It’s 2025, and Instagram continues to stand as one of the top social media platforms, currently at #2 of the Photo & Video category in the Apple app store. As Instagram continues to grow and evolve its features and offerings, brands must take advantage of these updates to grow in the space as much as possible.
Here’s what we’ll be covering:
- Instagram’s Current Major Offerings
- How Your Brand Can Use Instagram
- Top 5 Organic Instagram Strategies
Instagram’s Current Major Offerings
Photo/Static Posts
The old faithful for Instagram are its photos. Users can post pictures and share a caption on their profile grid. There is also the option to tag or add someone as a collaborator to your post where, when accepted, it can also be shown on their profile grid. Photos include a special feature that can add more character/emphasis to what you’re posting — music.
Carousels are also becoming popular, especially since Instagram added the ability to post up to 20 photos at one time. Both types posts (carousels can singular photos) can be helpful for channel discovery, especially if you add audio to the post.
Pro Tip: It’s been proven that, one, carousels perform better than single photo posts and two, adding trending music to your carousels makes them eligible to be shown on the reels tab, making it more discoverable.
Instagram Reels
Reels are videos often featuring music (especially trending songs/audio clips), text, and special effects. They’re designed for creative expression and entertainment, similar to TikTok. Users create short, engaging videos using various editing tools and effects to capture attention and showcase their personality or talents. The most successful types of reel content include a crossover of information sharing and making people feel something. We often see this in videos ranging from tips to lifestyle. Anything that is digestible and concise will be the most engaging.
Pro Tip: When adding captions to your videos, double check that they’re in the safety zones of the Reels formatting.
Instagram Stories
Instagram Stories are short-lived content that disappears after 24 hours. Stories provide a more fun and “in the moment” way to share snippets throughout the day. They’re used for behind-the-scenes content, daily updates, announcements, and interactive engagement with followers.
Users can share photos, videos, text, and interactive elements like polls, questions, countdowns, and quizzes. These gamified elements are a low effort but great way to not only build community but also hear from your audience on what they want to see.
Pro Tip: Don’t want to lose the story after 24 hours? Create a Highlight on your profile to encapsulate some of your favorite stories. The best way to do this is to create multiple Highlights with different themes so every piece of content fits in the Highlight it belongs to.
Instagram Broadcast Channels
An Instagram Broadcast Channels is a private group chat between the user and the creator. It’s a way for creators to send messages to their followers (who join the chat) including texts, photos, and even polls. This is technically a one sided group chat — only the creator can send messages, but users can add reactions and hold down on a message to reply directly without it showing in the message log.
Broadcast Channels are typically used to post announcements, behind-the-scenes, recently posted content, and questionnaires so creators can hear direct responses from their audience.
Pro Tip: Keep your broadcast messages short and sweet! Think of it like your notes app — it’s a way to make your followers feel like they’re insiders to your brand.
How Can Your Brand Use Instagram?
Now that you know what Instagram has to offer, how can your brand use Instagram? Overall, Instagram continues to serve as a versatile platform for personal expression, brand promotion, and community building. Its diverse range of features caters to different content styles and audience preferences, making it a powerhouse in the social media landscape by having the power to reach hundreds to thousands to millions of potential consumers.
But it’s not all about reach. How are you going to continue to keep your content engaging once it gets in front of potential customers? When thinking about who your user is, there’s a couple of aspects to consider:
- Visual Content Preference: Instagram continues to focus greatly on visual content. From videos to images, content needs to be high-quality, visually appealing, and relevant to what your brand is to maintain engagement.
- Authenticity and Transparency: Users are becoming tired of the copy-and-paste influencers and brands. Brands need to be as authentic and real with their content as much as possible to grow their community. The most successful brands are the ones that constantly put themselves in the position of their users. They ask themselves if they would like this content if they were the person on the other side of the screen.
- Engagement and Interaction: Through constant social listening in Instagram stories, broadcast channels, and comments sections, a community can be fostered. It’s all about being reactive to conversations that involve you as a brand to understand your audience.
- Influencer Marketing: We’re at a place where we’re seeing a bit of a downward spiral with influencer marketing. But it’s still proven to be successful. It all comes down to trust. Brands need to choose the right influencers that speak to who their brand community is in order to feel as real and genuine as possible (see the point above on authenticity).
- Data and Analytics: Leverage Instagram’s analytics tools to gain insights into your audience demographics, content performance, and engagement metrics. This data can help you refine your content strategy such as hooks, (visual or verbal), quality, and relatability.
Are you ready to take these tools and utilize them to help grow your brand on Instagram? In this blog post, we’ll discuss 5 organic Instagram growth strategies that will help you grow your following and engage with your audience like never before. From creating high-quality content to collaborating with influencers, we’ve got you covered. So, get ready to tap into the power of organic growth and skyrocket your Instagram success.
Top 5 Organic Instagram Growth Strategies
1. Quality Over Quantity
The average attention span is 8.35 seconds, which is shorter than a goldfish. For content, it can be as short as 3-5 seconds. To make your content as compelling and engaging as possible to maintain a user’s attention, the quality of your content is key. It’s all about churning out content that’s high-quality and visually appealing in pictures or videos that are relevant to your brand. Each piece of content should be a testament to your brand’s identity and resonate deeply with your target audience.
Each brand voice is different and some may favor one content format over another. Why? With trial and error, brands learn to understand what type of content performs better in front of their audience in a way that tells their story best.
Here are some existing formats that are great to take a stab at:
- Educational: Use studies, articles, and blogs to teach consumers either about the industry your product is in or a problem where your product can be a solution
- Green Screens: Using a green screen is a great way to tell a story as long as the content (picture of video) is relevant to what you’re talking about
- Direct to Camera: A raw approach where someone is speaking to the camera. It can include pop up graphics with sound effects, zooms, and b-roll footage to make it more engaging.
- Skits: Humorous sketches are a great way to capture your audience’s attention and are one of the best ways to create highly sharable content.
- Trends: Viral topics and moments can be crafted into short videos under 15 seconds to show that your brand stays on top of what’s happening.
- Voicever Vlog: It’s a visual first approach that ties in well with a clear voiceover and content that changes in frame about every 3-5 seconds.
When making content, the first question you should always ask yourself is this: How can I stop the scroll?
A strong hook is key to keeping your audience engaged for longer. Whether it’s a visual or verbal hook or both, it’s more likely to keep users watching till the end of the video, making them come back for more.
When it comes to the meat of your content, it’s best to create content that’s not only visually appealing but aligns with your brand. If you have certain brand colors, fonts, and music preferences, incorporate them into your content pieces. Your profile grid will look consistent and neat throughout, but it will be also recognizable so your audience can immediately know that a content piece is from you.
When writing your captions, think of them as the perfect complement to your visuals. Write concise and engaging captions that add value to your posts. If you have a certain brand voice and tone, let that personality shine through in every one of your captions.
What you don’t want to do is post content that doesn’t resonate with your brand just because you want to have a lot of posts go up. Remember, quality over quantity. It’s not about the number of posts you have up, it’s the quality that shines through and speaks to your audience the most. Dedicate time to carefully curate your content, making sure that each post aligns with your brand and adds value to your followers’ experience.
Lastly, take advantage of your video insights as much as possible! Instagram’s analytics help you understand what works and what doesn’t with each piece of content that you post. What was the average watch time? If people stopped watching at a certain time, why? There are so many answers in these insights, you just need to ask yourself the right questions to find them.
Quality over Quantity: In Action
Take a look at ResX’s Instagram account. Their feed is consistent, high-quality, and stays on trend with posts that put their own spin on cultural moments.
2. Consistent Posting Schedule
Consistency is key when it comes to Instagram success. By posting regularly, you can keep your audience engaged and coming back for more. Plus, a consistent posting schedule can help you reach new followers who may be interested in your content.
To find the best times to post for your target audience, consider their demographics and interests. For example, if you’re targeting foodies, you may want to prioritize always having content posted Wednesday-Friday when they’re more likely to save and go back to it on the weekend. If you’re targeting business professionals, you may want to post during the morning or early afternoon before their work and during a lunch break. Instagram Insights also show you when your current followers are most active.
Once you’ve determined the best times to post, create a content calendar to help you stay on track. Your content calendar should include a mix of different types of content, such as photos, videos, and carousel posts. You should also include a mix of promotional and non-promotional content. Even when you’re creating promotional content, it should feel as non-promotional as possible. Make sure you’re talking to your audience, not at them.
Just remember that patience is a virtue. It takes time to build a successful account on Instagram.
Consist Posting: Case Study
Take a look at our own Instagram account — NoGood. We have an in-house creative team that produces content daily on Instagram (and TikTok). We’ve been able to create viral reels by a mixture of talent, creativity, and posting consistently. Several tools that help our posting cadence are Click Up, Google Sheets, and other more specialized ones like Emplifi or Sprinklr.
3. Turn Your Followers Into Insiders
Community building should be on top of mind when thinking about organic growth. Think about it like this: without a strong community, who would be the ones to invest in your brand?
Here are some strategies to actively engage with your audience:
- Start a broadcast channel: It’s a great way for your audience to get the inside scoop of what’s happening, and it lets you ask them questions directly. Users can leave their replies and can participate in events (if they join the channel), and this creates a sense of secrecy and exclusivity for them.
- Respond to comments and videos: Try to respond to comments on your posts and videos about your brand. This shows that you value their opinions and are interested in building relationships with them. Being active and responsive in a timely manner is important when conversations about you are being created.
- Encourage UGC (user-generated content): UGC is a powerful tool for building community and authenticity on Instagram. Encourage your followers to create and share content related to your brand, and feature their posts on your account. This not only generates fresh and engaging content but also makes your followers feel valued and appreciated.
- Post on your Stories: Instagram Stories is an easy way to host giveaways, create polls, and have your followers get to know you as a brand. Fun ways include bloopers/raw cuts of content, behind the scenes, and company culture.
- Send PR to non-influencers: While influencers are a great way to boost visibility for your brand, sending PR to real followers who tell a story is more compelling and engaging. This generates buzz and builds brand trust and loyalty.
- Call and Response: Asking users to leave a comment, participate in Stories’ gamified units, or tag you in their UGC is a great way to navigate your content strategy, as the audience that you’re trying to target is giving you live feedback (and sometimes even content examples with their own UGC) of what they would like to see.
Community Engagement: In Action
The makeup brand REFY is incredibly active on their broadcast channel. They continuously ask their audience questions, letting them run the show and make the decisions for the brand.
Here’s another recent example where BEIS responded to a girls video on TikTok with PR because she made a powerpoint presentation about why she deserved a pink luggage set. Not only did they comment, but they engaged with her story enough for them to send her the set. Brands who send PR to real, ordinary people that aren’t influencers receive some of the highest levels of trust.
4. Understand Your Insights
Instagram provides analytics for your overall account but also insights for each individual piece of content you post. Here are some strategies for analyzing insights:
- Track Growth Patterns: Look at which type of content you post attracts the most followers.
- Track Engagement: If you want a better hand at understanding your audience and their needs, see what kind of content makes them comment and share.
- Analyze Shares and Saves: As Instagram’s CEO, Adam Mosseri stated, if you want to get discovered, sends are more important than likes.
- Content Strategy Refinement: Make the necessary changes to your content calendar based on your insights to ensure you don’t continue posting content that doesn’t perform.
The top insights that will help you refine your content are the watch time, view rate, and the number of shares.
When looking at your average watch times, the percentage of it compared to the total length of your video needs to be considered. If your average watch time is 30% or lower, it’s best to neglect posting long form content and prioritize shorter formats to boost that percentage up. You want your audience to stay as long as possible and, hopefully, watch the whole thing once or twice. However, if your average watch time is above 50%, longer formats can be tested because it shows the audience is willing to stay on your video for longer periods of time.
Instagram tracks the percentage of viewers that watched past the first 3 seconds of your video, and this is called the view rate. You can compare percentages between followers, non-followers, or both. A low view rate can mean a lot of things. If there’s a large percentage of people who stopped watching before 3 seconds, it’s time to analyze your reel and ask yourself the right questions.
Think of a similar video you made that performed better. What was the difference between the two content pieces? Was it a weak hook, longer video, irrelevant topic to your brand, etc. Little things like forgetting to add captions or trending music may seem small but can play major roles in the performance of your video. Look at it from all angles.
As you work on growing your brand, the most important thing to do is to get in front of the right audience — discoverability is key. Mosseri states that if you want to get discovered, sends will be more valuable than likes. You want to encourage shares as much as possible, meaning your content needs to be sharable. Sometimes it’s best to put yourself in the shoes of your ideal user and think, “Would I share this with a friend?” The more sharable your content is, the higher the likelihood that it’ll be discovered by other people and attract new followers.
Understand your Insights: In Action
Check out this Wicked themed video on NoGood’s channel. The ratio of likes to shares is over 50%. That’s because this video has a high relatability factor, it’s culture related, and it’s under 10 seconds, which has proven to be successful when creating content.
5. Strategic Collaborations
Collaborating with influencers is a strategic move that can propel your Instagram growth and amplify your brand’s reach. Influencers have already established a loyal following and have the power to influence the purchasing decisions of their audience (hence, influencers). However, it’s all about choosing the right influencers to partner with. They can introduce your brand to a broader audience, generate brand awareness, and drive potential customers to your profile.
When selecting influencers, whether macro or micro, authenticity and alignment is crucial. Choose influencers whose values and content resonate with your brand’s identity and target audience.
Here’s the difference between macro and micro influencers:
Macro:
- 100K-1M+ followers
- Often creates aspiration-focused content
- Collaboration rates are higher
- Wide reach and visibility but lower interactions
- Can be perceived as less authentic
Micro:
- 1K-100K followers
- Often creates niche-specific content
- Collaboration rates are lower
- Small reach and but higher interactions and impact
- Can be perceived as relatable
Choosing the right influencer to collaborate with comes down to your brand’s needs and goals. Typically if your goal is reach, working with a macro-influencer is beneficial because of their well-known name. However, if your goal is impact, micro-influencers may be your best bet because of how niche and tight-knit their communities are.
To create a successful collaboration, set clear expectations and outline specific goals. Determine the type of content, deliverables, and timeline, and establish metrics to measure the success of the partnership. Providing influencers with clear guidelines helps maintain brand consistency while allowing them creative freedom to express their unique style.
Leveraging user-generated content (UGC) from influencer collaborations adds a layer of authenticity to your brand’s narrative. By reposting or featuring influencers’ content on your profile, you tap into their credibility and establish trust with your audience. UGC humanizes your brand, showcasing real people using and enjoying your products or services.
Influencer collaborations are a powerful tool for organic Instagram growth. By partnering with the right influencers and developing the right strategy, you can attract your designated audience.
Influencer Collaborations: In Action
Take a look at Warby Parker’s collaboration with Emma Chamberlain. They didn’t just choose a random influencer — they chose someone who loved their brand, and it shows. Their collaboration consisted of frames designed by Emma herself, adding her own personality into a brand that she’s worn since she was a little girl. This collaboration was strategic as well as thoughtful and authentic.
What’s the TL;DR?
Prioritize creating high-quality content, having a consistent posting schedule, engage with your community, understand your insights, and formulate strategic collaborations. Keep consistent and stay as authentic and true to your brand and audience. That way, you can build a loyal following and grow a tight-knit community that trusts you and would invest time in your brand while also recommending you to others. Now, take these strategies and see your Instagram account blossom.
