In 2025 and beyond, do you want to expand your Instagram following and reach?I’m giving you a quick overview of the Instagram algorithm in this post, along with some future-proof advice that will help you expand your Instagram following without spending hours on it!
The Instagram Algorithm
As Instagram continues to make changes to its algorithm (sometimes against the wishes of the majority) so too do the challenges and opportunities associated with increasing reach and engagement.
Recent shifts in the Instagram algorithm have placed greater emphasis on certain types of content, with a notable change recently from favoring reels to instead prioritizing stories and static posts, especially carousel posts.
1. Optimize Your Profile
The first thing I recommend is to optimize your Instagram profile. People search Instagram to find all sorts of things from travel destination reviews to handmade craft items.
You need to ensure that you are using relevant keywords to make sure your profile is easily discoverable in searches.
If you’re not sure what keywords to include here are a few tips:
- Look for the popular hashtags that your followers follow in your niche. This is found in their following list, if they follow hashtags they’ll be included above who they follow.
- Check the profiles of your competitors or influencers in your field to see which keywords they use.
- You can also use Instagram’s search bar, keyword research tools or social media analytics platforms to find trending topics and often search phrases related to your niche.
After you’ve added your keywords, ensure that you’ve also added a link to your website or a landing page. This means that getting found in searches can lead to more traffic to your website or landing page.
If you optimize your profile, you’ll start to get discovered more often. Plus, with a polished profile, you’ll also make a strong first impression increasing your chances of attracting and retaining new followers.
2. Check Insights
Now you’ve optimized your profile, the next thing to do is to check your insights!
Go through them with a fine-tooth comb.
~ What are your top five performing posts?
~ How were they discovered by people?
~ What was the image or video about?
Whatever the winners were, try and post more just like them!
You could quickly repurpose the top three into different types of posts such as a carousel or Reels and then share again.
3. Create High Quality Visual Content
Simply put, your content will reach more people if it’s really good.
Whether it’s informative, inspiring, entertaining or motivational your content just needs to capture the attention of your audience and encourage them to like, comment or even share it to their stories.
4. SEO Optimise Your Posts
When writing your Instagram captions, be as detailed as possible. Use the keywords from your profile and incorporate related words and phrases where appropriate.
Additionally, you can optimize your posts for search with hashtags and geotags. Here are the basics for Instagram SEO:
- Keywords: The words and phrases you use in your posts must be related to what you sell, your niche or what you are all about – so stay on topic!
- Hashtags: Always try and keep the majority of hashtags you use relevant.
- Geotags: Using these is an opportunity to get found by people in your location.
- Brand tags: Ensure you tag in other accounts such as suitable feature accounts, collaborators, your brand reps, and so on. I’ve written more about branded hashtags later in this post.
Don’t forget to be more explanatory within your captions. However, you don’t need to too much time on this, just try and be more descriptive in your captions.
5. Engage with Your Audience
When it comes to increasing your reach, it’s not just about trying to reach new people all the time. It’s so important not to forget your current audience on Instagram. By engaging with them it’s like reaching out to them and reminding them you exist.
6. Share Instagram Carousels
With multi-image or video postings that keep viewers scrolling through, Instagram carousels are an excellent method to interact with your followers.
You can promote several products in a single post, give a series of suggestions, or tell a tale with carousels. Your engagement rate rises with each swipe on a carousel, and Instagram’s algorithm frequently presents users with carousel postings more than once, presenting various photos or videos.
This increases the visibility of your material and attracts followers who might not have seen your initial slide or image.
Make each slide visually appealing and worthwhile on its own to increase the impact and entice viewers to swipe through all the slides to view the next one.