Is organic Instagram growth a lost cause? Should you even bother with organic strategies when your competitors pay for ads and influencer marketing left and right? Organic growth remains crucial to a brand’s success on Instagram. It’s the bedrock you build the foundation for your brand’s credibility, social proof, and audience trust. You need to invest time and effort in organic growth strategies if you want your paid campaigns to deliver the desired results. Hit the ground running with this complete guide to optimized organic Instagram growth.
What Is Organic Growth on Social Media?
Organic growth on social media refers to a brand’s boost in visibility and increase in followers and engagement from organic posts or unpaid distribution. Organic posts include any regular posts you make without paying or getting paid. Therefore, organic Instagram growth is the page or brand growth you achieve at no cost.
A business on Instagram can advertise products or services for free through organic posts. An influencer can promote their brand by sharing organic content. The audiences you reach with these posts and the follows, likes, and comments you get count toward your organic reach and growth. Organic reach may include users who saw your content on their feed, viewed your Story or Reel, or visited and browsed your page.
Is Organic Instagram Growth Difficult To Achieve?
Rising competition on the platform and algorithmic “restrictions” on the reach of organic posts have made organic Instagram growth increasingly challenging.
Pay-to-play is the game’s name on Instagram and other social media platforms. You can put more dollars into your marketing efforts to improve your ranking on users’ feeds, searches, and Explore. Improved ranking means you’ll also reach more people.
If you have a professional account on Instagram, the platform’s algorithm typically limits the reach of organic or unsponsored/unpromoted content. Algorithmic feed ranking and visibility favor ads and sponsored posts. If ad dollars do not back your post, don’t expect it to get prioritized ranking on feeds.
Content overload further curbs the already limited organic reach; content overload occurs when there’s more content than the feed can hold. Instagram’s one billion plus monthly active users are continuously posting status updates and comments. It’s not hard to imagine why reaching your audience with organic posts is challenging.
Why Is Organic Growth Still Important?
Organic Instagram growth defines your success in relationship-building. It’s a more accurate measure of your brand’s credibility, strong platform presence, and trust in your audience.
Developing an effective organic social media strategy will help you nurture a lasting and rewarding relationship with your followers, customers, and greater Instagram audience. Consistent organic growth means you’re providing real value to your audience, and your audience genuinely appreciates what you have to offer. With a successful organic strategy, you can grow your followers and maintain a high engagement. You can also convert more customers and achieve more goals with lower ad spending.
7 Organic Instagram Growth Strategies
It’s time to roll up your sleeves and assimilate these time-tested organic Instagram growth strategies.
1. Develop a Clear and Goal-oriented Content Strategy
If you want your content to perform well, you need to create content worthy of your audience’s attention and engagement. Put real effort and careful thought into your content strategy.
2. Offer Something of Value To Nurture Organic Instagram Growth
Give people a good reason to follow you and engage with you. This is crucial to achieving organic Instagram growth. Offering something of value to your audience also involves knowing their passions and needs.
The value you offer may come from motivational or inspirational content, entertainment, or beauty or fashion hacks. Your brand’s value proposition has to be relevant to your audience’s daily routine, lifestyle, or cultural identity, among others. Lululemon is a good example. The company has positioned itself as more than just an athleisure apparel brand. By sharing fitness tips through Instagram Live, Reels, and IGTV, it has established itself as an authority on health and fitness.
3. Actively Invite Engagement To Stimulate Organic Instagram Growth
Just ask if you want your post to get likes, comments, or shares. Place a call to action in your caption or as overlaid text on the image or video. A simple but solid call to action can effectively stimulate organic Instagram growth.
You can also invite engagement by asking a question in your post or starting a poll. Use Instagram’s interactive stickers, such as questions, polls, quizzes, or sliding emoji stickers, to encourage your followers to interact with your content. You won’t only get an increase in organic engagement; you’ll also learn more about your audience. And they will appreciate that you’re interested in getting to know them better or hearing their opinions.