14 Strategies for Instagram Viral Growth in Early 2023
Instagram is a strong platform for audience growth and brand development. If you use this platform properly, whether you’re a content creator or a business owner, you’ll benefit greatly. And becoming popular on Instagram seems impossible to hundreds of thousands of people around the world, but everyone has to start somewhere.
Going viral with a post is one way to grow your following on Instagram. Many people think that a post can only become popular by pure coincidence or luck. A user will eventually upload a piece of content that will resonate with thousands, perhaps even millions, of people if they are persistent and committed enough.
Now that 2023 is well under way, it’s the ideal time to concentrate on Instagram viral. We’ve put together a handy list of 14 ways that your post can get seen by a lot of people and potentially gain you followers, likes, and engagement.
#1: Regular Posting
You will undoubtedly hear this from every content creator: routines help you become more visible on platforms. As long as you consistently post on your Instagram page, Twitter profile, or YouTube channel, people will start to take notice of you and the algorithm will continue to promote you.
Having said that, we must emphasize that it goes beyond simply following a schedule. If you post videos and images at 1 in the morning when most people are asleep, for instance, you will have almost no engagement. You must concentrate on the best upload times if you want to increase the amount of traffic to your page. That entails publishing content when you are certain that the majority of users are logged in and using the app.
Metrics typically vary by region and time zone, but generally speaking, if you want to stick to a daily posting schedule, choose an early morning or late afternoon schedule. On the other hand, you can set goals for each individual post to go live on particular days of the week. On Wednesdays around noon, the majority of people will be online, so expect a lot of interaction then. Also a good bet are Friday mornings. As a result, if you’re a content creator and want lots of followers and engagement, you should schedule your posts to go live at the best time for your time zone.
#2: Paid Advertisements
No matter the platform, paid advertisements are the lifeblood of almost all prosperous businesses. The majority of brands today, both major and small, spend a lot of money on internet marketing because social media is such an effective marketing tool. In many cases, creating a product or providing a service is more important than marketing a brand.
Considering how much time users spend on social media sites, it makes sense to use that influence for some advertising. As a result, it may be a good idea to invest in a few paid advertisements yourself because they will probably draw a lot of interested users. Additionally, Instagram advertising won’t break the bank because clicks typically cost between $0.20 and $2. Your investment will undoubtedly be profitable because both organic and paid content on this platform enjoys fairly high engagement rates.
Influencer collaborations, third
With a good upload schedule and paid ads, a beverage manufacturer or an ice cream producer may receive a few thousand likes and around one hundred followers. On the other hand, if someone like Markle or Chiara Ferragni posts an Instagram picture of them using or even holding one of their products, the brand will receive hundreds of thousands of likes and the same number of followers.
Whatever they post, influencers generate a ton of traffic. Even a silly video of bloopers can entice viewers to buy a branded product if it appears there, even in the background. Now, you might not be able to afford big-name celebrities, but if you can, collaborate with some more modest, niche-focused influencers. A portion of their fanbase might decide to follow you and interact with your content.
#4: Current Events
Keeping up with current affairs is a great way to grow one’s Instagram following. By keeping up with current events, you can demonstrate to your audience that you have a pulse on popular culture or even culture at large.
Focusing on a trending event typically results in many brief spikes in engagement, which, depending on the subject, can last for a few days to a few weeks or even months. In other words, it’s ideally suited for producing Instagram posts that go viral.
#5: Videos and photos are both important.
The majority of people who don’t use Instagram—and quite a few who do—will assert that it’s a photo-sharing website. Actually, Instagram has been gravitating more and more toward video content in recent years, especially. In fact, Instagram’s current CEO, Adam Mosseri, declared in 2021 that the app is no longer just a place for people to share photos.
Should you, as a content creator, prioritize creating video content over still images? Perhaps combining the two? Well, that depends entirely on the kind of content you create. According to some sources, video content is displacing photos as the preferred medium, so producers should turn their attention there. Some present a more fair perspective.
In general, you will have a variety of users as a creator. For example, some of them will enjoy watching short videos, particularly if they are frequent users of TikTok or YouTube. Images may be chosen by others who favor “static content” like Twitter posts or Pinterest pins. With that in mind, decide which posts work best for you personally and concentrate your efforts there. Don’t, however, just ignore the alternative. Once more, we advise using a balanced strategy and both photos and videos.
#6: Popular Instagram competitions
We all enjoy receiving free gifts, and the ones that require the least amount of work are the best. These facts are well known by experienced Instagram users and businesses, which is why they frequently use a tried-and-true strategy for going viral on the platform, namely Instagram contests.
Online resources exist that produce contest templates for different platforms. These templates frequently include a call-to-action, such as “Visit Our Instagram Page” or “Watch Our IG Video and Like It/Comment on It.” Occasionally, you can even offer a referral option, where participants must refer a friend to your page in order to participate.
Of course, providing a real, material prize is a significant component of this tactic. Anything is possible, including a designer handbag, a PS5, a gift card, or a video game promo code. Anything goes as long as your followers will be interested in it.
#7: Recognizing the Adherents
If you don’t know your target audience, no amount of algorithms or glitzy online tools will be able to assist you in creating a viral post. Most of the time, people invest in every aspect of a brand’s online platform, but they don’t pay attention to what really matters: knowing what their viewers and followers want to see.
You’ll need to develop a sort of buyer persona, or an ideal consumer of your content, in order to determine that aspect. Be sure to consider each person’s age, gender, and income as well as their level of education, place of residence, and career goals. On the other hand, don’t forget to research the niche you personally want to fill. As a brand or content producer, what would the public want to see from you? What is it about you that speaks to them specifically? Will your followers gain anything long-term from your photos and videos and how do they relate to the topic?
Once you’ve created your ideal buyer persona, make sure your content as closely as you can to their preferences. When you start gaining followers, find out what kind of content other creators’ audiences typically engage with. When that happens, it’s time to adopt, adapt, and improve. The likelihood of your posts going viral increases as you put more effort into them.
#8: A distinct, original voice
Although copying is a form of flattery, doing so excessively can be mistaken for plagiarism at the worst and a lack of originality at the least. As an illustration, before YouTube became well-known, online viewers would watch video game reviewers on unaffiliated platforms who adopted an irate, exaggerated persona. However, other creators misappropriated the format, and rather than finding success, they became well-known. Of course, this is a niche-specific example. However, it demonstrates that even back then, internet users were able to distinguish between genuine creativity and outright plagiarism.
You should therefore develop and maintain your own distinctive voice as a creator who wants to produce viral posts. In general, you should approach the subject you’re writing about in a unique way that also engages the audience. After some time, your platform will start to emphasize this creative voice, and a large number of people will start liking your posts and following your page.
#9: Special Brand Beauty
Of course, a creative voice needs to have a strong, enduring aesthetic appeal that will stick in your followers’ minds. Remember that Instagram is a platform that prioritizes visual media, such as pictures and videos. In other words, your followers will remember what they see.
So keep that in mind as you consider your sense of style. Confusion and disinterest will result from it if it’s dispersed throughout. Let’s take the example where your first post in January was a holiday photo and your second post in January had a random illustration, a meme about a popular TV show, followed by a profound quote from a well-known author. The visual noise adds to how jarring it already is.
On the other hand, accounts that choose a specific “look” and stick with it are more likely to become popular. For instance, a user might only share bike-riding POV pictures. No matter the subject, some people might prefer a set of photos that are entirely green. Some users pick a group of objects and place them in a specific arrangement for each image or video. There are countless options.
Of course, the aesthetic you choose need not be overtly visually arresting like in the aforementioned examples. Sometimes, even a tiny thing that keeps popping up in the background will suffice. Alternately, your striking appearance can be seen in even seemingly unimportant things like photo descriptions. The textual components of your posts can contribute just as much to the overall impression of your brand as any other by using creative wording, text placement, emoji use, and the appropriate hashtags.
#10: Interacting with the Content of Other Users
Consider this advice as a small Instagram trade-off. Specifically, be sure to engage with their content if you want people to engage with yours.
A variety of forms of interaction are possible. Simpler techniques include liking posts, commenting, and visiting pages. Simply put, treat your followers’ accounts the same way that you would like to be treated.
Using posts, stories, or post descriptions to promote other users is a method that takes a little more work. After all, including one or two followers in your most recent post is a great way to increase traffic. People are more likely to follow you and interact with your posts the more frequently you do it.
Of course, not all engagement is beneficial. Don’t simply give a thumbs-up or a smiley face emoji to a beautiful post with a detailed description, for instance, as that is an example of what a bot would post. Instead, keep your remarks succinct but genuine and accommodative. Instead of just skimming over it and giving it a thumbs-up out of sympathy, you want your users to feel like you took the time to read what they posted.
#11: Examining the Contest
Learn from the best if you want to be the best. At least that is how the proverb is said to go. However, we’d like to elaborate. Utilize any chance you come across to learn something new about Instagram posts that go viral, even if the source is one of your direct rivals.
You can anticipate your competitors to put a lot of time and effort into their Instagram profile because, like any other business, they want to expand as quickly as possible. It’s time to take notes if they start to gain traction. Consider the type of content they publish, how frequently they do it, and the demographics of their intended audience. Look at how long their videos are and how verbosely they describe their posts. Keep track of anything even tangentially related that might increase views and engagement. Never, however, completely adopt a method. Instead, customize it to fit your own company’s needs.
#12: Analytics for Instagram
You should conduct analysis from time to time to keep your Instagram profile in top condition. You will gain a clear understanding of how your posts are doing, who is liking them, and how they stack up against other posts. You should pay particular attention to the following:
The gender, age, and location of your followers
Likes received per post
the peak hours of activity for your followers
impressions per post in number.
Once you have the necessary information, you can modify your Instagram activity as necessary. For instance, you can see what kinds of posts perform better with male followers and upload them if your content attracts a female adult audience but you want to be more inclusive.
#13: Instagram analysis
An Instagram audit can be compared to analytics in some ways. The primary distinction is that you aren’t using various tools to examine numerical data and raw data. Instead, in a sense, you’re assessing the aesthetic of your entire profile.
Your page can be audited easily enough. You begin by looking at your username, profile picture, and biography. It’s time to change them if they don’t go with your brand’s overall look and message. Next, consider user engagement. Examine your comments and direct messages carefully, looking for any bots, trolls, or spam accounts.
Finally, give your feed, captions, post descriptions, and hashtags a close inspection. Change and refine the elements that don’t work as necessary to make them fit the mood you want to convey.
14: SEO Is Vital
If text is simple to read and understand by the majority of users, it has a good chance of going viral. You still need to use text even though the majority of your content on Instagram will be made up of images or videos. After all, each post needs to be described, your profile page needs a thorough bio, and don’t forget about hashtags for engagement.
Make sure your profile’s textual sections meet the requirements for proper search engine optimization when updating them. People will come across your posts in this way without actively looking for you or the image content on your page. They only need to perform a Google search, find a clever description, and click on it to be directed to your page.