How to warm up a new Instagram or TikTok account

What is account warming?

Warming means using a new account like a real person for a few days before you post: you fill out your profile, watch videos, like posts, and follow accounts in your topic.

Here is the honest truth: no platform asks for it, and none confirms it works. Instagram and TikTok pick each video's first audience from the video itself and from who engages with it. So treat warming as a low-cost habit many creators use, not a platform rule. It takes a few minutes a day and it may help. No one can promise it will.

The good news about new accounts

New accounts are not doomed.

• Instagram shows every eligible post to a small test audience, whether or not those people follow you. That change came in April 2024, to give every creator an equal chance.

• TikTok judges each video on its own. Follower count and past video performance are not direct factors in its recommendations.

So your first video can reach people on day one. The one catch: a new account has no history, and Instagram's head Adam Mosseri says starting from scratch is harder because the system has to learn your audience from zero. That is the real reason to start slow, not fear of a flag.

What actually gets accounts in trouble

The real risks are about content, not how often you post. These are published platform rules.

• Don't post the same video twice. Instagram only recommends the original and labels the copies. Facebook reduces the reach of duplicates.

• Don't post another app's watermark. Instagram makes those clips less discoverable and TikTok keeps them off the For You feed. Your own brand logo is fine.

• Don't beg for engagement. Posts like “like if you agree” or “tag a friend” get demoted on Meta and are not eligible for TikTok's For You feed.

• Don't buy followers or likes. Instagram lists this as a reason an account can lose recommendation eligibility.

If your reach ever drops on Instagram, check Settings, then Account Status. Problems show up there, and you can appeal them.

A simple warm-up plan (best practice, not a rule)

A routine many creators use. No platform requires it.

• Before day one: finish your profile. Add a photo, a clear bio, and a name that fits your topic. Set the account's region and language to your target market. TikTok lists country and language among its ranking signals.

• Days 1 to 3: use the app like a normal person. Watch videos in your topic, like the ones you enjoy, follow a few useful accounts, and leave a real comment now and then. Keep it slow and human.

• Day 4 on: start posting. One video a day is plenty.

Ignore any guide that hands you exact “safe” numbers, like 150 likes a day. The platforms have never published numbers like that.

How fast should you post?

Start with one post a day and hold that pace for the first week or two while you watch how your videos do.

• Move up to three a day once your videos keep reaching non-followers and viewers watch most of each one. At Vubio we treat about 1,000 views as a rough sign of traction. That is our own rule of thumb, not a platform metric.

• More can help, up to a point. Mosseri says the more you post, the more chances your content has to reach people, but quality beats quantity.

• Don't leave long gaps. The ranking system then has no recent data to learn from. Steady and good beats fast and sloppy.

Myths you can skip

These claims float around online, but the platforms do not back them.

• “New accounts sit in a sandbox for a set number of days.” No platform says this.

• “Posting three times a day gets a new account flagged.” There is no evidence for this. Instagram's own tools allow up to 100 posts a day.

• “There are safe action limits, like 200 follows a day.” The platforms have never published limits, and the numbers online contradict each other.

• “Delete a flopped video and repost it.” Reposting the same file risks the duplicate-content demotion instead.

• “Scheduling tools get less reach than posting by hand.” Mosseri has denied this, and a Hootsuite experiment found no difference.

• “Hashtags boost reach.” Mosseri says they help search and sorting, not reach.

• “Shadowbans secretly cap your account forever.” On Instagram, reduced recommendation reach follows published guidelines, shows up in Account Status, and can be appealed.

Signs you are ready to scale

Move up from one post a day when you see steady signals over a few weeks:

• Non-follower reach. Your videos keep landing with people who do not follow you.

• Watch time. People watch most of each video.

• Steady growth. Your follower count grows a little each week.

On Instagram, 1,000 followers is a nice milestone: it unlocks trial reels, which test a reel on non-followers before your followers see it. Until then, treat every post as a small test. Keep what works and drop what does not.