Despite all the good and bad that social media give us, an undoubted perk of these platforms is the ability to connect with people we never knew we could possibly connect with.
Instagram allows you not only to share your photos and videos, connect with friends but also follow your favourite celebrities and DM them. And sometimes, celebs might even follow you back.
Having a celebrity follow you on Instagram can increase your social media presence and provide a feeling of social validation. What's more, new Instagram content recommendation algorithms let you organically discover content liked by people who you follow, so if a celebrity likes your content, there's a big chance their large followership will also discover your post.
In this article, we'll explore three steps that you can take make your favourite celebrity hit that follow button.
3 Steps to Get a Celebrity Follow You on Instagram
To increase your chances of getting noticed by a famous person on Instagram, follow these simple steps.
Step 1. Identify the Right Celebrities
The first step to getting a celebrity to follow you on Instagram is to find the right celebrities and understand the type of ones you want to attract. So if you're a fashion blogger, you might want to target fashion icons. Once you've identified your perfect celebrity, start searching for them on Instagram.
To find them on Instagram, use keywords that are relevant to your interests: Instagram allows you to search for keywords using the search bar on top of the app. You can also use old but gold hashtags relevant to your account and location tags if you're interested in celebrities from your local area.
Combin Growth is a tool that can do the job automatically. Just install it on your PC or Mac, log in to your Instagram account, and start searching for the right celebrities.
Here's how to find the right celebrities with Combin Growth 👇
🟣 Searching popular Instagram posts by relevant hashtags and locations
Open the Search tab, pick posts search, type in hashtags/locations relevant to your business, specifying the post date and search results number. Sort the results by number of likes/comments, look up the posts uploaders’ profiles.
🟣 Searching popular posts’ authors by event hashtags
Open the Search tab, pick posts search, type in relevant event hashtag (such as #MetGala2023), specifying post date and search results number. After getting the results, sort them by number of likes/comments. Look through the hottest content and visit profiles of authors’ posts.
🟣 Searching by accounts’ bio
Open the Search tab, pick the users search, select search by bio. Type in a keyphrase the potential celebrity could have in their profile, depending on your business field and location (for example, ‘fashionista seattle’). Sort and filter the found accounts, hover the cursor over their profiles to see more information (bio text, their language and gender.)
💡Note that search by bio works the same way Instagram search does, so it doesn’t bring over 100 results and cannot be updated.
Step 2. Engage with the Celebrity
Once you've found the right people, it's time to engage with them. This includes liking and commenting on their content, tagging them in your posts, responding to their stories, and texting them in direct messages. Such actions show that you're interested in their content and increases the likelihood that they will follow you back.
💡 Tip: You can automatically like and comment on a bunch of posts of the celebrity with Combin Growth. Just select the posts you want to like or comment on, and the tool will do the rest.
Don't forget to be creative with the comments! Don't leave comments that consist of emojis or single words. Instead, tell funny stories, give advice and recommendations, as well as express decent support. Simply put, try to make your comments stand out from the dozens of others.
💡Tip: Let Instagram send you notifications when a celebrity shares something in the feed or stories (visit the celebrity's profile -> find the bell icon at the top right corner of their profile and tap on it -> check the content you'd like to get notified of, such as posts, stories, reels, or live streams), and be the first one (or among the first ones) to react.
You can also tag the celebrity in your posts: when you tag them, they receive a notification, which increases the likelihood of them viewing your account and following you back.
Another way is to create a celebrity's fan page. If you opt for this method, don't forget to clearly state in the bio that the profile isn't run by a celebrity themselves but a fan page with regular updates. If the page becomes popular enough, the celebrity will notice it, reshare content from it, and probably follow you back.
Step 3. Collaborate with the Celebrity
Another way to get a celebrity to follow you on Instagram after you attract their attention is to collaborate with them. You can reach out to the celebrity through a direct message or email and propose collaboration ideas. For instance, if you're a makeup artist, you can offer to do the celebrity's makeup for free in exchange for a follow on Instagram. Offering something of value to the celebrity increases your chances of getting a follow-back.
When proposing collaboration ideas, make sure that the idea is what the celebrity would love to get. Besides, be professional and courteous when reaching out to them, as well as patient and not bombard them with multiple messages.
The Bottom Line
Getting a celebrity to follow you on Instagram requires dedication, patience, and persistence. Remember, celebrities are people too, and they appreciate genuine interactions with their fans, so, it's crucial to be authentic and avoid coming across as fake or insincere.
In addition to the steps outlined above, it's essential to ensure that your Instagram profile is already optimised for engagement. This means having a clear profile picture, bio, and consistent branding across all your social media platforms. It's also crucial to keep your profile public, so celebrities can easily access your content.