How I built a 80k + following on Instagram

Photo by Karsten Winegeart on Unsplash

Before I get into my story I want to set a few things straight, I am not claiming to make a butt load of money off Instagram. I did make money from this account, but only after selling the account. Also, the way I was able to grow my account took time and effort. If those two things are not interesting to you then I suggest you click off of my blog post.

Great! Now that we have that covered, let’s get started.

What sparked me to grow my Instagram account?

I had grown an account before but to a much lower number of followers. On my second page I started I decided to focus on a niche that I loved, muscle cars. Muscle cars have always been a passion of mine and I thought starting an Instagram page was a good way to find other cool muscle car videos to share with people.

How did I grow my Instagram account?

This is part of the article that you probably clicked to read. Truthfully, I used the follow-for-follow method to grow my account. Yes, it is a little spammy, but it worked and I had a great engagement. Here is a layout of the follow-for-follow method:

1. Identify your target audience: Determine the type of users you want to follow based on your niche, interests, or demographic.
2. Search for users: Use Instagram’s search function or third-party tools to find users that fit your target audience. You can search for users based on hashtags, location, interests, or followers of other users.
3. Follow users: Start following users that match your target audience. You can either follow them manually or use automation tools to follow a large number of users quickly.
4. Wait for follow-backs: After following other users, wait for them to follow you back. Some users will follow you back, while others won’t. This method is not always effective, and many users won’t follow you back.
5. Unfollow non-followers: Use Instagram’s unfollow function or third-party tools to unfollow users who don’t follow you back. This will keep your follower-to-following ratio in balance.

I used this method for the first 5k followers I attracted to my account. After that, I simply posted and waited for my post to hit the for you page (fyp). If you can get a post on the fyp then it’s like opening a hose to a pool.

Another thing I would say that significantly helped me grow my Instagram account is trying new features on Instagram. When I was growing my account Instagram was competing against TikTok. This led to Instagram developing Reels. The day that Reels was released I started to post them on my Instagram account. I had several Reels blow up in popularity. This attracted a lot more new followers to my account.

Finding content for Instagram

All of the content I posted to this Instagram account were from other people’s videos. I often used TikTok to find videos to share with my followers. Once I found a video worth sharing I would use a separate TikTok downloader to remove the watermark. I found that my videos would often do better without the TikTok watermark.

After uploading the videos to TikTok I would place relevant hashtags for each post. I would then wait until comments started to come in and I would often times reply to each comment. Although, there were often times that a post would blow up and I could not reply to each comment.

Did I make any money off of this Instagram account?

I did make some money from this Instagram account. I started by selling car products through my website and then I moved into advertising other car pages. There are many other ways to make money through Instagram, here is a short list of how to make money:

1. Sponsored posts: Brands and companies may pay you to post photos or videos that feature their products or services.
2. Affiliate marketing: You can promote products or services and earn a commission when someone makes a purchase through your unique affiliate link.
3. Sponsored stories: Similar to sponsored posts, brands and companies may pay you to create short videos or photos that appear as stories on your Instagram profile.
4. Product sales: If you have a product or service to sell, you can use Instagram as a platform to market and sell your offerings.
5. Influencer marketing: You can collaborate with brands to help promote their products or services to your followers.
6. Sponsored events: Brands and companies may sponsor events that you host or participate in, which can be an opportunity to earn money and gain exposure.
7. Brand ambassadorships: Some brands may offer you a long-term partnership to represent and promote their products or services.
8. Sell your own photography: If you’re a professional photographer, you can sell your photos to individuals or businesses looking for high-quality images.
9. Instagram coaching: You can offer coaching services to help others grow their Instagram accounts and reach a wider audience.
10. Sponsored giveaways: You can host giveaways sponsored by brands and companies, where you can earn a fee for promoting the giveaway to your followers.

In the end, I made most of my money from selling my branded account.

What I am doing now

Since selling my Instagram account I have been focusing on no-coding and starting my no-code blog to help others. I am not using my follow-for-follow method to grow my brand now but instead, I am writing a ton of blog posts. It may take me years to get where I am trying to be, but I will make it.