With over 1.28 billion monthly users as of early 2022, Instagram is a powerhouse of a social media app that’s not going anywhere anytime soon. Despite the ever-changing digital landscape, it remains on top of the competition with constant enhancement and addition of new and existing features. With the addition of reels to compete with TikTok, Instagram has also been visibly shifting away from static images to favoring short-form video content.
In addition to being a source of entertainment, it’s also a thriving e-commerce platform where consumers can discover new brands. According to Sprout Social, about 44% of Instagram users use the app to shop for products every week. There is a lot of potentials to grow your audience and translate views into engagement. However, this requires a good understanding of Instagram’s algorithm to recommend specific posts.
This article will cover what it takes to run a successful Instagram account by increasing your organic reach. First, we’ll go over how the algorithm works to build a solid understanding of how to optimize the way you post to maximize organic reach. Next, we’ll go over some strategies to accomplish this tangibly.
The Instagram algorithm is the bane of every creator’s existence. The algorithm can make it challenging to increase your organic reach by constantly changing. If fewer people see and engage with your posts, it would mean fewer opportunities to reach new followers. Understanding the algorithm takes into account multiple variables such as:
Although it’s impossible to cater to everyone’s tastes, with a proper strategy targeting the audience you want to reach, there are still many steps you can take to increase your organic reach — here are 8 of them.
One of the simplest ways to increase organic reach on Instagram is to post consistently. Keeping up a regular posting schedule puts you in favor of the Instagram algorithm as your followers know when to expect a post, thus opening up more opportunities for increased engagement with your content. This would then push Instagram to show your posts to more people who may not have seen your content or account before, as Instagram recognizes the popularity of your post.
In order to maximize the amount of engagement you get on a post, it’s essential to think about how often to post and at what times to post. Structuring your posting schedule around the optimal times of the day based on the organic reach of past posts ensures that the highest number of people will see your content once you post it. This then opens up more opportunities for interactions between the followers you’ve reached.
You can determine the best times to post for your account by analyzing the data found in the Instagram insights feature. According to Sprout Social, the best days to post on Instagram are Tuesdays and Wednesdays, with the best times to post being:
Having a strategic posting schedule may increase the number of impressions your post gets on Instagram, but having the right content is often integral to converting those impressions into engagements.
To make sure you’re producing the best content, it’s important to look at the content of posts that have had the highest organic reach in the past and ensure that future posts follow a similar format.
However, don’t be afraid to experiment and deviate from static posts regarding content. Utilizing other features that Instagram offers, such as the stories feature, opens up a new line of communication which could potentially increase organic reach.
Stories offer more interactive features such as polls or Q&As so that this additional engagement would give your posts higher priority with the algorithm.
For example, according to Word Stream, asking your followers to choose between two options in a poll drives engagement and may spark conversation around your brand or products. Polls also allow you to collect information on your audience’s preferences, which can further optimize future promotions and better target them.
If you’re feeling brave, you also take a more direct approach by going live or experimenting with videos or reels. After several changes from how it started, Instagram’s algorithm has now been known to favor video content more than static content. Creating content in this format would increase your chances of organically reaching new followers, as Instagram is more likely to promote your content. It does this by pushing your live video to the front of the stories stream when no one else is live simultaneously. You can also save it and have it permanently remain on your profile by posting it to your feed. This gives your audience access to more forms of shareable content, thus increasing organic reach.
Another small detail to remember when creating a post is having the right hashtags to accompany your posts and ensure that you’re targeting the right audience.
To maximize your post’s potential reach, using hashtags to associate your post with certain topics would increase the likelihood of your posts being viewed by people who are already interested in that topic but may not have known about your account before. It also encourages viewers to participate in the conversation by sharing their own post using the hashtag, thus spreading further and increasing awareness of your brand.
One example of how hashtags were successfully used to build brand awareness was when Nike Los Angeles posted the hashtag #PlayInside, calling viewers to share the content of themselves exercising at home with a chance to be featured on Nike’s account.
Ever since its release at the height of quarantine, the hashtag has been featured on about 68,000 posts and counting. Here, Nike utilized this hashtag to create a conversation around its brand and potentially reach other people outside their immediate audience interested in sports and staying active.
Another method to increase organic reach is to encourage your followers to tag their friends in your posts. People tend to favor content from a source they trust, so asking them to spread the word about your post naturally could give it that initial boost of engagement.
Tagging your friends in your Instagram posts would place it in a more favorable position with the algorithm and could help you gain new followers.
At the end of the day, it’s also important to give back as much as you receive when it comes to engagement. The concept is simple: like for like, comment for comment, follow for follow. This shows your followers that their interactions with you are valued, making them more likely to continue engaging with your posts in the future. Liking and genuinely commenting on others’ posts also helps develop your presence. It opens up opportunities for people to naturally take an interest in your account, thus increasing your organic reach.
As you can see, there are many ways to increase the competitiveness of your social media account or brand in today’s digital landscape. It’s also important to remember that one of the most important parts of social media is creating value for your audience and making them happy. If you do so, your follower count will naturally increase. Although it may seem hard to do so at first, give these 8 steps a try and you might just be pleasantly surprised by the growth of your Instagram account.
Still feeling a little overwhelmed by all these different things to consider? Check out our other blog articles or services at stiddle.com for simple yet effective ad campaign management strategies!
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