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You get more Instagram followers when people who do not follow you yet see your account and find a reason to stay. They can find you in reels, on the Explore page, in Instagram search, and under other people’s posts where you have left a comment. Instagram says reels are the best way to reach new audiences, and that its search matches the words in your name, bio and captions. This guide shows what to do in each place. It uses Instagram’s own published guidance and the routine our team does by hand for clients every day. We run Sup Growth, a paid growth service, so read it with that in mind. You can do every step here yourself. Written by Matt Greenwell, founder of Sup Growth, and checked against Instagram’s guidance on 5 October 2026.
Instagram does not use one algorithm. Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, wrote in Instagram Ranking Explained that Feed, Stories, Explore, Reels and Search each rank posts in their own way. This table shows who sees you in each part of the app, and what Instagram says it looks at most.
| Part of the app | Who sees you there | What Instagram says it looks at most |
|---|---|---|
| Feed | Mostly your followers, plus some suggested posts | How likely a person is to spend a few seconds on the post, comment on it, like it, share it and tap your profile photo |
| Stories | Your followers | How often a person views your stories and replies to them |
| Explore | People who do not follow you | How likely a person is to like, save or share the post, and how fast other people are doing the same |
| Reels | Mostly people who do not follow you | How likely a person is to reshare the reel, watch it to the end, like it and open the audio page |
| Search | Anyone who types a matching word | The words typed, matched against usernames, bios, captions, hashtags and places |
New followers come mostly from Reels, Explore and Search, because those are the parts where people who do not follow you see your posts. Feed and Stories are where you keep the followers you have.
Instagram’s FAQ for creators adds one more point. It says the most important things it considers are how much engagement a post gets from each person who sees it, and how likely the next viewer is to watch and engage. It counts watch time, shares, follows, likes, comments and profile visits. So a post from a small account can still travel when the people who see it respond to it.
A person who lands on your profile reads your name and bio and looks at your latest posts. Then they follow you or they leave. Fix the profile before you work on reach, or the new visitors will not stay.
Instagram’s FAQ for creators says reels are the best way to reach new audiences. It also says the creators whose follower counts grow fastest post 10 or more reels a month on average. That is two or three a week.
The same page lists what helps a reel reach more people:
Instagram also says what holds a reel back. Its FAQ and its ranking post list these:
Photos still have a place. Instagram’s FAQ says feed ranking does not prefer reels over photos, and that regular feed posts and carousels help you engage the audience you have. Post reels to reach new people. Post photos and carousels to keep your followers interested.
The same FAQ corrects two common beliefs. A post is not ranked higher for getting a lot of reactions in its first 30 minutes. There is also no single best time to post. Instagram says the best time is when your own audience is awake and active, and your Insights show when that is.
You may lose a few followers right after you post a reel. Instagram says this is normal, because your followers see the reel first and some of them unfollow. New followers come later, as the reel is shown to people who do not follow you.
Search works on text. Instagram says the words a person types are by far the most important signal, and that it matches them against usernames, bios, captions, hashtags and places (Breaking Down How Instagram Search Works). So write with the words your customer would type.
A post only reaches the people Instagram chooses to show it to. You can also go to the right people yourself, by engaging with them. This is the work our team does for clients, and most accounts skip it because it takes time. On our own site we say it takes one to two hours a day.
Some of the people you engage with will look at your profile, and some of those will follow you. On our service a person does this from the client’s account every day, and clients typically gain 300 to 800 followers a month.
It also helps your later posts reach those people. Instagram’s ranking post says a person’s history of interacting with an account is one of the signals it uses to decide whether to show them that account’s posts.
A person has to do this work. Write each comment yourself and make it about the post. Do not paste the same line under 50 posts, and do not follow people only to unfollow them a week later.
A local business needs followers who live nearby. The steps above work the same way with a place added.
There is more on this in how to get local followers on Instagram and how to get Instagram followers by city.
Some shortcuts do damage. The common ones are buying followers, running a bot or an automation app on your account, and joining groups that trade likes and comments.
Instagram’s position is public. In a 2018 announcement it said third-party apps that generate likes, follows and comments break its Community Guidelines and Terms of Use, and that it removes that activity. It also said these apps make an account less secure, because people give them a username and password.
Bought followers also do nothing for a business. They do not like, comment or buy. They can hold your posts back as well. Instagram says your followers are usually the first to see a new reel, and that the response from each viewer is one of the main things that decide how far it goes. Followers who never respond lower that response.
We should be plain about our own service here. Sup Growth is a paid growth service, and our team does the engagement from the client’s account, so we need access to it. People do the work by hand, with no bots or automation. If you pay anyone for growth, check who does the work, whether it is a person or software, and whether a named company stands behind it. Our ranked list of Instagram growth services and our reviews show how we checked the others.
We have not found an official benchmark for follower growth, so here is ours. Clients of our service typically gain 300 to 800 targeted followers a month. That comes from a person working on the account every day, and the plan includes 60 hours of work a month. The number depends on your niche, your profile and what you post.
At that pace, the first 1,000 followers take from just over a month to a little over three months. If you do the routine yourself for 30 minutes a day, expect it to take longer.
Count the followers who can become customers. A restaurant gains more from 500 followers who live in its city than from 5,000 who live elsewhere. Watch profile visits, messages and bookings as well as the follower number.
Judge the trend over a month or more. Instagram’s FAQ gives the same advice: be patient, and look at the picture over time.
| Week | What to do |
|---|---|
| Week 1 | Fix your name, bio and link. Switch to a professional account. Pin your best posts. List 20 to 30 accounts that your customers follow. |
| Week 2 | Post three reels. Start the daily engagement routine for 30 minutes a day. Reply to every comment and message. |
| Week 3 | Post three reels and one carousel. Write captions with the words your customer would search for, and tag your location. Check Insights to see which reel reached the most people who do not follow you. |
| Week 4 | Post three reels, with one on the topic that did best. Make one collab post with a customer or a nearby business. Write down followers gained, profile visits and messages, and keep doing what worked. |
Three reels a week is about 12 a month. That is in line with the 10 or more a month that Instagram reports for the creators who grow fastest (Instagram for Creators FAQ).
The routine is simple, and it takes time every day. If you would rather spend that time on your business, a person can do it for you. Sup Growth is a human-run Instagram growth service. A member of our team engages with people in your city or niche from your account, by hand, and sends each new follower a welcome message.
It costs $119 a month in the US. The first 14 days are free, and nothing is charged until day 15. See our pricing, or read how we compare with other services.
Fix your profile so a stranger can tell what you do. Post two or three reels a week. Spend time each day engaging with people who fit your audience. Clients of our service typically gain 300 to 800 followers a month from daily manual work, so at that pace 1,000 followers takes from just over a month to a little over three months.
Instagram’s FAQ for creators says the creators whose follower counts grow fastest post 10 or more reels a month on average. That is two or three a week. The same page says posting frequency is only one of many factors.
Instagram’s answer is when your audience is awake and most active. Your Insights show when that is. Instagram also says a post is not ranked higher for getting many reactions in its first 30 minutes.
They can help when they are relevant. Instagram says a relevant trending hashtag can help a reel reach people interested in that topic, and that irrelevant hashtags can lower reach. Put hashtags in the caption. Instagram says that is where search looks for them, and tells you not to put them in the comments.
No. Instagram has said it removes inauthentic likes, follows and comments, and that third-party apps that generate them break its Community Guidelines and Terms of Use. Bought followers also do not engage or buy, so they do nothing for a business.
Instagram says this is normal. Your followers see a new reel first, and some of them choose to unfollow. As the reel reaches people who do not follow you, new followers arrive. Look at the result over a few weeks.
Yes, though reels reach new people more easily. Instagram says reels are the best way to reach new audiences. It also says feed ranking does not prefer reels over photos. If photos are your format, post them regularly and rely more on search and daily engagement to reach new people.
No. Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, has written that Instagram does not suppress content to encourage people to buy ads. Ads can speed things up if you have a budget. The steps in this guide cost time and no money.
Real, local followers from a human team. Nothing charged until day 15, cancel any time.
Sources, all read on 5 October 2026: Instagram Ranking Explained (Adam Mosseri, 31 May 2023), Breaking Down How Instagram Search Works (Adam Mosseri, 25 August 2021), Reducing Inauthentic Activity on Instagram (19 November 2018), the Instagram for Creators FAQ and the Instagram Help Center page About collab posts. The figure of 300 to 800 followers a month is Sup Growth’s own. Results depend on your niche, your profile and what you post, and no service can promise a number.
Related: Instagram followers not growing, why am I losing Instagram followers, Instagram ads for more followers and our free Instagram tools.