Have you ever felt like you’re doing everything right on Instagram, but your posts don’t seem to get the virality they deserve?
After creating thousands of posts and generating 170K followers on Instagram, I understood that virality isn’t about luck or hopping on the latest trends; it is about understanding how the Instagram algorithm works, how your audience behaves, and crafting relatable content that strikes the right chord on both fronts.
So, how do you go viral on Instagram and drive massive reach and followers?
In this guide, I will walk you through my complete framework and actionable strategies to help you achieve that virality. We’ll cover everything from understanding your audience and crafting shareable content to leveraging the latest trends and avoiding common mistakes.
Take advantage of my proven strategies and turn your posts into viral hits. Without further ado, let’s get started.
What Does It Mean to Go Viral on Instagram?
Before we get into the nitty-gritty, first, let’s understand what “going viral” on Instagram means.
A post on Instagram is considered viral when it gains popularity and engagement, reaching a large audience far beyond your followers in a short time. A viral post gets shared, liked, and commented on so much that it gets featured on the Explore page and in trending sections.
Viral posts often attract more new followers to your account, so whenever a creator gets a post viral, they hit a significant number of followers overnight.
On Instagram, posts achieving 10,000 to 20,000 likes or views in the first few hours are considered viral. But again, virality depends on your industry and the scale of your account.
For example, if your typical post gets around 100 likes, but your recent post quickly got at least 1,000 likes and more views from unique viewers, it could be considered viral.
You can not force yourself through to get your posts viral; it happens purely by chance. However, some conditions, when fulfilled, increase your chances.
Here are my actionable strategies that can help you increase those chances and achieve your first viral post.
11 Proven Strategies to Go Viral on Instagram
I have broken my complete process into 11 actionable steps, where each point holds equal weight. So, follow along without missing any.
1. Understand Your Target Audience
The audience is the backbone of any promising Instagram marketing strategy. If you don’t fully understand your audience, all the effort and money you will put into creating content will be in vain.
Knowing your target audience inside and out allows you to tailor your posts to their preferences and interests. The best way to approach this is to create buyer personas that clearly define your ideal audience.
While creating a persona, I collect these details about my client’s target audience:
- Age
- Gender
- Location
- Occupation
- Annual income
- Education level
Also, add details such as their interests, what content your audience loves to consume (e.g., do they enjoy travel Reels or reading Instagram carousels), challenges, and what time they are most active. This helps you craft content relatable to your audience.
With all this data in hand, you will be better prepared to define your brand type. Your brand voice and the kind of content you will need to post.
2. Define Your Brand Voice and Personality
Now that you have identified your target audience, it is time to identify how you want to be perceived.
Social media is becoming increasingly crowded, and Instagram, in general, is seeing a rapid increase in adoption and competition. Over 200 million businesses are promoting their products and services on Instagram.
If you want to truly connect with your audience and leave a lasting impression, you need more than great content—you need a distinct brand voice and personality. This is how you’ll differentiate yourself and create a memorable experience for your followers. Here’s how to nail it:
Identify your brand’s core values
When I work with my clients to create their Instagram marketing strategy, the first question I ask is, “How do you define yourself?”
The reason I ask for this is to identify the core values of a business. These core values are the principles that guide a business and establish its unique identity in the market.
Having these crucial details clear ensures your marketing strategy reflects your mission and resonates with your audience.
You can start with questions such as:
- What is the main purpose of your brand?
- What do you want customers to experience when interacting with your brand?
For instance, if your brand values sustainability, this should be evident from your profile, Instagram grid design, and every piece of content you create. From eco-friendly practices to promoting green products.
When you create content that aligns with your audience, you give them a reason to engage with you positively and indicate to the algorithm that the content is worth showing on different feeds.
Take McDonald’s for example. Their brand voice is consistently fun across all their social platforms. They have even updated their Instagram profile and featured Grimace as a character to maintain their brand personality.
Choose Your Brand Tone
Take your brand tone as the personality behind your words. It should be consistent across all your posts, stories, and interactions. The tone you choose will shape how your audience perceives your brand.
Here is how to choose your brand tone:
- Understand your audience: Who are they, and what tone do they resonate with? A witty, playful tone might work for a younger audience, while a professional tone might be better for B2B businesses.
- Create a style guide: Document what tone and language you will use. This will reduce the randomness of your posts and maintain consistency.
Tip: Test different tones with your audience to see what works best. Gather feedback using polls or A/B testing.
By defining your brand’s core values and choosing a consistent tone, you’ll strengthen your connection with your audience and make your brand more recognizable.
The next essential step would be to focus on creating value-driven content.
3. Create Unique and Shareable Content
When there is so much competition on the platform for visibility and human attention spans reaching an all-time low of just 8.25 seconds, creating unique content that quickly gains eyeballs is all that matters.
But how do you make your content unique and shareable? To achieve this, focus on three main aspects: originality, relevance, and engagement.
Originality is key
Unique content grabs attention and makes your brand memorable. Think beyond typical post ideas—consider creative formats like behind-the-scenes, exclusive previews, or interactive polls. Offer your audience something they haven’t seen before. It can be a fresh post idea, a unique perspective on an existing topic, or even your shooting style.
For example, Starbucks uses Instagram to create unique content. They frequently showcase their BTS in their coffee-making process and launch-time promotional offers. Their originality in content highlights their offerings and engages the audience in an exclusive way.
Relevance to your audience
To ensure your content is shareable, it needs to be relatable to your audience. By this, I meant to understand what your loyal followers care about and craft your content to serve their interests. You can go to the “Explore” tab to identify trending topics related to your niche and how your audience relates to it.
Encourage viewers to engage
To go viral on Instagram, you need to motivate your viewers to engage with your content. Ask questions, create challenges, or host contests to hook your audience.
In the below post, I asked my viewers to **Share this with a friend** to invite them to engage with my content. This helped me increase the post’s visibility and get my followers to engage with it.
4. Make Your Content Emotionally Appealing
People are more likely to pay attention and engage with emotionally charged content, which can influence their decisions. Emotional content taps into your audience’s feelings, whether nostalgia, joy, guilt, or empathy. When your content evokes emotions, it captures attention and invites interaction, leading to increased reach on Instagram.
Here are my suggestions:
- Leverage storytelling and share stories that reflect your brand values or customer experiences.
- Use good-quality images and videos that evoke strong emotions.
- Instead of generic CTAs, use emotional appeals such as “Join the movement” or “Share your story with us” rather than “Follow us.”
An apt example of this would be Nike, which focuses on sharing stories of athletes and inspiring individuals. By highlighting stories of athletes overcoming challenges, Nike taps into emotional determination, which strongly resonates with its audience.
5. Leverage Trending Content and Hashtags
You do not always need to create viral content ideas yourself; it is good to see what is trending and follow that. The algorithm already supports trending content, and people are increasingly searching for it. This makes it an ideal opportunity to maximize your visibility.
Regularly check Instagram’s Explore page to find trending topics. You can also use tools like Google Trends or BuzzSumo to check what’s currently popular.
My favorite way to spot trends is to follow relevant hashtags in my niche and monitor influencers. This gives me an early-mover advantage by allowing me to find trends before they become mainstream.
Create content around the trending topics in your own creative way. The shelf life of trending content is usually short, so produce and post content while the trend is hot.
Use Trending and Original Audio Clips
Take advantage of Instagram’s algorithm by using trending audio clips in your Reels and Stories. Trending audio helps you broaden your reach and increase engagement.
Look for the music with the arrow icon, which signifies it’s trending. However, do not overlook the power of using original audio. Creating your own unique audio clips—whether it’s a funny voiceover or an inspirational quote—can also captivate your audience. If your audio goes viral, you’ll gain exposure and establish yourself as a creator.
Mix Content with Hashtags
Lastly, use a mix of popular and niche hashtags in your content. You don’t have to overload your posts with hashtags; maintain a healthy average of 5-7 relevant Instagram hashtags.
Don’t just throw any popular hashtag into your post’s caption. Every hashtag is tied to a specific trend, event, or cultural moment. Before using one, take the time to ensure it aligns with your brand’s values and messaging.
Once you’ve identified a hashtag that fits your brand, the next step is to create a post that genuinely connects with that trend or topic.
6. Go Viral with Reels
On Instagram, Reels are your fast-track ticket to going viral. Instagram has a separate Reels tab that shows engaging Reels based on user activity, similar to the “Explore” page.
Once your Reels reach this tab, you can reach a wider audience who don’t yet follow you. So, how do you get there? Create Reels that are so captivating they get a strong initial boost in engagement, increasing your chances of being featured.
To create captivating Reel content, aim for the 15-30-second range. You can go further than this range, but personally, this range has worked perfectly for me. Another hack to grab attention quickly is to use engaging graphics or hooks.
Whatever your Reel is about, add subtitles to make your content accessible and engaging. This helps retain viewers who watch without sound.
7. Collaborate with Influencers and Brands
By collaborating with influencers or brands that align with your brand values, you can reach their established audience and boost your profile reach.
One way to do this is by identifying the right partners in your niche. Look for engagement rates and monitor their interactions for authenticity rather than just follower count. HypeAuditor is an influencer monitoring tool that tracks influencers’ analytics.
Once you find the right influencer, plan content that benefits both of your audiences. You can co-host an Instagram live session, run joint giveaways or feature each other’s products in your posts.
Take a look at how GymShark leveraged influencer partnerships and gained a broad reach for its posts. Its influencers often share personal stories and fitness routines that resonate well with its followers, driving significant engagement and brand loyalty.
Tip: Create an Instagram collaboration post that feels natural and not forced. Authenticity is key to maintaining trust with your audience.
8. Post Regularly at the Best Times
Posting at the right times can maximize your engagement and ensure your content reaches your audience when they’re most active. The Instagram algorithm favors recency and continues pushing creators to create fresh content. Timing your posts can significantly impact your post engagement rates.
According to a study by SocialPilot, the best times to post on Instagram are from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. on weekdays, resulting in higher likes and engagement.
You can use Instagram’s built-in analytics to determine when your followers are most active. Navigate to the “Insights” tab and identify peak engagement times.
I use SocialPilot to find my best time; it is easy and saves me a ton of time. Enter your Instagram details, and the tool will give you a complete heat map of your peak engagement times. Combine it with a perfect Instagram post, and you are good to make your post viral.
9. Leverage User-Generated Content (UGC)
Another strategy to make your post viral on Instagram is to utilize user-generated content (UGC). UGC involves using content created by your followers or customers to promote your brand. UGC not only improves the credibility of your profile but also fosters community and motivates more viewers to engage with your brand.
Ask your followers to share their content related to your brand by organizing contests or asking for reviews and client testimonials.
Don’t forget to interact with followers who create content for you. Like, comment, and share their posts to encourage participation.
When it comes to using UGC, Coca-Cola is one of the best examples of beautifully utilizing user content to showcase and strengthen the brand image.
Tip: To avoid copyright penalties, you need to share high-quality UGC on your profile and Stories with credit to the actual creators.
10. Monitor and Analyze Your Performance
Consistently monitoring your performance is the only way to understand whether your hard work is paying off or whether you need to shift your strategy.
Actively tracking important engagement metrics lets you know what’s resonating with your audience and where adjustments are required.
Here is how you can monitor your performance:
Instagram Insights
If you have a business or a creator account on Instagram, you can access the built-in analytics tool to check data on performance, audience engagement, and follower demographics. Regularly check these insights to measure which content performs best and adjust your strategy accordingly.
SocialPilot
Instagram analytics provides all the basic data, but for a more comprehensive analysis, SocialPilot is a great solution. It offers a detailed analysis of your profile and content performance. You can create detailed reports of your Instagram performance, helping you track engagement, reach, growth, best-performing content, and more.
You can generate post ideas and create content using its built-in AI feature. Once done, you don’t need to open Instagram to publish or schedule your posts; you can create, schedule, and publish directly from SocialPilot.
If some posts aren’t working, rethink your approach.
This will help you determine which types of posts are trending and where you should shift your focus.
One thing that has always helped me is setting up a regular reporting schedule. This way, I will always know my progress and keep my goals aligned. By continuously keeping track of my performance, what is working, and what is not, I increase my chances of going viral.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Trying to Go Viral
Now that you have reviewed my entire strategy for actionable steps to success, it is time to examine some common pitfalls brands and creators encounter.
Here are some mistakes you should be avoiding:
- Ignoring Trends: It’s tempting to stick to what you know, but staying relevant is crucial. If you ignore trending topics, you might miss out on opportunities to connect with a larger audience. Keep an eye on what’s trending and integrate these insights into your content strategy.
- Creating Inauthentic Content: Authenticity is key. Trying too hard to fit into a trend or mimicking others too closely can be disingenuous. Your audience can spot inauthenticity from a mile away. Instead, create content that reflects your true brand personality and values.
- Overemphasizing Quantity Over Quality: Posting frequently is great, but not at the expense of quality. You don’t want to flood your profile with mediocre content that does not get your engagement and trust. Prioritize creating high-quality, impactful posts over churning out content to fill a schedule.
- Ignoring Analytics: Data is your best friend when refining your strategy. If you overlook Instagram Insights or other analytics tools, you’ll miss valuable insights into what’s working and what isn’t. Make sure to review your performance and adjust your strategy accordingly regularly.
- Being Too Salesy: While promoting your brand is important, overly promotional content can turn off your audience. Balance your promotional posts with valuable, engaging content that builds a genuine connection with your followers.
Remember, the key is to be authentic with your audience and create value-driven and engaging content.
Join my Instagram masterclass to learn my exact strategy for growing my following to 170K and creating hundreds of viral Instagram posts.
Wrapping Up
Going viral on Instagram isn’t about hitting the jackpot; it’s about consistent, strategic effort and staying in tune with what resonates with your audience.
By applying these strategies and avoiding these common mistakes, you’re not just aiming for a fleeting moment of fame but building a strong, lasting presence on the platform.
Remember, success on Instagram comes from a blend of creativity, data-driven decisions, and genuine engagement. Stay adaptable and keep refining your approach. Unique content, timely trends, and authentic interactions will help you go viral and maintain a vibrant and engaged following.
Are you done reading this?
Now, start putting these insights into action and watch your Instagram profile grow.
