Zero to 20,000 - How I Grew an Instagram Following in Two and a Half Years

This post may contain affiliate links where I earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. If you purchase anything through the linked website you will be supporting my small blog. Thanks!

I started posting on my Instagram in November of 2019. I started with zero followers and 2.5 years later I reached 20K. Maybe that seems like a long time and it’s not as impressive a time frame as “10K in 1 month”. But I built my audience the authentic way, I didn’t buy any followers. I didn’t have a post go viral with a million views. I want to share with you what I did to build my audience from the ground up. And not just any followers, but followers who are interested in your brand and being a part of the community you’re creating.

Influencer education

The very first thing I did before I even started my Instagram was read a book all about it. I read this Instagram book by Tezza and it taught me a lot. You can check out my blog post all about the most helpful Instagram resources, podcasts and books I’ve read and share the most important things I learned and what actually helped me.

What’s most important?

Posting consistently, every day will make the biggest difference in building your audience. People will be able to count on your posts every day. Think about your favorite Instagram accounts, do they post every day? If they don’t, do you wish they posted more because you like them so much? I understand that sometimes it’s hard to post every day. But on the days that I don’t feel like posting or I don’t have anything new to say, I share a photo I’ve already posted before. I pick a photo that’s done well in the past and repost it, sometimes not even saying that it’s a repeat. Most people won’t notice, or if they do they will be happy to see a post they really liked before. For instance, the posts I make about my dining room set far outperform anything else. I’ve shown the same photos a few different times and everyone still loves to see it and a lot of people are seeing it for the very first time if they are new followers.

Have Unique and Eye Catching Photography

I wrote a post on what type of camera and photo editing apps you need to get your best photos (Hint: It’s not a fancy camera it’s just a smartphone). You don’t have to be a professional photographer to be an influencer. But you do need to practice taking good photos and learn how you want your photos to look. For instance, my photos have a signature filter style with high color saturation and are really bright. I always take my photos during the day with natural light. But my photos all look “on brand” because I edit them that way.

Hashtag amounts and how to find the right ones

There’s conflicting information about whether you should use all 30 hashtags or less and I experiment with both. But hashtags can bring people to your account so I don’t think it hurts to use them all up, especially if you’re new. I have a base list of around 60 hashtags that I consistently use, such as #vintageinteriordesign #vintagethrift and #retrostyle.

I always try to post a lot of new hashtags every day. I find new hashtags by exploring other influencers that have a similar audience size and seeing what hashtags they are using. I don’t copy them word for word, but I’ll look at 5 or so different pages to get a collection of new hashtags every day. I might be able to find a new hashtag challenge this way that I can participate in. Using new hashtags will get new eyes on you which can convert to new followers.

Prioritize Instagram’s new features like Reels

When reels first started a lot of people didn’t want to participate. Some people today still don’t want to participate! Change is hard, but you have to be willing to pivot your content to what the platform is prioritizing. If you want to build an INSTAGRAM following, you need to follow what INSTAGRAM wants you to do.

Your first reel is going to be terrible. If you scroll down to my first reels (I hope you don’t) they look absolutely awful. But you have to start somewhere and I’ve learned a lot since then! Be sure to use trending audio when you post a reel (Audio with the diagonal arrow next to it). Over the past year of making reels I’ve only had ONE video go somewhat “viral” and hit 100K views and it was because I used a trending audio. 

Show your face

When I first started my account I didn’t show myself at all. I was embarrassed and I didn’t want to take pictures of myself. But everyone wants to see who’s behind their favorite accounts. Personally, I have a few accounts that I love the interior design content they post. But they don’t show pictures of themselves and it makes me sad! I want to see who I’m interacting with and get to know them better!

Buy a tripod and get over the hump of sharing pictures/videos of yourself it will help a lot with getting people to be invested in your brand. You want your audience to genuinely like you and relate to you and feel like you are friends.

Look at your insights for future content

You should already have a free business Instagram account which comes with Insights. Insights shows what posts perform best and worst. That’s key information to know what content you should be posting going forward!

My first year on Instagram I noticed that my posts about vintage ephemera (Paper products, like vintage greeting cards) really didn’t perform well. The posts that perform the best were interior shots of my home like the one shown below. I stopped posting photos of ephemera all together and focused on different interior shots, even if it’s the same part of my house I just use a different angle. Your audience’s likes, comments and saves of your content will reflect in your insights so you can shape your content to keep your audience engaged.

Engage with your followers

Be sure to respond to your followers comments and DM’s. When you’re first starting out this is really easy. But the larger following you grow the harder it is to keep up. Try your best to respond to as many as you can because your followers will feel noticed when you answer their questions or are grateful for their support. It helps them like you and invest in you as a person and as a brand. And your goal should be to help solve your followers problems. For me, it’s to help inspire my followers to decorate however they want and to do it affordably.

Share your brand beyond Instagram

Don’t only focus on Instagram only to build your following. I use many different ways to get my content out there for everyone to see on different platforms. Here are my favorite ways.

• Facebook - Find Facebook groups where your potential followers are hanging out. For instance, I post semi regularly in a secondhand find group and a mid century modern FB group. Sometimes you can’t directly share your Instagram handle in the caption but you can post it in the comments if people are asking for it.

• Create a blog - Creating a website is a great way to get your followers invested in your brand.

• Pinterest - Create a free business Pinterest account and start sharing your Instagram photos on there. If you have a blog you definitely want to market on Pinterest.

• TikTok - I don’t do this enough but consider posting videos on TikTok if you’re already creating videos for Instagram.

There you have it, my best tips to get to 20K followers. I hope you found this blog post helpful and it gave your practical advice for you to use going forward. Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below or if you have any tips that I missed.