Instagram reach can seem like magic. How is it that some creators get tons of views, while others see them rarely? And why does it seem like some quick, spontaneous posts get more views than others you spent hours creating?
How to increase followers on Instagram?
It’s not just smoke and mirrors. In this article, we’ll share 14 ways to get more views and increase your Instagram content reach.
What does “Instagram reach” even mean?
Instagram reach is the number of unique people who view (and hopefully interact with) your Instagram posts. You can track Instagram reach for a single post, for your Instagram profile, or for a social media campaign. Along with the number of unique visitors, you also get insights into the demographics of people who saw your post or profile.
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This reach can be organic or paid. Organic is when the Instagram algorithm shows your posts to similar audiences. Paid reach is when you buy an Instagram ad that sponsors your content – it has a “sponsored” label or other CTA attached to it.
Jade Beason, creator coach and digital marketing expert, says the biggest myth is the belief that paid reach is the same as organic reach.
“When you reach people organically, you’re much more likely to not only reach the right audience, but also keep their attention. This is because people tend to ignore paid ads more than organic content.”
In this article, we cover ways to increase your organic reach on Instagram.
What is Instagram reach rate?
Instagram reach rate is the percentage of your followers who see your Instagram post. Unlike Instagram reach, it is unique only to your followers and does not include non-followers who view your post.
Instagram reach rate is calculated as: (total reach / number of followers) * 100
For example, if your reach is 500 and you have 5,000 followers, your Instagram reach rate is: (500/5000)*100 = 10%.
What is good Instagram reach?
The right answer? It depends on your profile and the type of Instagram post you’re evaluating. Let’s look at some data.
One study from June 2022 categorized average reach based on the number of followers an Instagram creator has.
- Instagram creators with 500 to 2,000 followers reached 292 people through feed posts, 114 people through Instagram Stories, and 1,600 people through Instagram Reels.
- Instagram creators with 2,000 to 10,000 followers reached 964 people through feed posts, 244 people through Instagram Stories, and 3,400 people through Instagram Reels.
- Instagram creators with 10,000 to 50,000 followers reached 4,400 people through feed posts, 698 people through Instagram Stories, and 16,800 people through Instagram Reels.
Further analysis of 876 companies found that brands with smaller follower counts (fewer than 501,000) should reach 34% of their audience through posts and 7.5% of their followers through Instagram Stories.
Remember: Don’t take these numbers as gospel. Reach can vary significantly depending on industry, algorithm changes, campaign objectives, and location.
How is Instagram reach different from Instagram impressions?
Instagram reach and Instagram impressions are often used interchangeably, but they are different concepts.
Instagram impressions is the number of times your post was displayed. Unlike Instagram reach, “impressions” are not made up of unique people. If the same person sees your Instagram post three times, it counts as three impressions, but one reach.
Now that we’ve covered the terminology, let’s discuss how to get more views on your Instagram Reels.
How to get more views on Instagram
Instagram Reels are known for being the primary tool to increase your Instagram reach. Here’s how you can leverage them to skyrocket your following:
Grab attention in the first 3 seconds
People are running a marathon on the Instagram Reels feed. You need to grab their attention within the first three seconds to make them stop scrolling.
Get rid of opening lines – like “hey guys!” – and jump straight to the point. Hint at what viewers will get if they watch your reel to spark curiosity – and deliver on that promise.
Here are a few good hook ideas that you can adapt for your Instagram Reels to increase video views:
- This tip/fact will take your breath away
- Are you struggling with [problem your target audience faces]? Follow these X tips
- These X things are holding you back from achieving [result your target audience wants to achieve].
- Did you know that [surprising fact your audience would like to know but may not be aware of].
- How to [something your audience wants to learn] for free / in X easy steps
- The secret to achieving [something your audience wants to achieve]
A good example is creator Erin McGoff – all of her Instagram Reels highlight a curiosity gap and start with a bang that grabs people’s attention.
Inspiration is known for coming randomly – when you’re walking your dog, watching a series, or preparing dinner. Saving an idea will ensure that you never lose the thread.
2. Use a mix of speaking to the camera and trending audio.
Using trending sounds and topics on Instagram can significantly increase your reach on Instagram. How do you find these trends?
- After uploading a clip, tap the “Trending” button. You’ll see the 50 most popular tracks that are currently available in the app. (Note that this new feature is still being rolled out, so you may not have it available yet. Hang in there – it should land in your app soon!)
- Check your Reels feed (you can get there by tapping the video icon at the bottom of the Instagram app). Your Reels feed is unique to you and is the best place to find trending Reels from content creators you follow as well as those you don’t.
- Follow the @creators account on Instagram. It’s a goldmine of inspiration and trends!
“Don’t think of yourself as [doing a certain thing] like a Wes Anderson video” is a good example of what is “trendy” content. Creators from all over the world are putting their own personality, humor, and niche into it and creating Instagram Reels in a similar format.
In addition to trending content, you should also create original, evergreen content where you speak directly to the camera about a specific topic. This builds community, connection, and real value for your audience.
Ankita Chawla, a marketing consultant and content creator, follows a 60:40 ratio – focusing 60 percent of the time on creating original Instagram camera-to-camera collages.
“Original content needs to be more substantial compared to trending content. The speed at which your community gets to know you and begins to trust you will be much higher if you have more of your original content,” she says.
3. Create Instagram videos that get people commenting, saving, and sharing.
Engagement on Instagram increases when it receives significant attention – in the form of comments, saves, and shares.
- More Comments: Encourage your audience to take action by asking them what they think about a specific topic in your industry. Or ask them to comment on their favorite part/tip from your Instagram Reel. Another great way to increase comments on your Instagram Reels is through giveaways – ask your followers to comment on something specific and participate in a contest. Don’t be afraid to be creative here! A good example of a comment-driven call to action is this Instagram Reel from Michaela.
- For Future Savings: Share Instagram Reels that share tips, resource lists, or tools that your followers can return to later. Think: What would my target audience not be able to remember just from the video but would want to reference in the future? This Instagram Reel from Maeve is an excellent example of how to pack information into a video that your audience would like to save.
- For More Shares: What video would your audience love to share with their friends? Funny and relatable content is the most shared of all – think about memes you can create in your industry. Beyond humor, you can also rely on aesthetic, informational, and educational Instagram reels to increase sharing of your video. Tl;dv, which works in artificial intelligence, often creates funny sets on their Instagram Reels that their viewers would DM to their friends.
4. Write well-thought-out captions on your Instagram Reels.
If a hook (hook = “something that captures attention”) captures your audience’s attention, the caption on Instagram will ensure you don’t lose it after the first three seconds.
It is debatable whether your Instagram captions should be short or long.
- On one hand, it’s not easy to read text under Reels – which argues for shorter captions. People also may not prefer reading long captions, because they come to the Reels tab for video content.
- On the other hand, captions – if well-formatted – provide more context to your Reel and can make your Reels more discoverable, because Instagram’s search panel reads them. Additionally, if your followers discover your reel on their home feed, rather than on the Reels tab, the caption is easy to read.
A 2023 study found that Instagram captions perform best when they are either very long (more than 2,000 characters) or very short (fewer than 20 characters).
The right answer is: It depends. If your Instagram Reel requires a long caption, don’t limit yourself. But if your video works well with a short and sweet caption, don’t drag it out. Katie Gatti Tassin is a creator who gets the caption length right (with a clear CTA) – neither too long nor too short.
The best thing to do is experiment and figure out what your audience prefers. Are you seeing increased reach when you write longer captions? If yes, keep adding more details under your Instagram captions. If not, stick with shorter descriptions.
Pro tip: Don’t use calls-to-action in your caption like “offer available for a limited time” because your Instagram Reels may start to lose traction after some time. Your caption on any post shouldn’t become irrelevant if you see increased reach on Instagram weeks after publishing. If you want to write a time-limited caption, update it once the offer ends.
5. Share your Instagram Reel in your Instagram Stories
An easy way to increase views on your Instagram videos is to share them in your Instagram Stories. When people view your story, it will count as another view on your video.
Sharing your Instagram Reel on Instagram Stories is important because not all your followers may have your new reel in their feed – and Stories are a great way to let them know you’ve added something new to your feed.
How to boost your reach for Instagram Carousel posts
If you thought Instagram would be all about Reels, Adam Mosseri (head of Instagram) has news for you: Photos are still in the game for boosting your reach. Carousels are Instagram posts where you can add up to ten photos or videos in a single post. Your audience swipes left to view the next slide.
After analyzing more than 5 million Instagram posts submitted through Buffer, which aimed to reveal the best time to post on Instagram, we also found that Carousels generate much higher engagement than single photo posts and Reels!
Here are three ways to increase the reach of your Instagram carousels:
6. Create a story, tutorial, or listicle that keeps people swiping.
The biggest thing to pay attention to with Instagram Carousels is that people are constantly swiping to the next slide. Tanishaa Bhansali, an Instagram coach, explains why:
“The beginning of a Carousel post needs to be a hook and the entire post needs to be like a story stitched together. People should feel that itch, that curiosity to keep reading until they reach the last slide. This increases the watch time on your Carousel post and gets it in front of more of your followers.”
There are many compelling Carousel post ideas you can experiment with, such as:
- Tutorials on how your target audience can do something with your product.
- Tell a story using graphics and/or text
- Before/after images
Cosmix Wellness’s Instagram account is a great place for carousel post inspiration. This wellness brand frequently shares before/after photos, customer testimonials, and behind-the-scenes stories of launching new products.
Right now, Generation GenZ is using TikTok as a search engine. The day is not far when Instagram users will start using this social media platform in the same way. Instagram is already using keywords in Carousel posts to understand the topic – so make sure your Carousel posts contain words that your target audience might search for.
7. Keep Your Design Clean
Brand design is great for announcing a product launch, sharing satisfied references, or highlighting something in your company. However, if you are sharing educational and shareable carousels, we recommend keeping a clean and simple design.
Why? Instagram users have different opinions on what constitutes “good design,” and the idea of aesthetics is subjective. They may not want to share branded content or design that doesn’t seem attractive enough for them to identify with.
Your Carousels on a simple white or colored background with readable font are free from the risks of these personal preferences. Trivarna Hariharan is a good example of how implementing this approach can lead to wide reach – her account has no Instagram Reels, only Carousels. She has 191,000 followers and this number is growing rapidly.
This doesn’t mean you have to stick to white only, especially if you want your grid to stand out. Enhance your social media images by using your brand colors as backgrounds for Instagram carousels that are educational and shareable.
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Pro Tip: Using pre-made templates can save you a lot of time
8. Use a Variety of Content Types in Your Instagram Carousel Posts
Who said carousel posts have to stay limited to text? Mix images, videos, and text together to create an engaging and interesting Instagram carousel.
Different types of content will capture people’s attention and “show” them things, which is a better experience than just text. Morgan Starr-Riestis, a holistic wellness therapist, often uses carousels that start with an on-brand caption or tweet but transition into relevant memes and comics.
This does not mean that it is forbidden to use text only for Instagram carousels. What you should include in a Carousel post often depends on your brand’s topic and voice. However, we definitely recommend experimenting with using emojis, interactive elements, images, and videos for your Instagram Carousels and monitoring whether these posts have greater reach compared to text-only posts.
How to Get More Views on Your Instagram Stories
Instagram Stories are an underrated type of content that increases your Instagram reach. They may not be as relevant as Instagram Reels or Carousel posts for reaching non-followers – because they don’t appear on the Explore page – but they still play a crucial role in engaging your existing followers.
Here’s how to increase your Instagram Stories views:
9. Use Interactive Elements in Your Instagram Stories
The best thing about Instagram Stories is that they contain many interactive elements that engage your followers – question stickers, polls, music, links, GIFs, and Instagram keeps coming up with more.
This exponentially expands the possibilities for using Instagram Stories. Instagram Stories can be useful for:
- Asking your audience questions on a specific topic.
- Polling your followers on what they would like to see from you
- Sharing behind-the-scenes information about your business with your audience
- Running fun quizzes that help you share knowledge about a topic in your field.
- Informing your audience about new posts on your channel by re-sharing them in Instagram Stories.
- Alerting to an upcoming Carousel post in your feed, Instagram Reel, or product launch using a countdown timer.
- Building a personal relationship with your audience by sharing snippets from your personal life (if you feel comfortable doing so).
Here are examples of three stories from Loe Haley, Katie Gatti Tassin, and Sarah Yudkin that use various Instagram Stories features to communicate with their audience.
The more people interact with your Stories (reply in DMs, respond to a poll, ask questions, tap a sticker), the greater the chance that the Instagram algorithm will push your Stories to the top for your followers.
Remember: People watch Instagram Stories to get to know the creators they follow. Share snippets from your life and encourage your audience to interact with you by appearing regularly in Instagram Stories.
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10. Add Text to Your Instagram Stories
This metric is most appropriate for speaking to the camera in Instagram Stories or for displaying something through the front-facing camera.
Instagram users often browse Instagram Stories during lunch breaks, while waiting in line in public places, or when they’re bored. They may not be able to hear your video, but they can read the text. Instagram allows you to add a live transcript to all your Instagram Stories – which you should take advantage of to make your Stories more accessible.
Add your Instagram story topic as text at the top so your followers immediately understand what topic you’re discussing. Use text to engage them, add a call to action, and include nuances that you might skip over when speaking on video.
These Instagram Stories from Shreyi Pattar and Carleigh Bodrug are great examples of adding topics and summarizing what you’re talking about in your Stories.
11. Let Your Instagram Stories Expire
Instagram Stories are only active for 24 hours. If you upload a Story every two hours from morning to evening, there will always be at least one Story on your channel.
The problem is that after your first story of the day, the number of Instagram Story views may drop—especially if the first story wasn’t engaging enough for your followers to click to the next story. You may notice a sharp decline in Instagram Story views for your first story of the day compared to the tenth.
To reset the Instagram algorithm, let your Stories completely expire before uploading another batch or even a single Instagram Story. After you’ve noticed a drop in Instagram Story views, take a break of at least a few hours (or 24 hours if you prefer) before uploading your next Instagram Story.
You can also try this reset regardless of any drop in Instagram Story views. Observe whether a few hours of pause between posts increases your Story views. If it does, practice letting your Instagram Stories expire every day.
How to Increase the Reach of Your Instagram Profile
We’ve covered many tips on how to increase the reach of specific types of content on Instagram. However, these aren’t the only ways to multiply your reach on Instagram. Here are three tips to increase the reach of your Instagram profile as a whole:
12. Optimize Your Name or Username to Be Clear and Search-Friendly
This is one of the simplest Instagram growth and reach strategies: Add keywords to your Instagram username and name.
(Then in your Instagram bio, clearly state what you do and who you serve.)
You may not be able to add relevant keywords to both. You might want your username to be consistent across social media platforms, or you might prefer it to be your name instead of your business name. Even so, you can use keywords alongside your name that show what your Instagram profile is about.
Look at the Instagram names of Emily Durham, Nisha Vora, and Sam Bently, for example. Alongside their names, they’ve added what they do and what they publish about.
You can add your profession, what you write about, or what you stand for to your Instagram name or username. Your profile will appear when people search for keywords you’ve included in your name or username, so make sure you use something your audience frequently searches for.
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Note: Keep the promise you made in your Instagram name or username. If you’ve added the keyword “healthy recipes” to your Instagram profile, make sure most of the content you create on Instagram is about healthy recipes or related to that topic.
13: Collaborate With Other Value-Aligned Creators
Collaborating with other creators in your field who share your values is the easiest way to reach a new audience. You can create a new Reel together, go live at the same time, do account takeovers, and much more. The ideas and creative potential are endless.
For example, Emily Durham and Blake Johnston collaborated on creating a funny Instagram reel about talking to a financial bro.
Both creators are a good fit for each other because their audiences, who like to be entertained and informed, overlap. Their voices and tone are also similar – which only adds to the fun.
However, partnerships are not limited to creator-to-creator collaborations. If you’re a small business, you can partner with influencers on product reviews or sharing user-generated content.
14. Post when your audience is online
There is no single best time to post on Instagram to achieve greater reach. Your audience may be online at different times than you expect. The only reliable way to time your posts correctly is to check your Instagram insights and find out the “most active times” of your audience and schedule your posts – whether carousels or reels – only during this time.
Beyond these practical tips, there are many other questions and debates about best practices to follow to increase your reach on Instagram. Here are their answers:
How often should you post on Instagram to increase reach?
Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram, in a Q&A on the @creator account on Instagram, stated that the ideal posting frequency is “a few posts a week and several Instagram Stories a day”.
Does posting more content on Instagram lead to increased reach? Yes. But if you don’t post quality content, your reach will eventually decline.
There are no hacks here. Focus on a number that is realistic for you – whether it’s one post a week to start. The key is to be consistent and avoid creator burnout.
Shannon McKinstrie, a social media trainer, emphasizes that you should always focus on creating high-quality content rather than shooting for quantity.
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“The Instagram algorithm favors accounts with engaged audiences, and when you focus on quantity, the quality of your content often takes a hit, and then you just know that your engagement rate drops sharply, and when that happens, Instagram won’t benefit you. That’s why it’s best to focus on quality content that resonates with your audience and post about four times a week. Static posts last in the news feed for about three days and Reels can last for several months if they perform well. So trust me… quality always comes before quantity.”
Some things that can help speed up content creation:
- Batch create content and plan it in advance
- Repurpose your existing content into Instagram posts
- Repost your old high-performing content (yes, do it shamelessly!).
- Look for the “Use Template” option available in some Reels so you can easily jump on trends
- Create episodic content (such as “social media Fridays”) so you can consistently talk about one topic
A good social media strategy is to batch create part of your monthly or weekly content and spend the rest of the time following trends. Give yourself room for spontaneity.
Recurring series – such as Carleigh Bodrug’s Scrappy Cooking episodes – are an excellent way to build community, consistently generate content ideas, and create evergreen content.
Dominik, an entrepreneur in the social sector, creative, and owner of an SMM agency, agrees:
“Having some kind of recurring series that naturally forces people to replay your content is something we’re seeing over and over again blowing up for people lately. Any type of content where people feel like they’re part of something, in the middle of something, or anything that follows some kind of storyline is what’s definitely working quite well right now. Of course, such content takes much longer to create than the average seven-second trending audio Reel, but those kinds of things have longevity.”
Which type of content should you prioritize on Instagram?
Instagram carousels or reels – which should you focus more on? It depends on what your audience wants.
There’s no one right answer. Instagram’s algorithm tracks your followers’ activity and displays content that has engaged them. If your audience loves Carousel posts, Instagram will show them more of those posts in their feed. If they like videos, Instagram will show them Reels.
When we asked Meagen Harriman, Instagram strategist and content creator, if Carousel posts are essential for growth on Instagram, she answered:
“I wouldn’t say it’s vital, but it’s a smart type of content you should include in your strategy if you want to have a better chance of success. Everyone should try using them and track your insights to find out how they’re performing. If you try them and find that they’re not working well and you’re not enjoying creating them – don’t use them anymore!”
We also asked her about the ideal ratio of Reels to Carousels.
“When it comes to the Reels vs. Carousel ratio, that will also vary by individual accounts and creators, but if I had to choose an “ideal” ratio, I’d say for every two to three Reels you share one carousel,” she said.
Should you have an Instagram business account or creator account?
An Instagram business profile is designed for brands that want to run ads. It’s meant to help businesses connect with potential customers. Creator accounts are designed for public figures, artists, and influencers. They’re suitable for collaborating with brands and building community.
Does it matter whether you have an Instagram business account or an Instagram creator account for acquiring new followers and increasing your reach? Instagram says no.
Your reach should not be affected by what type of account you have, so set it up based on your needs.
Does purchasing the blue checkmark affect your reach on Instagram?
Getting verified on Instagram is now easy. You can buy the blue checkmark using the app. (Note: Only individuals can do this, not brands, because it requires verification of your identity.)
But does getting verified have an impact on your reach?
Instagram’s head said yes, faced backlash for it, and adjusted his words based on feedback received. Short answer: Getting verified should have no impact on your reach.
Lia Haberman also tested this and said nothing about whether she witnessed (or didn’t witness) an increase in reach – although she did mention that it’s easier to stand out in notifications with a blue checkmark. However, this advantage would only be available until purchasing a blue checkmark becomes second nature and every other account has one.
Still, there’s no shame in buying an Instagram-verified blue checkmark. Benefits like monitoring impersonation and live chat support are compelling enough reasons to buy the badge if you want it.
What role do Instagram hashtags play in amplifying Instagram reach?
The relationship between reach and Instagram hashtags remains very complex. Creator coach Jade says that hashtags can still help with reach, but that is not their primary purpose. The only purpose of hashtags is to help you get visibility when Instagram users actively search for the hashtags you have used.
An Instagram creator account contains many tips regarding hashtags. They recommend using three to five relevant hashtags – any additional ones will not bring you any increase in distribution.
To obtain target hashtags, use a combination of popular and specialized hashtag categories. Free hashtag generators will help you search for these hashtags, and Buffer’s hashtag manager will help you categorize and group hashtags.
Should you use hashtags? Yes. But no more than five. And don’t spend much time on hashtag strategy, because they aren’t the main thing that will ensure your reach.
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Does posting with a TikTok watermark decrease your reach on Instagram?
It could. Instagram encourages creators not to post Instagram Reels with a watermark. This doesn’t mean you can’t cross-post your TikTok videos or other video content. However, first export them in raw format and write the same caption using Instagram’s Reel editor.
It’s normal for your Instagram reach to fluctuate up and down.
Remember that it’s normal for your Instagram reach to fluctuate slightly up and down. It’s not always about your content: Sometimes algorithm changes can affect your reach. Other times it may be due to seasonal influences (for example, people spend less time on social media during vacations).
Don’t put “increasing reach” as the sole focus of your social media marketing strategy. Increasing reach is an output of listening to your audience, creating content that resonates with them, and adapting to Instagram’s algorithm.
The tips mentioned in this article can certainly help you – however, their prerequisite is creating quality content and building a community.
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Michal Záruba is a digital marketing specialist and a consultant in social media and SEO. For more than 8 years, Michal has been helping brands grow online through strategic content, search engine optimisation and effective communication on platforms such as LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube.
On the blog, Michal shares practical tips on how to combine SEO, social media and brand building into one working strategy, focusing on how companies can use modern tools and algorithms so that their brand gains not only reach but also trust.
Alongside creating content, Michal lectures on digital marketing, trains teams and follows new trends in AI and search.