10 Sure Steps: How to Get Clients on Instagram in 2025

Are you struggling to find clients on Instagram now? You’re not alone!

Many businesses struggle to turn their Instagram presence into real results. They chase follower numbers, but those numbers don’t pay the bills. What if you could attract your dream clients, the ones who are a perfect fit for your services, and have them come to you?

Here’s the truth: on Instagram, it’s not about how many followers you have, but about who they are. It’s all about building genuine connections with potential clients. By consistently showing up with valuable content, you build trust and turn those followers into paying customers.

Imagine this: a billion people actively use Instagram every month, and many spend a good chunk of their day browsing. That’s a huge pool of potential clients waiting to discover your business.

What are the best ways to get clients from Instagram?

Forget the follower-count chase! This guide dives deeper than generic tips to show you the proven strategies for attracting a steady stream of potential clients on Instagram, even with a small following.

You’ve likely tried the basics: setting up a business profile and posting consistently. But what if you’re still not seeing the results you want? Here’s the secret: engagement is key.

This guide unlocks 10 actionable steps that go beyond follower vanity metrics. You’ll learn how to craft high-quality content that resonates with your ideal client, build trust through powerful features like Stories and Reels, and nurture genuine connections that convert into paying customers.

1. Define Your Ideal Client & Target the Right Audience on Instagram:

This might sound like Marketing 101, but it’s crucial! Before diving in, ensure you understand your ideal client persona. Are they even active on Instagram?

Many businesses get lost in the social media shuffle, simply following trends without a clear target. But here’s the truth: wasting effort on the wrong audience won’t bring you clients.

By defining your ideal client, you can tailor your Instagram strategy to attract the perfect audience for your business.

This laser focus ensures your content resonates with the right people, increasing your chances of converting them into paying clients.

2. Find your Unique Selling Proposition (USP):

Instagram is a crowded marketplace. Gone are the days of easy growth from generic content. To rise above the noise and attract a loyal following, you need to find your Unique Selling Proposition (USP), your secret sauce that sets you apart.

What makes your service-based business (virtual assistant, social media manager, designer, etc.) special? How do you deliver value differently than your competitors? Identify your USP and weave it into your Instagram strategy.

By showcasing your unique expertise and perspective, you’ll pique the curiosity of your ideal clients, making them more likely to follow you for valuable insights and ultimately convert them into paying clients.

3. Optimize your Instagram profile and bio

Now that you know what you want to stand for, it’s time to dive into your Instagram profile. It’s one of the first things new potential followers see from you. In a few second they decide if it’s worth following or not.

You can’t overestimate the importance of having a profile that clearly communicates your USP.

Write a bio that makes people understand what you stand for and why they need to buy from you or work with you. Your bio’s title (not your username) is searchable on Instagram, so make sure you add keywords to it. Then use two lines to address what you’re offering, what you post about, what’s your unique benefit and for whom.

Example:

Eat healthy and finally feel good in your body
Intuitive Eating for Beginners

or

Business Coaching for Ambitious Moms
Learn to build a business around your kids

The last line in your bio is reserved for a call-to-action. This way you can direct new profile visitors to your link in bio page, a free offer or your website.

4. Give your Instagram Feed a Makeover

Your profile optimization doesn’t stop with your bio, obviously. The largest part is your feed, which is the perfect playground to capture your brand, your message and your unique sauce.

How do you know if your feed is doing okay with converting profile visitors into followers or if it’s in need of a makeover? Here’s an easy formula to find it out:

• Go to your insights, tap on Accounts reached and scroll all the way down to find the number of Profile Visits.
• Now go to Total Followers and see how many Follows you got in the same timeframe.
• You can evaluate these numbers for the last 7, 14 or 30 days.
• To measure your profile conversion rate, calculate Follows / Profile Visitors * 100.

Now, what’s a good conversion rate from profile visitor to follower? Here are a few benchmarks to determine how your profile is doing:

<15% – Needs optimization
15-30% – Good
30%+ – Awesome!

If you find out your feed could use an optimization, read on.

5. Create Reels and Carousels

This is the 2023 tip on the list. Instagram is pushing Reels (but not so much as the past years) and carousels are becoming increasingly popular again with the algorithm. If you want to gain visibility fast on Instagram these day, Reels and carousels are your best bet.

Reels are great for short a-ha moments, myths, real talk or actionable tips. In summary, make it short and entertaining, convey an emotion.

Don’t forget to try out trending audio to juice out more reach. Or go with original audio Reels to strengthen your personal brand.

6. Build Relationships

This goes hand in hand with what Instagram is all about! Building an engaged and active community and also being active in other communities (many people tend to forget that part).

Actually engage with people who you think could become a client. It doesn’t mean you should spend hours every day engaging or send them cold DMs pitching your offer. I usually take 30 minutes at the end of my work day, scroll through Instagram and genuinely engage with people whose interest I want to foster.

You don’t get followers on Instagram without following anyone. If you want to get clients and followers (without buying them), you need to put in some work first.

But don’t expect these potential customers to follow you or even turn into clients right away. Building clientele, relationships and networks takes time, but it also pays off. Even if they don’t become clients, they could be potential business friends, mentors or collaboration partners!

Then, find a way to get in touch with your followers. You can use stickers in your stories to get feedback from them, use engagement-boosting posts, write them a DM or react to their stories.

More ways to build active relationships in your community are:

• Post regular stories of yourself where you share your daily life to build a connection to your follower’s lives
• Share user-generated content or feedback from clients or followers in your stories and posts

Keep the conversation going especially with those followers who fit your ‘ideal client’ avatar.

7. Start a Client Spreadsheet and Reach out to Clients

Don’t wait for clients to find you! Take a proactive approach by creating a client relationship management (CRM) spreadsheet. Track potential clients you’ve interacted with, categorizing them based on interest level (cold, warm, hot leads).

Engage with these leads strategically through DMs or comments, keeping your services top-of-mind without being overly promotional. Nurture these relationships and provide valuable insights relevant to their needs. When they’re ready to invest in your business or service, you’ll be the first one they consider.

By implementing this strategic outreach approach, you’ll cultivate a steady stream of potential clients and ultimately convert them into paying customers.

8. Get Instagram Followers on your Email List

More important than keeping track of leads is having a way to contact them elsewhere.

Instagram is a great platform to gain visbility, build brand awareness and reach your potential clients in an early stage of their journey.

But now, think the client journey further. Where do they go next, when they need more information / more value or are ready to spend money?

Ideally, you have an email list where you can contact your followers, also off Instagram:

1. Put the link to your website in your bio.
2. Set up a newsletter list.
3. Add a lead magnet to your bio page to collect email addresses.
4. Then reach out to your subscribers regularly via email.

When you see Instagram as a marketing tool that can perfectly be extended with an email list, you’ll gain clients faster and without being online the entire day.

9. Share Client Case Studies and Testimonials

Once you’ve got your first clients and have results to show for, use them!

Don’t be shy to talk about the results your clients get from working with you or using your products (if approved by the client, of course).

To buy from you, people need inspiration, trust and reassurance that they’re making the right choice. Seeing how others have trusted you and gained what your ideal client wants is one of the strongest types of proof content you can share.

10. Be patient and keep going

This is probably the hardest thing on this entire list. At least is was for me!

Your success will most likely not come over night. Also not on Instagram.

People don’t want to hear it, but it’s the truth: Just like with everything else it takes consistent effort to build something. Nothing different on Instagram.

But if you follow through and don’t give up when results don’t come immediately? Then you will eventually build a community of people who are genuinely interested in your offers and don’t just follow you because your Reels are funny.

These are the people that will turn into clients for your small business.

You’ve got this!

Bonus Tip: Create a Visual Brand that Attracts your Ideal Clients

Instagram is a highly visual platform, and still some people think how your content looks isn’t that important.

Wrong!

When your posts and stories nail your branding (= design, colors, fonts, images), your ideal clients will instantly know that your content and your offers are for them.