Take your Instagram game to the next level with these less obvious tips that go beyond the basics, like posting regularly, engaging with your followers, and focusing on video content.
These practical Instagram strategies are perfect for creators and businesses of all kinds looking to fully leverage Instagram’s latest features.
Post 1 and 2 Stories per day
We discovered that posting 1 to 2 Stories a day gets better engagement than posting five or more. The key is to create content that connects with your audience. Stay genuine, and growth will naturally happen.
Employ Instagram Story Notes
Story Notes is a new feature where you can post a text note of up to 60 characters to your Stories. It appears on the top of your inbox feeds and above your profile picture on Instagram. Just like Stories, the Notes also vanish after 24 hours.
Anyone can reply to your Note, starting a private message conversation and boosting engagement. Users can also share their Notes in a post or Reel.
Make the first 3 seconds count
Catching people’s attention in the first few seconds of a Reel makes it more likely they’ll watch all of it.
The Instagram algorithm is based on how long people watch your Reel. Instagram first shows your Reel to a small group that thinks they will enjoy it. If it gets good watch time, likes, or shares, it will be shown to more people. If it keeps doing well, it will appear more often in the Reels feed and Explore page, reaching even more people.
Post at the best time
The best time to post on Instagram is usually between 5 AM and 7 AM on Wednesdays, according to our research. However, the best times can vary by industry. For example, retail brands do best post at 4 AM on Wednesdays and between 2 AM and 3 AM on Thursdays. For financial services, the best times are Wednesdays from 8 AM – 10 AM, with another good time on Fridays at 10 AM.
Engage
Want to double your engagement rate? Simply reply to every comment and message – it can boost your engagement by 100%.
This year, don’t forget to reply to Story Notes and comments in your broadcast channels as well.
Meta is also introducing new tools to make engaging with your audience quicker and easier, like conversational AIs in the new Meta AI Studio.
Collab posts with influencers
Working with influencers helps grow your brand awareness and reach. Following the medium’s new collaborative posts, you can tag up to 2 other partners in a post or Reel. This shows the post on all collaborators’ feeds and profiles, increasing its reach for everyone involved.
Tag your location
If you’re a local business or promoting a local event, make sure to tag your location. This can be a street address or a city, and it’s like local SEO for Instagram. When people search for or explore that location, your post will appear in the results, along with your profile if you have an active Story tagging a nearby place.
Carousels with audio
You can now add music to carousels, and here’s why it’s useful: it makes your post show up in the Reels tab, giving it more reach. This is great for everyone, especially brands that aren’t making Reels but want to take advantage of the Reels algorithm.
Layer audio in Reels
You can now add up to 20 audio tracks to a Reel and create a unique “mashup” by featuring small clips from each. Before, you could only have one music track and a voiceover. Some Instagram creators, like those on TikTok, use a strategy where they add a trending audio track and lower the volume to 5-10%. This way, the voiceover stays clear, but the Reel still gets more reach from the trending audio.
