Learn how to monitor follower data using Instagram Insights and other third party tools, plus how to decipher follower demographics and gain increased follower growth fast.

Key Points:

• Tracking Followers With Instagram Insights

• Third-Party Tools

• How To Get More Followers On Instagram

• Frequently Asked Questions

Tracking Followers With Instagram Insights

The best method for tracking your Instagram follower growth is using Instagram's built-in Insights tool. This is available for free if you have a professional account either as a Business or a Creator, so it's worth swapping to a professional account if you currently are running a personal account.

Here's how to swap to a professional account:

Tap the three lines on the top right corner of your Instagram profile.

Scroll down to For Professionals and tap Account Type And Tools.

Tap Switch To Professional Account.

Follow the on-screen prompts depending on your account type.

Select either Creator or Business (either option will let you view insights).

Complete the on-screen prompts to finish set up.

Metrics To Pay Attention To

Once you have access to Insights you'll be able to see analytics on:

• the number of accounts reached
• accounts engaged
• your total followers and the percentage of follower growth
• profile activity
• post interactions
• follower details (such as top locations, age range, gender, and most active times)
• detailed insights on specific posts.

You can also get Insights on your Stories, Reels, and any other Instagram content you post.

If you want to track your follower growth specifically, the metrics you should be paying attention to are:

• Total followers, including follows and unfollows. This is the simplest metric, which will show you exactly how many followers you have, how many you've gained, and how many you may have lost. If you're focused on tracking follower count specifically, this is the main metric to keep an eye on.
  
  
• Profile activity (specifically profile visits), which can be helpful when it comes to determining whether or not the majority of people visiting your profile are actually following you. If you find that many people are visiting your profile but not actually following, you might need to adjust your content approach or the overall quality of your profile.
  
  
• Accounts engaged and whether or not these accounts are followers. If you're getting a lot of engagement from non-followers, that might mean that people are finding your content amusing in passing, but not worth sticking around for. You should do an audit of your Instagram content to figure out exactly what is preventing people from sticking around. This could be anything from posting inconsistent content types to not posting at consistent times, shifting tones, or perhaps users are getting a different impression of what your account has to offer based on individual posts.
  
  
• Follower details, including top locations that your followers are from, the age range and gender of your followers, and their most active times. This information can help you adjust your content strategy based on your current audience demographic.

To learn more about each of these metrics and what they mean, check out our in-depth guide to Instagram analytics here.

Third-Party Tools

Aside from Instagram's built-in analytics, there are a variety of third-party tools and sites out there that advertise the ability to track and monitor your Instagram follower growth and overall profile engagement.

Not all of these are necessary, however, so it's best to start with Instagram insights first to determine which specific metrics you need more information on before splurging on a paid service.

Below are some of the top third-party tools for tracking Instagram follower growth, including a summary of their key features as well as their general pricing points.

HypeAuditor

What It Does: Analyzes influencer accounts to determine whether or not they're worth partnering with for brand campaigns. Theoretically, you could use this to monitor your own account, but it might not be worth it depending on your budget. They do offer a variety of free tools for analyzing Instagram accounts, though.

Cost: They don't offer transparent pricing on their main services (you have to contact them), but they do have a variety of free tools available.

Iconosquare

What It Does: Allows you to schedule and manage your social media posts across different platforms. You can also get analytics within their dashboard to track your performance cross different platforms at the same time. The current platforms available include: Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.

Cost: Cheapest plan starts at $33 a month billed annually.

Later

What It Does: Analytics including demographic data, top locations, languages spoken, follower growth and growth rate, and hashtag analytics, among other things. They also offer a Best Time To Post tool and analytics for a Link In Bio page.

Cost: They offer a 14-day free trial, after which pricing begins at $16.67 per month, billed annually.

NapoleonCat

What It Does: Allows you to schedule posts to multiple accounts via their desktop tool. You can also manage and reply to comments and DMs, as well as managing hashtags and analytics.

Cost: They offer a 14-day trial, after which their standard plan starts at $79 a month.

NotJustAnalytics

What It Does: Allows you to analyze your own profile and gives you tips on how to enhance it, but for a higher price, you can analyze additional profiles and analyze your competition.

Cost: They offer a free test after which their lowest tier starts at $7.50 a month.

SnoopReport

What It Does: Shows you what other users have liked, who they follow, and who they unfollow all on Instagram.

Cost: $0.99 per week.

SocialBlade

What It Does: Allows you to track a profiles follower and following account, total media count, engagement rate, average likes, and average comments. There's also a live follower account showing the daily follows and unfollows, as well as the profile’s overall rank on the platform.

Cost: Free with ads. The lowest paid plan is $4.99 a month.

Sprout Social

What It Does: A social media management tool that allows you to plan and schedule content, engage with people, and analyze your profiles. More powerful than just an analytics tool.

Cost: They offer a free trial, after which the standard plan is $199 a month.

How To Get More Followers On Instagram

Now that you know how to analyze and track your Instagram follower account, you might be interested in gaining more followers. There are a few methods for doing this, some easier and more effective than others.

Strategic Posting

The basic method for increasing your follower account is to post strategically. This means keeping track of when your current followers or target audience is most active on the platform and posting high-quality content during that time. 

It also means diversifying your content types, like posting regular photo and video posts, sharing Instagram Stories, going live, and posting video content on Reels. 

Keyword research is also important, so check out our guide to using hashtags on Instagram here.

Follow/Unfollow

Another common method to growing your Instagram follower account is to follow, and then unfollow accounts within your niche. This can be effective and many users find that if done correctly they can keep up to 1/4 of the accounts that they follow and then unfollow. 

However, this method is best used in moderation as it can put your account at risk of being flagged for spam behavior. 

The biggest benefit to this method is that you get the attention of people on the platform who are more likely to enjoy your content because they're within the same niche.

Follow Trains

Follow trains are another method best used in moderation. With a follow train, you'd keep an eye on a dedicated follow train account that posts content regularly. You'll then be prompted to like and or comment on the post, and then follow every user who did the same. Because every other user is prompted to do the same thing, you'll receive dozens if not hundreds of followers, simply by engaging with a single post.

The problem with this is that most of the accounts that follow your content don't necessarily like your content, and they won't engage with it.

You might also find that a large number of users will eventually unfollow you which means you'll be stuck following dozens of accounts that you don't really care about, while your own follower count decreases.

Many users also find it suspicious when an account has a 1:1 follower to following ratio, since this is the biggest indicator that the profile is using follow trains, and that the followers are not genuine. If you want to eventually get brand deals and sponsorships, or if you don’t want your feed flooded with irrelevant content, this method should probably be avoided.

Buying Instagram Followers

Buying Instagram followers is a great way to boost your follower account without having to worry about manually following irrelevant accounts. To do this, you pay a small amount (usually just a few cents) to gain a certain number of followers on the profile of your choice. All you need to do is provide the public link to your profile, and input your desired quantity. Your followers will then be delivered directly to your account, all from real Instagram users who have active profiles on the platform.

This is especially convenient if you're trying to get the attention of brands for sponsorships, or if you want to increase the chances of your content appearing on the Explore page.

Profiles that have higher follower accounts are usually deemed as high value by the Instagram algorithm. It's also a great way to get the attention of perspective, followers, since a user visiting your profile will see a high follower account and assume that you have a history of posting high-quality content.

Paying For Influencer Promotions & Instagram Ads

If you have a larger budget, paying for Instagram ads or influencer promotions is another option. With these methods, you would pay a certain amount of money to boost one of your own Instagram posts as an ad on the platform. It would then appear in a priority location on users Instagram feeds.

With influencer promotions, you would pay an influencer of your choice to collaborate with you or promote your content on their own profile.

The downside to these methods, aside from cost, is that they don't always result in engagement or followers. While you do get exposure, you don't necessarily get the numbers to back it up.

Frequently Asked Questions