If you’re trying to grow a service, land clients, or sell a product — Instagram is one of the most underrated lead generation platforms in 2025.

You just have to know where to look — and what to do after you’ve found the right people.

I'm Antoine, founder of Wave. I built Wave after giving up on Instagram outreach multiple times. It always felt like a waste of time. I knew leads were there — I just couldn’t do it consistently without a system. Instagram outreach automation became the only way to actually make it work.

This guide shows you how to find the right leads on Instagram — without paying for ads, using shady scraping tools, or messaging random accounts.

Let’s dive in.

1. Why Instagram Is Still One of the Most Underrated Lead Gen Channels

Instagram is one of the few platforms where your ideal clients are both discoverable and engaged — especially if you know where to look.

Here’s why it’s a goldmine for both B2B and B2C:

• B2C: People follow brands, creators, and trends they actually like. You can target by niche, values, or even lifestyle.

• B2B: Entrepreneurs, freelancers, consultants, agency owners — many of them spend more time here than on LinkedIn. Their audience? Even more qualified.

Instagram is intent-rich. The content is public. The followers are visible. You don’t have to guess who your customer is — they’re already following your competitors and influencers in your niche.

No paid ads needed. Just the right offer, a bit of targeting, and a consistent system.

This is what made me commit to Instagram: I realized I could literally steal leads from competitors who had already built the audience I wanted.

2. 5 Ways to Find High-Quality Leads on Instagram (manually — no ads, no tools)

Let’s break down 5 high-yield, efficient strategies to find qualified leads:

1. Select Target Accounts in Your Niche

Start with accounts that attract the type of audience you want.

This could be:

• Direct competitors

• Influencers in your niche

• Tools your target audience uses

• Niche pages around your industry (e.g. “Instagram Growth Tips” if you’re in marketing)

• Any relevant account to your target audience

These accounts have already done the work of attracting your audience. Now you just have to steal that audience.

2. Explore the Comment Section

This is where you’ll find users who are actually engaged. People who drop thoughtful replies, questions, or even jokes tend to reply more often to DMs. They’re real, warm leads.

Here’s the most powerful strategy I’ve used personally: Look for posts from your competitors or niche creators that say something like “Comment ‘start’ and I’ll DM you my full system.” These are goldmines. Everyone who comments has high intent — they’re actively looking for solutions. I’ve built entire outreach campaigns around comment sections like these.

3. Check the Likes

People who like a post are showing interest — just in a more passive way. It’s a good volume play.

Target posts from the last 1–2 weeks to make sure the activity is recent.

4. Browse the Follower List

This strategy gives you more volume but usually less quality. Still useful, especially in B2C niches.

Focus on followers who also follow multiple niche-relevant pages. Avoid obvious ghost or bot accounts.

5. Use Hashtags (with filters)

Search hashtags relevant to your niche, product, or service.

Then check who’s commenting or liking under those posts.

You can also DM content creators who posted using the hashtag.

At first I only went after followers — but comment sections gave me way better results. Active users reply more often.

3. How to Know If a Lead Is “Qualified” (and who to skip)

✅ Not everyone is worth your time. Here's a simple checklist to qualify leads quickly:

• Active profile — recently posted, story bubbles, profile isn't dead

• Niche fit — they mention relevant keywords in their bio (e.g., “coach,” “founder,” “fitness”)

• Follower range — avoid 0 or super high (1M+), unless you’re B2C

• Engaged — likes/comments on other pages or tagged by others

• Account type — business accounts often show clearer intent than personal ones

❌ Skip:

• Private or empty profiles

• Obvious bots or spammy pages

• Irrelevant industries or no signs of alignment

Inside Wave, I filter leads by bio keywords + follower count + recency + account type. It’s the fastest way to narrow it down to actual potential clients.

4. What to Do After You’ve Found the Right People

Finding leads is step one. Here's how to increase the chances they reply:

1. Fix Your Profile First

Your profile is your landing page. It should instantly show:

• Who you help

• What result you offer

• What to do next (CTA, link in description)

2. Craft a Cold DM

• Reference something they did (commented, followed X, liked Y)

• Add value or insight

• Keep it short. No big pitch on message one.

3. Follow Up (most people don't respond first time)

A simple follow-up after 1–2 days can double your reply rate.

Avoid pressure. Keep it casual.

4. Be Consistent (this is a numbers game)

Define a daily goal. For example :

“I’ll contact 40 people per day, every weekday. If 1 out of 10 replies, that’s 4 replies daily — which could mean 1 new call booked every single day.”

Once you treat this like a repeatable process, results compound. Track your replies, tweak your message, and show up daily.

5. Scale It Smartly: Build Laser-Targeted Lists With Outreach Tools

Doing all the above manually takes hours. Tools like Wave let you:

• Target followers, likers, or commenters from any public IG account

• Filter by bio keywords, last activity, follower count, and account type

• Create reusable audiences and launch automated DM sequences

Wave lets you create ultra-targeted audiences in 2 minutes. I built it because I was spending hours switching between Notion and Instagram — and still missing replies. Now, I run campaigns on autopilot and track what works.

Final Tips: It’s Not Just About Volume, It’s About Fit

• Don’t chase random accounts — 20 qualified leads > 200 spammed ones

• Build a repeatable system : find → qualify → message → follow up

• Track what gets replies. Reuse what works.

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Want to try Wave? I offer a 7-day free trial. No pressure — I just like when people test it and give feedback.

👉 Try Wave free for 7 days — no risk, just results.

You can always message me on WhatsApp or by email. I read everything — and love seeing how people use Wave in different niches.