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HOW TO GET INSTAGRAM FOLLOWERS FAST AND FREE IN 2025

How to get thousands of Instagram followers fast and free in 2025. How to grow Instagram followers organically. Get free Instagram followers with the below tips, hacks and best practices.

Written by Mau, a Senior Instagram Marketing Specialist at eDigital.

HOW TO GET INSTAGRAM FOLLOWERS FAST AND FREE IN 2025

Before you find ways to quickly bring millions of Instagram followers, let me tell you something you have probably been turning a blind eye to…

Instagram is not helping your business

• Your organic Instagram posts are reaching an average of 5% of your followers. This is a massive issue affecting thousands of marketers on Instagram.
• You have been trying hard to build audiences on Instagram that you do not own.
• You cannot transfer your hard-earned Instagram followers to your best CRM software.
• Your customer acquisition costs from Instagram ads are through the roof.

The solution

I can offer you the best digital marketing strategy workshops that will help you:

• Lower customer acquisition costs.
• Minimise dependency on paid media.
• Build a marketing engine with marketing assets and channels you fully own.
• Craft the best digital marketing plan and social media strategy that boosts sales and customer lifetime value.

How to stop your Instagram dependency – Training session

Location: Online Private session
Training facilitator: Mau, a Senior Digital Marketing Specialist at eDigital.
Duration: 2 hours

Benefits of this course:

• Private session. This private online session will be tailored to your specific marketing goals. We show you proven frameworks and methodologies to build a marketing engine with assets and channels you fully own. You will be blown away with action-proven practical tips and tools so you do not need to keep begging for a 2% reach on Instagram.

You can also access our exclusive social media marketing plan template (on Google Sheets) ready for you to manage all your social media activities.

How to book this training session

Contact us

The top 21 tips to organically increase your Instagram followers fast and free in 2025

I am about to reveal to you the best hacks and tricks used by professional Instagram marketers to fast increase and get thousands of new Instagram followers for free! Your Instagram account will be like a bee reaching thousands of Instagram users per day!

Want to learn how to get Instagram followers fast and free, but not sure where to start?

This quick-start guide is a step-by-step checklist that provides a broad overview of what you’ll need to do to get Instagram followers fast and free. Along the way, we’ll be dropping in links to additional resources that will help you iron out some of the finer details of your Instagram growing strategy.

The tips, tricks and best practices shared below will get you more followers but they will not be as effective as building a marketing engine with assets and channels you fully own.

If you had enough of not getting anything from Instagram, I can show you a new way to do marketing that brings sales and does not depend on vanity posts on social media.

Contact us now!

21. Have a unique name that showcase your niche

The first thing people see about you on Instagram is your username and handle.

Making your username explain your niche helps others recognise common traits, likes or beliefs.  This may cause them to want to see your account and follow you.

20. Distil your unique visual storytelling and creative theme and stick to it

Branding!

Yeah! that’s right, your visual storytelling (part of your branding guidelines) should amplify the visuals you share on Instagram.  This is one of the most important decisions for your Instagram marketing success!

A thoughtfully curated Instagram feed doesn’t only look pleasing to the eye, it also attracts the right audience.

It does make a difference in making your Instagram follow-worthy.

Will you let your Instagram account be a mix of anything OR will you have an Instagram account people love?

A great example of distilling unique creative visuals is the @muradosmann account which created the viral “follow me to” movement with over 3 million followers.

Do:

• Have an overarching theme and style.
• Apply a similar filter or post-processing to each of your photos to have a unified look across your feed
• Be intentional in using your brand colours (if you have one)
• Apply photography basics like the rule of thirds and negative space
• Avoid too many “close-up” shots; instead, make sure to add as much context as you can, whenever possible.

Tip: For our  Instagram account to stand out, make your feed look visually appealing. Your account “look and feel” will make people decide if they want to follow you, read your captions, and find out more about you, your products or your services.

19. Optimise your Instagram profile image for max engagement

• Your profile picture will display as 110 x 110 pixels in the mobile app. However, the profile image will appear slightly larger on the web. Best to upload an image that is 180 x 180 pixels so it fits both mobile and web nicely.
• Your logo image should match your other social media platforms so it is easy to recognise.

People who read this article also read: The top 10 Gen Z characteristics

18. Share appealing and unique images 

Once you have new Instagram followers, you want them to stay. For example, make sure you choose only the best images. This way your followers keep not only following the account but loving the feed.  If they like what they see, they are going to want to keep seeing your content.  This means chances are, they are going to follow you.  You also want your pictures to stand out when compared to other vis hashtags or on a user’s timeline.  Visuals are crucial when it comes to Instagram. You must find a colour palette and stick to it on your Instagram feed.

Some options are:

• Choose one consistent colour palette.  An example of an Instagram feed using a consistent colour palette can be seen here.
• Alternate colour block on your Instagram feed.  Slowly alternate colour blocks like this one. When you scroll through her photos you can see the colour transition.
• Use illustrations on your Instagram feed.
• Have Instagram image templates ready for a quick turnaround. A Great tool is Canva.
• Find creative ways to integrate your brand logo and your brand images into common objects.
• Try photo collages with a unique twist.
• Use infographics.

DO:

• Stick to a visual theme for your Instagram feed
• Keep your images bright and crisp.
• Post images you think are useful, beautiful or worth sharing as they provide value. Example “how-to” videos. 

DON’T:

• Publish low-quality images or dark/blurry images

17. Define your exact font type when added to text overlays

Get your font type on point and make it easy for people to recognise it. Pairing two different fonts are totally fine and even advisable to create interest and font balance.

16. Invite all your contacts and subscribers to follow you 

• Add all your mobile phone and Facebook contacts. Choose a day and time when people tend to be free browsing Instagram (ideally a Sunday or Monday rainy night when not much is happening). Likely your Facebook friends and contacts will follow you back. Only this activity might generate more than 1000 thousand likes if you are actively adding great visual content on Instagram.
• Social media managers must have clear goals and start following their real customers via CRM integration with Instagram. Once you pass those free options, then you can explore the below to get Instagram followers fast and free; however, it is important to recognise and analyse which other Instagram accounts will fit your brand mission, vision, purposes and goals.

Just updated: the best free Instagram widgets for a website

15. Use your physical location

If you are new to Instagram and have a physical store or location where customers visit you; then start by:

• Search for your location on Instagram and start following people who have added photos with your business location on them. These are real customers who have visited your location!-.
• Feature customers at your business location and when uploading the photos to Instagram, ensure you tag your customers’ accounts and also add a location.

Creators are reading this year’s top 10 TikTok marketing trends

14. Consistent posting is key

If it punishes inconsistency with lower health ratings, then Instagram also rewards consistently with additional exposure. The new Instagram algorithm favours accounts that post on a regular schedule and see a high engagement across those posts. That’s why it’s important to set yourself a regular posting schedule and stick to it as much as possible. You don’t want to be spamming people with several images a day, but posting high-quality images will help you create a habit. It’s not uncommon for big accounts (over 100k+) to post up to three times a day to maximize growth. If you don’t post for a few days, you’re compromising your account’s potential for organic growth. Sometimes not posting for a few days can even stop organic growth permanently, so if there’s anything to ensure you do to guarantee success with Instagram, it’s to be as consistent as possible.

Post at the right time

The new Instagram algorithm does most of its work during the first ten minutes of a post going live. Posts are only seen by a small section of your followers at first, and the more engagement a post receives within this time, the more it will be pushed out to the rest of your followers. The more likes and comments a post receives, the higher the likelihood Instagram will promote it to its “explore” page – which is where people go to actively look for new accounts to follow. The timing of your posts is just as important, so try to time your daily post/s accordingly.

Editor’s pick: the best apps for free and real Instagram followers

13. Engage with your Instagram followers 

The best way to get your name out there on Instagram is by engaging.  Engaging with those in your niche or who are interested in your niche is even better!  If you show any interest in what they like to post, then maybe they will find interest in what you post as well.  You can engage with your followers by following them back, liking their posts, or commenting on their posts.

If you have limited time, you can focus on engaging with your most important clients on Instagram (your top 20% of customers bringing you most of your sales).

Your audience takes the time to engage with you, so you should do the same for them! When someone takes the time to comment on your images, reply to them!

You can spark a conversation, and even comment back on their photos, too. People will be more likely to comment on your images if they see you responding – it makes you seem approachable and friendly.

DO:

• Create a daily engagement target. For example like & comment on 10-15 images in your network/niche per day.

DON’T:

• Leave unmeaningful comments. When you leave an emoji with no context, “nice pic” or “pretty!” as a generic comment, you won’t spark any engagement. Instead, personalise your comments a little. It’ll encourage anyone reading your comment to click on your page!
• Like and reply to comments on your latest image & reply, or return the favour and comment on other people’s images

Influencers on TikTok are reading this year’s top 10 TikTok Marketing trends

12. Use Instagram analytics to figure out where and who to target

Business owners and some marketing managers focus their dollars, time and marketing resources on building social media audiences (aka SMA) and less time on converting these SMA. Yes, it is important to build a following base on Instagram but far more important should be to design measurable objectives and goals you want these following customer base to act on. Finding out who your customers are on Instagram is possibly the first and most important activity to start with. You can also use some of the best 10 social media analytics tools to find more about your leads from Instagram.

11. Add popular hashtags to your Instagram posts

You have up to 30 hashtags options when posting your creative Instagram photos. Make your photo relevant to your selected hashtags for maximum reach and engagement.

You might think that the more hashtags you use, the more galleries your Instagram posts will appear in. However, you gotta find a nice balance of trying to get reach vs not looking too spammy.

Publish posts with a different number of #hashtags and find which ones you get the most engagement, especially comments as “likes’ can be done by automated bots.

Each Instagram hashtag has its own “gallery”. Instagram users browse these galleries to see photos they are interested in. When searching for a specific hashtag, users can see three sections:

•  Related #hashtags.
• “Top Posts” gallery (nine images). Determined by how much engagement the image is getting. The most valuable engagement metrics Instagram take into account when selecting what images to showcase on “Top Posts” are the number of shares and the number of comments.
• “Most Recent” (endless scroll down)

If you are not sure what your top Industry #hashtags you can check out the below hashtag lists:

• The top 25 fitness hashtags on TikTok
  • The top 25 gym hashtags on Instagram
  • The top 25 yoga hashtags on Instagram
• The top 25 food hashtags on Instagram
  • The top healthy food hashtags on Instagram
  • The most popular vegan food hashtags on Instagram
• The top 25 New Year’s hashtags on Instagram
• The top 25 Travel hashtags on Instagram
• The top 25 Valentine’s Day hashtags on Instagram

Do:

Don’t:

• Use hashtags like #follow4follow, #like4like, etc – they don’t attract a relevant audience!
• Use generic and overused hashtags like #love, #sunset, etc unless they are directly relevant to your image/caption. While they may be relevant to your image, they’re widely used so you won’t stay at the top of the search for long!

Marketers are reading: How to write the best social media brief and template

10. Use a good Instagram auto likes bot

People will like and follow you if you also show you follow and like their Instagram images. With limited time, you will not be able to like thousands of images related to your category or business and even have time to follow people who are using hashtags related to your industry. The solution to this is to use one of the  best apps for free and real Instagram followers. You can set up the type of images you want the tool to like and the type of hashtags you want the tool to follow people –

Most views today: The best Instagram marketing tools

I will encourage you to keep away from people who sell you 1000 new Instagram followers for only $5 as they will bring only fake followers to your account. Remember that Instagram removes periodically fake followers so all your time, energy and budget on paying for fake followers will go to the rubbish bin! Instagram makes ongoing anti-spam improvements to its platform. As a result, Instagram will crack down on spammy activities and Instagram will temporarily block or ban activities like auto-commenting or auto-liking.

The big disadvantage of these services is that you will have to grant admin access to your Instagram in order for the script to work. As the bot makes “likes” to photos with the specific hashtags you have previously specified, users may realise you are just using an automated bot. These same bots could use your account to sell “likes” and followers.

Just in: Social media training for government agencies

9. User-generated content is key

Sometimes producing truly unique and creative content your customers will love can be difficult, not cheap and time-consuming. By encouraging fans to share content with your brand, you effectively crowdsource your content creation efforts. Not only your brand is getting a large volume of content, but USG can also provide highly engaging and authentic images. Your customers might find USG to be more engaging than branded posts and will almost certainly talk about being featured by an admired brand on their personal accounts.

How to activate Instagram UGC?

Start by sharing some of the most popular images from:

• Customers who are already following you and who like your images the most or comment the most. Use tools such as InsTrack App to quickly find top likers and/or top commenters and ghost followers (people watching your content but not following you).
• Customers who are posting images of your brand who are not following you.
• User evergreen hashtags and campaign hashtags so it is easier for you to aggregate photos from your customers.

Assign this task (re-gram one UGC photo – get approval from users, once a day and do this for 3 months and track results.

Marketers are using some of the best apps for free and real Instagram followers

8. Partner with popular influencers in your industry

A more valid and common approach to growing your Instagram following base is to partner and collaborate with a selected group of Instagram Influencers in your product/service category who will love/ be eager to visually storytell about your brand benefits, products and/or services.

For example, this fitness trainer got thousands of new Instagram followers after an influencer compared him to a tree. or this dad who is his daughter’s stylist and has been promoted by key influencers.

As they are influencers with a large amount of Instagram followers, your Instagram account will have a chance to receive new followers in a short time. Check out some of the best Influencer marketing platforms to find influencers for your next campaign.

If you do not have enough budget to use any of these tools, then I would suggest you try to spot popular and influencing Instagram accounts by using the Instagram Search functionality as per the image below:

• Using the “people” search functionality. See the attached screenshot example for a search related to “ballet” which will show up on some popular accounts. In this example, if your brand sells ballet shoes and/or accessories, you can search “ballet” on the Instagram Search tab and you will be prompted with popular accounts such as @balletzaida. You can start “mentioning” these influencers to see how they react to your brand images and potentially open up some interesting “partnership” conversations.
• Stalking your competitors’ accounts and watching what other accounts they are following. Brands will tend to follow only relevant highly influential accounts. They might/might not have direct collaborations in place.
• Doing specific advanced searches via Google Search to find popular Instagram accounts. If you are not sure how to use Google Search to spot Instagram influencers, you can contact us and we are happy to show you how via one of our on-site Instagram Marketing consulting sessions.

Tops tips when engaging Instagram influencers:

• Be real – Do not use any automated email that sounds too corporate
• Show that you are genuinely interested in her/his content
• Explain briefly why she/he will be such a great fit
• Confirm it is all about them and how the opportunity might fit their profile
• Be brief when talking about your potential influencer.
• Have a brief document and company information ready.
• Work in their schedule. Make it easy for them to work with your brand.
• Have fun
• Open to their ideas and creative input.
• Develop a long-term relationship and show you are interested in working long-term.

7. Benchmark your Instagram account against others in your industry

One way of improving your Instagram tactics is by looking at the top 10 most popular brands on Instagram. Once you sign up to IconoSquare you will be able to access this exclusive list.

6. Make your Instagram posts shoppable

The easier it is for people to buy from your Instagram the more new Instagram followers you will get as people will suggest your Instagram account to their friends and family. Make your Instagram shoppable so users can buy from your Instagram photos. Contact us! to show you a demo.

To find a list of these Instagram shoppable tools, please visit the best Instagram tools article.

5. Run a competition, contest or giveaway

People love to get something they have always wanted but have not had the chance to.

Think about what will make people enter your Instagram competition/contest and run a competition around it. Ensure the prize and method of entry are highly relevant to your brand mission so you get the right people to enter your competition and follow you.

As part of the competition terms and conditions, you can specify that people have to follow your Instagram account and keep it active to be a valid entry.

Instagram hashtags make it easy for you and your business to collect photos from your competition entrants around a certain topic or theme.

By engaging your fans with some of the top 25 most popular hashtags on TikTok, you can also unlock existing and new influencers for your next Instagram competitions and campaigns. To ensure competition entrants are using your competition hashtag, promote heavily your hashtag on your website, e-newsletter, display advertising and other social media channels.

Competition entrants will then be able to tap on the specific competition hashtag and see a page with the most recent photos shared publicly that were tagged with the same hashtag.

⭐️ Marketers are using some of the best Instagram competition/contest apps

Giveaway idea to get Instagram followers fast and free

This is another weekly task that can equate to bursts of followers.

Giveaways are a common marketing tool, especially with people who are part of brands/ambassadors.

However, even if you aren’t an ambassador or sponsored by a brand, you can still do a giveaway by purchasing something related to your niche and advertising it.

Make sure to add relevant hashtags and have high-quality images if you are targeting your followers. Usually asking them to tag their friends, or offering a reward to new followers, will give you bursts of activity.  Using some of Instagram’s new features, such as going “Live” can advertise your giveaway to your followers, giving you a greater opportunity to reach people.

• Find a product related to your niche as a reward
• Advertise it to your followers asking them to tag their friends
• Hashtag it and allow new followers to enter the giveaway

4. Become an ambassador for a popular brand on Instagram

If you are a freelancer, one woman/man business, VBA Visual brand ambassadors are real people chosen by Brand managers, National Marketing Managers or Chief Marketing Officers CMO’s of popular National or global brands to visually story tell and offer unique and creative imagery on the ground to assist specific Instagram marketing goals.

Brand ambassadors tend to be successful people in a specific field/topic/activity. Let’s say you are a successful athlete and you have been allowed to provide images to the Nike Instagram account. You are likely to generate extra followers through the promotion of your images via a national/global brand. Some photographers – for example – have become popular by providing images to NatGeo (National Geographic) or Tourism Australia which are popular Instagram accounts with a massive following.

How to become a brand ambassador?

• Tagging the brand on just highly relevant and unique photos you are posting. The rationale behind is to make them aware you exist. it might take months or a couple of years (depending on the quality of your visual storytelling) for them to contact you.
• Follow the brand’s decision-makers via LinkedIn, Quora or Twitter and meet them at industry events (fairs, expos). Once you get to know them and understand their social media challenges and goals you will be able to start pitching the idea of becoming one of their official Instagram visual ambassadors.
• Subscribe to some of the best influencer marketing platforms on the web such as TapInfluence and Piqora. You can also start building your PeerIndex profile; this way global and national brands can easily review your profile and amplify your potential and sign you up as a brand ambassador.

Marketers are using: The best social media strategy template

3. Chose the rights themes/topics that resonate with your followers

Choosing the topics or themes that resonate with your audience not only helps your Instagram success but also your social media marketing in general. The Nielsen Global Trust on Advertising Report offers interesting insights.

Social media managers are using: The best social media strategy plan template.

2. Use the #whp hashtag for extra reach

Each weekend, The Instagram WHP Challenge promotes a unique hashtag (usually #WHP[theme]), and a set of instructions. The challenge runs for a full weekend, after which the Instagram team chooses the best submissions.

These winning photos are then featured on the official Instagram account and the Instagram blog. Even if your entries never really get featured, it can place your account on Instagram’s radar which will hugely help your account visibility.

It can also connect you to the bigger Instagram community—the hardcore Instagrammers, photographers, and storytellers.

Do:

• Consider contributing to Instagram challenges, whether you get featured or not. For sure, just by using the #WHP hashtags, hardcore Instagram users around the world will already see you.
• You can find the latest Instagram Weekend Hashtag Project on their Official Instagram Blog.

Exclusive: The best Influencer Marketing platforms

1. Promote your Instagram account on other social media platforms 

Below is a well-curated post on Instagram promoting the Mayor of London’s Twitter account. Some of your Instagram followers may follow you on Twitter as soon as they know you have other different accounts.

Trending now: the best apps for free and real Instagram followers

Conclusion

The more followers you have on your Instagram account, the more chances to get extra comments, reshares, and tagging which makes it interactive for other users. However, your ultimate goal should be how you can translate your follower count into actual sales.

eDigital can help you conceptualise, plan, develop, run and optimise successful Instagram ad campaigns that generate leads and sales for your brand.

Our digital marketing services include:

• Strategic planning for social media and other digital marketing channels.
• Online advertising: Google Ads Search, Display, Re-marketing and social media ads.
• Training: social media marketing training and digital marketing training.
• SEO strategy, SEO content development and execution.
• Celebrity and influencer marketing campaign strategy.
• Branding. Logo creation, brand development and design of marketing materials.
• Consumer contests/competitions/giveaways.
• Email marketing. Dip sequence design and deployment.
• Conversion rate optimisation. Path to purchase analysis and optimisation.

Contact us today and start boosting your leads and sales.

Marketers are supporting us with their generous donations. Donate today and join 5k+ marketers receiving our e-newsletter.

Final note: Want to reduce customer acquisition costs and dependency on paid media? Our exclusive digital marketing strategy workshops will unmercifully review your marketing, help you build a marketing engine with channels and assets you own, stir your team’s thinking, bring new ideas for new conversion paths and boost customer lifetime value.

HOW TO GET INSTAGRAM FOLLOWERS FAST AND FREE IN 2025

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Considered one of the best marketing consultants in Sydney, Mau offers some of the best digital marketing strategy workshops and best social media training. Mau also loves football, design, music and art. Marketers are using Mau‘s popular Digital Marketing Plan and Social Media Plan templates

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