Just like any other small business or creator, we’re sure you would love to see one of your reels or posts going viral – who wouldn’t, right? Unfortunately, that’s easier said than done! So, how to go viral on Instagram? No one has the exact recipe, but there are great strategies that you can use to your advantage and improve your social media presence. Let’s take a look at some of them – are you ready to grow your Insta community?
Going viral on Instagram doesn’t mean the same thing for every account – how much engagement you need to consider a post viral depends on your niche and competitors. Still, these five strategies will help you get where you want to be. First, you have to understand who your audience is and what they like. Implement popular trends and adjust them to fit your brand voice and style. Create high-quality, authentic content that will ensure users will want to engage. Track your analytics and use them to adjust your strategy as you go. Always be active and work on creating a supportive community where users feel comfortable.
The Ultimate Social Media Goal – How to Go Viral on Instagram as a Small Account?
We all know how important it is to build an online presence and use Insta for marketing, regardless of what your business is about. Many brands work hard at improving their social media (usually by hiring a social media management agency to manage their business accounts) with the goal of going viral and making their product or service well known. Still, going viral isn’t the easiest thing in the world – it takes a lot of work, and even then – success is not guaranteed.
Yes, you heard that right! The Instagram algorithm is a strange thing – you can do everything perfectly and create beautiful content, but no one can guarantee it will be popular. So, what’s the point in implementing complex strategies with the idea of gaining thousands of views and likes? Well, the truth is that those advertising strategies do work – but they take a bit of time.
When it comes to this beloved app, you will need a lot of patience. We will introduce you to strategies that can drive up engagement and increase your chances of success, but ultimately, you can never predict which post or reel will be the one. After all, that’s what viral marketing is all about. If there was a strict step-by-step guide on how to make something popular, all content would be equally popular – which means that none of it would be anything special!
What Does Instagram Viral Mean for You?
One of the most important things you should ask yourself regarding your social media is – what’s your goal when it comes to numbers? Driving up your engagement can mean a lot of different things to different accounts and niches. What do we mean by that? Let’s say your brand has 5k followers and that your competitors are in a similar range. That means you can’t expect your content to get 100k likes (which is what many consider a threshold for becoming viral) – that’s just unrealistic. Still, if one of your reels gets 10k or 20k likes, we could definitely say that’s a jackpot for you!
#1 Make Sure You Understand Who Your Audience Is – That Should Be the Base of Every Good Social Media Strategy
Any good social media marketing agency would tell you – to make a good online advertising strategy, you need to know who your post is aimed at. What does your brand offer, and what’s the audience for that brand like? Understanding your followers and what they want to see on their IG feed is what can help with your engagement – which will later translate into new customers. There are numerous ways you can do your research, including asking your followers directly. What’s an easier way to conduct an audience survey than simply posting a poll on your stories or leaving a box for questions and suggestions?
Pro Tip: Keep Track of Your Competition and What They Post – Know That Your Audience Is Likely Theirs As Well
You’re not alone in this game – the competition is everywhere, and you can be sure they are watching you. So, you’ll also have to keep up with them. Take a look at what brands from the same niche post and what kind of social media content seems to be working well for them. This isn’t so you can copy their content marketing strategies – the idea is to see what resonates with their audience because it’s likely the same one you have. This can give you a good idea of what kind of posts you should focus on, taking you one step closer to your goal.
#2 Use Current Trends to Your Advantage
Marketing trends are trends for a reason – if people so obviously love certain types of content, why not give them exactly what they want? However, there’s a huge disclaimer attached to this statement – the trends you choose to recreate for your business account must be relevant to your niche. We cannot emphasize this enough!
Remember, you are building a brand’s voice, and what you’re saying has to be clear. It’s not a wise idea to make content based on trends that aren’t relevant to your audience – why would they relate to content like that? Bonus tip – TikTok algorithm works similarly. Staying in your niche is crucial for this type of digital advertising.
Remember – Trending Sounds Add Value to Your Content
Most trends out there are in the form of reels. It’s no secret that Instagram has been favoriting reels for quite some time now – although the company has been claiming that they are working on improving the balance between pushing posts and reels. Since this has yet to be seen, reels remain your best bet to increase engagement.
One of the most important tips for creating an engaging reel is using popular sounds. People are more likely to stick to the end of your reel and hear your message if there’s a catchy song in the background – especially the one they have been hearing everywhere these days!
Giveaways Never Go Out of Style – Use Them as a Way to Grow Your Follower Base
While giveaways aren’t technically a trend, they are a common practice among creators and brands alike that never goes out of style. It’s easy to guess why – everyone loves the possibility of getting something for free. Your followers will gladly share posts on their stories and spread the word about you if it means they may win a product or a service you offer. It’s one of the easiest ways to reach new customers – use simple psychology to your advantage!
#3 Create Quality and Unique Content – Whether It’s Reels, Stories, or a Good Old Post
One of the important tips in our “How to go viral on Instagram reels” book would be to pay close attention to the quality of content you put out, just like you would do when creating a regular post or a blog post, for example. Know that video quality is one of the determining factors of whether your reel will be successful or not. It’s not just about the content of the video itself but how it was filmed as well.
Don’t Underestimate the Power of Authenticity on Social Media
Sure, we said that trends can be a powerful tool for getting more engagement on IG, as well as other platforms. But that doesn’t mean that blindly copying content from others is a good idea. You can (and should) be in step with others from your niche, but at the same time, your brand’s content has to be unique. Authentic content is important. It will easily go viral simply because it’s authentic – it’s something new, and people will want to see it. So, even though you can utilize ideas you’ve come across online, the final product of your work has to be true to your style and have your brand’s voice.
#4 Don’t Miss Out on Monitoring Your Analytics – It May Sound Boring, But It’s Very Helpful
When someone mentions analytics, most of us think of tedious math but worry not – this isn’t something you’ll struggle with. Plus, to make it seem even better, let’s use the term Insights – it already sounds less boring, don’t you think? Instagram Insights can offer you fantastic insight (what a surprise) into your followers’ online habits and show you exactly what level of engagement your posts have been gaining.
Exploring the data will help you learn when your audience is most active and what kind of content they like best. As you can guess, this information will be one of the crucial tools that will drive your IG strategy. If you make an effort to learn when to post, you will increase the chances of your reels or posts becoming popular. Combine the right timing with quality content, and your post surely won’t flop.
#5 Build a Supportive and Active Community
Having a strong online community that carefully follows you and engages with your content on a regular basis is the real goal of any business. These kinds of users are the ones that become customers who will boost your brand’s success. Of course, building a community is a process that requires a lot of time and even more interesting and authentic content. All of the strategies that we’ve mentioned above will help in that goal, but they aren’t enough.
You have to remember that people always want to connect – to a certain level, this applies to brands they love as well. If you want your business to be one of their favorite ones, you should ensure your Insta account seems approachable. Interact with users, answer their DMs and comments – ensure that they feel seen when they engage with your brand. This will, over time, form a supportive community that will only keep growing.
Create Content Consistently if You Want Users to Remain Invested in Your Brand
A huge part of building a strong community is being present. It’s easy to understand that you can’t form a community if you’re not online. By that, we mean that you have to be consistent with posting. The amount of content and the pace you’re posting at will depend from brand to brand, but the general idea is the same – you can’t disappear from Insta for, let’s say, weeks and expect that nothing changed. If you don’t remind people you’re there, they will easily find some new business to support. There’s plenty of fish in the sea! With consistent posting, the chances of your content going viral increase.
With These Tips and a Social Media Marketing Agency By Your Side, Success Is Sure to Come!
If you decide to implement our suggestions in your Insta strategy, you will surely see some results. Still, there’s plenty more from where that came from, but we can’t give away all our secrets, can we? For those who are serious about building their online presence, our experienced social media management agency is the perfect solution!
Let our professionals take care of your brand on all the relevant platforms – Made Online can be your trusted partner on the road to success. Contact us to learn more about our advertising agency, SEO services, and so much more. Start your digital marketing journey today!