reaching that milestone is a major goal for many users looking to grow their presence.
Simply applying the same strategy you have for your other platforms won’t cut it. It’s time to form new habits that are tailored for Instagram and will not only grow your account but also keep your followers engaged. One powerful tactic? Learn to schedule Instagram posts to stay consistent and relevant without burning out.
Enough chitchat, though. Let’s get into some valuable information and actionable tips.
Before you set out to gain more followers, I think it’s important to understand why you’re doing it.
It’s difficult, and it takes dedication and being a consistently active Instagram social media strategist. It’s entirely doable, though, if you have the right mindset and you’re prepared to put in the work. While there’s, sadly, no secret recipe for quick success, there are plenty of steps you can follow to reach that 10k follower count milestone.
Growing your Instagram following is important because it helps you reach more potential customers, build brand awareness, and create trust. A larger, more engaged audience means more eyes on your products or services, which can lead to more traffic, sales, and long-term loyalty.
It also gives your business social proof. When people see others following and interacting with you, they’re more likely to trust your brand and check it out themselves. Plus, Instagram’s algorithm favors active, growing accounts, so the bigger your following, the more visibility your posts and ads can get.
There are over 2 billion monthly active users on the platform, and over 500 million daily active users, numbers that continue to grow. What this means is that there are billions of people out there ready to learn more about you and your business from your Instagram content — all you need to do is reach them.
However, lots of active users also means fierce competition. There’s a reason why not many reach the highest follower milestones. Here’s a breakdown of the average number of Instagram followers:
Determining a target audience is an important step in any social media growth plan, but how can you do that without knowing who you have the potential to reach?
Most Instagram users are in the age range of 18-24, followed closely by 25-34. There are also more men than women in these age groups who use the social media platform, though not by such a large margin. These are important details to keep in mind when you create content.
Instagram user stats by age and gender as of April 2024.
Crafting a strategy that is suited for the kind of demographic Instagram mostly caters to won’t just help you get those 10k followers you’re coveting, it’ll also ensure that they can turn into leads and, ultimately, customers.
Here’s a breakdown of some business-related Instagram statistics:
Ok, so I’ve convinced you that growing your Instagram is worth it. Now let me help you actually do it with some practical tips and great quotes from experts.
Getting started is the hardest part, when you’re still working to convince the first couple of thousand people and the Instagram algorithm that your content is worth it. Once you get the ball rolling, your opportunities for promotion will increase, and generating leads will be a little easier (this isn’t an invitation to slack off after a while, just an assurance that it does get easier with time).
Here are the 12 tips we’ll go over that will bring you closer to those 10k engaged followers:
Influencers are your entry ticket to communities and potential customers. Working with influencers is the easiest and most time-efficient way to build a brand on Instagram fast.
Start by searching relevant hashtags in your industry to discover popular accounts. Create a list in a spreadsheet, then filter for micro-influencers: those with 10K to 50K followers. These are the people who are most likely to actually give you a reply, especially if you’re just starting out. Once you’ve found a few promising options, take the time to run a proper influencer analysis before moving forward.
It’s easy to get swept up by flashy follower counts, but always check out social media engagement rates before choosing to collaborate with an influencer, because that’s where the secret to successful promotion lies.
As Gil Gildner, specialist in digital marketing and co-founder of Discosloth, says:
We’ve seen great success in using influencers to promote our content. In the past, we’ve developed a close relationship with Rand Fishkin (Moz founder), and when releasing a free beginner’s guide to PPC, he volunteered to amplify it to his audience of 450,000+ Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn followers. We received tens of thousands of visits, downloads, and follows. It’s a long-term, relational way of doing it, but it has proven very useful to us.
I’ve asked Gil to share his template on how to reach out to influencers like Rand. It’s important to note that he messaged only people he has interacted with in the past and already had an established relationship with, so it’s not really a cold e-mail:
Subject: feedback on our guide
Hi [name],
[Something personal about our last interaction]. Hope it’s going well on your end.
Your [name of resource] was an incredibly valuable resource when I first got into marketing.
In early 2017, my wife and I quit our jobs to start Discosloth. Largely because of how valuable [person’s content, blog, etc] was for us, we’ve spent over a year building the Beginner’s Guide to PPC.
We’ve found the PPC world to be really bad at transparency. We want this guide to be totally free for everyone…most that we’ve found are either paid or just aren’t very good.
I know you’re incredibly busy, but if you ever have the chance to offer some critique on our guide before we launch to the public, that would be beyond valuable. Feedback would really help us avoid pitfalls!
[your link to the resource]
Thanks,
[Name]
Some influencers will help you out in exchange for a product or a service that they will then review in a Story or post. Others will have clear prices for promotion that you’ll have to be prepared to pay. Either way, it’s an investment that you have to be willing to make, but the payoff is more often than not worth it if you reach out to the right people.
Collaborations can also lead to relationships with potential partners in the future, which is a huge plus for your business.
One of the biggest reasons brands fail on Instagram is that they don’t post regularly. They’ll post daily for a while, then forget about the account for a month, then spam their followers multiple times a day when something exciting is happening. This is a sure way for people to lose interest in your page fast.
As Lexi Reihanian, social media strategist and founder of Lexi-R, explains:
To keep your followers interested and growing, you need to be consistent. If you do not have the time to implement a social media strategy and create all the needed content, definitely hire a social media manager. If you can not afford help yet, start planning your content ahead of time, think monthly, not daily. This allows you to focus on engagement day to day, rather than stressing out over what to post.
If you’re wondering how others are keeping their online presence so consistent, the answer is that they plan ahead. Brainstorm ideas, create a social media calendar, and schedule Instagram posts in advance so you don’t have to worry about forgetting or not having the time for your daily images, Stories, and Reels.
Weekly campaign calendar in Planable with scheduled social media posts across multiple platforms.
Creating good content is what makes all the difference when you want to attract followers. And I’m not just talking about aesthetics, though those are incredibly important too (and we’ll talk about them soon). Each platform has its own post requirements, and the very first step you should take when planning your content is making sure you respect them.
Uploading images or videos that don’t follow the size and quality recommendations of the platform you’re posting on (in this case, Instagram) will have your grid looking unprofessional and probably blurry or weirdly cropped. If you’re in doubt about what the latest post requirements are, check out this guide on the ideal post sizes for each platform.
Here are the sizes you should use for your content as of right now:
Pay attention to the community you’re building. One of the biggest mistakes brands make is ignoring comments or questions, leaving followers without answers or any reason to engage again. Don’t just reply with a quick “Thanks” when someone comments. Be human! It’s one of the most powerful Instagram hacks and can make a huge difference in hitting your first 10,000 followers.
But that’s just part of the process. You should take an active role in engaging with your audience. Follow accounts you genuinely like in your niche, then check out who they follow as well. Like their posts and leave meaningful comments, like what you liked about their visual or caption, or a tip you think they’d find useful.
Avoid generic comments, as they feel fake and automated, and people can spot that a mile away.
Done right, this technique helps you build a relevant, engaged network around your brand.
To appease the Instagram algorithm, you have to constantly swap hashtags and not overuse them. Your hashtags should be relevant to the post you are sharing and to your account overall. A mix of general hashtags, niche hashtags, and branded hashtags is ideal.
Let’s imagine you’re a makeup brand and you post about a new makeup palette. A general hashtag would be something like #MakeUpLover or #MakeUpAddict. A niche one could be something like #CrueltyFreeProducts, to indicate something particular about your business, and then a branded hashtag would be something like #BrandName or #MakeupPaletteName.
You might wonder why branded hashtags are a good idea, given that they won’t help much with visibility from users who haven’t heard of you before. Well, they allow you to start conversations and trends, and make it easier to share user-generated content once your online presence grows.
As a general rule, you can try to look for smaller hashtags, typically somewhere between 15K and 500K posts, to really achieve success when creating a social media plan. Spend time doing hashtag research and make a few sets of 30 hashtags ready to use on every post, though keep in mind that while Instagram allows up to 30 hashtags, the right amount to use is 4-5, so you don’t end up being too spammy.
Still, the hashtag debate is far from over. As Jon-Stephen Stansel points out, hashtags haven’t disappeared, they’ve simply evolved. Today, they’re most effective when used with a clear purpose, whether that’s a campaign, event, or authentic community conversation, rather than as a quick shortcut to reach.
To dive deeper into the topic, you can download the free guide below. It offers practical advice on when hashtags truly add value and how to make them work within your broader content strategy.
Instagram is first and foremost a visual platform, so there should be logic and clear consistency between your posts.
As Anna McNaught, visual content creator and founder of The Liked Photo, explains:
First, decide the type of posts you want to show. Is it food photography, personal images, images from your business, or of products, etc.? Then incorporate your brand colors into these posts. For example, if you own a jewelry business, maybe your page develops earth tones with pops of gold. The best way to achieve an overall cohesive color scheme is to use Lightroom Presets (free on mobile) or develop a consistent photo editing style for yourself. A theme and color scheme will help your page flow and draw a larger audience. This may take time, in the beginning, to figure out, but look at other accounts that inspire you and use an app to plan your page.
Your Instagram grid should reflect your personal brand and give people a great first impression from the moment they click on your account. Your color scheme should be well-thought-out and both catchy and overall professional.
For some inspiration, you can check out these examples of amazing grids. You don’t have to spend hours perfecting your grid, but taking a few minutes to put together a mockup of your feed or grid will prove highly beneficial in the long run.
Instagram grid preview with posts and planned story highlights in Planable.
Gaining followers overnight is not realistic, but having a trick up your sleeve, like an engagement group, can really accelerate your account’s growth.
Instagram shouldn’t be your only social media platform (if it is, this is your queue to change that). Different platforms have different demographics and unlock new opportunities. However, there is always a certain overlap between these platforms, and this is where social media cross-promotion comes in.
Maybe some users have found your TikTok, but didn’t stumble upon your Instagram, even though they’d be interested in it. Then what’s left for you to do is create a video talking about your Instagram page, complete with a call to action and perhaps a link to your profile in your TikTok bio.
Or, if you’re repurposing content on Facebook, make sure to leave a link to the profile and add a call-to-action for people to follow you there. You can use a website, blog, newsletters, Facebook Groups, and anything connected to your brand to feed the success directly to the page.
One of the most effective strategies to grow your Instagram account early on is by organizing giveaways. When done right, contests can improve your visibility, engagement, and follower count. While setting one up is relatively easy, the challenge lies in making it truly successful.
Start by identifying your target audience. This ensures the giveaway attracts the right people, not just freebie hunters. Tailor the contest format to match their interests and behavior. Here are a few common giveaway types:
If your business has a physical location, or if you’re posting from exciting places (e.g., you took a picture of your product on a famous beach or in a popular cafe), make sure to add the location to your image or video with the help of geotags.
Geotags can act much like hashtags when it comes to increasing your reach. If people are looking at other posts from a certain place, or if they searched for a specific place to begin with, then they’ll be able to see your posts among others with the same geotag. This brings your content in front of a whole new audience that perhaps you wouldn’t have reached otherwise.
There are two parts to this particular tip. First, make sure you’re up to date with what’s happening in your industry, and especially your niche. A part of your content should be educational, whether it’s original or curated, and that means it has to be relevant to what’s happening in the world today.
Set up alerts for certain keywords in the news so you don’t miss out on anything major. You can use this to both inform your content and curate some valuable articles to share with your audience. As a rule, your content should be 20-30% curated and 70-80% original.
But professional updates regarding your business’ industry aren’t the only thing you should pay attention to. What’s social media without its trends? Memes, popular sounds, challenges, they’re also important for your content strategy. Who knows, you might even go viral! That will definitely bring in a considerable number of new followers.
Learning from others is never a bad thing. You’re not trying to reinvent the wheel with your social media strategy. The goal is to find a recipe that works for you and that will pique the interest of your target audience. It’s not about doing things that have never been done before, it’s about doing them in a way that’s authentic to you.
So, when you’re thinking up the vision for your Instagram grid, take the time to find some profiles you admire and add them to a list. Preferably, they should be part of your niche and have similar audiences to yours. Monitor what works for them and what doesn’t, and see what you can learn from them and adapt to your own branding.
Our Instagram is one example if you’re looking for a mix of social media memes, helpful marketing tips, and the occasional product updates:
Phew! Quite a list of tips, right? All that’s left to do is implement everything you’ve learned. Easier said than done, I know, but the results will be worth it. If you put in the work, take your Instagram strategy seriously, and are ready to make mistakes, learn from them, and try again, then those 10k followers are just a matter of time.
Plus, there’s a way for you to collaborate with your team on content, implement feedback, schedule your Instagram posts in advance, and have access to important analytics, all on Planable. But you don’t have to take my word for it, try it out and see how it transforms your journey to 10k followers!
George – Content Marketing Strategist, storyteller, and self-appointed cringe detector. 7 years in marketing, starting from graphic design to social, campaigns, and content. Writes, shoots, edits – if it’s creative, he’s on it. Knows what’s funny, what’s fresh, and what should never see the light of day. Always up to date, always cooking up something (and trying to hit his protein goal), all while pretending to get 8 hours of sleep.
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