How Many Instagram Followers Does the Average Person Have in 2023

2023 has really changed the landscape of Instagram, so lets take a look at the average amount of followers someone has on Instagram.

With the monthly number of average users on Instagram surpassing one billion, there is no shortage of Instagram users to be had as followers. In fact, growing follower count is one of the most sought-after goals of many businesses, brands, and influencers using the platform. 

So, what is the average number of followers that the typical Instagram user has?

How do you know if you are above or below the cut? 

It can depend on a wide range of factors. It’s best to compare the number of followers you have to another Instagram user similar to yourself. This is the tell-tale sign that you are on mark with others in your niche or content area. 

Before diving into that, let’s take a look at the follower ratio and why that makes a difference.

 

When Does the Following Ratio Matter?

The number of followers you have can be infinite, but the amount of followers that you should have is finite. With Instagram, you can only follow at most 7,500 people. You will probably never come close to that number if you’re looking to foster your Instagram growth.  The follower ratio matters most when you have between 1,000 to 1,500 followers.

The logic behind this is simple. For a personal Instagram account, the average number of followers is 150, and the idea of having a private account is to bond with friends and family. So, if you have a private account, users are not following you because of the follower ratio, but they are following you because they know you. They’ve probably never even looked at how many accounts you follow.

Once a user crosses the 1,000 followers marker, you can expect more sales and micro-influencers. If you have roughly 1,000-1,5000 followers, but are following over that amount, it looks like you are desperately trying to drive your follower count using a follow/unfollow technique. If you’re looking for influencer or marketing partnerships, it’s vital that you keep this ratio under control at this stage in your growth. 

Usually, after a user’s follower count tops the 15,000 figure, users tend to perceive you as influencers. And once you get identified as an influencer, your content quality will determine if a user will follow you or not, and people will pay less attention to the details of your following ratio.

When you cross the 1,000 followers count, it is when you can expect more sales and micro-influencers. Usually, when the followers count touches the 15,000 figure, users tend to perceive you as influencers. And once you get identified as an influencer, your content quality determines if a user will follow you or not.

 

The Ratio Indicator

People with followers between 1,000 and 15,000 must look at the figures given below about what follower ratio tells the users. This is the amount of followers you have based on the number of accounts you are following. Here is a breakdown of the levels of ratio and what they may indicate: 

<0.5 – Spammer

If a user has a super inflated amount of followed accounts versus the accounts following them, these people are novice users in terms of Instagram automation tools and continue following accounts in anticipation of getting a follow back. This low ratio can also indicate that the account is a bot or a ghost follower account. Make sure to use #hashtags to increase your reach in a less spammy way.

0.5-1 – Suspicious

People who barely meet a 1:1 follower ratio are users that are aware of Instagram automation tools, but are on the wrong track of following people or have low-quality content, which then leads to bad rates of gaining followers back, or can also indicate they lose followers quickly. 

1-2 – Normal

If accounts have a 1:1 or 2:1 ratio, it shows that they are successful users of Instagram automation; they have to focus on other tricks to get more engagement to support their follower count. 

2-10 – Micro-Influencer

These ratios indicate that the user is an expert in Instagram automation and may have remarkable content to enhance their accounts. 

10+ – Influencer

With a ratio like 10+:1 followers vs following, the user is most likely a micro-celebrity or an icon that is popular on other social media channels. 

In this case, to obtain the follower rate, take the number of accounts followed and divide it by the inclusive following.

 

Factors That Affect How Many Followers You Have

Now that we know a bit about the follower ratio, we’ll take a look at some different factors that determine how many followers you have. These are some factors you can leverage if you’re looking to add more followers and balance out the ratio.  

Age

One of the factors affecting how many followers you have is how old you are. If you are in grade school, middle school or high school, it is likely you’ll have more followers on average than a random middle-aged man. 

These days, it’s more popular than ever for parents or relatives to create Instagram accounts for toddlers or kids doing things. This may be a separate account from the parents’ personal account. 

Depending on the content, these accounts may have a low number of followers (between 10-100), or perhaps a high number of followers if they feature content that is very interesting or unique to the user. 

For example, the account @RandomlyRiley is an account that features Riley and her brother Liam on their family adventures to the Disneyland resort. Now that the account is more developed, there are other features on the account related to the children’s/family’s life. The total number of followers that this account has is 93.6k followers. The account only follows 1,274 accounts. This is roughly a 73:1 follower ratio. Clearly these two little ones have brought in quite a following. 

Each of their parents, @jenny_ruvalcade (2,727) and @_raulito (701), have significantly less followers. This is an example of how age and content can work together to affect your follower count.

Your Account Content

An overweight 50-year-old man who frequently poses with his shirt off to expose his hairy belly is likely to have fewer followers than say, a teenage girl in a bikini on a white sand beach. This is a pretty stark comparison, but it definitely illustrates how content can affect who and how many people follow you. 

Even though they’re posting the same genre of photos, one is likely to incite people to leave negative comments and even unfollow them, while the other is likely to gain extra followers every day, and if done correctly, may even be approached by swimwear or photography hashtags and beachwear lines for partnerships.

This is where an average follower count doesn’t really aid in showing how many users one should actually have. An average follower number isn’t going to take into account these unique account qualities and the niche standard number of followers, as it is a general overview of all Instagram users. This is ultimately like comparing apples to oranges. 

It’s much more effective, therefore, if you look at other accounts that are of similar content to gage whether or not you’re doing well with your number of followers.

 

Real Life Status

If you’re more popular in school, work, or life, you’re likely to have more followers on average than less popular people in real life.

For example, a celebrity is going to have more followers on average on Instagram in comparison to a random guy off the street. This goes without saying. But if you’re the top salesman in your office, and have a lot of clients, you’re probably going to have more followers than the salesman with the least number of clients and less personal connections. This is how real life can translate to Instagram 

On that note, the most popular kid in school is likely to have more followers than the least popular kid. The average number of followers for a teenage boy is 150, with 25% having less than 100 and 18% have 301 or more.

If you’re a small, local coffee shop, when looking to get an idea of how many followers you should have, compare to other local cafes, and not Starbucks’ Instagram follower count. Be realistic about where you currently are and check your numbers against accounts most similar to your own.

 

Most Popular Accounts in 2023

Speaking of celebrities, how many do they have in comparison to everyone else? Let’s take a look at the top five followed Instagram accounts on the platform. According to JeffBullas you can buy Instagram followers for a quick boost in exposure to gain popularity.

1. @instagram- not surprisingly, Instagram itself has the highest number of followers, topping off at 359 million. This can be excellent publicity if you are featured by Instagram itself. 
2. @cristiano- Cristiano Ronaldo is the second most-followed account on Instagram, with 253m followers. He is a world-renowned footballer and is incredibly popular.  
3. @arianagrande- The top-followed musician is Ariana Grande coming in with 197m followers. She has a huge following of fans and mostly posts videos and photos of herself and her dog. 
4. @therock- A Hollywood and fitness favorite, the rock comes in fourth with 193m, following close behind Ariana Grande. He’s got a mix of content including fitness, family, and acting work. 
5. @kyliejenner- Celebrity Kylie Jenner holds the fifth spot with 189m followers. She frequently posts scantily-clad photos, family photos, as well as promotions for her cosmetics and skincare lines. 

The list goes on and on of celebrities and companies with followers in the millions. These are known as the mega-influencers of Instagram; these are the people who are making the big bucks with their millions of followers. As the list goes on, you may notice less and less “A-list” celebrities and more accounts that include niche influencers. 

These include beauty bloggers like Ingrid Nilsen, fitness gurus like Simeon Panda, mommy blogger Amber Fillerup and even social Influencers like Grumpy Cat, and now meme pages with millions of followers.

So, if you want to use Instagram successfully for business, you’ll need more than the ‘average’ number of followers. This usually involves offering unique and engaging content and working across multiple platforms.

 

 

Other Useful Instagram Facts on the average amount

If you enjoyed learning about how many followers people have on Instagram, here are some other fun facts about Instagram.

• 7/10 hashtags used on Instagram are branded, marking a turn in user-generated marketing strategies.
• 71% of US businesses use Instagram, a percentage that has doubled since 2016.
• 80% of users follow at least one business on Instagram. And 60% hear about a new product or service for the first time via Instagram.
• Mobile Ad revenue sets to reach almost $7bn in 2018, almost $5bn more than two years ago.
• Posts with a geo-tag get 79% more engagement than if you leave out the location.
• With over one billion users, it shouldn’t come as a shock that over 70% of content posted on Instagram doesn’t get seen.
• As a highly visual platform, 50% of Instagram captions and comments contain emojis.
• Apparently, it’s the fastest-growing language, with over 2,666 emojis to choose from.
  

Instagram is constantly evolving and even after various years, only continues to grow stronger in the area of business and marketing opportunity. There are infinite possibilities for brands, influencers, and businesses to increase reach and connect with more people on a daily basis.

 If you’re trying to break into this area on Instagram, make sure that you have your account set as a business profile, as it offers you access to insights, which you can use to analyze your audience and post performance. 

You’ll also have access to contact features which make it easier for your followers to reach out to you or contact you.

If you are a business or are thinking about offering your products for sale on Instagram, you’ll also be able to take advantage of shoppable posts which allow users to check out right on the platform without leaving the app.

You’ll just need to make sure you have an e-commerce platform set up with your products that can connect to the app, like Shopify. 

 

Conclusion

As random as success on Instagram may seem, it is meticulously planned and worked at. Over time, you can build your credibility and produce high-quality content that your followers will truly enjoy engaging with.

You can also use features such as Instagram stories to your advantage. With patience, dedication, and hard work, you can build your follower count just as others have done before you. Just keep an eye on that follower ratio and you’re golden!