Still stuck under 10,000 followers? These 12 Instagram mistakes might be quietly holding your account back.

Let’s talk about Instagram mistakes that could be holding back your growth.

If you’ve been posting on Instagram consistently and you feel like you’re doing all the things you’re supposed to do, but you’re still stuck under 10,000 followers (or even 1,000 followers)…. Then this post is for you. 

You see, you might be making a few detrimental Instagram mistakes that are silently killing your growth and keeping your posts from ever reaching new people. I see this all the time with my BSP students who are trying to grow their personal brands. But here’s the thing, the moment my students fix just one or two of these things, their reach finally starts taking off! Sometimes, quite literally, overnight. 

So in this blog post, I’m going to cover the 12 Instagram mistakes that are keeping your account stuck under 10,000 followers. And stick around because the final mistake is actually the number one reason why some creators never hit that 10k milestone. 

As always, if you’d rather watch instead, click the video below. Now, let’s jump in.

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12 Instagram Mistakes Keeping You Stuck Under 10,000 Followers

1. Not Knowing Your Unique Edge

Not knowing your unique edge is one of the biggest Instagram mistakes that is keeping you under 10,000 followers, and when you get this right, it can change everything for you. Honestly, if you only take one thing away from this post, let it be this one. When you prioritize your unique edge, it becomes the foundation of your personal social media success. 

I see this mistake all the time when I’m doing account audits for my students. And it’s easy to spot. If I open your profile and can’t tell within 3-5 seconds why someone should follow you, that’s your problem. 

Let’s take a look at an example of this. 

Emma | Lifestyle Creator & Tips

Content creator sharing life and social media tips 🌿

Small biz owner ✨ Building my dream life one post at a time 💭

Would you follow that person? Was there an immediate pull for your reaction to be “oh my gosh, I need that”? No?

How about this profile?

Emma | Social Media Strategist

Helping new creators hit 10K on Instagram in just 30 days🌿

Your free 30-Day Growth Plan 👇

Would you be more likely to follow that person? Probably. 

Even if you said no, you probably have a clear reason why you don’t want to. Here’s the thing, you want to create that immediate ‘yes or no’ effect when someone lands on your profile. 

And the way that you can easily do that is by knowing your unique edge. Your unique edge is going to be a simple one-liner that you put in your bio to convince your target audience to follow you and to stand out from everyone else in your niche. 

In order to identify what your unique edge is, you need to answer these questions: 

1. What do you want to be known for online?
2. Who are you creating for?
3. What can you help someone with in the next 30 days?

Then, with your answers, you can use Mad Libs and plug in any one of these formulas: 

• “Helping [who] [achieve what] in [timeframe].”
• “[Adjective] [topic] for [specific person].”
• “[Result] without [common pain point].”

 Let’s walk through another example together. This time, I want to look at the wellness niche. I have a lot of students who join my course that want to talk about wellness. This niche is great, but it’s super broad and highly competitive, so you really have to know how you want to stand out. 

Here’s an example of someone without a unique edge: 

Samantha | Wellness & Mindset 🌿

Sharing healthy habits and daily positivity ✨

Helping you become your best self every day 💫

And again, with that unique edge:

Samantha | Wellness Coach

Helping busy women reduce stress & boost energy🌿

Start your 30-day Energy Reset  👇

And it doesn’t have to be 30 days. Here are some other examples:

• Helping you build your art business in 100 days.
• Simple 30-minute meals with 10 ingredients or less
• Declutter your home with just 15 minutes each day 🧺
• Outfit formulas for women who ‘have nothing to wear’ 👗

2. Not using SEO

If your brain just switched off, or you immediately thought of scrolling to the next Instagram mistakes that are keeping you under 10,000 followers, I get it. SEO is one of those phrases that just makes people switch off, I know that, because it used to make me switch off. Especially when I was just getting started growing on Instagram. I’d think, I’m not a blogger, I don’t need ‘SEO’. 

And here’s the thing, 10 years ago, SEO was probably a lot more complicated and it didn’t even come into play on Instagram. In 2026 though, SEO is dang easy and super important on all social media platforms. So let’s do a quick dive into Instagram SEO, because this is actually a great way to increase your reach. 

If you want to take a deep dive into Instagram SEO, I have a full guide on that topic which you can read here. 

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. And the only thing you need to worry about with SEO is this: How can you show up on Instagram search? That’s the only question that matters when it comes to SEO. 

You can do that by reverse engineering what your audience is searching for on Instagram. Instagram analyzes your profile and every piece of content that you create to help their users find what they’re looking for. That means SEO comes into play in these places:

• Nameplate (the most searchable thing on all of Instagram)
• Captions
• Hashtags
• Reels Text (yes, even the text that pops up on your reels!)

These are all chances for you to show up in front of your ideal audience. You’re just trying to read the minds of your ideal audience, so that you can show up in their search results. That’s SEO. 

And the way that you’re going to reach your audience through SEO is by focusing on using the right keywords. ‘Keywords’ and ‘SEO’ are always talked about together, because they go hand in hand. Keywords are the words, phrases, and the questions that your audience is searching for. 

Think about this in every piece of content. For example, if you’re a tattoo artist who specializes in fine line tattoos in San Diego, those are all going to be your keywords: Tattoo artist, fine line tattoos, San Diego Tattoo Artist, Dainty tattoos; this list can go on and on. 

If you want a video deep dive into Instagram SEO, make sure to watch this video next. Now, the third of these Instagram mistakes that are keeping you under 10,000 followers is…

3. You’re Creating for Yourself, Not Your Viewers

I’ve seen this new trend of “selfish content” vs “selfless content” as a teaching strategy over on TikTok, but this isn’t a new strategy. It’s actually just a classic marketing technique that’s been around for decades, and it’s something that I’ve been talking about for a few years now. 

I do want to talk about this Instagram mistake as delicately as possible. I don’t want to say that you can’t create what you want to create. That’s not what I’m trying to say here. I think people lean so far into creating what they want to create each day, that they forget that there can be strategy in planning ahead and creating for others. 

I actually did a 108 day experiment on TikTok, where I posted everyday, but my only strategy was to post whatever I wanted every day. Over the course of 108 days… I barely grew my followers at all. There were some days where I would only get 1-2 new followers. 

And chances are, if you’re here, you’d like to grow faster than that. If you want to grow more quickly online, then it’s time to put that strategy aside, and instead focus on: 

• How can I show up for my audience today?
• What do they need today?

One way to go about this is by flipping your content, so it’s focused on the viewer, instead of you. Here’s a very simple way that you can do this. Say you’re scripting a video about your favorite salad. 

In the past, you might have said something like, “This is my favorite salad. I love adding kale and butternut squash…” but when you put your audience first, you might say something like, “If you’re looking for the perfect summer salad, then you’re going to love this kale and butternut squash recipe.” 

You lean into the result and the psychology behind talking about YOUR audience instead of you. Take some time to plan ahead and post with intention. Do your research and find out why your unique edge is exactly what your audience is searching for. 

Post for THEM, not for you.  

 4. Not Using CTA’s 

CTA stands for ‘Call to Action’ and it’s what you tell your audience to do next after consuming your content. This is something so simple and powerful that too many creators overlook, because they don’t want to sound too cringey, too salesy, or they just forget. 

But the truth is, if your post gets zero traction, it might not be because people are ignoring it. It could be because you’re not giving them a reason to engage. This is one of the easiest Instagram mistakes to fix!

Imagine every piece of content you create, communicating a next step to the viewer. When you do this, you’re creating an endless snowball effect of increased engagement and followers. Because once someone starts binging your content and they keep hearing those verbal reminders to comment, like, share, or follow, they are more likely to take action on those things, only triggering the algorithm to boost you and your content even more. 

Here are some CTA’s to implement: 

• If your goal is to increase followers, use a “Follow CTA” 
• If you want more reach, use a ‘Share’ or ‘Tag’ CTA
• If you want to increase the chances of a reel going viral or getting the most engagement, use a Comment CTA. 

My personal favorite CTA is a comment call to action. I do this on almost every single one of my posts. It can be as simple as asking a question that you want somebody to answer in the comments, like: “What’s your favorite podcast?” Let me know in the comments. 

Or, if you want to take that idea of a comment CTA and make it even more powerful, you would set up an automation where when someone comments a specific word or phrase on your content, you will DM them a resource, or freebie, or link. 

You probably see this when creators say something like “Comment CHAT and I’ll DM you the link to _____”.

The reason so many creators do this is because:

1. It’s giving a clear call to action for something their follower can do right away 
2. It instantly delivers EXTRA value to the commenter
3. Because you’re encouraging comments, and you have an automation set up to reply to those comments, you’re getting more and more engagement on your post, which triggers the algorithm telling it, “Hey, this post is getting engagement. Let’s push it out to more people.”

The best way to do this is through Manychat.

Manychat CTA’s

Manychat is actually the sponsor of today’ s post and they’re not only one of my favorite companies to work with, they’re also one of the top tools that my team and I use every day. And I want to show you proof that this works. 

Here are two separate videos. Both are on the same topic and the same length. BUT this video got this amount of views and engagement, whereas this one got much more!

Why? 

This one had Comment to DM automations set up, so that it received WAY more comments and engagement, ultimately helping the video perform better overall.

I set all of this up through Manychat, which is also approved by Meta themselves so you can set up all automations with confidence that it won’t hurt engagement or reach. There are MANY functions that Manychat offers, but if you are someone who wants to try out ManyChat Pro for free for 30 days, use this link with code MODERNMILLIE, and you can start your free trial today.

5. Playing it Safe

Another of the Instagram mistakes that could be keeping you under 10,000 followers is playing it safe. Sometimes, I’ll have students reach out to me and say, “Millie, I’ve been posting consistently, but I’m not seeing any growth or traffic and I just can’t figure out why.” When I go in and look at their account, I notice that they are creating the same style of video over and over and over again. There is no variety in the content they’re creating. 

This always reminds me of the quote, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” You have to be willing to switch it up. There are so many different styles of content that you could create. 

You could do a vlog-style behind the scenes video, a talking to the camera video, a voice over, or even different shots that you could take for the same video idea. Even the editing can change to test different editing styles.

One could be no cuts and a 7-second video. The other one could be 15 different cuts, super fast paced, also a 7-second video. 

I always encourage my students to test and try new things. The more you create outside of your comfort zone, the better you become as a content creator. So you’ve got to stop playing it safe by creating only what you know. Start taking the leap and challenging yourself in your capabilities. 

6. You’re Ignoring the Hook

Guys. There are more than 140 billion reels posted daily across Facebook and Instagram, with only 60 million users tuning in daily to consume. That means there is more content being posted than being watched, so you need to make sure that you’re standing OUT in the first 2 seconds of your reels. 

The only way to do that is with a strong hook. The hook is the first 2-3 seconds of your video. Ideally, you’re using those first few seconds to stop the viewer’s scroll, capture their attention, and get them to watch the rest of your video all the way through. 

Last year, I did a full deep dive video where I analyzed hundreds of short-form videos to figure out what the strongest hook is, and what I uncovered was a strategy called hook layering. 

Hook layering is when you layer three different types of hooks – all within the first few seconds of your video:

1. Text hook
2. Visual hook
3. Audio hook

I noticed viral videos know how to use all three of those at once. 

So if you want to see a full video explaining how you can use hook layering and what hook layering is, I recommend watching this video next. Or, if you simply want some proven hook prompts that can help get you started on content ideas or increase engagement, I have my 100 hook prompts downloadable, that you can grab here. 

7. Ignoring Your Followers

While this post is about Instagram growth, if you’re chasing a vanity metric of a specific follower number, you might accidentally forget about the real people who do choose to follow you NOW. 

Connecting with your current followers, can lead the direction of your content and future ideas. You can get immediate feedback and questions to direct your next videos, you can help increase engagement by encouraging more conversations, and you can nurture the community that you already have. 

Ask yourself, “What questions do my followers always ask in the comments or in my DMs?” These can instantly become your video ideas. You can reply to comments that are questions with more reels, because that will attract the attention of the people already asking you questions.  

On top of that, any new followers you receive can give you even more insight on what to make in the future.  When I first started growing on Instagram, I used to DM every single person who would follow me. I would send them a message, thank them for following me, and ask them how I could support them with something they’re currently struggling with. Why? 

Because the moment someone follows you, is the moment that they are the most engaged with you. So, being able to catch them in that moment and introduce yourself or ask questions to learn more about what they’re interested in, gives you a unique connecting point with that person. It can also give you insight on exactly what videos to create next, because the ideas are coming directly from your followers and what they need. 

Now I’m not telling you you need to manually DM every person who follows you. But, what if you could automate a message to send every time someone follows you? This is a brand new feature from Manychat. 

The simplest way to send a direct message to someone immediately after they follow your Instagram account, again, all approved by Meta themselves.

I’ve been a loyal customer of Manychat since June 2022. Since joining, I’ve been able to grow my contacts list to over 18,000 just through DM automation alone. And to be able to connect even deeper with new followers is something I’m genuinely stoked about and will 100000% be using.

 Again, if you wanna test them out, here’s the link where you can get ManyChat Pro for free for 30 days, then use the code MODERNMILLIE, and you can start your free trial today.

8. You Don’t Have Repeatable Systems

I was going to say that one of the common Instagram mistakes is not posting consistently, but when I dive deeper into that issue with my students, the underlying problem is almost always around their systems. They don’t have the proper systems in place to support creating efficiently and consistently. 

Now, does this sound familiar to you?

You open up Instagram every single day and ask yourself, “What should I post?” 

That stress of opening the app with nothing to post and the pressure of trying to figure it out that same day is going to compound over time and lead to burnout. You’re stuck on the creator hamster wheel instead of having repeatable systems in place to help you create. 

Or maybe this sounds familiar to you? 

You have a sudden burst of energy and you randomly batch film content that ends up just sitting in your drafts for weeks and weeks until that original excitement of your idea dwindles off, and you end up never posting anything from that batch session. 

The reason neither of those creators can post consistently is because they don’t have systems set in place to support them to do it. 

Here’s your fix. It doesn’t matter how often you post, so long as it’s consistent. Tell the platform you’re predictable and tell your audience that you’re reliable. The algorithms don’t want to push out channels/accounts they don’t think will get engagement or keep people on their platform.

There’s something called the “Mere Exposure Effect” which is “The more we see something, the more we like, trust, and remember it.” It explains psychologically why consistency works.

But there’s also something I’m calling the “Trust Momentum Effect” which is the “Mere Exposure Effect” applied to social media and algorithms. The “Trust Momentum Effect” is how sustained consistency sends trust signals that reinforce and compound both audience loyalty and algorithmic reliability, resulting in exponential visibility over time.

Predictability breeds trust. Trust accelerates momentum.

9. Not Reviewing Analytics

You already know that listening to your audience can help guide you in the right direction when it comes to content that will perform well. But something that a lot of people forget about is reviewing the content that they’ve already posted. So, if you’re looking for Instagram mistakes that are keeping you under 10,000 followers, it might just be this. 

Analytics are my favorite thing, because analytics tell a story.

After you have posted consistently for 30-90 days, you have so much data that you get to learn from to figure out how to improve your content steadily over time. 

So here’s what you’re going to do. Each week, find your top 3 posts and identify what worked: hook, pacing or topic. Look at your bottom 3 posts and identify what didn’t work: hook, pacing or topic. 

10. Blaming the Algorithm

Another of the Instagram mistakes keeping you under 10,000 followers is blaming the algorithm. In other words, people often don’t take accountability when their content flops. It’s so easy to post videos and then blame Instagram if your content doesn’t perform well. 

This is overlooking the fact that there is always room for improvement. Instead of blaming the algorithm if you’re content isn’t performing well, ask yourself these questions: 

• Where can I take accountability here?
• Did I get lazy and not want to focus on the hook?
• Did I just see a trend and follow it?

You need to take accountability as a creator, because that is where you are going to see growth. Being perfectly honest with you, when I audit accounts, 98% of the time, it’s not the algorithm’s fault. 

11. Using AI Wrong (or not at all)

You’re either overusing AI or not utilizing it at all. I see two types of creators with this. The ones who are so overly reliant on AI that they just ask ChatGPT, “What should my next video be?” And then they post that video without any edits to the idea or any adjustments made for their niche or audience. They just take it word for word and end up sounding like a robot. 

Then, there are creators who aren’t using AI at all. There is a way to use AI to save time, while keeping YOU and your personality at the core of your content. 

I have a video that can help you use AI the right way in your content. You can watch that next here. 

12. You Quit Too Early

Alright, the final of my Instagram mistakes that will keep you from ever hitting 10,000 followers is quitting too early. I know, this is a little cheesy. But stay with me here. 

I have helped people plan their content to help them grow on Instagram, and then watched them give up after just 3 videos, because it hadn’t worked yet… and they were so close, they just needed to stick with it. 

Becoming a content creator is a forever thing. People assume it’s going to be easy, but it’s not easy. It takes accountability, discipline and consistency. There is this common misconception that someone might be able to post for 30 days, go viral and then you’ll have *made it*. But once you make it… you have to keep posting forever. 

So I always tell my students to pick a posting cadence that they could stick with for 3 or even 5 years. I see this all the time, people quit too early because they posted a few times, they didn’t see huge results and they decided this wasn’t for them. 

There are creators like Mr. Beast who posted hundreds of videos before one video took off. I started posting on YouTube when I was in 6th grade. 

The only reason you will not see success is if you quit. That’s ok, some people will learn that content creation is not for them. But if you keep going, success is inevitable. 

What Instagram mistake do you think is holding you back from 10,000 followers? Let me know in the comments below. If I didn’t cover it, I can go back and make part 2! 

I recommend reading this post next to help propel your growth on Instagram this year. 

Thank you so much for being here, I’ll see you in the next one. Follow your joy!