Instagram 101: How to Break 1,000 Instagram Followers by Linking Your Other Social Media Accounts

I spent just about my entire weekend trying to break the 800, 900, and 1,000 levels of Instagram — because it's a game, y'all — by playing around with my follower count. I shamelessly manipulated my IG account in such a way that was extremely time consuming and left many of my friends pretty pissed off at me as I spent most of my time glued to my phone. (Sorry, friends. I know I'm obsessed.)

Although, through this "research," I found that one of the easiest ways to break 1,000 followers is to link your Facebook and other social media accounts to your Instagram.

This alerts your friends, your family, and those random people with weird names in your phone that "I'm on Instagram and I want you to check me out." Then, like magic, many more followers start to come your way.

I don't know about you, but I'm always hesitant to link my other social accounts because sometimes I like to post photos that aren't exactly images I want floating around to people who may ... judge ... But I usually just suck this up when I start to realize that my 300 followers aren't going to cut it anymore.

So I link it all up, get more followers, and I'm happy. Here's what you need to know.

Step 1: Link Facebook & Other Accounts

If you're using an iPhone, go to your Instagram profile and tap on the geared options icon under your follower count. If you're using an Android device, tap on the three dots at the top right corner of your profile page.

Scroll down until you see "Linked Accounts" under Settings and tap on it. This is where you will find a list of account options to link up.

For instance, if you tap on "Facebook," you will be presented with the option to log in through the Facebook app. Enter your Facebook email and password, then authorize Instagram. Do this with Twitter and any other accounts where you have a pretty good following, too.

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Step 2: Connect Your Contacts

After linking up your social media accounts to your Instagram, connect your contacts. These are all the saved numbers that hang out on your phone. They also make for a good way to increase your follower count.

Under "Linked Accounts" on the Options page, you'll see "Contacts." Tap on it, then turn "Connect Contacts" on.

Step 3: Follow Everyone

This is the part where you see those 30 people you now follow increase to the hundreds or maybe even thousands. That's totally fine. Breathe. Let it all happen and worry about unfollowing all those people later.

So you linked up your Facebook account? Perfect. Go back to your Instagram options. At the top, you'll see Follow People, so tap on "Facebook Friends" right below it.

Any guesses to what you're going to do now? Mhm. That's right. Tap on that "Follow All" button.

Sometimes Instagram can be a little wonky when it comes to the "Follow All" button. The app likes to restrict how many people you can follow or unfollow at any given time. If it's not letting you follow everyone you are connected with, then repeat this hack every hour until you see the number of people you are following match the number of social media accounts you are connected with.

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After following everyone on Facebook, go back to Follow People and do the same for the rest of the accounts and your contacts that you linked up. Wait a day, then add up how many new followers you won.

Pro Tip: Repeat this trick every time you post something new to not only to increase your follower count but also to generate more likes on your most recent posts.

After using this hack, how many new followers did you get?

Follow me on Instagram @b3t.tina to see how I'm currently using these tips and tricks on my own profile page.

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Cover image, screenshots, and .gifs by Bettina Mangiaracina/Gadget Hacks