9 tips to improve organic reach on Instagram

Reaching a large number of people on social media is increasingly difficult.

Signing up for social platforms does not automatically mean visibility. You have to commit by frequently publishing interesting content for your target audience, interact as much as possible and test as much as I can what works for your community and what doesn't.

Instagram, the fourth most used social network in Italy, is an excellent channel to promote your products and services, get interactions and build a community that shares the values of your brand.

In fact, on the official blog of the social we read that:

✔ 90% of people on Instagram follow a business

✔ 2 out of 3 people say Instagram makes it easy to interact with the brand

✔ 50% of people say they are more interested in a brand if they see it advertised on Instagram.

How to break the hearts of followers and increase organic reach?

Organic coverage is the free visibility of the post, i.e. the one generated automatically without resorting to sponsorships of any kind.

The coverage of each post is not generated at random, but follows the rules dictated by the social algorithm.

A few weeks ago, Adam Mosseri, CEO of Instagram, revealed that the social network will no longer be just a photo-sharing platform, but soon new features will be implemented that will lead users to get the most out of their experience by preferring the areas related to creators, videos, shopping and messages.

1️⃣ Stay up to date on new features and use ALL of them in your engagement strategy

Take photos, post carousels, stream live, share videos on IGTV, create guides, tell what's happening through stories, add questions, links, polls, tag products and people.

Have fun testing all kinds of content and focus on the ones that work best for your followers.

Study current trends and how your brand's competitors work. Make social listening an integral part of your company's social marketing strategy.

2️⃣Use relevant hastags, tag the right people and don't forget the caption

On Instagram you can follow hashtags to stay up to date on a certain type of topic.

Publishing a post with the right hashtag will allow you to enter the feed of some stranger who may get curious and start following your page. Remember that the post must be eye-catching and the image of good quality.

For captions, the length of the text is not important. That will depend on the tone of voice of the company and the post you have prepared. A nice caption can intrigue the follower and push him to act, commenting and sharing the post.

3️⃣ Make content accessible and shareable to a wider audience

Enable IGTV to post automatic captions and don't forget to fill in the alt text.

This kind of attention is very popular with the algorithm as it rewards the content that can be used by as many users as possible, including those who have different skills.

Give everyone the ability to interact, share, and comment on posts, stories, and other types of content.

There is nothing better than the free visibility that a follower can bring by sharing your post with his community. Remember to share content created by users who have tagged the brand, its product, or service.

Enable remixes for reels. This way users will be more likely to create duets by showing your clip along with theirs.

4️⃣ Add tags

Whether it's posts or stories, geolocating the content will allow it to enter a flow of visibility linked to that place. If your company works locally and has a physical point, you can't help but localize the post to appear in user searches.

Also add branded content tags, meaning you allow other pages to tag you in their Instagram ads and sponsored posts. In this way you can take advantage of the visibility brought by other brands.

5️⃣ Create featured stories

Stories are contents that the social audience really likes.

They are easy to use, fast and fun. Within stories you can share a post, create a poll, ask questions, add informative content, prepare quizzes, publish memes and stimulate discussion on a certain topic.

The disadvantage/advantage of this kind of content is that it only lasts 24 hours. So, to increase the organic reach of some stories it is good to highlight them on the brand profile by creating Featured Stories grouped by a certain topic.

6️⃣ Test publication times

Intercepting your audience at the right time can increase views of your content.

Let's say it out loud together: there is no right time to publish a certain content. There's the right time for your community!

Thanks to the statistics provided by Instagram you can easily understand which are the days and times when your followers are present and active.

Remember not to exceed the number of publications because you could overload your followers and not make them happy.

Each page is different from each other, so you'll need to try over and over again when it's the right time to connect with the community.

7️⃣ Interact with followers

Do not forget that social media are relational networks and to work well they need to create bonds.

Invite your followers to share brand posts, ask them questions, and ask for their opinion. Ask people to tag their friends or add a comment to what they post. Remember to reciprocate by liking followers' posts, commenting on their content, and sharing brand-related user generated content in the company feed.

To enter the Explore section you need a good interaction rate so try to create a community of followers really interested in your products and services. Don't buy followers! It serves no purpose.

8️⃣ Show behind the scenes and product creations

People love to participate backstage. It shows behind the scenes of building a product or shooting.

Create curiosity and make you want to find out what it is. If you are organizing an event, for example, do storytelling by telling the background, the choice of location, the guests who will intervene.

Make followers part of it.

9️⃣ Take advantage of the organic reach of other accounts

One of the ways to increase the organic reach of a post is to leverage the reach generated by other accounts.

If your brand is brave enough to take advantage of the fun trends of the moment, you can create and share memes.

Otherwise, you can prepare inspirational images and quotes that have a high rate of shareability. You could also take advantage of world days or events that help the brand to amplify its value scope, the important thing is that they are specific with respect to the topics you deal with.

As usual, there is no right recipe that is valid for everyone. You have to test and experiment with formats and times, but above all have patience, a bit like in a love relationship.