Instagram follower milestones and “rewards”
The goal of 10,000 followers is widely talked about, we all want the coveted ‘swipe up’ feature. Did you know about the other Instagram follower milestones? I’m breaking down all the important follower milestones so you can take full advantage of all the resources you have access to in order to build your business on Instagram!
100 Followers
This milestone doesn’t get talked about enough. In my opinion, it’s the more impactful benefit you can get on Instagram. Once you reach 100 followers, Instagram unlocks Insights data specific for your audience. You see a follow/unfollow chart, a breakdown of your audience by location, age, gender, and, most importantly, the times when your audience is most online.
Once you reach 100 followers, use the “most online” data to pick the best times to post your content. You can filter by days of the week and hours. Post when your audience is most online so you reach more people with each post.
500 Followers
Ok, this one isn’t talked about at all, and while an increasing follower count is a good sign, the benefits of reaching 500 followers is only ‘ok’. If you are still working on getting to 500 followers and have been including hashtags in your Instagram stories, I’m about to save you a whole bunch of time! Instagram doesn’t show your stories to anyone other than your followers, if you have under 500 followers. If you thought taking the time to include hashtags in your stories was worth it, I’m here to confirm, it is not.
Apparently Instagram begins to show your stories to new eyes based on hashtags once you reach 500 followers but, here’s the thing... stories don’t show up on hashtag pages or anywhere else. My recommendation is if you are including hashtags in your stories make sure to check your Insights data regularly. If you aren’t getting the benefits you are looking for, try nixing the story hashtags and putting that energy into something else.
1,000 Followers
Did you know the swipe up link in stories isn’t just for 10,000 followers. When you reach 1,000 you get a ‘swipe-up light’. If you have reached this milestone, check it out, you can add a swipe up link to your IGTV videos. That means that if you record an IGTV or Instagram Live, you can drive more traffic to it directly from your stories.
10,000 Followers
Here it is, the biggest goal I hear. The link sticker is popular on Instagram, and once you reach 10,000 followers you are able to add a link to any website in your stories. I get it, Instagram makes us feel like getting the ‘link sticker’ is the only good way to market your business, and that’s why it’s such a common goal. However, there are many other great ways to market your business on Instagram that don’t get enough play.
[update Aug 2022]
The Instagram link sticker is available to ALL business and creator accounts on IG regardless of follower count.
There are no longer any publicly announced ‘rewards’ for the 10K follower milestone. Instagram has tried to reduce the focus on number of followers in favour of true engagement on content. In addition, Instagram is also working to focus more recommendations on small accounts, which is good news for any new business starting out!
Stay tuned on my blog in the next little while, I’ve got a new post planned all about under used engagement tricks that will help you grow and market your business like a pro.