There’s so much noise out there right now about Instagram, its algorithm (and if you’re instagramming “right”) and tbh, it can get really overwhelming if you constantly read into it and stay in the cycle of thinking you need to keep one upping your last post in order to grow. I’m from the school of thought that authentic engagement is more important than your follower count, but I also think that following these 5 easy tips are essential in order to get the most out of Instagram, improve your engagement, and actually get some traction with growth.

Post consistently
Now, everyone’s level of consistency will be different based on your own personal goals for your brand/blog/account, but make sure that you actually do it. People can’t engage with posts that don’t exist, so while posting to stories is helpful in keeping your account active and even quicker to do sometimes because it’s off the cuff and doesn’t take too much planning, you should still try to post regularly to your feed. From personal experience, whenever I take a longer than normal break from posting it takes a little time to rebuild my engagement; my following number doesn’t really change, but that number doesn’t matter if they’re not engaging with my content. I don’t post just to post, but I do try to limit going more than 5-7 days without posting anything to my feed. Basically, I have to catch myself + get my sh*t together to create and post my content so that I don’t lose too much momentum. Posting constantly isn’t the same as posting consistently, so keep quality over quantity in mind when sharing your content.

Engage beyond your feed
Whenever you make a post to your feed, you definitely want to engage with anyone that leaves a comment, but beyond that, you want to periodically engage with accounts that you find on the explore page (preferably in your niche) and the accounts of people who follow you as well. Taking 10-15 minutes a few times a week to engage beyond your own social posts (and outside of DMs) keeps the social in social media and also helps to put your name in front of other accounts that might enjoy following you as well.

Add a call to action to your posts
Not everyone reads your captions, but for those that do, you want to leave a call to action (CTA) that will make them want to leave a comment. You can ask a question, tell them to go to your stories or blog to keep up with an activity you’re doing, or share something with them that’s been on your mind. The goal is to connect deeper with your audience no matter what might have been posted. This is one of the easiest ways to build a sense of community with your tribe. Not everything has to be a deep dissertation (and once you cross over a certain word count that needs to be a blog post!) but starting a conversation can be fun and keep your audience invested in your content.

Duplicate content that performs well
This doesn’t mean make the same post over and over again, but if there is specific content that your audience loves to see from you (cool shots of your nails, you with your friends, interior design finds, etc.), don’t shy away from creating more of it and regularly incorporating it into your feed. If you have been creating content that aligns with your blog’s overall focus (and it’s geared towards your target audience anyway), this shouldn’t be that hard to do.

Use Hashtags + Geotags on every posts
While you never want to tag a photo with your exact coordinates for your home, you definitely want to include the locations when you’ve been out exploring new places, or the city where you live/are visiting. A not so secret way to find people and new places is to search through Geotags, so if someone comes across a really cool photo of you at a restaurant or a place they want to learn more about, they may look over your account and eventually follow you. The same goes for hashtags. You don’t have to go overboard when including them, but make sure you add a few to your posts to help naturally boost your posts to people who could potentially enjoy your content.

While we will never be able to “beat” Instagram’s algorithm ( I honestly feel like it changes almost everyday), we can still utilize a simple, yet effective strategy when it comes to growing our following and improving our engagement. It will help keep social media fun while also helping you get closer to your goals.

Do you have a content/growth strategy in place for Instagram?

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