3. use interactivity in posts.

Interactive content has a good engagement effect. Create quizzes and tests, use sliders, invite subscribers to private chats, come up with polls (with a call to action, as we wrote above).

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4. Publish videos.

Videos have a much better chance of being recommended. When a user opens a recommended video, the next video opens automatically, including your video. Not sure what to shoot? In 2019, there was a trend for videos where you show the real you. For example, some “behind the scenes” moments of work processes, what you do in your spare time, how preparations are made for a new product launch, how the video was shot, and so on. In 2020, the trend of making such videos will continue.

5. Choose the perfect time to post.

Ideally, you should post at a time when most of your subscribers are online and ready to like and comment. But keep in mind that if you make the post during so-called prime time, there is more competition because of the publications that come out at that time. You can find out what time your audience is most active in your business profile statistics.

To find out the ideal time for publications specifically for your audience, analyze your account in the InstaHero service.

That way, you’ll get basic data on the quality of your audience. In addition, with the help of the service, you can set up the monitoring of the dynamics of changes, as well as block low-quality subscribers.

6. Hold contests.

For example, a contest with comments. The reach of such posts is 10 times higher than that of regular posts. In general, this also affects the reach for the account as a whole. You can ask subscribers not just to leave a comment, but to tag 2-3 friends with the @ symbol in front of the nickname. Friends will get a notification that they’ve been tagged, they can log in to your account and even subscribe. But don’t use this method for every contest in a row.

7. Run ads.

The easiest way is to pay for the audience, but it has no effect on the organic reach. On the other hand, if the audience attracted in this way, will later be active, then it will still affect the coverage. So focus on the quality of content, even if you order paid advertising.

8. Respond to comments.

If you get comments under your posts, try to respond to them right away. It’s better if it’s not an impersonal answer like “thank you,” but an extended comment or question of some sort. You can start a dialogue with the user.

9. Be active in posts; start live streams.

Respond to comments in the posts, offer to write to you in Direct. Live broadcasts are another great way to increase your reach. They allow you to maintain the account’s popularity, and also during these broadcasts, subscribers show the greatest activity.

10. Remove unnecessary tags, use only targeted ones.

A canvas of tags doesn’t work anymore. Moreover – for too many tags and duplicating them under several posts you can get a ban of the account. The algorithm sees this as spam.

11. Follow the release of new features on Instagram and implement them among the first.

People love novelties, so as soon as a feature comes out in Instagram – use it. For example, in 2020, there may be new features for selling within the social network. Instagram is also testing an analogue of TikTok, although so far only in Brazil. It is called Instagram Reels. Perhaps it will appear here soon.

12. Make up games to increase commentary on posts and storis.

Some bloggers had such a trick – they offered subscribers to publish some word by letter. Each letter had to go in a separate comment. The essence of the game was that you had to type the word quickly and correctly, so that none of the other subscribers had time to cut in. You can also offer to play words on the topic of your business (like a game of cities). For example, you’re a flower delivery business, suggest playing flower names under the post. You can come up with different games for subscribers on Instagram, it all depends on your imagination.

13. Suggest your subscribers to briefly tell their story in the comments.

You can touch on some topic in the post, tell your story, and then invite your followers to share their thoughts and stories in the comments. Or you can just ask any question.

14. User-generated content.

Ask subscribers to post a testimonial post about your company. They can include a branded hashtag, mention you in the post description, or add somehow in a picture. It may not even be a full-fledged review, but just a photo mentioning your nickname in the description. For example, “Thank you @shanti_lbar for the warm welcome!” Such posts can be motivated by discounts and gifts. You can also make a post with a review from a correspondence.

This type of content is called user-generated content and has its own acronym – UGC (user generated content).

By the way, such posts can then be posted in your account with the app Repost for Instagram, it is not forbidden by the rules of the social network, as you indicate the authorship. At the bottom left of the post, there will be an icon indicating that it is a repost. You can also repost a post in a storis, you don’t need a third-party app for that. Just click on the paper airplane sign below the post, then choose “Add publication to your story.”

Some brands manage to build an entire account on user-generated content, such as action camera manufacturer GoPro.

15. Use geotags and geotags.

This method also allows you to increase your reach and attract new subscribers. It is especially recommended for owners of local offline businesses, such as the owners of cafes or some retail outlets. Bloggers also actively use this function.

16. Use augmented reality.

In 2020, AR masks promise to be a real boom. You, too, can create your own masks and increase your account’s reach. Some brands are coming up with masks for specific contests using branded hashtags.

17. Do unfinished posts.

The idea is that you can start telling a story and end it at the most interesting point (or post such a video). Then you promise to post a sequel if the post gets, for example, 5,000 likes or 100 comments. Or just promise to post in a week / 24 hours (this keeps the intrigue).

18. Networking.

This method allows you to get to know your subscribers and increase the number of comments. In doing so, you benefit both yourself and people. Ask your subscribers to write what city they are from and how can they be useful for other people? For example, someone draws beautifully, someone teaches languages, someone does handicrafts. Followers can get acquainted and then ask each other for help/services.

19. communicate in Direct.

Direct messages and how actively you respond to them also affects your reach. You can motivate subscribers to ask you questions through storis, which is the easiest way to send a personal message. Or remind them about direct in the text of a normal post.

20. Post provocation.

You can write something in the text with which many people will obviously disagree and provoke a flurry of comments on this subject. For instance, one blogger wrote a post from which you can conclude that in Ukraine there are few normal bloggers (in terms of buying ads), and all the best and most disciplined bloggers with pristine statistics live exclusively in Russia). Of course, there was a reaction, and the post got 370 comments and more than 4,000 likes. By the way, sometimes these posts are not made on purpose, but keep them in mind.

21. Show me what you want.

Also a common way. The idea is that you post a beautiful photo, for example, of a dress, paradise island, or some product, and write: “Like this if you want it! Tag in the comments the person from whom you want to receive such a gift.” Or you can offer to like and share your impressions/wishes.

22. Do before-after photos, was-still, Instagram vs Reality, and so on.

These types of posts often make it to the recommended ones and evoke emotion from followers. You can also ask them to share in the comments of the post which option is better.

23. Encourage subscribers to bookmark the post.

Bookmarking a post affects its reach. Put out a useful post, for example, with some picks, tips, instructions, and offer subscribers to save it so they don’t lose it. Such a post may get into Recommended later.

Gray ways

Among the gray ways we have classified those which are not banned, but not very honest.

24. Activity Chats.

Activity chats in Instagram itself or in any messenger. You drop your post in this chat room and you immediately start getting liked by its members. There are free and paid chats. Only do not participate in all sorts of gives (giveaway), so you gain only freeloaders, which then spoil the statistics.

25. Cleaning accounts from bots.

The essence of this method is to block inactive and commercial accounts, which were signed up not to like and watch your posts. In principle, you can block such accounts manually, so this method is not in the black part of the selection. On the other hand, doing it manually is long and cumbersome, you will definitely need the appropriate software – that is why this method is not on the bright side. Alternatively, you can ban all commercial profiles as soon as they sign up.

26. Activity sharing sites.

Pretty much the same as activity chats, only with a lower quality audience. The goal of all their participants is the same – to get more likes, comments and subscriptions for themselves. The likelihood that such an audience will then be active is very small. On the other hand, if you have a lot of quality catchy content, it’s possible that these people will still be active later.

27. Subscribe to the active subscribers of competitors.

Not really a fair method either. Go to your competitors, see who they are active and make contact with these people by subscribing to them, liking and commenting on their posts.

28. Likertime.

This is essentially an artificial set of likes, so we didn’t write about it in the whiteboard methods of increasing your reach. But it is not forbidden by Instagram rules. It’s not a bad embellishment to the statistics, so many bloggers are happy to use this trick. The idea is that you announce the likes under the post and explain that you need to put 3-4 likes under the latest posts and write “I want likes” in the comments. Every next commenter has to do the same, plus go to the last commenter and give him likes too and write “I want likes” already under his post. Everyone ends up getting a lot of likes and comments, especially the author of the likestime. The conditions of the likes may vary, it depends on the author.

You can make up your own version of the game – for example, instead of likes, you have to write comments or save the post to bookmarks. And call it Comment time or something else. Because Instagram will soon turn off the likes anyway, and they will become less meaningful. However it will disconnect not completely, but only for general observation. The owner of an account will still be able to see the likes under his posts, but the followers will not.

Black ways to increase your reach

These methods are officially banned by the social network itself and it fights them in every way possible. It is not recommended to use them, because it threatens to block the account. We will write about them so that you try to avoid them

29. Mass activity.

Massfollowing, massfollowing, massfollowing, massfollowing, massfollowing, massfollowing in storis, and more. If your account is at a respectable age, you can average up to 5,000 users per month to subscribe and like. Some of them will subscribe to you, some of them will just click through to your profile. But the number of views and reach will definitely increase. But the limit of 5,000 subscribers per month is not broken.

30. Accrual.

There are services that allow you to accrue not only likes and subscribers, but also the reach of the audience. In fact, except for nice numbers, they do not give anything. Well, except for the ban of the account.

31. Services automatic unsubscription.

We have already classified cleaning your account from bots to the gray method. If you still decide to use automated services to clean your account from inactive subscribers, do it carefully. Use random time and interval for unsubscribing, so the algorithm will not suspect that the program is doing this. And even better, don’t use such services at all, because the likelihood of making a mistake and losing your account is very high.

Read also the article on what to do if your Instagram reach has dropped and how to get it back to the previous level.