If you’re somebody that has been struggling to kick-start your Instagram in 2023, then we are going to talk about how you can grow on the platform, increase your engagement, and hit the goals you have set for yourself and see real results.
#Tip1: Know the Platform
If you want to dominate a platform, you have to know the ins and outs of it. What makes it breathe? What makes it come alive? You will need to have an understanding of the algorithm and that platform’s user behavior.
When it comes to the Instagram platform, the biggest misconception is that there is one all-mighty Instagram algorithm that controls them all and there isn’t. There are multiple algorithms and processes. Instagram uses behind-the-scenes to personalise each user’s experience. For example, there are algorithms on how feed and stories are ranked, on explore, reels, and so forth.
Within each algorithm, Instagram uses something called signals to help rank posts in order of which they think you will be most interested in and there are thousands of these signals.
What are the most important signals that Instagram looks for?
Firstly, let’s talk about feed and stories. Instagram breaks it down into information about the post, information about the person who posted, your activity, and your history of interacting with someone. From there, Instagram will be predicted how likely you are to spend a few seconds on posts to like, save, share, or tap on the profile. The more likely you are to take action on a post, you will see content similar to that on your feed.
Why is all this relevant to the growth of your profile?
If you’re someone who wants to rank high on someone’s feed or explore then you have to know why Instagram is ranking them high in the first place so you can reverse engineer the strategy and get your posts to get eyes.
For explore ranking, the order is information about the post, your history of interacting with the person who posted, your activity, and information about the person who posted. Ideally, the explore page is a list of accounts that you maybe haven’t interacted with so you can find new profiles, new people, and new posts.
Ranking for the reels page, the order of importance is your activity, your history of interacting with the person who posted, information about the reel and information about the person who posted.
#Tip2: Utilize Instagram SEO
After you have understood how Instagram’s algorithm works, the next step is to utilize Instagram SEO. Instagram’s search does not currently work as well as Google, TikTok, YouTube but that doesn’t mean you should skip this as it helps the algorithm.
People think “I don’t use Instagram to search tips” etc, but it’s actually helping Instagram categorise you and your content. If you’re hearing the term SEO for the first time, let’s simplify it for you. Search Engine Optimisation is the strategy you have in place to be easily discovered on a platform. If you’re an influencer and someone is looking to book an influencer, what strategy do you have in place to make sure that you are the person or profile matches that search term.
What should my SEO strategy look like?
Use keywords and key phrases throughout your profile. What is your niche? What do you want to be known for? Those are how to figure out your keywords and phrases to help people find you. Put the words everywhere – on your profile bio, username, hashtags, captions and even the words you say in your Reels.
If you want to be an influencer or you are an influencer then this is what your profile could look like, for example:
Username: InfluencerAhmadFoza
Name Place: Ahmad | Dubai Influencer
Instagram now knows, okay, Ahmad is an influencer and begin to send profiles to your page with those terms in mind.
Bio: Dubai based influencer who is interested in fashion and lifestyle content. As seen in ….
You can name brands you have worked with that you are most proud of if you wanted to brag a little!
The hashtags that will then be used are #influencer #dubaiinfluencer #fashioninfluencer #lifestyleinfluencer. The captions that are used will also be more like ‘day in the life of a fashion influencer’ or ‘being an influencer in Dubai.’ These are the signals Instagram is looking for.
#Tip3: Take action based on your goals
Ask yourself what is your goal with Instagram?
Is it to grow on the platform? increase engagement? prioritse which is your number one goal as each one has a different action. If you’re not seeing results, it’s likely you’re taking the wrong action.
What actions should you take then?
If you want to make sales, establish your authority. Create pinned posts that introduce who you are and your offer, place call to actions in your bio that leads to a freebie and create highlights that has links to products or affiliate links if your goal is to make money – focus on how to make money and what features IG has to get you there.
If you want to focus on engagement, comment on your followers posts, take time to comment back to messages on your post, and getting back to people’s DM’s. You can check your insights to see which post your followers have reacted to the most. The ask yourself why did it get the most likes and engagement? Was it the caption? The comments? Likes? Was it a Reel? A carrousel? Then compare it to which had the least engagement and why so you learn from it.
If you want to focus on growing your Instagram, focus on Reels Reels and Reels! Reels is the only content that Instagram have even said themselves – it is designed to reach new people. That algorithm that Instagram has designed for Reels is to make your profile reach new people. You can add a call to action to get people to stay on your profile.
In your bio, answer why people should follow you. Tell the new viewer what value you provide. Then, spend time with people that don’t follow you – reach out to people and study analytics. Rank your posts by followers or reach in your insights to see which posts got you followers and which posts didn’t.
If you want to know how to get 10k followers, click here: https://itp.live/guide/how-to-hit-10k-followers-in-30-days-on-instagram
#Tip4: Know how to use DMs
DMs are the most overlooked feature on Instagram but it’s the driving force to your success. When your think of signals on Instagram to prioritise posts, it’s looking at how often you’re engaging with people, how often your accounts cross paths, etc. Since there isn’t a relationship status on Instagram, the best way to see if you’re close to somebody is through your DMs.
If you open your Instagram now and check your stories, the person who is at the top is the person you talk to the most. If you want to rank high in someone’s stories or feed, then you need to be sliding into their direct messages. If you find it awkward to direct message, then an easy way to get in touch with someone is to reply back to their stories.
Tip5: Adapt when Instagram makes changes
The bad news is that Instagram is always changing so your strategy will always be changing. The good news is that because of the constant changes there are new feautres that are being added which gives you the opportunity to get ahead of the game and use them to be favoured by the algorithm.
It is frustrating sometimes to keep up with the changes, but a good way to keeping updated it to follow those who document it first like ITP Live, or even Adam Mosseri who is the head of IG and always announces when chages happen. It can be incredibly helpful to be a new adapter to these features and changes.
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