6 Ways to Get New Instagram Followers in 2026
Are you trying to get new followers in 2026? We understand. Given much greater competition than ever before, gaining new Instagram followers on your account can be challenging if you don’t know where to start.
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Are you trying to get new followers in 2026? We understand. Given much greater competition than ever before, gaining new followers on your account can be challenging if you don’t know where to start. Should you create videos every day? Should you engage with other users’ content as much as possible? Should you use more or fewer hashtags? Where to start at all?! First, take a breath. Everything will be fine, because we’re here for you. Second, keep reading, because we’re bringing you various ways to get new followers on Instagram in 2026.
Instagram Reels
The biggest way to grow on Instagram currently is to incorporate Instagram Reels into your strategy. Why? Because Instagram has stated that it’s no longer a photo-sharing app and that you need to incorporate videos into your content, otherwise you’ll fall behind.
Similar to TikTok, Instagram has a Reels channel where you can view Reels from all types of Instagram users. It’s one of the best ways to discover new people and reach people you would have never reached before.
How can you go viral on Reels?
Use trending and viral sounds. Sounds that are currently trending on Instagram will have the greatest impact for your content! When browsing Reels, click the music icon in the bottom left corner. There you’ll see how often the song has been used in videos, and you can save it for later. Viral and trending songs will ensure greater engagement, because Instagram pushes these videos similarly to TikTok!
Add captions! Just like you add captions to your Instagram story, add captions to Reels so that people who like to watch videos on social media with the sound off or who are deaf still understand what’s happening in the posted video.
Use hashtags and specific keywords that describe the video! When creating any content on Instagram, using very relevant and specific hashtags will increase interest in your content among a growing number of people. Similarly, Instagram now scans posts by keywords, so optimizing captions with specific keywords will help index your post and push it to the right people who will see your content.
Optimize Your Account
If you want to learn all the details about optimizing your account, we’ve created an entire blog that breaks down how to do it. However, account optimization is key when it comes to gaining new Instagram followers in 2026!
Recently, Instagram released a new update where English-speaking users in 6 countries can now search on Instagram using keywords. That’s why it’s incredibly important that you optimize your captions and Instagram bio!
Hashtags, hashtags, hashtags.
Just like using specific keywords and optimizing your bio and captions, it’s incredibly important to make sure you’re using the most relevant hashtags for indexing your posts.
Hashtags are still one of the most powerful tools on Instagram and should always be used. The more hashtags you use, the more people you’ll reach – but through meaningful, curated hashtags. How can you find them?
Start your free seven-day trial of Flick and we’ll help you find the best hashtags for your account – and we’ll even offer you suggested hashtags that will work with your account once you start saving and creating hashtags in Collections.
Cross-promotion and collaboration with others
When it comes to collaborating with others, really use Instagram’s Collab tool and cross-promote your Instagram! One of the newest features Instagram released is the Collab tool, where you (or another user!) can create a joint post that, once approved, will be shared on BOTH Instagram accounts. With this feature, your content will appear to both your followers and the followers of the person you collaborated with.
Win-win for everyone.
Post consistently
Although this may seem obvious, people definitely don’t take advantage of it often enough. When it comes to growing your account, consistent posting is key. When you post according to a schedule, people will start to see your content more and more, engage with it, and from there you can grow quite a bit thanks to this consistency.
Make sure you’re posting quality content (don’t just post something for the sake of posting!), and you’ll see your followers grow massively!
Host a giveaway
If you’re looking for a quick and easy way to gain new followers, hosting giveaways on Instagram is one of the best ways to do it.
When creating a giveaway, don’t forget to provide very specific instructions and rules that you outline to ensure that people will follow you in order to participate. This will be the best way to increase your followers!
Another great thing you can do is collaborate with another Instagram user on your giveaway.
How to get new Instagram followers?
Michal Záruba is a digital marketing specialist and a consultant in social media and SEO. For more than 8 years, Michal has been helping brands grow online through strategic content, search engine optimisation and effective communication on platforms such as LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube.
On the blog, Michal shares practical tips on how to combine SEO, social media and brand building into one working strategy, focusing on how companies can use modern tools and algorithms so that their brand gains not only reach but also trust.
Alongside creating content, Michal lectures on digital marketing, trains teams and follows new trends in AI and search.