Growing your account is important. Consider interaction and engagement rate.

Growth can have different stages with different priorities. So make sure to know which stage you are in and what your current goal/ priorities are.

Different stages

What not to do

-Buying followers: Will hurt engagement rate

→Followers will come naturally with strategy and valuable content

https://www.instagram.com/p/CYmPqUcpws1/

Through stories

Factors that determine rank (Story line: Be showed to users first)

-How recent→ The further up

-Interaction: If people engage through a poll/ reply/ rewatch the story→ Ranked higher

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCrwZjhvDN4

Use Reels

-Instagram is prioritizing video content (More likely to push your Reel out to new people)

-Reels have the biggest ROI→ 28x the potential reach of any other type of content

-Your audience wants to watch them→ Reels are easy to consume, engaging and fun

https://www.instagram.com/p/CYrZiNrLQFV/

Use the right Hashtags

-Niche hashtags: Look up hashtags relevant to your niche and engage with the posts that are listed there

https://www.instagram.com/p/CXjSWTWJVwH/

“A great Instagram hashtag strategy doesn’t just reach more people — it reaches the right people for your business”

https://later.com/blog/optimize-hashtags-on-instagram/

-You can add 10 hashtags to each Instagram story

→Don’t make your hashtag text too small in stories (Could become illegible→Won’t appear in any hashtag searches)

→Instead: Blend your text-based hashtags into the background (Same colour)

https://later.com/blog/optimize-hashtags-on-instagram/

Which hashtag do i choose

-Aim for hashtags with between 10k-200k posts (Activity around the hashtag, but won’t instantly drown out your content in the masses)

-Can add a few popular ones, a few niche ones

https://later.com/blog/optimize-hashtags-on-instagram/

Where do I find hashtags

-Related hashtags show which hashtags are used most often alongside any given hashtag

-Look at what other successful brands in your niche use

-3rd party offerings: Examples: Later

-Through the Instagram Explore Page (Instagram Explore Page typically only displays posts that are performing well, so it can be an excellent place to find strategic hashtags)

-Analytical approach: Look at the performance of the hashtags you used

https://later.com/blog/optimize-hashtags-on-instagram/

Amount of hashtags

-Maximum number of hashtags allowed by Instagram is 30 in a post

→While using a few hashtags is good, using 20-30 relevant (and targeted) hashtags is even better for your overall reach and engagement rates

https://later.com/blog/how-many-hashtags-on-instagram/

Interact with others

-Look up some big accounts in your niche & interact in the comments

-Let creators know how valuable their content is

-Engage with other people in the comments

https://www.instagram.com/p/CXjSWTWJVwH/

Through Shoutouts

-One user promotes another user on their own Instagram account

https://www.oberlo.com/blog/instagram-shoutout

Through Collaborations

Similar to the idea of using other influencers reach to promote yourself, collaborations with accounts in your niche can be helpful to grow your account:

-Find the right businesses to collaborate with on Instagram (Identify businesses or influencers that have your ideal customers in their following)

Possibilities:

1. Co-Create Posts and Reels with the Instagram Collab Feature

https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-to-get-more-instagram-followers-with-collaborations/

Press Features

-Can make small influencer into media hit overnight

“I went from a popular blog to thousands upon thousands of followers overnight just because Business Insider featured my Afghanistan trip!”

-Major Press companies do sometimes reach out to bloggers and travel influencers

→But mostly you need to reach out to them

https://www.unchartedbackpacker.com/become-a-travel-influencer-and-get-paid-to-travel/