Going viral? ME? NO WAY!!
That’s the thought you might be getting when you think about going viral, right?
Sure, it can happen to ‘someone’, but not me!
Now, let me tell you…
There IS a way your post, video or image, can get featured on the explore page to go viral on Instagram.
But the question is…
WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO GET FEATURED ON AN EXPLORE PAGE?
When you get featured on explore page, many more people can view your post. Your post’s reach increases.
And hence, it gains the potential to get hundreds of thousands of new likes, comments and even followers just through ONE post!
And, if you can do this right, you can even get more sales, and customers!
Getting featured on explore page is directly proportional to “going viral on Instagram”.
That sounds too good to be true, right?
It sounded exactly to me too, until I got to know the potential of getting featured on explore page.
Let’s go through what I’ll cover in this post:
What is viral on Instagram and which content goes viral?
Which type of posts go viral on Instagram?
Which type of posts work with your audience, so that you don’t attract the wrong followers!
Exactly how to make an Instagram post, either image or video, to go viral?
At the end, you will get a bonus strategy, that will change your whole Instagram game!
So let me first explain the concept of going viral…
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Getting back to our topic…
WHICH CONTENT GOES VIRAL ON INSTAGRAM?
Instagram loves its users, obviously. So, it won’t show people content that it thinks is not good enough to be shared!
So, for example, if you got like 50 likes on your image, that image will not go viral, because Instagram algorithm knows that not many people are liking your stuff, which means it is not shareable.
So, how does Instagram come to the conclusion that your Instagram post is has the potential to go viral?
The content that gets more amount of likes in a shorter time span. It also works through this ratio: Total number of reach/Total number of likes.
So, let’s say, everyone who comes across your picture is instantly hitting that like button! And much better: they are also commenting on your post. Instagram algorithm thinks about such content as shareable because it is getting more than average likes – hence it promotes it on its explore page to make it go viral!
Sounds so simple, right?
That’s why knowing how the Instagram algorithm works comes really handy when you’re trying to go viral on Instagram.
HAND-PICKED RECOMMENDATION: EXACTLY how the Instagram Algorithm Works & how to make it work in YOUR FAVOR
When a post hits the explore page, your post reach increases because now it is being seen by many more people. And hence, you gain more likes, more comments, more followers and more sales and customers!
Now, before we jump directly to “How to go viral on Instagram”, let me give you a transparent warning:
The steps shown below have consistently shown its potential to help people make their posts go viral on Instagram. But, not every post that you try will go viral. Out of 10 posts you try, one will go viral. You have to stay consistent with this stuff.
So, keep trying consistently to make your each post go viral, and you’ll see your post at the explore page.
Now, let’s jump to the topic: how to get your post go viral on Instagram?
1. RESEARCH FOR VIRAL CONTENT
The very first you need to do is to find the content that has the potential to go viral.
First understand what is your Instagram field/niche? You must be posting content that is specific to your niche. And that’s because you don’t want just ANY followers, but you want followers that are interested in a specific content – YOUR content – YOUR business, so that you can make sales from them, right?
If you don’t have a specific niche, you need to switch to one specific niche right now, before you do anything else. Otherwise, your profile will be filled with junk followers, and hopefully that’s not what you want, right?
You can’t just post the most viral post that is going on right now to gain likes and followers – that will attract the wrong audience to your business!
So, how do you find the post that will go viral for YOUR specific niche?
The very first thing you need to do is to find successful people with more than 20k followers in your niche (I will repeat again: in your niche) and see which type of their content is going viral on Instagram.
How do you know which of their content went viral?
Go through each of their posts, and find out the average number of likes that they are getting on each post.
Once done that, again, go through each of their posts and find a few posts that got at-least 2 times more likes than their average likes.
These are their posts that went viral on Instagram.
Once you’ve found this image/video, save it.
Now repeat all these steps for at least for 5-7 influencers of your niche and find minimum 15 such viral posts.
After going through this, you know what their audience likes.
Now comes the fun part!
You can either re-post one of these images or create your own similar post.
Because you researched content from the influencers in YOUR niche, the post that was liked by influencer’s audience will also be liked by your audience! Hence, making it go viral on Instagram!
Note: Make sure you give proper credits to the owner of the post while re-posting their content.
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2. POST AT HIGHLY ENGAGING TIME
So that you get instant likes in shorter time span! (One of the “going viral on Instagram” conditions fulfilled). More on this in the bonus step #6.
If you want to know the most engaging time for your post, read How to use analytics the RIGHT WAY to get maximum engagement.
Don’t have time to read the above post?
Here are 4 shortcut ways from my Instagram posts to find highly engaging time for your posts:
3. INCLUDE A CALL-TO-ACTION
Although a call-to-action is necessary for EACH AND EVERY POST, it is really necessary for the post that you want to go viral.
And the reason behind this being: after your content is featured on the explore page, most of those people may not have heard about you. So use this opportunity to provide them an action of what they should do next.
Visit your link? Explain why?
Comment? Ask them to…
Follow you? Give a reason. What do you provide on your profile that should make them interested in your posts?
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4. USE THE RIGHT HASHTAGS
I’m sure you are not new to hashtags. Hashtags can increase engagement on your post as soon as you post. Hence, using the right hashtags matter. Hashtags can either get you good amount of likes and comments or bury you into people’s follow/unfollow games. So, it’s very important to KNOW which hashtags to use.
I have compiled exactly which hashtag strategy I use to gain maximum exposure on Instagram and how it is the best way to use Instagram hashtags in 2018. This is one of my most popular posts and is loved by all my followers.
5. TELL YOUR FRIENDS AND OTHER INSTAGRAMMERS
Direct Message(DM) your friends to like your post just after you post it. You can also DM other accounts that you think might be interested.
But don’t spam accounts. Only DM to those who you know on a personal level and you know that they would be interested in the post you just posted.
Remember, to go viral on Instagram 2 things matter the most:
1. Total number of engagement in short time span – around 30 to 60 minutes after posting.
2. The bigger the account that likes your post the better.
You can also try gaining likes from huge Instagram accounts. These accounts are trusted by Instagram. So if they like your posts, Instagram likes you too. Also, if they like your post, their Instagram followers are gonna see your posts giving you more exposure!
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BONUS STEP 6. USE ENGAGEMENT PODS FOR MAXIMUM OUTPUT
Engagement pods are created by a group of people who agree to like and/or comment on each other’s posts as soon as they see them.
If you can get access to one of these pods, you need to like/comment on other’s posts and receive the same on your posts. It’s a win-win for everyone in the group.
How to find Engagement Pods?
1. You can DM a few people who you think might be involved in such pods and ask them if you could join that too.
Tip: #instagrampod and #instagrampods has many pods that you can join.
2. If you use Telegram app, there are many free pods that you can join using a link and provide your Instagram username to receive likes and/or comments on the most recent posts.
Important thing to keep in mind: If you join a pod that gives you likes/comments on a 24 or 12 hour basis, you will never go viral! This is something that no one will tell you.
You need to join a pod that gives you engagement within an hour! Such pods have dedicated time when you can drop your links and then within an hour you have to give likes to every other person who dropped their links. This way you get maximum engagement in a shorter time span and will make you go viral on Instagram!
Champion Tip: If you are planning a post to go viral, upload your post just before the dedicated 1 hour round starts. This will give maximum engagement to your post just after it was posted and will gain high potential of going viral.
One of such Telegram pods is Fuelgram – LIKES. And it is completely free to use. You can join using this link. Remember to engage with EVERYONE, otherwise you’ll get 3 warnings and then out of the pod. You’ll have to pay to get in again.
: Which step do you think is the most important for going viral on Instagram?