How to Improve Instagram Reach: 9 Ways

Do you want better reach on Instagram? Looking for tactics that work?

In this article, you’ll find nine ways to increase your Instagram reach.

Instagram Algorithm and Organic Reach for Businesses

Organic reach is what makes social media so powerful, useful, and (sometimes) frustrating. It’s a free way to communicate with customers and eventually increase sales. But as you know, it takes time and skill to develop your reach on Instagram and the algorithm plays a part in that.

Instagram uses a complex algorithm to choose which posts to show each person. According to the social network itself, posts are ranked based on:

• Activity—what kind of posts you like and interact with
• Relationship—your history of interaction with the account posting content
• Information about the account that posted
• Information about the individual post—how popular it is and what content it includes

This algorithm is still being refined to help people see and enjoy content. Although Instagram denies that it ever deliberately limited reach, by 2016, users were only seeing 10% of potential posts in their feed because there was too much content to manage. Now that the algorithm has shifted to focus on posts from family and friends, businesses have to work harder to be visible.

For business accounts, the algorithm rewards novelty: new content, formats, and connections. That’s why it’s important—regardless of your specific strategy—to keep up a steady flow of posts and never stop testing. Here are some tactics and settings you can test to improve your organic reach on Instagram.