Every month we come on here to tell you about all our tips and tricks for Instagram and other social platforms. While all these bits of info can be useful, especially if you’re trying to learn new tools and improve your presence, it can feel difficult to figure out where you should start. 

In today’s post, we wanted to get to the meat and bones of succeeding on Instagram. With all the algorithm changes, it can be hard to keep up. Nonetheless, there are some main concepts that have always played a critical in success on Instagram (and most other platforms even!).

Here is the basic formula you should follow if you want to see your accounts grow.

1. Consistency

You’ve heard this before, and this probably isn’t the last time you’ll hear it. Consistency is a major key to success. We’re not even talking about Instagram here; it’s a major key to success in most aspects of life. It can feel discouraging when your numbers don’t skyrocket after a week or two of posting, but you can’t let it bring you down!
 

This doesn’t mean you have to post every. Single. Day. It just means that you should have a relatively regular schedule and not drop off randomly for weeks or months at a time. 2 or 3 times a week seems to be a nice balance for many accounts! 

Here’s a sneak peek at how a @calgaryphotos‘ social media scheduling plan looks, with 5 posts per week on average.

It’s also important to remember that you have to be committed LONG term for this to work. We’re not even talking weeks here, we are talking months. It can easily take up to a year of consistency before you feel like you’re starting to see more consistent growth. Don’t give up!

2. Usage

This one is a bit harder. Social media platforms tend to reward users that are using as many aspects of their platform as possible. For instagram, that would mean you want to be using tools like Videos, Stories, Stickers on Stories, Reels, IGTV, Guides, and the list will continue to grow. 

Here you can see that @foodventureswithb takes full advantage of features like Stories, Guides, Reels and IGTV

It can be tough to really implement all these different things at once, so we recommend finding 2 or 3 that you really get to know, and whenever Instagram comes out with a new feature, try to spend some time learning it and putting it to use ASAP! IG typically really pushes new features, so the people that use it from the start and often can see some great results.

3. Reciprocation

Engagement, engagement, engagement! You can’t expect people to give your account the love it deserves if you are never willing to give it back. Start building a community by interacting with your existing followers AND potential followers. 

Be sure to respond to comments on your own account!

Dedicate 15 minutes a day to leave some genuine comments and lots of likes, respond to comments on your posts, and even send some DMs. Let people know how much you enjoy their content! This will make them more likely to engage with you, which will improve the performance of your feed. Win-win!

Are you struggling to manage these three factors for success on Instagram? Check out our Social Media Management packages here!