Are you wondering how to get more views on Instagram?
Investing your time, effort, and money into creating Instagram content and seeing it receive views in single digits is disheartening.
It’s true that getting noticed on Instagram is becoming increasingly difficult for marketers.
With over 2 billion people and 200 million business accounts on Instagram, the competition for audience attention is fierce.
However, it’s not impossible. You must play right by the Instagram algorithm and make content that connects with your audience. To do so, you need to follow a few Instagram marketing ways that can get you more views on Instagram.
Luckily, we have 10 effective ways you can use to get more views on Instagram posts, stories, and reels.
Let’s go!
10 Effective Ways to Get More Views on Instagram
If you want to get maximum views on Instagram, you need to effectively use different types of content formats and community engagement corners that the platform provides you.
We will cover all of them below in our 10 tried and tested ways to lift your view count.
1. Make Shareable Content
Creating shareable content should be the main part of your “let’s get more views” Instagram strategy.
It is quite self-explanatory that the more people share your content among their networks, the more Instagram views you get. The real question is what type of content nudges your audience to share.
Now, the answer changes from industry to industry. It could be awe-inspiring photography, industry-specific entertaining or funny videos, inspirational quotes, controversial topics for debate, data infographics, user-generated content, and more.
To begin with, you can check on your competitor’s content that is getting the most shares. Although not for every post type, you can easily see the number of shares their Reels are receiving.
Check what’s making them tick. What’s the shareable factor? Analyze the specific emotion.
“Focus on creating content that evokes strong emotions, whether laughter, inspiration, or surprise. Emotions drive people to share with their networks, amplifying your reach,” says Katelyn Rhoades, CEO of Enfluence Marketing Agency, in her Instagram Masterclass.
Next, let’s talk about a trick that has shareable written all over it.
2. Hop on the Latest Hashtags and Reels Trends
Instagram reels are your fastest way to get maximum Instagram views. Why?
Well, beyond posting reels on their profile and feed, the Instagram Reels algorithm shares them on Explore and a separate Reels tab as well. This exposes your Reels to a whole new but relevant audience, giving you more views.
In order to get more acceptance in the eyes of the algorithm. You need to pair your creativity with trending music, challenges, and hashtags.
Instagram has started showing trending hashtags and audio in some regions. You can use the top trending topics and hashtags on Reels to inform your own content.
Of course, as a brand, you can’t just use any trending hashtag or audio just for the sake of it. Remember to hop on the trends that strategically align with your content, brand image, and values.
3. Share More Carousel Posts
While it looks like Instagram is all about Reels, it’s not true. And we are not the ones telling this. This news came straight from Adam Mosseri, the CEO of Instagram.
He pushed on the fact that both Instagram photos and videos hold an equal place. Can you guess the feature that seamlessly integrates both? It’s the Instagram Carousel post.
This is not a hypothesis. Carousel posts have an average engagement rate of 1.26%, surpassing even Reels’s engagement rate.
Carousels are great at fitting in and presenting loads of information seamlessly and without overwhelming the viewer. They are versatile tools; businesses use them to share content, such as ‘how-to’ guides, product collections, industry insight, or to tell a story.
We frequently use Instagram carousels to unveil our latest product upgrades and demonstrate their diverse use cases.
Back to the main question, carousel posts increase your chances of getting more Instagram views because they’re easy to share, and Instagram’s algorithm likes to show them on the Explore page.
4. Utilize Instagram Stories Sticker
To maximize the number of views on your Instagram stories, aim to keep your stories at the top of your followers’ queue.
How? By improving the engagement of your stories. The more people engage with your stories, the better signal it gives to the algorithm to move it up the queue.
Now, Instagram story stickers are great at driving engagement. Their dynamic and interactive nature actively encourages users to engage. They offer a variety of features to foster interaction, including polls, question prompts, countdowns, and much more.
However, for this blog, their “Add Yours” story sticker gets the biggest shoutout.
You can customize a prompt on the “Add Yours” sticker and share a story to initiate a trend. Your followers can then click on that sticker to share their own perspectives on the challenge through their stories.
What’s remarkable is that even individuals who don’t follow you can participate by clicking on your sticker from someone else’s story. This creates a ripple effect, allowing anyone to join the challenge using the sticker.
Anyone can see who has started the trend, and that’s how your profile and story have the potential to get exposed to thousands of people.
This story sticker has worked so well with Instagram stories that Instagram has also started giving it for Instagram reels.
To learn more, visit our guide on Instagram Stories.
5. Write Your Caption Wisely
The caption you pair with Instagram posts and reels can make all the difference in driving views. A well-structured caption is vital in making your content discoverable on Instagram.
Here’s what Instagram has confirmed.
“The text you enter in the search bar is by far the most important signal for Search. We try to match what you type with relevant usernames, bios, captions, hashtags, and places.”
As long as you know the keywords specific to your business and spread them across your caption and profile, you are making yourself accessible to the potential audience.
Katelyn Rhoades suggests, “Always start your caption with a hook to grab attention, then weave in relevant keywords naturally. Engage with your audience by asking questions or including a call-to-action at the end to encourage interaction. Remember, the first sentence is the key—make it attention-grabbing.”
This approach not only captures interest but also boosts discoverability on Instagram Search.
6. Post Consistently on Your Best Times
Recency is one of the most crucial factors for ranking an Instagram post in a feed. The newest post is ranked first.
That’s why it’s important to post when most of your audience is active on Instagram. Consistently deploying your content on the best time to post on Instagram increases your chances of getting more views and engagement.
We conducted a study on multiple Instagram accounts and identified a set of average best times to start your posting journey.
Remember, the best time varies for each account based on industry, location, and time zones. You can find your exact optimal times in your Instagram analytics section.
Once you have your best times, establish an optimal posting schedule and maintain consistency.
Are you struggling to post your content at the perfect time for your audience?
Say goodbye to the hassle with SocialPilot! Our Instagram scheduling feature lets you schedule Reels, Stories, and posts for multiple Instagram accounts effortlessly from one dashboard. Schedule as many posts as you want across multiple Instagram accounts in advance, and let SocialPilot handle the rest!
7. Encourage User-Generated Content
User-generated content (UGC) on Instagram is the stories, posts, and reels your customers or followers post on their profile featuring you.
The content reflects their positive experiences, perspectives, or insights regarding your brand, products, or values.
Believe us, such content works like magic in driving brand credibility and exposure. People trust other people’s words more than brand promotions.
Instead of you posting more about yourself, let real customers do the talking.
You can check the tagged photos or branded hashtags to find existing quality UGC to repost. But don’t stop there; encourage your audience to share their experiences with your products or services by creating branded hashtags and running giveaway contests.
Does the contest sound interesting to you? Let’s talk about them.
8. Host giveaway contests
Hosting social media giveaway contests has become a widely used tactic to gain visibility on social media.
A giveaway contest involves offering your followers something relevant to your business and audience interests.
In exchange, you tell them to typically do something simple, such as an account follow, tagging friends in comments, or sharing the giveaway post.
What you ask depends on your social media goals, but almost every trick in the pocket will get more views on your post and your Instagram profile.
We recently ran a giveaway contest on Instagram offering free passes to the “Social Media Marketing World Summit” in exchange for signing up on our tool and sharing their experience.
Make sure you write clear instructions in the caption.
You must clearly specify the entry instructions, giveaway prize, and other guidelines. Having clear, uncomplicated rules makes participation accessible and enjoyable for everyone.
9. Collaborate with Influencers
Influencer marketing is a big deal on Instagram.
Influencers’ highly engaged audiences ardently follow and listen to everything they post. As a matter of fact, 61% of consumers trust influencer recommendations more than brand content (38%).
Collaborating with an influencer is a surefire way to get enough eyeballs on your brand and attract good engagement. Instagram has made influencer collaboration super-easy for businesses with their “Collabs” post feature.
Using the feature, you can co-create posts, reels, or stories with influencers. This co-created content will appear on both of your feeds. This way, you get exposure to the influencer’s audience and receive all the likes, views, and comments they leave on the post.
This is what a “Collab” post looks like. You can see the name of the footwear company “Crocs” and the influencer “The Jonny Cakes” appearing on the same post.
To learn more, visit our guide on Influencer Marketing.
10. Engage With Your Followers
Getting views doesn’t just mean growing new followers; it also means retaining the attention of your current followers.
The competition on the Instagram feed is tough. If the algorithm doesn’t detect authentic engagement between you and a particular user, it will push your post down in their feed, almost to oblivion.
On the other hand, the more you engage with people, the more the algorithm rewards you with expanded reach.
So, foster a community experience by engaging with your audience through comments, DMs, and Instagram Live. Ask thoughtful questions in your captions and launch discussions around hot topics that resonate with your audience niche.
Are you struggling to manage and respond to numerous Instagram comments and DMs?
Simplify the process with SocialPilot’s Instagram Inbox. It gathers comments and messages from multiple Instagram accounts in one easy-to-use dashboard. Reply quickly in real-time with images, GIFs, and emojis. Faster responses show your audience you care about them and value their input.
Wrapping up!
How to get more views on Instagram isn’t a mystery anymore. You can start applying the effective ways we have mentioned to expand your account’s visibility and core audience.
Remember, getting your audience to view your content is the first step. Focus on real engagement and motivating them to take action, not just on getting lots of likes. Your aim is to impact your business goals, not to have a temporary self-esteem boost.
That’s why the practice of acquiring fake views and followers never works. They may seem like a quick fix, but they never lead to real growth and can damage your account’s reputation.