How to Grow on Instagram 2022 – The New Strategies

How to grow on Instagram 2022, what are the best up-to-date strategies you can use to grow your profile organically? There aren’t going to be any black hat tips here, it’s my genuine experience from the past years working with clients and businesses. Let’s dive in into the Instagram tips.

If you’re new here, welcome! Here we talk about social media tips and more specifically how to grow your social media profiles faster & how to get clients.

Despite all the rumors, organic growth on Instagram is still very much possible. It’s not entirely the algorithm’s fault that your profile isn’t growing.

Truth is if your overall marketing strategy is based only around 1 or 2 social media platforms, that is probably the root of the problem and why growth on Instagram in 2022 seems hard.

Watch the YouTube video How to Grow on Instagram 2022 here:

1. Outside Traffic

So the question is: how to grow on Instagram 2022? The secret to growing a successful Instagram profile that most content creators don’t tell you is that in order to grow on a platform like Instagram you need an outside traffic source that leads to your profile.

On Instagram, it’s hard for new people to find your profile. Instagram is a platform that is meant to help you communicate with your already established audience rather than get discovered by new people.

The best Instagram tips I can give you are the following: Most successful content creators have other platforms aside from Instagram. Think about it – where did you find out about your favorite creators? The answer is most likely one of the following:

• You watched their YouTube video
• You discovered them on TikTok
• You read their blog posts
• You saw them on TV
• Or you might even know them personally from events and such

It takes a platform to grow a platform. You gotta start somewhere but my advice is to actually start with a more ever-green platform like YouTube for example.

There are 2 types of platforms:

? First – ones that help new people discover you, platforms such as YouTube & TikTok.

? And second – ones that keep the communication going with your already existing audience, platforms like Instagram, Blog & Facebook groups.

2. Diversify Your Content

It’s all about diversity in order to grow on Instagram in 2022. Not only in the eyes of the algorithm but in general people like to consume content in different types. Some of your followers might like fun, punchy reels that have bite-size value into them, while others might prefer detailed carousel posts that really help them dig into the value that you have to offer.

Make it a part of your marketing strategy to include different types of content such as single pictures, videos, carousels, reels, quotes, educational graphics, personal pictures, etc.

Don’t be afraid to post “unrelated” pictures of yourself, people like to see the human side behind any business, even better if you’re able to share emotions and help people connect to you in a human way.

I also want to remind you that social media is all about trial & error. In order to find what works best for you, you need to experiment from time to time and try new stuff. Test how your audience reacts to it and adapt the future content to that. Don’t forget to do a rain check every 3-6 months if possible, so your content feels fresh.

On that note if you want to learn how to grow on Instagram using similar tips, you can download my FREE PDF book click HERE ?

3. Plan Ahead with a Content Calendar

If you want to succeed in your business you should definitely plan ahead what you will be posting for at least the next week. Actually, I believe that it’s way easier to do it on a monthly basis and plan ahead the whole month in a couple of days because this way you can focus on your clients, other marketing needs, and growing your business in general.

Another of my valuable Instagram tips is to start using a content planner like Later, Hootsuite, or similar is a huge time saver because you know you can just schedule everything for the month ahead and be chill about it.

Personally, I use Airtable + Facebook Creators Studio for now but I’m really thinking of switching to Later because Creator Studio has been a pain in the bum with scheduling. Some posts actually never post automatically for some reason & I’ve been going mental.

4. Engaging Posts

You need to make sure all of your posts are interesting and engaging enough. Instagram wants to keep people on its platform for longer, so if you can successfully do that the algorithm will like you.

If you didn’t know by now Instagram actually tracks the amount of time people spend on each post and that is a deciding factor for the algorithm if your post is great or not. So here are some ways for you to keep people on your posts for longer and how to grow on Instagram 2022:

• Post as many carousel posts as possible, people like to swipe
• Post engaging reels that people want to rewatch, either because they were dynamic and they didn’t see everything or just because they are addictive
• Make sure you write interesting captions, not crazy long but grab the interest of people with a hook in the first sentence
• Use Call To Actions that encourage people to comment on something & start a conversation in the comments
• If you use graphic posts make sure to remind people of saving them by putting the little save icon on the post itself with the Call To Action to save it

5. DMs are Powerful

The fifth tip I have for you in order to grow on Instagram in 2022 is to leverage Instagram DMs. Recently I’ve rediscovered the power of texting people on Instagram. Not only am I able to communicate and keep the connection with my audience warm and well, but also the algorithm likes it way more than I thought.

People that we text with see my posts more often than ones that we don’t and vice versa, I see their posts in my feed first before any of the other posts. From then if they choose to engage it gets even better. And of course, 99% of the time they DO engage because we have an actual connection online.

It’s the same with stories. People with whom I text see my stories way more upfront and I see theirs on my first few slots as well.

So if you want to get to more people from your already existing audience, start chatting with them, strike random conversations, react to their stories and follow up. It never hurts to be social. Dedicate a small chunk of your week for that, it pays off very well communication-wise and of course in the eyes of the algorithm.

6. How to Grow on Instagram 2022? The Secret is – Collaboration Posts & Guest Posts

Instagram released a new feature in the last couple of months which lets us invite people to collaborate with. This means that if the person accepts the collaboration invitation the post will appear on both your profile & their profile at the same time, and on the top left corner people will see that it’s a collaboration post with a certain creator. It’s like tagging people but better.

This can help you reach new people and exchange audiences with profiles related to your niche.

My advice is to use that feature as much as you can with different profiles. A great idea is to also find related pages that post content related to your niche and DM them for a promotional post. This way you can leverage their existing audience and get in front of new people in a matter of days.

That is also a great way to host giveaways that exchange audience between you as a business and an influencer for example. There is a wide variety of possibilities, think about what fits your business and go for it!

7. Use Hashtags Wisely

In the past months, marketers have been a bit controversial about the use of hashtags. It’s obvious that they bring new eyes to your posts but there has been a slight drop in hashtag reach if you overuse them.

From what I’ve seen so far if you use between 10-15 specific to your niche hashtags, it seems to still work fine. Sometimes it also works with up to 20-25 hashtags for reels, again only if they are well related to your niche. Otherwise, the algorithm spots them, sees that they are not related to what your profile is about and it drastically lowers your reach in general.

Who am I & Why should you listen?

My name is Kostadin Draganov, I am currently studying Media and Communication Management in Munich, Germany. I have more than 5 years of marketing & design experience and a handful of successfully positioned online businesses for clients. 

I’ve not only had the pleasure to work with big businesses and help them perfect their online presence but also I’ve developed the online presence and marketing models of small solopreneurs from the ground up, that now have established & successful brands! 

I’m here to help creators, entrepreneurs & businesses to position themselves online for success, validate their ideas and make their dream of having an online business become a reality. 

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