9 Proven Ways To Boost Your Instagram Reach
Why is there no coverage on Instagram? How to increase it and increase your activity on Instagram? Familiar pain? For a few more years, answering these questions was as easy as shelling pears, but then the social network introduced the algorithmic principle of forming a feed, and everything broke. Let’s go back to the basics and talk about proven ways to increase reach and raise statistics on Instagram.
Find the optimal time to post
Despite the algorithmic principle of forming a user feed, the moment of posting has not lost its significance.
A good time to post always helps boost your reach. Active engagement will tell algorithms to show content to more people.
Quantum Marketer wrote a Kicksta review that says that, Kicksta is a powerful tool to increase instagram followers.
How to choose the best moment
The easiest way to do this is with a business profile. Its owners have access to an advanced analytical tool – Instagram Insights. With its help, you can understand when representatives of your target audience are most active.
According to observations, the best time to post on Instagram is evening, but there are no universal recipes, you still have to delve into analytics
If an increase in reach is needed in a regular account, experiment with the posting date: create a notebook and note when users react to a post the most violently.
Manual analysis takes more time, but it is also a fairly accurate technique.
In order not to sit at the monitor waiting for a better time, use delayed posting services .
Test the aspect ratio
Numerous studies show that Instagram images get more likes and comments than videos. But on the basis of such analytics, one cannot draw unambiguous conclusions.
Perhaps publishing exclusively images is not suitable for a specific project.
What is the ambiguity
User engagement research from News Whip found that photos do generate more likes. But videos get about 2x more comments than hearts.
Nobody knows for certain which of the factors is “more expensive” on Instagram. But if you are guided by logic, then you can draw an interesting conclusion.
It takes more effort to write a comment than to get a like. Hence, it can be assumed that content with a lot of comments has priority in ranking, as it motivates users better.
Ask questions and run contests
Polls and giveaways are classics of promotion.
They consistently provide good coverage on Instagram, as they form a motivated and direct appeal to the audience for actions “useful” for the account.
The main thing is that polls and competitions are really interesting and easy to perform.
Here are some examples of successful options for engaging in activity:
- please show a funny themed emoji combination;
- a call to mark the user with the most creative signature in the account on the page;
- flash mob “Tell me about the last book / game / movie”;
- please draw a picture of a brand or event.
One of the most successful contests in our projects is the drawing of two nights in the Burj Khalifa. Participants need to subscribe to an account, like and mark a friend in the comments
For contests to steadily raise the asset on Instagram, you need to know when to stop. One successful campaign does not mean that the next one should be launched in a few days.
Contests and polls get bored quickly. Therefore, they should rarely be carried out, but with a really worthwhile idea.
How to administer Instagram sweepstakes
Many novice bloggers and SMM specialists face this problem. A large number of participants are difficult to control. Any special service will help simplify the task.
Consider You to Gift as an example . This is a fully automatic tool that independently checks the fulfillment of the participation conditions and forms a systematized user base.
The advantages of this service include:
- You can use all the capabilities of the tool for free, which makes it accessible to everyone.
- You can run contests in any popular format.
- The service has its own audience, which will be happy to join the drawing, and this can be considered free advertising.
- The platform uses a reliable randomizer. Each user can be convinced of the objectivity of determining the winners.
It should be noted that You to Gift have enough competitors, so you can always choose a suitable assistant.
Work with custom content
Crowdtap research has shown that user-generated content is 50% more trusted and 35% more accepted by the audience.
The own publications of commercial accounts are usually associated with advertising.
Therefore, it is highly recommended to establish communication with the target audience. Encouraging the creation of user generated content isn’t that hard.
Publish your creativity and customer reviews on your page, offer discounts for product photos. Brainstorming can help you come up with tons of great motivators.
Post stories
Even children today know how to make a story. This is a very popular format that is good at stimulating audience engagement.
Stories are located above the main feed, so it is difficult for users to “pass by”. It has already been noticed that for Instagram algorithms, popular stories are a powerful positive signal.
Activities can be combined. For example, in an automotive project, we conducted a survey in Stories
Use ads
Despite the obviousness of this recommendation, it cannot be ignored. Social media promotion, including Instagram, is becoming more and more challenging.
The most popular platforms are actively involved in monetization. Therefore, conditions are created in which significant success cannot be achieved without advertising.
Yes, Instagram ads are expensive, but you can work with them on a very limited budget. To do this, you need to learn to understand your target audience and set up internal targeting.
Then even a small amount is enough to achieve significant coverage with the help of advertising.
Publish without fanaticism
Today users are faced with an avalanche of content every day. If you load your audience with a large number of questionable posts, expect only a small coverage on Instagram.
It is always better to post a couple of really interesting photos than to fill the feed with mediocre pictures.
Rare publications of high-quality content form an expectation of a holiday among subscribers, akin to an information hunger.
If a social network is seen as a promising platform for promotion, forget about cross-posting and copying materials from other sites.
For Instagram, you need to create an exclusive. They must exactly match the format and expectations of the target audience. Remember: bright visuals are valued above all else.
Follow the trends
Real audience activity can only be achieved by following trends and maintaining a truly live account. The business needs to use all available formats and tools.
For example, many people forget that new arrivals in an online store can be shown in stories. Make a carousel of beautiful product photos in the feed.
Live streaming is an easy and inexpensive way to warm up your audience and answer hot questions
Another tool that is undeservedly rarely used to increase reach is live streaming. You don’t have to stream lengthy streams.
It is enough to go live for a couple of minutes to show something really interesting or funny.
Broadcasting is direct communication with the audience that increases trust and engagement.
Moreover, broadcasts are given priority in the user’s feed.
Automate
In the broadest sense of this concept, promotion on Instagram is the race to obtain maximum audience reach.
Content creation, communication with users, analytics and other activities are just means of achieving the main goal.
Therefore, it is worth thinking about optimizing the promotion process on Instagram.
Using various services to automate processes is the basis for effective work in social networks.
Now there are tons of tools, free and paid, that will help you publish materials at a given time, get a lot of analytical data, run contests, track competitors and perform other useful functions.
Without their help, there is simply no time left to create interesting content. If you do not want to be distracted from business processes in order to master these tools, write to the professionals.
Ingate team is always ready to take your account to a new level.
Conclusion – The Word For You
Now you know how to increase your Instagram reach on your own. This is not as difficult as it might seem. Perhaps you also know other ways to increase audience engagement? Then share your experience in the comments.
