The Instagram algorithm can seem like an ever-changing mystical creature that none of use can figure out! You may find yourself asking, “Am I using the right hashtags?”, “Do hashtags even work anymore?”, “Is my content just not good enough?” etc. The truth, is that there are MANY factors to a winning combination to grow on Instagram these days. I’ve discovered a few tips and tricks from other bloggers and content creators I met through Instagram, Clubhouse, and Facebook, as well as by using the trial-and-error method. I’m sharing the main bullet points and detailed advice that’s helped me grow my Instagram in 2021.

My Key Tips for Growth

• BE CONSISTENT (Notice how this is in all CAPS)

• Utilize every feature IG gives you, and put extra emphasis on NEW features *ahem REELS & LIVE ROOMS

• Narrow down your niche into 2-3 buckets

• Define your audience

• Utilize the new SEO search feature (What’s that? Details below)

• Research your hashtags before slapping them into your caption

• Be active on IG for 30 minutes before and 30 minutes after a feed post

• Engage with and follow similar pages to your niche

• Always have active IG stories on your page

• Create eye-catching content, don’t post just anything

• Join giveaways with similar people in your niche

• Cross-promote your content

• Periodically remove inactive followers

• DO NOT buy followers or likes

• Stay away from engagement pods

• Remember, nobody else is YOU

Let’s dive in deeper:

Be Consistent

The Instagram algorithm favors a consistent posting schedule. If you only post once every two months, you are going to find it difficult to reach people. Come up with a plan to post somewhere between 3-5 feed posts a week, and show up for your audience! The algorithm will push your content out when they see your followers engaging with more of your posts.

Utilize EVERY Feature IG Gives You

Instagram is at a place where its currently competing with new and exciting apps like Tik Tok and Clubhouse to stay relevant. Whenever a hot new social app is gaining traction, you can bet that Instagram will up its game with its own version to keep users on the app. Reels is one of the newer features on the app, and Instagram even has a special team in place to spot a Reel that has the potential to go viral. Reels is one of the best ways to go viral right now, with IG’s push to compete with Tik Tok. IG also just unveiled Live Rooms, which I am sure will be a good area to focus on next.

instagram growth secret from an ig employee:

I heard this secret to growth in a few different rooms on the Clubhouse app, but take it with a grain of salt. The secret sauce to successful growth on IG is as follows:

FEED POST | 3-5 POSTS A WEEK

IG STORIES | DAILY

REELS | 4-7 POSTS A WEEK

IGTV/LIVE | 1 POST A WEEK

GUIDE | 1 POST A MONTH

Now, I don’t know about you, but I don’t have the bandwidth to have this crazy posting schedule. I would just focus on working in a few reels to your current content plan if this isn’t manageable.

NARROW YOUR NICHE

Your audience expects to see a steady stream of similar content from you. If one day you are posting fashion and lifestyle content, and the next day you are posting about farm animals, your audience is going to be CONFUSED and they will unfollow you. Try to keep a maximum of 3 buckets to post about. For example, mine are fashion, beauty, and my everyday lifestyle. Everything I post about should fall into one of those three buckets. If you are a fashion blogger, you should be tagging the brands you are wearing in your posts, which will help get you noticed, and could land you a collaboration.

Define Your Audience

After you narrow your niche, it’s time to define your audience. Since my niche is heavily women’s fashion-related, I would want a mostly female following. Scroll through your list of followers and remove people that most likely won’t relate to your niche and interact with your page. You may not want to lose these followers, but in the long run it will help your engagement and help you land better brand deals and collaborations.

Utilize SEO and Keyword Search

In case you didn’t know, Instagram now has search word capability. If someone wanted to find a white dress, they could search those words and Instagram will pull up any relevant posts that also contain those words. In other words, you’ll want to use descriptive language when composing your caption. If you aren’t already using the Alt Text feature, that will also cement your SEO content. Alt text can be found under Advanced Settings when you go to post your photo. In this box, you will want to actually describe what you can see in the picture, as if you were describing it to somebody who can not see it.

Research your Hashtags

Hashtags are not as relevant as they once were, so please don’t put a large amount of effort into figuring out a “strategy”. They are honestly hit or miss these days with no rhyme or reason - for carousels especially, because they have almost no hashtag visibility. Hashtags do occasionally work on static feed posts, as long as you are using ones saturated BELOW 500k posts. Also, check out each hashtag before you use it to make sure there have been recent posts. For instance, you probably don’t want to use “#summerfashion2015” as a hashtag, as its likely nobody is looking at that. Instagram lets you use up to 30 hashtags, and there is no “right” amount, so you may as well use all 30. Just be careful you aren’t using any banned hashtags, because then ALL of your hashtags will have zero visibility. Stick to hashtags that are relevant to your specific feed post, so it will reach the type of followers you are targeting. Change up your hashtags for each post, don’t use the exact same ones everytime, as I heard IG will flag you as “spam.”

30/30 Rule

To maximize follower engagement, you will want to be active and engage with others 30 minutes before and 30 minutes after you post a picture to your feed. This means, post in stories, answer/send DMs, and like and comment on other people’s posts. The more active you are, the more likely others are to jump on the app to respond to you and then see your post pop up on their feed.

Engage with Others in your Niche

There is sort of an unspoken etiquette on Instagram for influencers/content creators…. if someone in your niche (fashion, for example) “likes” several of your pictures and leaves a comment, its expected that you will return the favor. Its a show of mutual support, which is why I love following other fashion bloggers, because it really is a great community of people supporting and lifting each other up! It’s also a great way to meet friends and organically grow your following.

Post to IG Stories Daily

Stories have become more and more popular lately, as a “behind the scenes” type of feature. Feed posts are pretty and curated, but people like to get to know the person behind the pretty pictures. Stories are the perfect platform for this, so try to show your face often, and always have the circle lit up around your profile picture so people know you are active and uploading!

Don’t Post Just to Post

You don’t need to post to your feed every single day to have a consistent posting schedule, so don’t feel like you need to post something just to post. You want to focus on creating good content, that your audience will resonate with. Put some thought and effort into each post, and if it feels like you’re rushing it, you probably are.

Join Giveaways with Others in Your Niche

A great way to boost your audience and also give back is by hosting follow giveaways with other people in your same niche. Your audiences will be very similar so the chances of them following you to enter and staying after the giveaway ends, is pretty good. Make sure the prize is also related to your niche. For example, if you are a group or fashion bloggers giving away a gift card to Home Depot, you’ll probably be attracting the wrong audience to follow you.

Cross-Promote your Content

If you already create content for Instagram, you should be recycling that content to promote yourself on other platforms. Work smarter, not harder! Any reels you create for IG could also get posted to Tik Tok or repurposed for Youtube. Pinterest is making a huge comeback with their new business account and stories features, so you should also be pinning your feed posts or reels on their platform where it makes sense. Another area to promote yourself is CLUBHOUSE! If you aren’t on the platform yet, its an invite-only drop-in audio app. They will be opening it up to the public soon, but if you want to join sooner, DM me on Instagram @madelinebajczyk and I can send you an invite if I have some available.

Periodically Remove Inactive Followers

Inactive followers are detrimental to your engagement, since Instagram only shows your post to a certain amount of people. You’ll want to ensure those people are active users and are likely to engage with your post. Don’t remove too many at once, or Instagram will flag your account as spam. Look for profiles that don’t have a profile picture, have never posted anything, or just look spammy in general. After they are removed, you should notice a nice engagement boost.

DO NOT BUY FOLLOWERS OR LIKES

Period.

Stay Away from Engagement Pods

These might be tempting, but if you plan on working with brands in the future, they specifically watch out for influencers/content creators that do this. It’s also likely that you may not love the content the other people in the pod are producing, and the more posts you like and comment on, the more you will see posts similar to theirs. The algorithm won’t be showing you content you actually want to see.

Lastly,

Nobody Else is You

When I first started blogging, I wanted my feed and content to look how other bloggers’ did. I would try to find presets that matched their aesthetic and pose exactly how they did. BUT people can see right through you and know you aren’t being genuine and true to yourself. IMO I think it’s fine to get inspiration and ideas from other content creators, but when a picture and caption are the EXACT same as another persons…..well, its cringey. Why would someone want to follow two of the exact same person? YOU being genuine is what separates you from other creators and is what will get you noticed.

Any other tips to add? Comment below!