8 Insider Tactics for Getting on The Instagram Explore Page
If you want to exponentially increase the amount of reach and engagement you get on your posts, you need to be on the Explore page on Instagram.
The Explore page recently received a redesign, and now features topic channels, a separate feed for shopping and IGTV, and Instagram Stories. It is a powerful feature for brands and influencers who know how to get featured on the page.
Today, we are going to be talking about several different tactics that you can employ today to maximize your chances of getting on the Explore page and rapidly boosting your Instagram growth.
1. Posting the kind of content that has reliably performed well with your audience
There might be some content you’ve created that’s already on the Explore page, but you might not know about it.
The good news is, you can go into your Instagram Insights and see exactly how many people are finding your posts through the Explore tab.
Once you’ve seen that a certain kind of content is working well with your audience, use it as a template or a reference for all the future content you want to create.
For example, you might see that your videos are vastly outperforming your photos, which would mean you should look at creating more video content.
2. Finding the best times to post
One of the most important considerations that determines whether you will get onto the Explore page or not is the timing of your posts.
You want to know when your followers are most active and post during those times because you are more likely to get likes and comments from your followers. This initial burst can often get your posts into the Explore section because the Instagram algorithm recognizes that this is a piece of content that is high value.
3. Stick to a consistent aesthetic and theme on your Stories
Your brand’s look and feel should stay consistent through your photos, videos and stories.
If you are using a certain color palette on your feed, make sure it stays the same on your Stories. The more a color palette becomes familiar to an audience, the more likely they are to associate it with your brand subconsciously.
Also try to make your Stories as dynamic as possible with GIFs, effects or a video series.
4. Turn your unused or underappreciated photos into videos for your Stories and Feed
Videos autoplay on the Explore page, making them a much better candidate for ranking well in the algorithm.
But creating new video content from scratch can often be time-consuming and expensive.
If you’re photographing for social media, you definitely have a lot of pictures that you haven’t used just lying around on your disk. Luckily, there are several apps on the Google and Apple ecosystem that make turning these photos into videos a breeze.
Apps like Magisto and Quik can create dynamic, engaging videos from these photos in seconds. It is a great way to create some new content without having to put in much effort.
5. Create short explainer videos talking about your product or service
How-to videos do really well on Instagram and often get featured on the Explore page.
If there is a burning question in your market, you can create short videos addressing it while featuring your product to get some extra exposure.
For example, if you are a fitness coach you can create a 30-45 second video that talks about “The biggest nutrition myth” and include your branding at the end. This is a great way to engage your audience and promote yourself in the same piece of content.
6. Start tagging your products on your posts
The new Shopping channel on Explore is a great way to feature your products to an audience that may not yet know about you.
Only posts and Stories that use the shoppable tags will get shown in the Shopping channel, so make sure you do it on as many posts as possible.
7. Tag relevant brands and partners on your posts
Tagging a brand or a partner on your Instagram Stories or account is a signal to the Instagram algorithm that there is a relationship between the two accounts.
Let’s say you create a post that talks about your collaboration with an influencer in your industry. Now the algorithm has some information that says both of your accounts are related.
As a result, the next time one of you posts, the post has a greater chance of being shown on the Explore page to followers of you or your influencer that don’t follow both of you. So, both parties have increased their potential to be shown to relevant audiences.
8. Build up your IGTV channel
Instagram has mentioned over and over again that IGTV is a big focus for the company.
And now, the Explore tab has a separate IGTV channel. That means you have access to a whole spectrum of audiences that may not be following you right now.
IGTV videos also give you the chance to create longer content since your video needs to be at least 60 seconds long in order to be approved for upload.