Instagram is fun, with beautiful, fun pictures/video. Users get to share their daily lives, business ideas and promote their products and brand in a creative, effective way that can reach millions of people at a click of a button. Sounds simple and a no brainer right? Not Quite most would say. As much fun as IG is, we also need to remember that its a business and like many businesses, IG is always looking for ways to improve and get its users to spend more time on the platform. It also needs to constantly keep up with its competitors, its most recent being Tik-Tok.
To understand the way IG works, I liken it to a parent or teacher. It likes all of its users but plays favourites and offers rewards. When IG launches a new feature for eg. (its latest being reels), it wants as many people using it as possible and the more you use it and “promote it”, the more the algorithm will favour your page and content and feature that to more users. So what do I mean by “promote” new features? It simply means that the way you use the feature attracts more people to using the feature and IG as a whole. This would be using call to actions in your posts, make sure to engage with people and encourage more engagements on IG. The algorithm in turn sees this and you (your content ), pulling more users to IG and will in turn show your content to more people, helping you grow your account/following. That is really the key to building your account and following with real, higher engagement levels as well.
Iv added an example below of a screenshot of one of my posts. Here I was nearing the end of the work day, along with other people in the world (many of my followers in other parts of the world may have already finished work at that time), and I did a simple story trying to touch base with everyone asking how everything is going. I love engaging with people and hearing how everyones doing, what’s been happening etc, so its a great way to engage while still being authentic and true to who you are because that truly is the biggest secret, be yourself. Nobody can do You, Like You hunny! X
Reels, which as I mentioned is IG’s newest feature. Its the short-form video sharing and editing feature, that allows you to create 15-second videos that can be created and personalised with editing tools and various effects including the option to add music and a host of other things. The easiest way to get your IG going and growing is to always try and use IG’s latest feature introductions, as this will prompt the algorithm to “reward you” and promote your account and content to more people. But what happens if you don’t like a new feature? Reels for eg. are all about creating video content and I am not a video person. So I would either need to get comfortable with making videos or I someone like me needs to put in extra effort with the rest of my content which needs to include all types of IG “promotion” like mentioned ie. calls to action, engagement with other pages, post regularly and consistently, post content that I know my audience will engage with (remember the content you create is for your audience, so it should be what they want to see, and see more of so that you get and keep them engaged). So if you love any new feature that IG rolls out, great! Use it as much as you can and leverage it to get more eyes on your page. If not, well even if you do, as a general golden rule to growing your account, use these rules to gain favour with the IG algorithm to grow on IG.
Golden Rules to grow your IG:
- Post to IG often and consistently
- Create quality content
- Create and post content for your audience, not yourself.
- Create content that encourages engagement ie. include calls to action, respond to other posts/comments, ask questions to promote conversation.
- Check the most popular times in your country that your audience is most active, and post at those times.
- Try to use IG’s newest feature introductions.
And that is, in a nutshell, your quick guide to kickstarting your IG and boosting your page to increase your engagement and following.
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Happy Posting
Arita X
