Instagram audience research tutorial

Follow the video chapters

Choose a chapter to open that point on YouTube. Use the embedded player above to watch here. The transcript below is the narration from the published demonstration.

1. 0:00 — Find accounts your audience already follows
2. 0:30 — Prepare your account and AI connection
3. 1:05 — Describe a specific growth plan
4. 1:34 — Add your offer, market, and known accounts
5. 2:03 — Let research and fit review finish
6. 2:41 — Read the whole growth strategy
7. 3:14 — Use the four account tiers
8. 3:50 — Search, add, and organize the list
9. 4:23 — Understand fit and account signals
10. 4:57 — Put accounts on Spotlight
11. 5:34 — Add more accounts and start a campaign
12. 6:09 — Draft a first message you can edit
13. 6:41 — Track the relationship and next step
14. 7:16 — Refine the plan and research again
15. 7:48 — Resolve stalled or mismatched research
16. 8:23 — Build a focused relationship list

Before you begin

This tutorial uses the actual GramFather interface with fictional teaching data and AI-assisted narration. Sample counts and contacts demonstrate the controls; they are not customer results. Check your plan’s feature allowance and keep the Chrome extension connected for browser actions. AI provider usage is separate where applicable.

Review the product capabilities and requirements and current plans before starting. The video was published on October 13, 2026.

Read the walkthrough transcript

Find accounts your audience already follows

Build a focused list of Instagram accounts that already attract the audience you want to reach. GramFather's Dream one hundred combines your growth plan, Instagram research, account tiers, and practical relationship tools. We'll cover the initial plan, research settings, your ranked list, Spotlight handoffs, campaign setup, first-message drafts, and relationship notes. The populated screens use the current GramFather interface with synthetic example accounts and metrics. They explain the workflow and are not customer results.

Prepare your account and AI connection

Dream one hundred is included with Pro. Switch to the Instagram account you're growing because each account has its own plan and list. Install and sign in to the GramFather Chrome extension, then keep Chrome open during research. For an AI-written strategy, suggested accounts, and profile-fit reviews, connect OpenRouter under Settings, then AI models. These use your Captions and content model. First-message drafts use your Messaging model. Provider usage is billed separately. Research itself reads Instagram; activating a Spotlight or campaign is a separate step.

Describe a specific growth plan

Under Growth, click Dream one hundred. On the first visit, fill in Your growth plan. What's your niche is required and accepts two to one hundred twenty characters. Be specific: our example is strength training for busy parents. What do you want from Instagram starts at Grow my following. The other goals are Get leads in my DMs, Sell my product or service, Be the go-to name, and Build a community. Choose the one that fits your objective. In Who do you want to reach, describe the people and what they want, using up to six hundred characters.

Add your offer, market, and known accounts

Add What do you offer if you have a relevant product, service, or resource. It accepts up to four hundred characters. Location and language accepts up to one hundred twenty. Accounts you already know belong on it accepts up to twenty-five usernames, separated by commas. These seed accounts go directly on the list, and research can inspect who they follow. Use actual relevant accounts in your own plan. Our tutorial keeps those accounts illustrative. Click Build my Dream one hundred when your initial plan is ready.

Let research and fit review finish

The setup saves your plan, writes a strategy and finds accounts, then starts Instagram research. The list usually fills in over about an hour. The research card shows accounts found, profiles checked, hashtag and follow lists read, and progress. Keep Chrome open for extension research. Keep the Dream one hundred page open while AI is reviewing profiles for fit, because that review runs only while this page is open, twenty profiles at a time. Each research run checks up to two hundred fifty profiles and recent posts for up to one hundred twenty accounts. It shares your account's Instagram read pace and pauses when Instagram has paused the account.

Read the whole growth strategy

Read Your growth strategy, then click The whole plan. It expands the weekly rhythm, the kinds of accounts where your audience spends time, and the hashtags being researched. The strategy should connect your niche, goal, audience, and offer. The example strategy on screen is illustrative. Without AI, GramFather uses a built-in strategy, hashtags and keywords from your niche words, and ranking based on keywords and niche signals. Connect AI and rebuild the strategy when you want AI suggestions and fit review. Treat the recommendations as inputs to your own judgment about relevance.

Use the four account tiers

The list is divided into four tiers. Icons have one million or more followers. Leaders have one hundred thousand to one million. Rising accounts have ten thousand to one hundred thousand. Peers have one thousand to ten thousand. Each card shows a relationship approach and a Spotlight action. Click a tier card to filter, then click it again to show everyone. The list holds up to one hundred accounts, with soft caps of fifteen Icons, thirty Leaders, thirty-five Rising accounts, and twenty Peers. Free places go to the best remaining candidates. This helps the list include a range of account sizes.

Search, add, and organize the list

Above the accounts, use the tier controls or Search to narrow by username, name, bio, or category. Dream one hundred is your current ranked list. More candidates contains found accounts outside it. Removed contains accounts you've dismissed. Type known usernames in Add accounts, then click Add. They are pinned and appear under Checking on Instagram until the extension checks them. Open an account and choose Pin to list to keep it regardless of score; Unpin reverses that choice. Remove takes it off your list, and Restore under Removed brings it back. Add under More candidates pins a candidate.

Understand fit and account signals

Click an account to open its panel. Followers, Engagement, Posts a week, and Fit summarize the available information. Why they're on your list explains the signals, while How to treat them gives the tier's playbook and a suggested angle. Followed by niche accounts comes from sampled follow lists; it is a signal rather than an exact measurement of shared audience. Unpinned accounts under one thousand followers, private accounts, accounts inactive for about six months, and accounts outside the niche do not rank. Pinned accounts still need to exist and be public. List accounts are rechecked about weekly.

Put accounts on Spotlight

Click Spotlight all on a tier card to watch that tier, or Spotlight them in an account panel for one account. The confirmation explains its cadence and comment style. Let me approve each comment first starts off for a new tier automation. Turn it on if you want drafts to wait in Spotlight's review queue. Start Spotlight creates the tier automation. Each tier has one automation, holding up to fifty accounts. Icons are checked every thirty minutes, Leaders hourly, Rising accounts every two hours, and Peers every four hours. It likes and comments on one post per account per day, within account limits and active hours.

Add more accounts and start a campaign

When a tier already has Spotlight, Spotlight more or Add them adds accounts using its current schedule and comment style. Open automation takes you to its settings. Resume a paused automation on the Spotlight page. If some accounts do not fit, check the fifty-account capacity. For an outreach campaign, open an account and choose Set it up under Borrow their audience. The builder opens on people engaging with that account's recent posts, with Engage then Follow selected. Add Message if you want it, review each step, and launch your own setup when ready. The full campaign tutorial is linked below.

Draft a first message you can edit

In the account panel, First DM then Draft it creates suggested wording. The screen here uses example text to demonstrate the editable result. Make the draft accurate and relevant to the real account. Rewrite asks for another draft, and Copy puts your edited wording on the clipboard. Open their DMs on Instagram takes you to the conversation so you can paste and send it yourself. This tool prepares the draft; it does not send the first message for you. For an account in Peers, Invite under Engagement Buddies opens the Buddies page for that separate workflow.

Track the relationship and next step

Relationship starts at Not started. Choose Warming up, On their radar, Talking, or Partner as the relationship develops. Next explains a useful next move. The stage can also move forward from observed activity: Spotlight engagement or a live audience campaign can mean Warming up; a follow can mean On their radar; a reply can mean Talking. Notes accepts up to two thousand characters. Write useful context, then Save notes. Discard abandons unsaved edits. Accounts with a relationship beyond Not started, pinned accounts, and accounts on Spotlight stay on your list.

Refine the plan and research again

Click Edit plan to change the brief. Hashtags we research accepts up to ten tags, and Bio keywords up to twenty-five terms used to judge fit. Save stores edits. Save and find more also starts research, and changes to your niche, goal, audience, offer, or location cause the AI strategy and hashtags to be rewritten first. Cancel goes back. Find more on the main page researches again with your current plan. In the campaign builder, Pick from your Dream one hundred also lets you select a saved account for compatible audience sources.

Resolve stalled or mismatched research

If research stops progressing or accounts stay under Checking on Instagram, check that Chrome is open, the extension is signed in, and Instagram has not paused it. If the list misses your niche, refine the niche and audience, update hashtags and bio keywords, then Save and find more. Remove accounts that do not fit. A greyed Spotlight action or a public-account warning can mean the account is private, unchecked, renamed, or missing. Add its current username when appropriate. The research card and Help guide give the next checks, and the copilot or support can help with unresolved issues.

Build a focused relationship list

You now have a path from your growth plan to a researched list, a tier-specific approach, and practical next actions. Start with relevant accounts and helpful conversations, then use notes and relationship stages to keep your work organized. Open gramfather dot com through the description to start your fourteen-day free trial. Dream one hundred is included with Pro. A card is required, and your selected plan renews at its stated price after the trial. Review current terms on the signup page. The direct software link and written guide are below.

Open the current help guide

For the current click-by-click controls, defaults and troubleshooting, open the in-app Instagram audience research help guide. Return to the video chapters when you want to see a particular step demonstrated.

Your questions, answered

Can I watch without signing up?

Yes. This video and its written transcript are publicly available. Sign in to GramFather when you want to follow the steps in your own workspace.

Are the names and results in the demonstration real customer data?

The demonstration uses fictional teaching data in the actual interface. Sample names and counts explain the controls and are not promised results.