6 People Who Will Teach You How to be Successful on Instagram

One of the best ways to learn how to use something is to see someone doing it. In this case, if you want to learn about what works best on Instagram, what type of captions to write, and more, then you should study other Instagram accounts. 

Here are six people you can follow on Instagram that will teach you how to be successful on Instagram. It’s a matter of following the steps they’re taking.

1. garyvee 

Gary Vaynerchuk is, in my opinion, someone you must follow as a businessperson. He’s purely a successful CEO, and yet even teenagers love him and his content. How could a businessman have 5.5 million followers on Instagram?

Gary is successful on Instagram for an abundant of reasons, but the one thing we’re going to talk about is his honesty and openness. He’s known for his bluntness, but I’m not asking you to be as blunt as him, I’m asking you to be as honest as him. On Instagram, he’s open about what he does, his process, and he shares behind-the-scenes. He tells people exactly what they need to hear, even if they don’t want to hear it. 

He writes his own captions, goes live a couple times a week, and interacts with his followers. Honesty about who you are, where you’re at in your process, etc., and openness is what’s going to take you places.

2. theinstagramexpert

The Instagram Expert, also known as Sue B. Zimmerman, is an Instagram that will literally teach you about Instagram. Sue’s posts are filled with value, advice, and tips about how you too can succeed on Instagram. She tells you what type of content you can share, how and where to share it, and she makes it entertaining because she’s herself the entire time. She’s not a boring social media expert, but someone bright and colorful who just happens to know what can make you successful on Instagram.

She’s constantly sharing content from outside of Instagram to give you even more value. She’ll link you to freebies and videos. Her captions are written to help you with any struggles you’re having on Instagram, new features, and more. This is someone you don’t want to miss out on because you’ll gain endless insights on how to grow your Instagram following and attention.

3. caseyadams1

At 17-years-old, Casey Adams is a successful entrepreneur with 220,000 followers on Instagram, and has a top podcast. Casey brings positivity and his authentic self to the table. He says hustle hard, and he does exactly that. He’ll upload pictures and stories, and showcase everything he’s doing. From interviewing another big entrepreneur to working out after a long day. 

With every single post, he adds value and interacts with his followers. You’ll always see him responding to comments, or posting screenshots of DMs he’s received. What you can learn from Casey is to never bring down your followers. You can be honest—share your failures, your hardships, and your struggles—but never complain, never rant, and never do something that, in the end, won’t add value to your followers’ lives. Get people pumped about their days and their journeys, just like Casey.

4. marieforleo

One of the reasons Marie Forleo, a branding expert, is successful on Instagram is because she’s fun. She’s one of those people who’s naturally hilarious and entertaining. If you’re not that person, if you’re shy and unwilling to do some of the things she does, it’s okay. I’m not asking you to change, but you do have to find a way to break through the noise and entertain your followers.

By entertain I mean, capture and, more importantly, keep attention. You don’t have to be funny or do crazy things, just don’t be boring. Don’t add text you see everywhere to bland backgrounds, smile while recording yourself, and get people looking at you. No one in the world is boring—if you find someone boring, it’s because you have different tastes. So, be yourself, and your people will find you and love you as you are. Make your content you, your brand. 

5. sunnylenarduzzi

YouTube expert Sunny Lenarduzzi has the perfect blend of real and business on her Instagram profile. She shares selfies, pictures with her friends, posts of her speaking at events, and clips from her YouTube videos and podcast. She’ll also upload inspirational quotes of her own. However, what Sunny does is, even if she shares a more personal picture, such as a makeup free selfie, she adds an important message.

Her Instagram is all about sharing value while being exactly who she is. She turns moments into life lessons and advice for her followers, other YouTube or entrepreneurs who want to grow in their business and personal life. She’ll talk about her day, and then give you a message from it. Along the way, she’ll share a clip from a podcast with an inspirational message or a minute long video of one of her own videos. You never run out of value when it comes to Sunny Lenarduzzi.

6. therock

You might be wondering why we added The Rock to this list, but Dwayne Johnson is someone you want to study for consistency and persuasion. If you take just one look at one of his posts, you suddenly want to take action on every dream you’ve ever had. And he never stops. Even a picture he shares of himself and his daughter has an inspirational message behind it, one that reminds you to appreciate your friends and family. 

The point of promoting is to get people to take action. Study The Rock’s captions, his stories, his content, and figure out which words he’s using to inspire his fans and followers. Plus, he’s real. He doesn’t share words that he himself doesn’t truly believe. If he says he’s going to do something, he shows himself actually doing it. That’s the ultimate way to motivate people to do. 

The common denominator 

Despite the different lessons every one of these people brings to the table, there’s one common denominator amongst all of them. They’re real.

Real is what’s missing on Instagram. Show yourself exactly as you are and be unapologetic about it, show your process, your successes, your failures, and the behind-the-scenes. Most importantly, don’t pretend to have it all figured out, or act as though you’re already successful when you’re just starting out.

Be real, honest, and open, and you’ll succeed on Instagram.