How to Improve Instagram Reach: 9 Effective Ways

Since Instagram changed its news feed algorithm, a lot of marketers have noticed a decrease in the coverage of their posts & engagement.

However, you should not worry about this. On the contrary, this innovation may well help you reach a much larger audience than your current one. And in this article, we will figure out how to do this. We’ll mention 9 ways how to improve Instagram Reach.

What affects Instagram coverage and why increase it?

Let’s figure out what Instagram coverage still depends on. In simple words, if more subscribers interact with your content, you will blink more often in its feed. And vice versa. Instagram statistics show 3 types of coverage-this coverage of posts, coverage of stories, and coverage of an account as a whole.

Now more specifically. Next factors affect Instagram coverage (in descending order of importance):

• saving to bookmarks;
• comments;
• reposts in stories;
• likes;
• transitions to your profile.

Here it is important not only the number of comments, likes & other actions but also the speed of their appearance within half an hour after your content is published.

What else affects Instagram coverage:

• the time of fixing a subscriber’s attention on published posts;
• scrolling through photos in a “Carousel”;
• View all your stories to the end;
• sometimes you may need Instagram mass unfollow
• going back in history and delaying a certain history;
• messages to “Direct” and much more.

What should we increase Instagram coverage for? Of course, for attracting the target audience, which may later develop into buyers.

9 main ways how to improve Instagram Reach

Way 1. Choose the optimal time for publishing

Despite the fact that Instagram, by analogy with Facebook, uses an algorithmic feed, posting time still matters. Publishing content at a suitable time can increase subscribers’ engagement, which can lead to the fact that this social network algorithm will “promote” your content by showing it to more users.

If Instagram is your business profile, then you must check Instagram Insights for finding out when your Instagram followers are most active.

As a rule, the main part of the audience views the Instagram feed from morning to school or work and in the evening, so posts at this time gain a great number of likes, comments & reactions.

Way 2. Experiment with your video

Some studies’ results show that photos on Instagram get more likes & comments than videos. At first glance, it may seem that photos will be preferable to videos for you. Perhaps this is so.

However, if you look at the research data more closely, you can notice a lot of interesting things. As for conducted research, it turned out that photos really collect more likes, but videos are much more often commented on. On average, videos are commented on twice as often as photos.

It is not known how the Instagram algorithm treats comments and “like” marks equally, or if someone “outweighs”. But, judging by the fact that a comment requires more effort from any user than alike, we can assume that posts with a large number of comments will be ranked higher.

Way 3. Organize contests and ask questions for encouraging participation

Asking users questions and calling them to action is not a new method, but it is effective. And, of course, never forget about contests. Everyone loves them.

Examples of contests include the following:

1. Subscribers are asked to share their favorite combination of emoticons dedicated to a particular holiday.
2. For participating in a contest, a user is invited to mark a friend for whom he would vote as the best marketer (both automatically become participants).
3. Any user is invited to mark the best specialist in social networks.
4. Subscribers are asked to share a list of books that they plan to read in the future. The winner will receive a book from his list as a gift.

Contests are usually accompanied by a huge number of comments. However, so that subscribers do not get tired of them, you shouldn’t spend them too often. Take breaks every few months.

Way 4. Support user’s content

Supporting users’ creativity can cause a significant response from your audience, which, in turn, will lead to increased engagement. Since now Instagram algorithm pays attention to who and how the user interacts with when forming his news feed, it would not hurt for you to start building relationships with subscribers.

In addition, it was founded that user-generated content is remembered 35% better and is trusted 50% more than traditional media and non-user content. If it is needed you may use Instagram bulk unfollow.

Way 5. Publish “stories”

As noted in one annual report on the state of social networks for 2016, only 16% of the surveyed participants have ever created “stories”. And now is a great time to stand out from the crowd and start mastering this tool.

“Stories” occupy an advantageous position, they are above the news feed. This is another great opportunity for a brand to draw attention to itself. If subscribers regularly view your “stories”, this may lead to the fact that the Instagram algorithm will promote your posts. Live broadcasts work on a similar principle, so do not hesitate to try yourself in this area.

However, it is worth noting that “stories” are ranked in almost the same way as regular posts in news feeds.

Way 6. Be active in stories, and launch live broadcasts.

Respond to comments in stories, and offer to write in your Direct. Live broadcasts are another great way for increasing coverage. They allow you to maintain the popularity of your account, and even during such broadcasts, subscribers show the greatest activity.

More engagement for subscribers will be given by the periodic launch of online broadcasts, where there may be reviews of new products, services, or some kind of interaction with customers. This increases customers’ confidence in any business profile, encourages active actions (likes, comments), and attracts a new audience.

Way 7. Use ads

The easiest way is to pay for the audience, but this does not affect the organic reach in any way. On the other hand, if your audience attracted in this way will continue being active, then it will still affect Instagram coverage later. So focus on the quality of your content, even if you order paid advertising.

Yes, that’s pretty obvious advice. But you should not neglect it, and it is even better to use all techniques in a complex.

Way 8. Audience activity

It’s no secret that advertisers are now looking not at the number of subscribers, but at their activity, so you mustn’t chase the quantity, you should make quality.

It is better to have one good photo instead of twenty mediocre ones. Just remember this. And next time you decide to post something, stop and think about what this content will give to your brand. Taking the amount is a dubious achievement. Work on the quality.

Instagram is a very visual social network. First of all, images are appreciated here, and only then do they pay attention to your text. Therefore, what works well on Instagram can show a completely different result on another social network. Consider this.

The main point for attracting attention and retaining the audience is genuine activity. Over the past year, Instagram has added a lot of new tools that can be used for attracting & retaining an audience on business profiles.

For example, the arrival of new products in an online store can be published interactively on Instagram Stories. Similar content, but in a form of static slides, can be formed as a presentation (carousel) and duplicated in the profile feed.

Way 9. Remove inactive subscribers and bots

One of the fastest ways to get 1K Instagram followers instantly is to clean bots and Instagram fast unfollow.

After all, bots and garbage do not watch your posts and even more so do not show activity, and Instagram analyzes all this and concludes that the post is not interesting and underestimates the organic reach.

But for removing bots and garbage and not harming yourself, you first must understand how many of them are on the account and in no case affect live subscribers, it is very difficult and tedious to do it yourself.

How to simplify Instagram maintenance and promotion?

It is very simple to adhere to all these tips – you just need to find a good assistant to work with your Instagram blog. We can advise you to use special services for promotion on Instagram.

With them, you can unload your time by setting up a schedule of activities on your page, reaching a wider audience, and increasing coverage of published records.

We recommend that you choose those platforms that can boast the widest possible functional range of options for promoting Instagram accounts.

For example, the service SpamGuard can offer its users more than a dozen different features and filters for configuring Instagram promotion.

Instead of a conclusion

Never forget that Instagram is primarily a place where users go for entertainment and positive emotions. And brands are simply obliged to meet these expectations. Therefore, take into account all mentioned tips, and build your strategy. And do not forget to share your advice in the comments.