🦅 How to Hit 1M Followers in 2026

In this issue, you’ll find:

• How to hit 1M followers in 2026 (without spending on ads)

• News creators should know

• The Instagram Algorithm Playbook (2026)

How to Hit 1M Followers in 2026 (Without Spending on Ads)

Everyone talks about "just post consistently."

But here’s the uncomfortable truth: consistency is table stakes. It won’t get you to a million followers. It won’t turn your content into a business.

I’ve been watching our fastest-growing Hypefury customers closely. The ones adding 50K, 80K, even 90K followers per month. And what stands out isn’t their content. It’s the infrastructure underneath it.

These are the 3 systems that separate accounts that grow from accounts that just... exist.

1) Your Profile Is a Landing Page (Most People Treat It Like a Resume)

Here’s a number that should make you rethink everything: 20%.

That’s the follow rate I see on the best-performing profiles among our Hypefury users. The average account? 1%.

That’s a 20x difference. Not because of luck. Because of intentional design.

What makes a profile convert

Your feed isn’t a portfolio of your greatest hits. It’s an informal sales pitch.

The system is simple:

• Consistent style. Same tone, same formatting patterns, recognizable at a glance.

• 2 core formats. Pick what works on your platform (threads, carousels, short videos) and stick to them.

• One clear message. When someone lands, they should know in 3 seconds: "This person helps X do Y."

But here’s the counterintuitive part: your last 9-12 posts should tell a complete story. Scroll to any point on your profile, and the visible posts should make sense together.

How to apply this

Before you post anything new, zoom out.

Open your profile and ask: "If a stranger landed here right now, would they understand what I do and why they should care?"

If the answer is no, stop creating and start editing. Delete or unpin posts that break the pattern. Replace them with content that reinforces your message.

The goal isn’t a pretty feed. The goal is a feed that makes the follow decision obvious.

2) Every Post Should Be a Revenue Asset

The creators growing fastest on Hypefury all treat content as a lead generation system, not just an engagement game.

The best-performing posts follow a pattern: give real value first, then offer something extra for those who want to go deeper.

This is where automation becomes essential. With Hypefury, you can set up auto-DMs that trigger when someone comments a specific keyword. So your CTA becomes: "Comment [KEYWORD] if you want the full template" or "Reply [WORD] and I’ll send it to you."

When someone engages, Hypefury automatically sends them the resource via DM and collects their email. No manual work required.

Not every post needs this. But if you start doing it consistently, you’ll capture leads while you sleep.

How to apply this

Stop thinking "I need to post content." Start thinking "I need to build a library of conversion assets."

Here’s the minimum viable version:

1. Create 1 Google Doc or Notion template that solves a real problem for your audience

2. Add a CTA at the end of your next post: "Comment [WORD] and I’ll send you my [resource name]"

3. Set up a simple automation

4. Track which keywords get the most engagement

You’re not just building an audience. You’re building a tagged database of people who raised their hand for specific topics.

That’s how content becomes a business asset.

3) The Automation Math That Changes Everything

Most creators look at their workflow like this: "I need to post every day, engage for an hour, send DMs, and manage my content calendar."

That’s 15-20 hours a week just on operations. Time you could spend on high-value work like creating, selling, or building products.

The creators scaling fastest aren’t grinding harder. They’re automating the repeatable stuff.

Here’s how the math actually works

Let's say:

• You spend 15 hours/week on scheduling, cross-posting, and engagement tasks

• Your revenue-generating activities (sales calls, product work, client delivery) are worth $100/hour

If you automate 10 of those 15 hours:

• 40 hours/month × $100 = $4,000 in potential revenue recovered

• Cost of automation tools? Usually $50-200/month

That’s a 20-80x return. And unlike hiring, automation works 24/7 without onboarding.

What to automate first

This is the sequence I see among creators who break past 100K:

1. Scheduling and cross-posting: Write once, publish everywhere. Tools like Hypefury let you schedule threads, posts, and repurpose content across platforms automatically.

2. Engagement triggers: Auto-DMs when someone comments a keyword. This alone can 10x your lead capture without manual work.

3. Analytics and reporting: Stop checking stats manually. Set up automated reports so you know what’s working without the daily dopamine trap.

4. Repurposing: Turn one piece of content into five. Your best thread becomes a LinkedIn post, a newsletter section, a short video script.

The key insight: you shouldn’t be doing tasks a tool can do. Your job is ideas, strategy, and relationships. Everything else should run on autopilot.

A Comprehensive Guide to Claude Code 2.0 and Mastering Coding Agents

This in-depth guide covers everything new in Claude Code 2.0. The author breaks down practical workflows for both developers and less technical users who want to leverage CC as a general-purpose agent. Beyond features, the post addresses the broader challenge of keeping up with rapidly evolving AI tools, proposing a framework centered on staying updated, deepening domain expertise, and building intuition through experimentation. Whether you're coding or running data analysis tasks, the principles here transfer directly to other CLI tools like Codex, Gemini CLI, and Cursor.

→ Find out more

LinkedIn Reveals What's Working on the Platform in 2026

LinkedIn's VP of Product Management Gyanda Sachdeva has shared new insights for improving content performance, noting that content sharing is up 15% and comments have increased by 24% over the past year. The key to success is sharing authentic expertise and lived professional experiences, with Sachdeva cautioning users against relying too heavily on AI for content creation. For optimal results, users should aim to post 2-5 times per week, as members who post twice weekly see up to 5x more profile views on average. Video content is particularly effective, generating 1.4x more engagement than other formats, and hashtags do not impact distribution.

→ Find out more

Key Trends Shaping Business and Technology in 2026

The coming year will bring significant shifts across multiple industries as AI integration matures and reshapes how we work and live. Early adopters of AI tools will gain career advantages through "talent arbitrage," outpacing colleagues who cling to traditional methods, while entertainment industries will increasingly value authentic human craftsmanship over AI-generated content. Hardware startups are poised for a resurgence as companies recognize that tightly coupling proprietary hardware with software creates more defensible competitive positions than data alone. Organizations will begin building custom internal applications to replace expensive, bloated SaaS products, collapsing traditional functional silos in the process. Meanwhile, ambient AI listening devices, longer human lifespans enabled by health technology, and a renewed focus on hospitality in commerce will fundamentally alter daily life and business strategy.

→ Find out more

The Instagram Algorithm Playbook (2026)

A practical guide to how reach actually works today, based on real creator behavior and platform signals.

Get immediate access and discover:

1. How Instagram Actually Ranks Content

2. How Reach Really Expands

3. The Truth About Shadowbanning

4. The Role of Reels vs Carousels

Last poll: Which Platform Will Be the Best Place to Grow an Audience in 2026?

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 𝕏 (28.57%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 LinkedIn (28.57%)

🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ TikTok

🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ Instagram

🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ A new AI-native social media platform

That’s it for now, everyone! We’ll meet again next week to discuss some more of this!

Don’t forget to try Hypefury (for free) if you haven’t yet.

Feel free to reply to this email. It goes directly to me.

Cheers,

Yannick Veys
Co-founder and CMO of Hypefury