How to expand reach on instagram

10 Simple Tactics You Can Try Today

Since Instagram started sorting posts on users’ feed with an algorithm, many marketers have noticed a decline in their organic reach and engagement.

But that doesn’t have to be the case for you. In fact, it could be possible for you to reach more of your followers now than without the new Instagram algorithm.

In this post, we’ll share 10 straightforward ways you can use to increase your organic reach on Instagram today.

Buffer for Instagram now comes with direct scheduling! Schedule single-image or video posts or set reminders to post multi-image posts at your best times to grow your Instagram following. Learn more today.

Understanding the Instagram Algorithm

Here’s a quick side-note: Understanding how the Instagram algorithm works can be helpful in figuring out how to increase your organic reach in the algorithmic-feed world.

We’ve dug into the Instagram algorithm and broken down the seven key factors of the Instagram algorithm. If you’d like to learn about the algorithm and how it ranks content on users’ feed, feel free to hit the button below to read the post first.

Learn about the Instagram algorithm

10 ways to boost your Instagram reach today

So how can you increase your organic reach on Instagram? Here are the 10 powerful ways you can do that:

Find your optimal posting times
Experiment with videos
Host contests or ask questions to encourage engagement
Curate user-generated content
Tell Instagram Stories
Go live on Instagram
Use Instagram ads
Post less
Create specifically for Instagram
Be a great Instagram user

Let’s dive in!

1. Find your optimal posting times

Even though Instagram uses an algorithmic timeline now, optimal posting times are still relevant as Sue B. Zimmerman, suggests posting when the majority of your audience is online:

It may take time to get a long-term understanding of your followers’ activity, but it’s important to make sure you’re posting when the majority of your audience is online.

If you are using an Instagram Business Profile, you can check your Instagram Insights to find out when your followers are most active by the day of the week and the time of the day.

Once you’ve identified your ideal posting times, you can also schedule Instagram posts ahead of time to help ensure you consistently post high-quality content.

2. Experiment with videos

Several studies have found that photos tend to get more overall engagement (i.e. likes and comments) than videos on Instagram. On first look, it might seem that photos are better than videos for engagement — and it could well be!

On closer examination, we might draw a different conclusion. News Whip studied the Instagram accounts of 31 news publishers and made an interesting discovery. While photos, on average, get more likes (and overall engagement) than videos, videos generate more comments than photos. In fact, videos, on average, received more than twice the amount of comments than photos!

It is not certain if the Instagram algorithm values likes and comments equally or one more than another. But since commenting requires more effort from a user than liking, it’s possible that the algorithm values comments more than likes and would rank posts with more comments higher than posts with more likes.

Last year, Instagram found that the video watch time on Instagram increased by more than 40 percent over a six-month period. At this growth rate, it could be great to experiment with videos to see if it increases your engagement and organic reach on Instagram.

To make things easier for you, you can now schedule videos to your Instagram business profiles using Buffer.

3. Host contests or ask questions to encourage engagement

Asking questions or calling for an action is one of the fun ways to encourage your followers to interact with your Instagram posts. We found that hosting a giveaway contest is an effective way to engage our followers.

Some of the call-to-actions we have tried are:

Enter to win by sharing your favorite emoji party combo in the comments below ?
To enter, simply tag a friend below who you would “Vote” for as your favorite marketer and you’ll both be entered to win!
To enter tag a friend below who you know is rocking it on social media! ?
What’s on your reading list this week? ? Drop your book suggestions below for a chance to win a free book of your choice from the Buffer team! ❤

While giveaway contests usually generate more comments than usual posts, we try to give it a few months in between each contest to keep things fun and exciting.

Something that we do more often is asking a question in our Instagram posts. Several of our most-commented posts (excluding contest posts) are posts with a question such as this, this, and this.

4. Curate user-generated content

Brian Peters, our digital marketing strategist, grew our Instagram account following by about 500% (4,250 to 21,000) in under six months. His secret? User-generated content.

Curating user-generated content can encourage those users to engage with and share those content. Since the Instagram algorithm considers users’ relationships when ranking content on their feed, building relationships with your users through Instagram might also help your content rank higher on their feeds.

Apart from organic reach, Crowdtap found that user-generated content is 35 percent more memorable and 50 percent more trusted than traditional media and other non-user-generated content. This makes user-generated content a valuable strategy to try.

If you would like to repost user-generated content on your Instagram profile, we would love for you to try our Buffer for Android or Buffer for iOS mobile apps, which can help speed up the process.

5. Tell Instagram Stories

In our State of Social Media 2016 report, we found that while 63 percent of marketers surveyed use Instagram, only 16 percent have created Instagram Stories. There’s a great opportunity to stand out before it gets too crowded!

Instagram Stories take a prominent position on the Instagram app — above the feed. This allows you to stay on top of your followers’ feed and grab more of their attention. If your followers view your Stories regularly, it could possibly even help your Instagram posts rank higher on their feeds.

It’s worth noting that the Stories are also ranked by an algorithm; possibly one very similar to the feed algorithm. Spend the time to craft great Stories to help them rank better.

6. Go live on Instagram

A similar “trick” is to go live on Instagram. When you use live video, you will appear right at the front of the Stories feed, assuming no one else is live at the same time. The “LIVE” logo also makes your profile photo more prominent in the Instagram app.

Social Media Examiner found that the more they went live on Facebook, the more their non-live content received exposure. Michael Stelzner said that one reason might be their brand is in front of their fans more often so the fans might go to their Page to see their content more — even if the fans don’t watch the live video.

This effect could play out on Instagram, too. Seeing your logo at the top of their feed might encourage your followers to check out your Instagram profile.

From our State of Social Media 2016 report, we concluded that live video has yet to hit mass adoption as only 27 percent of marketers surveyed had created live video content. While the percentage might be higher today, I believe live videos aren’t mainstream yet. So it’s another perfect way to stand out and deliver great content!

7.

Use Instagram ads

This might sound a little counter-intuitive but Instagram ads can be an effective way to grow your organic reach.

If you have an Instagram Business Profile, you can promote your existing posts from within the Instagram app. (

So which post should you promote?

Here’s a quick way to pick a good post to promote:

Go to your Instagram Insights on the mobile app (tap on the profile tab and then the bar chart icon).
Tap “See More” under the “Top Posts” section.
Tap on “Impressions” at the top (a pop-up should apply to let you adjust your stats filters).
For the first filter, you can choose “All”, “Photos”, or “Videos” according to your preference.
For the second filter, select “Engagement”.
For the third filter, select “7 days”.
You will see your top posts by engagement for the last seven days. From there, you can pick a post to promote.

As these posts have received the most engagement from your followers, they would likely also resonate with the people you promote to (assuming you have targeted people like your followers).

8. Post less

When explaining social media algorithms, Michael Stelzner encouraged marketers to re-think your posting strategy.

Rethink is the keyword here. Rethink your posting strategy on social media – Less is actually more!

Sue B. Zimmerman also gave a similar advice for marketers who want to overcome the Instagram algorithm.

If you truly want to connect with your audience, it’s better to share one fabulous photo instead of 20 mediocre images. So next time, before you hit post, take a moment and consider how this content contributes to your brand, and does it effectively encourage engagement from your followers.

I believe this is about the allocation of your resources and time. Instead of publishing 20 posts a week, use the same resources and time for just one or two posts and make them great.

Quality content that is relevant to your followers has a higher chance of eliciting a positive response from your followers. In turn, this can help your posts rank higher on your followers’ feed.

9. Create specifically for Instagram

One way to create quality content is to create content specifically for Instagram. Instagram, being a very visual platform, has a greater focus on the photo or video itself than the text. So a post that would do well on Instagram is probably different from one that would do well on Twitter or Facebook.

For smaller social media teams or solo social media manager, it can be challenging to always create unique content for each platform. Crossposting and repurposing content from other platforms can be great, too. If you are doing that, it’d be best to craft specific caption for each social media platform as your followers likely follow you for a different reason for each of the platforms.

Now with Tailored Posts, you can write customized captions for each social network. We’re hoping that this feature would encourage you to be (even) more creative with your social media posts and would help you drive more engagement.

10. Be a great Instagram user

This last point might be a little vague but it nicely wraps up many of the points above.

Social media algorithms are built to encourage genuine, positive behaviors on the platforms such as sharing, showing appreciation, quick replies, and more. Often, they would also try to discourage abuse or hacks.

My gut feeling here is that being a great Instagram user will help you grow your organic reach over time. That includes:

Posting quality content that is relevant to your followers (be it informative, inspiring, or entertaining)
Answering questions on your posts quickly
Thanking people for commenting on your posts
Exploring other people’s profiles, engaging with their posts, and building a relationship with them

All the best!

The main objective of Instagram (and most social media platforms) is to make users happy and let them enjoy the experience. As brands on Instagram (and social media), I think we can do a lot to create great experiences for our followers — which will, in turn, benefit ourselves.

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How to increase Instagram reach? [2022 update]

How to increase your reach on Instagram to target and convert new audiences? Building Instagram reach can help you achieve your business goals — increase brand awareness, build an online community, or even sale your product or service.

A few years ago, building an Instagram marketing strategy was relatively easy. Instagram displayed the posts chronologically, so if you had discovered the right time to post, the only thing you had to do was stick to it.

But Instagram has changed since its early days and it has become harder to increase your reach and deliver your content to your target audience.

This post will help you increase your organic reach and boost your Instagram presence. Here’s our itinerary for today:

The Instagram algorithm
What is important for the Instagram algorithm?
Instagram reach vs Instagram impressions
What does reach mean on Instagram?
How do your increase Instagram reach?
Benefits of an increased reach on Instagram

The Instagram algorithm

Because of the rapid growth, Instagram had to introduce an algorithm. The Instagram algorithm chooses which photos and videos will rank high in users’ feed. The higher your post ranks, the bigger Instagram reach it will generate.

But how exactly does the Instagram algorithm work?

For many users, the introduction of the algorithm meant a decline in organic reach. Far fewer Instagrammers could’ve seen individual photos and videos. As a result, the conversion rates had plummeted.

For a long time, Instagram keep the rules of the algorithm a secret. Recently, the social media platform shed some light on the algorithm and debunked many myths.

If you want to increase your organic Instagram reach you have to know how to use the algorithm to your advantage.

Here’s what Instagram has revealed so far:

the Instagram algorithm is based on machine learning and it is constantly updating. All the updates are based on users’ engagement.
Instagram does not favour photos over videos or the other way around. Some users might see more videos because they engage with that type of content more.
The type of Instagram account (Personal, Business, or Creator) has no influence on the reach of you profile.
Do not buy Instagram likes!
Receiving a lot of engagement in the first 30 minutes of posting has no extra effect on the overall performance of the post.

Since you’re familiar with the rules of the algorithm, you can use them to your advantage and build a strong, organic Instagram reach.

Increase your Instagram reach! Start a 14-day free trial, no credit card required.

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How can you use the Instagram algorithms’ rules to your advantage and increase reach?

In this post, I present a few social media tips to boost your Instagram reach, attract new followers, and increase your conversion rates.

What is important for the Instagram algorithm?

We already know a bit about the works of the Instagram algorithm. There are 3 key factors Instagram algorithm takes into account when ranking posts. Try to implement these insights into your social media tactics, and you will see a rise in the Instagram reach.

1. Interest

Social media channels are now all about meaningful interactions between users. That’s why it’s so important to publish content your target audience will find interesting.

Encourage your followers to interact with your Instagram channel by posting carefully curated photos with captivating descriptions and strong calls to action. Try to grab their attention right at the beginning so they will spend more time on your account.

2. Timing

Instagram doesn’t display content chronologically but the timing of your post is still important. Instagram announced in March 2018 an update in the algorithm in order to:

ensure that newer posts are more likely to appear first in feed so your feed will feel more fresh, and you won’t miss the moments you care about.

Figuring out the best time to post and sticking to it, is still an important part of increasing your organic reach on Instagram.

3. Meaningful interactions

After the Cambridge Analytica scandal, social platforms had to change. Instagram algorithm analyses the depth of the relationship between you and your followers. If someone likes and comments on your Instagram posts more often than on content from other Instagram users, that users will be more likely to see more content from you.

What does it mean in terms of increasing your reach on Instagram? It’s better to have a steady flow of engagement, even if it’s not the highest rate than to have a few spikes of likes and comments under different posts.

Instagram reach vs Instagram impressions

Many marketers claim that in order to be successful on Instagram, you need to follow two metrics — Instagram reach and Instagram impressions.

Those marketers are right.

We’ll define Instagram reach in the next paragraph. Let’s focus on Instagram Impressions for now.

Instagram impression is the total number of views your Instagram post receives.

Let me explain with an example.

If someone scrolls down and see your post, that counts as one impression. If the same person sees the same post for the second time it’s one more impression. Bear in mind, that you still have reached only one person on Instagram.

That’s the difference between Instagram reach and Instagram Impressions.

Reach refers to individual users and impressions refers to the total number of views. That’s why the count of Instagram Impressions will always be higher than the number of Instagram reach.

What does reach mean on Instagram?

If you want to increase Instagram reach, you first have to define what does reach on Instagram mean.

Reach is the number of unique people who see, and could possibly interact, with your content.

There are two types or reach – organic reach, where you create engaging content, hashtags and other techniques to appear high on your audience feed.

Track the reach of your Instagram account. Set up a free 14-day trial!

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The second type of reach you can get is paid reach, where you buy Instagram ads to sponsor your content.

Organic reach is much more difficult to achieve, but it is also much more beneficial when it comes to maximizing your conversion rates from Instagram or, in fact, any other social media channel.

Do you want to calculate the reach of your Instagram hashtag? You can do it with a media monitoring tool, for example, Brand24.

Brand24 collects only publicly available mentions and is 100% compliant with Facebook regulations and GDPR.

To collect the data about your Instagram hashtag, create a project.

Enter the hashtag you want to track in the project creation wizard and your job is done. From that moment on, Brand24 starts to collect all publicly available mentions containing your hashtag across social media.

To analyse only the Instagram reach, choose the Instagram icon from the top bar in the Mentions tab.

The tool will also analyse the posts and give you information on:

the total number of posts containing your predefined hashtag
the total number of interactions
reach of your hashtag(s)
number of positive and negative mentions.

And that’s just the beginning of the perks of media monitoring.

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So, how do you make sure that your Instagram reach increases over time?

How do you increase Instagram reach?

There are several easy Instagram techniques to increase the reach of your posts. This tips and tricks will help you combat the effects of the algorithm for Instagram as well as reach and influence brand new audiences.

Let’s dig in!

1. Time is of the essence

When it comes to Instagram reach, the number of likes and comments received right after posting is extremely important. If the initial round of engagement is high, it is more likely that Instagram will push your post higher in the feed.

Spotting the right time to post on Instagram should be a piece of cake if you have Instagram Business account. Take a look at Instagram Insights and check when your followers are the most active.

Don’t worry if you don’t have Instagram Business account. There are Instagram analytics tools that will help you. Take a look at Iconosquare, Buzzsumo, or Sprout Social. The tools will analyse when your target follower group is the most active and present the data in a neat table.

2. Use the right hashtags

There’s no increasing your reach on Instagram without using the right hashtags. Hashtags are everything on Instagram. They help other users discover your content and help you to analyse the performance of your Instagram marketing campaign.

Hashtags can be divided into:

trending hashtags
general hashtags
industry-specific hashtags

How to find popular hashtags on Instagram? With a social media monitoring tool you’ll not only find the most popular hashtag to boost your Instagram reach but you’ll also be able to track all the publicly available mentions on the Internet containing your predefined keyword.

Using the right hashtags will help you reach a wider audience and, ultimately, increase your organic reach on Instagram.

Moreover, you should take a look at the Instagram analytics metrics that can be helpful for analyzing the impact of your Instagram posts. The most important Instagram metrics you should take into account are:

estimated Instagram reach – the estimated number of people who could have had contact with the post
Instagram interactions
Instagram likes
Instagram comments
sentiment of your brand — whether your potential clients are talking positively or negatively about your brand, product, or service

Want to see a list of trending hashtags for your business niche? With a media monitoring tool! Brand24 will analyse the hashtags used within your niche on social media. Based on the results, you will receive a list of 100 trending hashtags you can use to boost your Instagram reach.

Start your free trial here! No credit card required!

3. Explore the social side of Instagram

Instagram is a social network, after all, that’s why it’s vital to interact with other users if you want to increase your organic Instagram reach. The changes made to social media algorithms after the Cambridge Analytica scandal was set up to encourage genuine, positive behaviours.

What does it mean when it comes to Instagram interactions? You can sum up Instagram best practices to these critical points:

quickly reply to questions asked by your followers
thank people for liking and commenting on your post
explore other people’s post and engage with their content

Thank people for all the positive mention to build brand awareness and associate your brand with positive emotions.

Negative comments can be a blessing in disguise. First of all, negative comments are a goldmine of knowledge when it comes to your followers’ needs. It will give you an idea of the direction you should develop your Instagram presence.

Secondly, they give you a chance to prevent escalation of a social media crisis. Try to address the queries promptly, so you show your followers that you care about them.

4. Curate user-generated content

That’s a great way to boost Instagram engagement rates. It will encourage users to interact with your photos or videos and share it further. And Instagram is making content sharing even easier, especially when it comes to Instagram Stories, which I’ll discuss in more detail later on.

User-generated content is 35% more memorable and 50% more trusted than traditional media and other non-user-generated content.

Posting user-generated content will help you build relationships with your followers. And fruitful relationships with your followers can have a positive impact on the Instagram’s algorithm.

5. Explore Instagram Stories

Instagram Stories are important for two reasons.

Stories give you a chance to show the human face of your company. Record some behind-the-scenes footage of your company, run a competition or create a separate content. It’s a great way to have some additional exposure for your brand.

Instagram Stories are also great for brand’s exposure because they are above the news feed. Your company logo will be the first image people see when they log into Instagram. That’s an opportunity not to be missed!

The same applies to Instagram live streams. According to Social Media Examiner the more you go live, the more exposure your non-live content will receive.

The Stories are also based on an algorithm, so it’s vital to post regularly and deliver informative and inspiring content.

6. Use geolocation

Apart from Instagram hashtags, the geolocation is another great way to increase your Instagram reach. Some Instagram users search not for a hashtag, but for a specific location.

You can also discover images that feature your brand but you aren’t tagged in. That’s a proactive way to find new followers and expand your Instagram reach.

7. Take a look at Instagram Ads

I know that Instagram Ads and organic Instagram reach sounds like ice and fire or day and night. However, having a great Instagram Ad strategy in place can help you develop a sound organic following. How does this sorcery work, you might ask? Let me explain!

Choose an already existing post and promote it with Instagram Ads among the carefully chosen audience. The engagement rate for this post will rise and it will organically rank better on your followers’ feed.

The question remains – which posts to choose from? Take a look at your Instagram analytics and identify a post that generated the highest engagement rate.

8. Collaborate with Instagram influencers

Instagram influencers are your secret weapon. They will help you with:

finding new audience
producing new content
authenticating your product or service in the eyes of others
generating leads
raising brand awareness.

Most social media marketers think about collaborating with top influencers who have tens of thousands of followers. But take a look at micro-influencers as well.

Micro influencers usually have up to 100 000 followers and are considered much more trustworthy than Internet celebrities. Your followers will relate more to micro influencers. Their posts also generate much higher engagement rates.

9. Engage with your audience

Instagram gives you a possibility to ask questions, runs polls and tag other users in your posts and Instagram Stories. Running a giveaway will certainly generate a lot of online buzz that will help boost your Instagram organic reach.

Apart from engaging your audience, you get a chance to show the funny face of your business. Just remember to post questions and polls every few months, so you will keep the effect fresh and interesting.

10. Explore IGTV

IGTV, or the Instagram television, is another way for brands to increase their Instagram reach.

Brands can publish longer video content on IGTV which is another way to engage with your followers. IGTV gives you another way to reach brand new audiences and increase your brand awareness.

Benefits of an increased reach on Instagram

To increase your Instagram organic reach you have to comply with the Instagram algorithm. And the top concern for the algorithm is high user engagement.

Think about your account as a whole. If you have lots of views on Instagram Stories but not many likes and comments under your photos, that’s perfectly fine. It means your target audience is more interested in video content and you should focus on creating engaging short clips.

Get to know your audience and try to fulfil their expectations. Building an organic reach on Instagram is not something you can do overnight but with the right attitude, you will succeed.

Use the Brand24 tool to grow your Instagram profile!

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If you find the topics related to social listening, brand monitoring, and brand reputation management interesting, don’t hesitate to browse our blog.

HANDPICKED RELATED READS:

How to build an effective Instagram marketing strategy

How to write good Instagram captions to engage your audience on Instagram?

Hashtag Marketing Guide: 12 Tactics that will Boost Your Business

How to significantly increase the reach and engagement on Instagram

The introduction of the algorithmic feed has seriously hit the reach and engagement of many users on Instagram. Even big bloggers are complaining that posts are getting far fewer likes and comments than they used to.

Instagram has complex feed generation algorithms, and Facebook does not share how they work. Still, marketers figure out algorithms from their own experience or from a few tips from Facebook.

Post content regularly

If you start posting much less often, the coverage may drop: this is how the social network algorithm works. To increase your reach on Instagram, post new content regularly and don't go missing for a few days.

Communicate actively

At a minimum, courtesy will work: if you regularly comment on your friends' posts, they will respond to you in the same way. Ask questions, leave compliments, reply to Stories and send funny photos to your friends in direct.

Tell stories

Yes, first of all, everyone is interested in the image. However, you can keep the interest of the audience with the help of stories, the original style of presentation of materials and humor.

Posts with long texts show good results. The audience responds to such records. Concentrate not on describing the problem, but on solving it, then you will receive positive comments. This is a simple and working way to increase engagement on Instagram.

Use Call to action

Remember how you yourself behave in a social network: sometimes you would be happy to answer something under a friend's photo, but there is simply no reason to do so.

Ask questions to the audience, try to bring up interesting but easy-to-discuss topics: childhood memories, favorite food, plans for the summer.

Post Stories

The exact ranking factors for content on Instagram are unknown, but according to some assumptions based on the speeches of the developers, regular posting of Stories has a positive effect on your account.

...and use them to promote content

Unlike posts in your account, subscribers will probably see your Story. Bloggers are already using this: they announce a new post with an intriguing caption and an offer to go to the account.

Drop the gallery format

Users have noticed that posts consisting of several photos fail in the feed and collect 30-50% fewer reactions.

Determine the correct time to post

Instagram algorithms keep track of how many reactions a post received immediately after publication, and based on this determine whether to consider it interesting and whether to show it higher in the feed.

If you post a photo late at night, it will probably fail in the feed. To get the most out of it, focus not on your own impressions, but on statistics. This will help increase engagement on Instagram.

You can track activity by time of day using the service's internal statistics. And if you need to get data for a long time period or for a competitor's account, use Popsters. So you can analyze any account on Instagram.

What should be the engagement on Instagram?

A couple of years ago, an account was considered conditionally successful, where the number of likes was 10% of the number of subscribers. Now the situation has changed: small accounts have an average higher ER than large ones (more about ER calculation).

You also have the ability to analyze any account and view detailed Instagram analytics data with Popsters.

The ratio of engagement on Instagram and the number of followers was studied by the influence.co service team. Profiles with less than 2000 followers on average have an ER of 10.7%, 2000-5000 have an ER of 6%. See chart for details:

Useful articles continued:

What you can learn from Russian brands on Instagram;
Ways to view statistics on Instagram;
How to make a beautiful and effective photo caption on Instagram;
What is Social Media Outreach - The Complete Guide.

How to increase reach on Instagram and increase profile activity

In promoting a page on the social network Instagram, reach plays an important role. This figure reflects how interested the audience is in profile updates. The app promotes posts with high reach higher in the feed. But achieving high performance is not so easy, for this you need to know how to increase your reach on Instagram.

What are coverages?

Reach - the number of users who viewed the publication. The system counts the number of users, not views. If one person views the post several times, then the reach will increase by only 1 point. This is different from a show that counts every view by the same person.

Figure 1. Reach and Views

Thus, reach is a more accurate measure of the audience. The indicator determines the users interested in the account and is used to determine the Engagement Rate Reach (subscriber engagement).

Figure 2. Publication statistics

For a post, the optimal reach is 15-30% of the number of subscribers. The total coverage of the account, normally, reaches 30-60%.

How to view statistics:

Figure 3. How to view statistics on Instagram?

Switch from personal account to business profile.
Go to the "Statistics" section in the side menu.
In the Covered accounts tab, view the total number of covered accounts.
In the "Interactions with content" tab, see separately the coverage of publications. This shows the total percentage for each post or story.

If you are interested in the statistics of a single post, then you do not need to go to the general menu. Just open the post and find the item "View statistics" under the photo.

Reasons for falling Instagram reach

The main reasons why users experience a drop in reach:

Social network algorithms.

They decide which posts will show up higher in the feed and get more reach. Instagram chooses more recent publications, evaluates the interest of the audience and how active the subscribers are. If any of these points is not observed, then coverage is reduced.
Giveaways and contests.

Their problem is that instead of the target audience there are lovers of free gifts who do not comment, do not like and do not write in private messages.
Social network updates.

During the perestroika period, coverage falls for everyone - this is a normal process.
High competition.

The amount of information on Instagram far exceeds the number of people who are ready to consume it. More coverage is received by those accounts that are the first to occupy a niche.
The desire of the platform to monetize large accounts.

This information has not been verified. But since Facebook bought out Instagram, big bloggers have been dropping monthly accounts. Many believe that Facebook is just trying to force them to buy targeted ads, thus making their profit from the promoted pages.

In addition, Instagram does not like cheats and a massive increase in activities. Therefore, mass liking, mass following and cheating bots have not been used for promotion for a long time.

Increasing reach with content

Reach is one of the most dynamic indicators of audience activity. Therefore, even the slightest changes in the account affect it. Ways to increase your reach on Instagram work best in combination and include:

Let's take a closer look at how to use this.

Drawing up a content plan

This is a table where all the details of the publication are detailed:

Regular posting gives more chances to stay in the feed of subscribers. A ready-made schedule makes work easier, since the template for posts is already ready, all that remains is to choose the content.

Figure 4. Content plan

Choose the right time to post. Posts published during the period of the highest activity of the audience will receive the most response. This information is contained in the "Statistics" block in your profile. Get ready that during this period the highest competition for the attention of users, so your publications should be interesting and of high quality.

Posting quality content

Since Instagram is a visual social network, users pay special attention to pictures and notice if the quality is poor. Tips for creating good posts:

Figure 5. Examples of quality content

The style of the texts is simple and interesting. You need to write in a language that is accessible to the audience, the way you communicate with friends and family.

Psychological techniques in posts

People need to be encouraged to follow the account. The following “tricks” will work for this:

Leave a call to action at the end of posts.

Sometimes people just forget to like it, and they are embarrassed to leave comments. To avoid this, write what the reader needs to do. If he takes the time to write a comment, then the account will become more valuable to him.
Make posts with continuation.

For example, write an interesting story and promise to publish a sequel after a while. It keeps the intrigue.
Provoke the audience.

Use topics in your posts that are likely to get a reaction from readers, if it's appropriate for your page. This method is more suitable for lifestyle bloggers.
Make before/after, expectation/reality, and the like.

They evoke emotions in subscribers and gain a lot of coverage, besides, they encourage people to write comments.
Reply to all detailed comments, but no later than one hour.

Especially important for new accounts that are just gaining followers.

When working with comments, you need to encourage the audience to respond not with one word, but at least with a sentence. Short phrases and emoticons will be of little use. In order for Instagram algorithms to understand that a comment was written by a real person, you can:

All answers must be responded to. If you don't ignore people, Instagram will increase your reach and your audience will become more loyal.

Working with user generated content

User generated content (UGC) is what your subscribers post about you. It has been proven that such information is better remembered by people and inspires confidence in the brand. Related to this:

For example, on the page of the GoPro action camera manufacturer, such content is the main part of the publications.

Figure 6. Examples of user-generated content

Increasing reach with Instagram tools

Instagram provides a ton of tools to expand your audience and diversify your content. There are some very useful features to increase your reach:

Photo galleries.

If a person does not like your post, Instagram will show it again, but the main slide will be different from the selection. Reach increases if people scroll through the gallery to the end. Therefore, they need to be interested, for example, in comics, tutorials.
Additional reality (masks).

Creating your own filters and masks increases the reach of your account.
Save the post to bookmarks.

Significantly increases the chances of a publication being recommended to those who have not yet subscribed to you. Make content that people want to keep. For example, useful tips or selections.
Geotags

Attract new subscribers and are especially suitable for owners of retail outlets, cafes or other offline businesses with specific localization.
Live broadcasts.

Even short broadcasts will do to get people interested and communicate directly with them. Their plus: they are displayed first in the user's story feed.
Video format of publications.

Statistically, videos get more comments than other types of content. There is an opinion that they are more important than likes, because they require a lot of time.

Let's take a closer look at the benefits of Stories and another important tool - hashtags.

Posting stories

Short videos that disappear in a day are a separate method of account promotion. First, it has its own unique functionality. Secondly, they are more dynamic and "vital". Now stories are becoming more interesting to the audience than posts. Their advantages:

Figure 7. Differences between publishing and stories

The more interactive you offer, the better. How to increase coverage in Instagram stories:

In your posts, regularly motivate people to go to stories and be sure to pay attention to their design.

Hashtags

This function is needed so that a person can quickly switch to a topic of interest. It will help you get into the recommendations if you follow the important rules:

Write them not in the post, but in the first comment. This improves the appearance of the publication and does not distract the attention of users.

Running ads

Targeted advertising is an easy way to increase your reach. Of course, this will not be organic growth. But with the help of a properly configured ad, an audience that is really interested in your account is attracted.

In the future, people attracted through advertising become active, and coverage begins to increase naturally. Therefore, even if targeting is the main way to attract an audience, the content must remain of high quality in order to retain it.

Figure 8. Advertising on Instagram

Non-obvious methods to increase reach

The first is to encourage people to write in Direct. Not only to place an order, but also to share experience, express an opinion, ask a question. The fact that a person spends time and writes a message shows his interest, so the dialogue indirectly affects the increase in coverage.

Second, clean up your account. First, delete unsuccessful, irrelevant posts, old publications with negative, low quality. It's very easy to clean up with the "Archive" function. Then eliminate inactive users and bots. They spoil the statistics by reducing the percentage of coverage. If you have fewer followers, but they are active, then the percentage will increase.

The third is to test different formats and their ratio. Images often get more likes, videos get more comments. But these are general data, and in specific niches the result is different. Bet on content with an average reaction and 1-2 times a week publish what brings the highest reach.

Additional ways

These "tricks" allow users to quickly increase their coverage:

These activities are carried out carefully. It is necessary to maintain a balance between the number of followers and likes so that the Instagram algorithms do not suspect you of cheating.

Account holders should keep an eye on innovations and try to use new functionality as early as possible. This increases the interest of users and distinguishes it from competitors.

Popular but dangerous methods to increase reach

A common problem is the presence of untargeted subscribers. These include:

If you clean them up, the percentage of engagement will increase, and Instagram will promote posts higher in the feed, as they consider them useful and important to the audience.

Another mistake is misused hashtags. High-frequency hashtags bring low coverage, so from time to time you need to update the list of used words. Otherwise, the post will be displayed lower in the feed, where users do not even scroll.

The big risks are the cheating of subscribers and giveaways. In both cases, there is a large influx of non-target subscribers. Giveaways have already begun to annoy people, so they are repulsed by the accounts involved in them. Subscribers are growing, but the reach is getting lower, and it turns out to be much longer and more expensive to restore them than to take part in a give.

The best way to increase reach is organic. For this:

A useful tool is targeted advertising. It is better to set it up through Facebook, there are more opportunities for detailed audience settings.