Frequently asked questions

There are many ways to grow your following on Instagram depending on what your goals are and the type of content that you and your audience enjoy. If video is your style, the most effective way to grow your followers is to consistently create engaging reels, as reels are the best way to reach new audiences. If you express yourself through photos, consistently sharing feed posts or carousels help you engage with your audience, which can boost the distribution of your content. It’s important to experiment with different approaches to find what works best for you.

When you first share a reel, people who follow you are typically the first to see it. Some followers may choose to like that reel and engage with it, and others might choose to unfollow as people regularly curate the accounts they follow. This may result in some initial follower loss, however as your reel is shown to more people who don’t follow you, the likelihood of new followers goes up. Be patient and don’t get discouraged by short-term metrics. Look at the big picture over time, especially since it can take some time for your total potential audience to see your reel.

• You should focus on driving authentic (ie. not clickbait) engagement with your community, as one of the most important factors impacting distribution is engagement.
• Video quality matters. Upload the highest resolution possible. People tend to engage more with high visual quality content.
• Make sure the first 3 seconds of your reel are engaging, so that people don’t move on.
• Using trending audio can also impact distribution. We consider the popularity of trends on Reels to determine how to rank and deliver content associated with those trends.
• Make your content relatable. For example, humorous content that people can relate to typically results in more engagement and reshares, which impacts distribution.
• Like or authentically reply to comments on your reel within the first 7 days to generate more engagement, which can help your content get more reach.
• Study your insights! You can check out your Account Insights and Content Insights to understand who views your content and what they enjoy (even if they don't follow you). This can help you figure out what type of content you should share more of and where there might be room to experiment with different formats or features to find the right mix and help you grow.

• Non-recommendable content:

  Of course we want to hear what you have to say, just be sure it doesn't go against our Recommendation Guidelines, such as content that users broadly tell us they dislike, including clickbait, engagement bait, or which promotes a contest or giveaway.

• Watermarks:

  Ditch the watermark! The 3rd party watermark on your reel may be impacting its reach.

• Don't share unoriginal content:

  We encourage people on Instagram to post content that is original to get the best reach and distribution. It takes a lot of time and effort to create original content, so we believe that those who create it should get credit for their work, even when the content is reposted by other accounts on Instagram. Be sure to post content that is engaging and creative to you and your following.

• Reels over 3 minutes:

  We recommend videos to unconnected audiences that are 3 minutes or less.

Our systems recommend content to people that we think they’ll find value in. To determine how much distribution a piece of content gets, the most important things we consider are how much engagement per viewer the content has received (through actions such as watch time, sharing, following, liking, commenting, profile visits, etc) and how likely the viewer will be to watch and engage with that piece of content.

In some scenarios, we also use audience-matching techniques to make sure we’re showing content to people who are most likely to be interested in it. For example, if you or another creator within your niche have previously posted content that’s earned more distribution from the audience you’re looking to engage, sharing content around a similar theme could get similar distribution.

• Make your content relatable. For example, humorous content that people can relate to typically results in more engagement and reshares, which impacts distribution.
• Make content that engages your audience, so they want to either engage with you or with other people in the comments section.
• Make sure that the early parts of your video have something interesting to draw users in.

We have different recommendation systems for different surfaces on Instagram, eg. Explore vs. the Reels tab. Engagement that takes place on each surface matters the most for that specific surface. If you’re interested in learning more about how we rank each surface, check out our blog post here.

We recommend videos to unconnected audiences that are 3 minutes or less.

Trending hashtags that are relevant to the topics in your reel can help you reach more people, who are interested in those topics specifically. Don’t try to game the system by showing irrelevant hashtags, because engagement and consequently distribution may suffer if your content is shown to audiences who aren’t interested in your content.

We detect trends using factors like audio and hashtags. We consider their popularity on Reels to determine how to rank and deliver content associated with those trends.