The Hidden Secret About Getting Followers on Instagram

It’s natural for your brain to be looking for straightforward explanations and easy answers.

Since finding an external reason is a lot easier than questioning your inner-self, it’s also natural for your brain to find external causes for your issues.

That’s the reason why, in terms of getting followers on Instagram and social media in general, you tend to think that accounts that are more successful than yours know something that you don’t know.

Like a hidden secret. A secret hack that only a handful of people know.

Maybe they’re all using secret software to get more views and more reach? Maybe they all have friends working at Instagram, and they ask these friends for better treatment? Maybe they have the algorithm figured out, and thanks to a sophisticated computer program, they can use that algorithm to their advantage?

Or maybe none of that.

Maybe they have no idea what they’re doing, and it just works?

But that doesn’t seem right, does it? Well, that’s the most likely scenario.

No One Has the Secret to Getting Instagram Followers

Sure, there are things that you can do to make sure that you optimize your content. There are types of content that work better than others. However, overall, there isn’t a universal way to get Instagram followers.

Every single audience is different. What might work in the health field might not work on a personal finance audience. Practices also change from country to country. In France, where I’m from, people engage a lot less with content than in the United States, they tend to be way less personal with what they share, and they ignore and despise promotional content.

What I’m trying to say is that there’s no magic formula. Everyone trying to tell you that there’s a hidden secret to getting followers and turning your Instagram account into a source of income is probably trying to sell you an overpriced marketing course that gives you small results and that puts you in the wrong mindset.

By buying such a course and being told by an ‘expert’ that it’s all about a secret, you end up more likely to believe that lie.

From there, you’ll go deeper and deeper into that conspiracy theory, turning your back to the causes of your issue with your Instagram account.

Get Away From That Mindset as Quickly as Possible

It’s not healthy to believe that sort of conspiracy theory.

You were right to wonder, but let me tell you, these theories aren’t valid. There’s no secret, and everyone is trying their best to make their Instagram account grow. Moreover, it’s hard.

Instead of wasting hours trying to crack the code of the algorithm and trying to figure out the secret to growth, spend that time focusing on your content and your audience.

Who is your audience? What do they like? What are their problems? Can you solve these problems? Can you bring valuable answers to them? How? These are the kind of questions you should keep asking yourself to come up with the best content possible for your Instagram account.

Instagram is a pretty simple platform: you post content and your audience sees it and engages with it if it’s relevant. The more your content is engaging, the more reach you’ll get. Also, the more reach you’ll get, the more potential followers you’ll have.

A 3-Step Plan to Grow Your Number of Instagram Followers

1. Put your audience first. Think about your followers and what value you can bring to them. If you know your audience’s problems, then solve them. If your audience has questions, provide answers. How do you figure out what these answers are? Well, that’s your job, whether you’re designing a physical product, an online course, or just trying to coach people. If you’re a cook and your audience wonders how to use a knife properly, you post a video with a lengthy caption explaining how to handle a knife properly. That’s value. Showing on every post that people are waiting in line to eat at your restaurant is dull, repetitive, and self-centered.
2. Reply to every single comment and direct message that you get. Instagram is about connecting with your audience. Giving a personal, authentic reply is the best way to show that you care about them and that you’re trying to get to know them to provide the best value possible. Instagram is about giving away value. So to do that, you need to know who’s following you.
3. Interact with people that don’t follow you but that might be interested in your niche. Find them through hashtags, locations, recommended accounts, or any other tool that you might have. Comment on their content. Answer their questions. Provide help and support. Try to connect with them in any way. Do that every single day.

While the first two steps are aimed at making sure your followers stay and keep engaging with you, the last step is what brings new people to your account. If you do the third step without the first two, people might interact with you, but they won’t follow you. People would see your profile, but they would need a reason to stay on it and to come back. That’s why you give away as much value as possible on Instagram.

Keep Trying and Experimenting

Successful accounts don’t know what they’re doing. They’re trying different things, different formats, different kind of content. Some may perform very well. Some may not. After a while experimenting, they stop posting what performs poorly, and they only focus on what works.

That’s the approach you should have — keep innovating and try new things. That’s the best way to make sure that your audience won’t get bored.

The more you experiment, the more you try, and the more you know your audience, the easier it gets to improve your engagement rate and to grow on Instagram.