Your Account

 1

Consider choosing a theme for your account. The accounts which tend to get the most followers are generally those which stick with a particular theme. Accounts posting just about your life (a "personal") won't gain much unless you have a particularly interesting account. Consider finding a theme more people could relate to.

This is because the people who follow your account know that they are guaranteed to see pictures of things they are genuinely interested in, rather than a bunch of weird or random pictures.

So if there's something you have a passion for, consider using it as a theme for your Instagram account. Some popular themes include food, fitness, animals, photography, fashion and inspiring quotes.

Of course, you don't have to pick a theme. Some accounts are popular precisely because they post cool pictures of weird and random things. So if you have an eye for a good shot, you can take cool pictures that people will appreciate, regardless of the subject matter.

You should also be aware that it's possible to have more than one Instagram account - so if you want, you could use one account for your personal pictures and one for exclusively posting pictures of your dog, or whatever.

 2
Pick a good username and profile pic. Your username and profile pic are the second thing you need to decide on when creating an account.
Make sure that your username and profile pic are relevant to the theme of your account, as this will give your followers a good idea of what to expect from your account before they even visit your page.
For example, if your account is about fitness you could use a picture of yourself in your workout gear, or if it's about architecture you could use an artsy picture of your favorite building.
If your account is just about you and your life, take a good selfie which perfectly sums up your personality - maybe you're wearing Mickey Mouse ears or crossing your eyes. No matter what, you should make sure to use a photo that you're audience will connect with.
The same goes for your username - make it relevant to the content of your account. Also try to avoid having too many underscores or x's in there , as it can make your account look spammy.

 3

Fill in the bio section. Don't leave your bio empty - it's another important tool your potential followers will use when deciding whether to follow you or not.

Again, make it relevant to your account by telling users what they can expect. For example: "Beauty Junkie. Expect pictures of fun fashion, hair, nails and makeup".

Or you can just make it a quick snapshot of your personality, for example "Chronic Giggler", "Coffee Fiend" or "Fitness Fanatic".

You can also use your bio to advertise some of your favorite tags such as #Follow4Follow (more on that later) or shout out for shout out or your own personal hashtag - like a nickname or phrase that sums you up, and which you tend to include on all your pictures.

For example, if your name is Steve and you like to post party pictures, you might start using #partyboysteve as your own personal hashtag. If you're lucky, it might just catch on with your friends and followers!

 4

Find friends to follow. Now that your account is set up, you'll need to find some friends and other users to follow!

Go to the settings section of your user page and tap on the "Find People to Follow" option. Here you can import friends from your Facebook page and phone contacts.

This is a good idea as it will connect you with people you already know, who are more likely to follow you back. If you have lots of Facebook friends, this could help you to get your first hundred followers with almost no effort at all!

Next, tap on the "Instagram Suggested" option. This will give you suggestions on who to follow, based on the popularity of the featured accounts. Choose a few with content you like. You can also go to the "Explore" section and find people to follow using hashtags and usernames - this is the best way to find celebrity accounts to follow!

Remember that your want to have a lot more people in the "Followers" tally than you do in "Following" one. If you are following too many people it can clog your news feed and you might miss the pictures you're really interested in.

In addition, people like to follow people who have lots of followers already - so if they see you are following tons of people but are followed by hardly any yourself, they may be discouraged from following you

5

Sync your Instagram account with other social networks. If you are an avid user of multiple social networks, then it's a good idea to sync your Instagram account with as many of them as possible.

This means that every time you post a picture on Instagram, it will also appear on your other accounts. This will provide a wider audience for your pictures and increase your potential for gaining new followers.

Go to the settings page on your Instagram account and tap on "Sharing Settings". This will bring up a list of the social networks you can link up with - including Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Tumblr and Flickr.

Tick the box beside each of the social networks you wish to sync with your Instagram account. You will be prompted to enter your username and password for each of them. Congratulations - your accounts are now synced!

Note that you can undo this at any time - all you need to do is uncheck the boxes.