If you’re looking to increase your brand’s awareness, boost traffic to your website, and jumpstart sales, you want to increase your reach on the Instagram platform. By “reach” we mean the number of unique users who see your posts.

Because Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms in the world, it’s ideal for marketers. Consider these numbers from Instagram:

  • About one billion people use Instagram every month (that’s about 13 percent of the world’s population).
  • Eighty percent of Instagram users follow at least one business on the platform.
  • Seventy-two percent of users have purchased a product they first saw on Instagram.

Therefore, anyone trying to sell a product or service can’t afford to ignore the platform. But its popularity is also a drawback. With all the competition, it’s getting harder to get noticed there. There are a number of innovative ways to increase your Instagram reach, however.

Know the mechanics

First, you need to understand the Instagram algorithm. This is the complex formula Instagram uses to prioritize the posts its users see in their feed.

Instagram claims it doesn’t have a single algorithm. Instead, they say,

“We use a variety of algorithms, classifiers, and processes, each with its own purpose. People tend to look for their closest friends in Stories, but they want to discover something entirely new in Explore.”

In fact, what they’ve done is to give preference to personal posts from friends and family. This makes it even harder for businesses to get noticed on the platform.

The formula, as outlined by Instagram is based on:

  • interest, i.e., what kinds of posts you like and interact with
  • relationship, or your history of interacting with the account posting content
  • information about the account that posted
  • information about how popular the post is and what content it includes
  • recency, or how new the post is

Additional—though less important—factors influencing ranking include:

  • frequency—how often you check the app affects how often the feed is refreshed
  • following—it includes at least one post from every account you follow
  • usage—your history of quick check-ins vs. longer sessions influences how “deep” the feed catalog goes

Knowing these parameters will give your posts a better chance of being seen in your fans’ feeds.  

Now you can plan your Instagram campaign to capture their interest.

1. Experiment with timing

The timing of posts can make all the difference in your Instagram success. Because of the recency factor in the algorithm, you need to post fresh material at least once a day. Besides recency, the algorithm also takes “likes” into account when adjusting its feed, so if it sees a large spike in likes shortly after a post is published, it boosts it higher in the feed.

Instagram Insights can give you the information you need to time your posts to coincide with when your audience is most active on the app.

There’s no one “best” time to post for every account. So experiment. When you know a large number of your fans are active on Instagram, schedule hourly posts to run in that time slot and see which generates the most engagement.

2. Draw fans in

User-generated content (UGC) is anything created by your customers or fans that relates to your product, service, or brand. That includes comments, blogs, videos, social media posts, stories, testimonials . . . anything created by other people that relates to what you sell.

Everyone likes to be included. If your fans know their content is in your post, they’re much more likely to engage with it. So encourage user-generated content by adding a “tag us” or “mention us” call to action (CTA) on your posts, or by holding a contest or giveaway for the most original UGC.

3. Variety is spice

Of course, you have your own Instagram aesthetic, but that doesn’t mean your posts have to be static. If fans are used to seeing similar posts from you, try mixing it up from time to time with something unusual. 

If you constantly display your fashions in different settings, for example, try throwing in a recipe now and then, just to see what kind of response you get.

Or ask a question: “Do you like this shirt with the collar up or down?”

For more effective tips on the most powerful techniques to maximize your Instagram reach, contact our social media management team today!