How to Get 1000 Followers On Instagram (Artists)

Wish you knew how to get 1000 followers on Instagram?

But you’re not sure how to build your audience with social media marketing for artists? Do you dream of having fans for your work, but don’t know how to get them? But you don’t know where to start, where to go, or if it’s even possible? Maybe you’ve been trying to do it for awhile now and gotten nowhere fast.

Fear not! 😤 I’m here to set you straight!

You see, for the past decade I’ve made my living doing online business as an artist. I’ve grown communities of thousands multiple times for different projects over the years, and I’ve learned a lot about the best actions and tactics for growth. Receipts: substack (2.1k), patreon (1.6k), instagram (1.5k) [followings as of May 16 2026]

Lucky for you, there is a blueprint you can follow. Growing a follow isn’t actually that random. You just need to know what to do. And I’m going to share that blueprint with you.

Below are the exact steps I would take if I started a brand new art project today and wanted to gain 1000 followers.

Step 1 – Believe You Can Do It

The hardest part of any journey is taking that first step.

It’s such an abyss of uncertainty in front of you, right? I know it’s scary. I know there are endless doubts and fears in your head. But, trust me, I promise you if you stay consistent, believe you can do it, and keep going that your victory is inevitable.

Want that 4 figure following? You want to know how to get 1000 followers on Instagram? Then right now decide you are worth following. KNOW you are a worth following!

It’s no more complicated than deciding you were going on a hike.

You know where you’re going – the top of the mountain. You know you’ll get there – going up the trail. It might be hard climb in some spots, and your legs may burn, but the only thing between where you are and the top of that mountain is moving your feet over and over towards your goal.

Getting a following is no different.

Actions:

• Look in the mirror
• Point at your reflection
• Wink and say “I’ll see you at the finish line, beautiful” 😘
• (optional) Kiss the mirror – no tongue, you psycho

Step 2 – Start An Account

You can’t get follows if you don’t have an account!

The most important thing is consistency, so don’t fall prey to using multiple platforms. Pick one. Stay there until you hit at least 1000 followers. You can use more platforms later, but right now it’s important you just learn how social media works.

By only picking one platform it’s easier to micromanage growth at the beginning, and it’s quicker to grow on other platforms if you already have an established following on one platform.

Don’t obsess over your profile yet, k? We’ll get there.

Actions:

• Open Instagram
• Make an account (if you don’t have one)
• Don’t make your profile just yet (or change your existing one)

Note: This strategy works for any short form platform including X or bluesky. I just picked Instagram because that’s where most artists are. Whatever you pick just stick with it.

Step 3 – Pick a Community

Having a niche makes it 10x easier to grow if you’re a new or struggling to grow account.

A niche is a community who have a shared interest. For instance, it can be people who like Miku Hatsune cosplaying, furries, DnD character designs, OCs, fan art thirst traps, art tutorials, design, teaching art, poetry, music covers, WWII uniforms etc etc etc.

You don’t have to stick to this niche forever, but you get way more traction at the start if you make things for a certain community. Pick something you are either good at or love to do – the ideal would be both.

Your niche shouldn’t be too specific or broad, just a general community.

The only important guideline is whatever you pick, make sure there are other creators with reasonable followings. This shows there are people who want that content. It shows the community has people in it.

Say all you wanna draw is Hanna Barbera OCs, but nobody else wants to see it…then you’re gonna have a hard time getting attention. You know what I mean?

Actions:

• Write down some communities you’d love to create for
• Look at big creators in that community
• Pick a community with at least 5 other creators who have 5-10k+ followings

Step 4 – Find Some “Mentors”

Now go into the niche you picked and find out what success looks like.

Successful accounts tend to have certain patterns. You need to figure out those patterns by looking at others (in your community) who have figured out how to get 1000 followers on Instagram.

How? Find a few accounts in your niche you really resonate with. They should make content you like that have established audience success. They should represent what you want to achieve one day. Think 10k+ accounts with at least 100 to 1000 likes a post. That’s a ~successful~ account.

Bonus points if the accounts you find are creating at a skill level similar to yours.

Study everything about them.

Study how they post, what they post, their content strategies, the design of their profile etc. There IS a formula for success. You can fight it, you can use it as your starting draft.

Write down what they are doing right and mimic it. You can add your own spin to the formula over time. Because be honest, you have no idea how to run a winning page at the moment.

And that’s ok! That’s what we’re working on.

For instance, say you picked the niche of thirst-trap fan art (you dog 😏). You look at a bunch of profiles and compare the common things between them.

Your notes might look like: “tend to have a lot of blue in the art, all have smiling anime girl faces as their pfp, post 2-3 carousels of finished art a week (lots of WIP pencil sketches in carousel), lots of characters doing yoga poses or in gym wear”.

See how from that you now have the framework for a winning strategy? Don’t worry. You don’t have to stick to this strategy forever. For now you’re taking all the thinking out of running a social media account – so you can focus on making learning the content game.

Actions:

• Find 5 accounts you want to be like one day in your chosen community.
• Write down all the details of their accounts
• Find the similarities between them
• Use the similarities for your content creation and posting strategy
• Design your initial profile based on what works

Step 5 – Start Creating

You’re ready to start! So get making.

By this point you have a profile, know who you are going to make content for, and know what successful accounts are doing.

I can’t say it any simpler. Whatever the general strategy was for your “mentor” accounts – follow that, then go make content consistently following their patterns.

I don’t care if you think your art is bad, get mean comments, or your friends think it’s stupid, OR WHATEVER! Ignore the noise. Go make things. Now! Every day! My first art project? I posted for a year straight and got my highest month was 100 views. It bombed.

Now? I can get 1000 follows no problem. I’ve made art for international brands like Lindt, been paid to create by hundreds of clients, gotten millions of views on my work, and helped thousands of artists with my tools and systems.

I know it’s gonna suck at first. It’s gonna feel like you’re getting 0 attention, that your work sucks, that no one cares, and that you’ll never feel love again. But that will change. Just keep doing it everyday and it will change. I 1000% promise.

Actions:

• Apply the content strategy of your “mentors”
• Stay consistent, following the strategy
• Keep going. Decide you’re going to do at least 100 posts following their strategy.

Content Split Note: Personally I’d aim for 80% of my content to be community specific and only 20% art that feeds my soul. Over time you can shift these ratios, but the hard truth is most people don’t care about your personal art right away. They only care once you have a big enough following and you’ve develop your skill and style. Then your art will be “validated” – at this point it becomes much easier to just make and sell your own art. So for now, focus on the community. It’s you get your foot in the door.

Skill Note: Technical skill isn’t as important as you think it is. It’s more about how you position and use your current skill level than being technically amazing. If you don’t believe me look at the original comic of One Punch Man. The art is terrible, but the story and concept were great. Now its an anime and manga with millions of copies sold.

Step 6 – Engage and Immerse

Now it’s time to start getting eyeballs on your stuff.

You can’t build a following if no one sees your stuff. The best way if you’re new? Get social. The more you engage the more people engage with you. Being social is probably the most neglected piece of how to get 1000 followers on Instagram.

Find, follow, and talk to other people in your niche i.e. other successful accounts, people who follow those accounts, and people who comment on those accounts. Start making your presence known in the community.

DM people every day in your community with the goal of just making friends.

You can talk to other creators, fans, and other people’s fans. Say hi, ask what they are up to, ask if they need help with anything, what hobbies they keep, what they like to draw, etc. You just want to make connections. If they don’t wanna talk, whatever. That’s cool too – ghosts make bad friends anyway.

And don’t do anything needy like ask for follows, commissions, or likes. Your only goal is make a friend, that’s it.

Who to DM?

• Other creators – target accounts under 1k follows at first
• Every person who likes, follows, or comments on your account or content
• People within your niche (fans or creators)

You should also leave comments on content from creators in the community. The more interesting or fun your comments, generally, the more people will interact with you. If you’re not sure what to do, a compliment and a question for the creator about the piece is always reliable.

Actions:

• Respond to every comment you get
• DM at least 3 people a day
• Comment on other’s content in your niche at 5-10 times a day
• Like everything you like – don’t be stingy with positivity

Wrap-Up on How to Get 1000 Followers On Instagram

At this point that is the formula for how to get 1000 followers on instagram – as an artist.

It’s the exact same one I’ve used to break 1k follows like 6 times now (works on different platforms too). You just repeat steps 5 and 6 until you win. You could use this strategy for the rest of your social career if you wanted (it’ll work to 10k too).

That’s it. Simple right? I know. I know. People make this so much more complicated than it needs to be.

It’s literally:

• Make an account
• Pick a niche to get your foot in the door
• Look at what works in the niche
• Mimic what works
• Create and schedule content
• Engage every day
• Watch the followers show up
• Then keep creating for the niche or transition into your own art

Just keep making, posting, and engaging with a strategy. And you WILL grow. I promise 🙏

Peace and love,
Brosatsu

P.S. Want more on this? I’ve got a book on the whole process in depth. Check it out here.