How to Go Viral on Instagram (Viral Posts on IG)

How to Become Viral on Instagram (Viral Posts on IG)

We all know that advanced search on Instagram is an essential part of companies’ social media strategies. With more than 500 million active users daily (or one billion monthly), which brand doesn’t dream of going viral on this platform?

When you have a post that goes viral, it’s essentially an opportunity to become “famous on Instagram”. Your content circulates across the platform (plus across other platforms, because it’s usually copied and shared) and suddenly everyone knows who you are. Plus, you’ll have a better chance of turning visitors and followers of your page into customers. Then you’ve really hit the jackpot.

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Given that more than 1.8 billion photos are uploaded daily (not counting videos and IGTV posts), it can be challenging for your posts to be talked about as the most interesting, because the competition is really fierce. So how can you increase your chances of going viral on ‘gram’?

To be clear, we’re not claiming that you can control whether you’ll go viral, nor that we can guarantee you’ll become trendy. No one can force you to do that, and if any marketer promises to make you go viral, run away. However, it’s very valuable to learn how to gain followers on IG the right way!

You can, however, create truly addictive and juicy content that might potentially capture people’s attention. It’s like stacking the odds in your favor, because viral content really does have a somewhat unique formula.

Here are six ways to do it.

How to Go Viral on Instagram Through Great Content

1. Embrace Challenges as Early as Possible

Social media is constantly changing and evolving. That’s why it’s important to keep up with new challenges that emerge. Challenges must be part of your Instagram content strategy!

When we say “challenges”, we mean things like the Mannequin Challenge. Even Hillary Clinton and her staff participated in it!

As a brand, you need to keep your finger on the pulse and leverage these events right when they start going viral. This will help you get a lot of traffic by showing people that you know what’s coming and expose yourself to an audience that’s about to grow rapidly.

But here’s the thing we really want to emphasize: You need to get into it early. Really early. You need to see viral content before it becomes fully viral. Jump on the train at that moment and you can kind of ride its tail all the way to the top. Brands that picked up on the Mannequin Challenge early, before it really took off, undoubtedly reaped the benefits of such massive visibility. You can also use dark ads to avoid displaying too much promotional content. When you wait until the challenge is already too late in the game, there’s nothing fresh and exciting about it anymore. Everyone’s already done it.

One way to find trends is to regularly check your Explore grid. With over 200 million daily visitors, this tab will help you discover what your followers are interested in. You can further explore the IGTV and Shop grids or browse various categories such as DIY, Food, Lifestyle, Tech, and Travel. Keep in mind that this tab is directly focused on your activity, so make sure you’re targeting the right audience that appears on your customers’ Explore page.

Similarly, pay attention to the hashtags used by your competitors, community members, and industry leaders, as well as those relevant to your target audience. From there, you can gather ideas about what is current and what has the potential to get customers talking.

Timing is everything here. Carefully monitor challenges that seem worthy of viral spread, and you’ll increase your own chances of going viral.

2. Create Your Own Challenge

Online challenges effectively attract user interest because people want to participate in them. Instead of participating in trending challenges (or as a complement to them), you can try launching your own campaign that includes elements of your business.

Here are some ideas to help you get started:

• If you want your challenge to be very engaging and to draw attention to your cause or upcoming activities, consider something similar to the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.
• Do you have a new recipe you want your followers to try? Launch a food or beverage campaign, such as the Dalgona Coffee Challenge.
• DIY brands can highlight various creative uses of your products by launching online trends, such as Bottle Flipping or Bottle Cap Challenge.

When tackling challenges, always remember to stay true to your brand voice. Keep in mind that in an effort to be socially relevant, you shouldn’t go too far or try too hard.

Look at one woman who participated in L’Oreal’s #BusyMomMakeUpChallenge, which aims to empower busy mothers around the world.

3. Collaborate with an Influencer

An effective way to massively increase the visibility of your posts is to collaborate with influencers who have a significant number of followers and high engagement with your target audience. Influencers can get people to try your products and services. They can encourage their followers to engage with you through follows, likes, shares, and comments. Essentially, they can increase brand awareness, build consumer trust, and quickly generate content.

Take time to research several influencers whose audience matches your business. You can also consider using nano-influencers for a more specific and targeted approach to your posts. Although they may have fewer followers, they can also have better relationships and stronger ties with their community, thereby generating higher conversions for your brand.

Instead of having to reinvent the wheel, you collaborate with influencers who can provide you access to an audience that is ready and eager to consume your content. However, don’t just collaborate with any influencer. Their brand, messaging, and aesthetic must align with your own. Take the time needed to build a solid relationship here as well. One perfect influencer is better than three who are just okay for your brand. Quality trumps quantity.

When you partner with the right person, you can see a massive increase in traffic and give your content a better chance of going viral.

4. More Strategic Use of Hashtags

We don’t need to tell you that hashtags make it easier to search for content, extend your reach, and encourage audience engagement. They increase awareness of your business and boost opportunities for greater visibility. And more importantly, they provide insight into what your competition is doing and what people are saying about your brand.

That’s why it’s essential to research which hashtags are relevant to your customers and business before adding them to your posts. Include industry-specific or brand-specific hashtags to better reach your market and those who are actively looking for your content.

Consider using branded hashtags that automatically bring you to people’s minds. These are useful when promoting your products, spreading the word about a product launch, or simply inspiring your followers.

But wait – that’s not all.

You can take it one step further. When it comes to hashtags, are you paying attention to how often they are used? If a hashtag has been used tens of millions of times, yes, it’s popular! But does that necessarily mean it will bring you the most traffic? No.

We’re not telling you to avoid super popular hashtags. Rather, experiment with a combination of those that are very popular and more targeted, specialized ones. The circle of people using them isn’t as large, but it increases your chances of visibility because the competition is far from as high. Take a look at the hashtags in this post by Sunny Lenarduzzi. Even considering how well-known she is, she uses hashtags that don’t necessarily have to be so popular – and it works.
As an example, you can use a combination of hashtags that looks like this:

• 2 hashtags with 70,000-200,000 posts.
• 2 hashtags with 200,000-1 million posts.
• 1 or 2 topic-specific hashtags

These numbers are not a hard and fast rule. Rather, we’re trying to get you to think about using different types of hashtags. Test, test, test! You can never really know what works until you try it.

5. Maximizing User-Generated Content

To gain greater reach and engagement, encourage your fans and customers to create content that showcases your products or reviews your services. Using user-generated content – by reposting tagged content or sharing it in your stories – will provide your target audience with authentic recommendations and help them with purchase decisions. Most importantly, though, you’ll give your followers a sense that they are part of your community. Also read the post on how to plan Instagram posts to improve their posting frequency!

Oreo loves to post recipe content from its followers. (Psst! See how they also jumped on the whipped coffee trend? Nice!).

View this post on Instagram

Post shared by OREO (@oreo)

Social media is not a one-way relationship! Invite your audience to engage in the discussion. Make them active members of the community, not just observers.

6. Get a Personal Approach

Social media users are accustomed to being sold to. So don’t try to sell to them.

Instead, try a different approach and give your posts a personal touch to gain something different, engaging, and unique.

By showing your fun and adventurous side – and spending a little time not talking about business – you can increase your chances of going viral. In addition to your products and services, consider sharing photos from everyday moments at your workplace, photos from your events and activities, or inspiring images. Find out if some of your current customers would be willing to upload testimonials that would highlight their personal experience with your brand.

Feelings and emotions are what help us all connect. If you show a bit more of the personal side of your brand, people are more likely to identify with you. That’s the kind of content that really resonates.

On the technical side of things, for wider reach and higher engagement, don’t forget to post quality photos with bold and upbeat captions. Mix photos with engaging videos and don’t forget to supplement your posts with Instagram Stories, Live, and IGTV services.

Remember to find the right balance between promotion, sales, and genuine connection with your audience. People appreciate authenticity and relatability, so they will be more likely to engage in communication with brands that uphold these values.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many views do you need to go viral on Instagram?

Generally speaking, to go viral on Instagram you need at least 100,000 likes. However, there are several exceptions. For example, if you have a large number of engaged followers, you can go viral with fewer than 100,000 likes. In most cases, however, you will need at least 100,000 likes to reach a significant number of people.

What causes a post to go viral?

You need to create content based on trending topics that your audience wants to see. To start, posts with strong emotional resonance (positive or negative) tend to perform better than those that are more neutral. Posts with bright colors or engaging visuals also tend to get more shares than those without them.

What hashtags are viral on Instagram?

It depends on what’s currently popular. Hashtags that have gone viral in the past include #ThrowbackThursday, #SelfieSunday, and #FoodPorn. Generally speaking, hashtags that are funny, inspiring, or sexy tend to do well on Instagram.

Do hashtags attract followers?

Yes, hashtags can organically attract followers. When used correctly, hashtags can help people interested in a particular topic find your post and follow you.

Start Creating Viral Posts Today

Coming up with potentially trendy posts can be challenging for brands, but also truly rewarding. Remember that no one can guarantee you will go viral. The goal is to create content that is much more likely to catch people’s attention. It’s a specific goal that requires a specific approach.

Keep in mind that these six steps will only work if you truly understand your business goals, target audience, and competition. Also, make sure you track metrics for each post so you can determine what works and what doesn’t. And when you do all these things effectively, your efforts will certainly help increase brand awareness, improve customer engagement, and bring business success.

What other tips do you have for creating posts worthy of going viral? We’d love to hear them. Share them with us in the comments below!