Stuck in the “I am doing everything I can, but not getting the reach that I deserve”loop? Did you know that Instagram posts with at least 1 hashtag see 12.6% more engagement than posts without any hashtags? Also, Instagram posts using a maximum of 30 hashtags see an average of 79% more engagement compared to posts with just fewer hashtags. Luckily for us, Instagram has been very transparent about the way its recommendation algorithms function and what we can do to make our content searchable and more likable. By making a few adjustments to your content and some strategic decisions, you can grow your reach on the app and become more discoverable by Instagram’s recommendation system. Let’s talk about them.

How to Increase Your Reach on Instagram?

It doesn’t matter when you start your Instagram journey; you can make it big. We recently saw a viral video with 7 million views from an account with only 80 followers. It’s not the number of followers that determines your reach or engagement

1. Know Your Audience

To improve your Instagram reach, ask yourself who exactly is the audience for your post. Grasping this is vital. Consider this: What things are they interested in? What can you post that will really light up their engagement? And when is the best time to catch their attention? You can get all sorts of useful information on this front by looking at Instagram Insights. This is an impressive and helpful tool for getting a decent understanding of who exactly you’re posting to.

2. Post Consistently

The key to being successful on social media is to be consistent.To increase your Instagram reach, develop a routine and adhere to it. By being consistent, your audience can set their watches by your appearance in their feeds. This doesn’t mean you must post every day at the same time, but it does mean you should establish a pattern. Post three times a week or every other day. Make it work for you, but when you establish a schedule, follow it.

3. Quality Over Quantity

Instagram reach and quality go hand in hand. When it comes to quality, ensure that your content is excellent. You must use high-resolution photos, engaging captions, and ideas that amount to well-thought-out posts in order to achieve excellence in your work. Put in that extra time and effort to make your work stand out—especially the visuals, as they will be the first thing that your audience sees.

4. Leverage Hashtags

Hashtags. These are great little components that can multiply your audience. Everyone can and should use hashtags. Posts with at least one hashtag see 12.6% more engagement than those without. But you don’t want to just use any hashtag; you want to use the right ones that fit your post and have some context to it.

5. Engage, Engage, Engage

When it comes to Instagram, you have to remember that it is a social media platform. So, to benefit from it, you have to be social. And the only way to do that is by engaging with your audience. The easiest way to engage with them, of course, is to respond to their comments. You can also interact with them by liking their posts. And if you really want to go all in, you can even comment on the things they post on their accounts.

6. Use Instagram Stories and Reels

The space on Instagram’s Stories and Reels features is your space to be genuine and creative. Compared to the standard posts, your Stories and Reels have a lot better chance of being seen because of Instagram’s algorithm, which favors displaying freshness. You can use Stories to give your audience quick looks at what you’ve got going on, ask them some questions, or run some polls. As for Reels, they’re really just fun little video snippets. Simply put, they’re a vehicle through which you can show yourself to your audience without putting on a grand, life-consuming production.

7. Collaborate with Others

Having multiple perspectives is always more helpful than just one. So, chat with a few other users of Instagram—be they personal branders or just your close friends—about what exactly works best for each of them. After that, find a way to pool your resources that doesn’t feel forced and that aligns with your brand (remember, likes aren’t everything). Use Instagram’s Collabs feature to create posts that straddle both profiles.

8. Run Contests and Giveaways

Everyone loves free stuff, right? Contests and giveaways are great for promoting engagement and getting more eyes on your brand. You get to tell more people about your product, event, or even your newsletter, while they, as a bonus, get a chance to win something. Boosting a post means more people see it, and the more people like, comment, and share it, the more algorithms think it’s interesting.

9. Optimize for Search

It is of the utmost importance that you include not only relevant keywords but also those keywords in the right places—namely, your content, captions, bio, and hashtags. This will ensure that not only your followers but also anyone who isn’t yet following you and is using Instagram to search for anything related to your business or industry, is going to find your profile.

10. Monitor and Adapt

Observe how you’re doing using Instagram Insights. Find out which of your posts are doing well and which ones aren’t. Figure out which type of content your audience responds to most, and then do more of that. Use testing, learning, and evolving to find the right formula for your account. To make sure the Instagram algorithm is recommending your content, take a peek into your Account Status. Ensure you’re not doing anything that works against their guidelines.

11. Be Authentic

Finally, and most importantly, you should just be you. Being authentic is much more effective than trying to be perfect. When you share your real story, your real experience, and your real personality, it connects far more powerfully to the audience. People want to interact with humans, not faceless corporate entities.

Bhuvan Bam, the famous comedian and content creator, uses the power of consistency and quality to his art’s advantage. The success of his side enterprise, BB Ki Vines, a very profitable YouTube channel, is a testament to the fact that humor and associated wrappers are a good way to get one’s stories across, in life as well as in business.

Improving or increasing your Instagram reach takes time, finesse, and innovation. Still, with some clever Instagram moves, and role models like Bhuvan Bam, and Sharan Hegde, you have the makings of a reasonable expansion to and around your community, with loads of access to a broader audience.