Reach is the number of unique users who have seen your publication.
New Instagram users often mistake it for impressions. Impressions show how many times your content has been viewed.
If I’ve viewed your post 3 times, it would be +3 in impressions and +1 in reach. Let's move on.
What does high reach give?
Reach is more important than impressions and the number of followers. The more people see your content, the easier it is to promote and the more expensive you can sell advertising.
The advertiser looks at the reach, not the size of the audience when deciding to cooperate. They also take into account the engagement - the number of followers’ actions (likes, comments, reactions to stories, etc.).
2022 gives you a lot of opportunities to cheat: you can boost reach, add impressions, and buy likes and followers. You don't have to do that. Firstly, the profile is evaluated as a whole, and the skilled advertiser can see what's wrong here. Secondly, the advertiser needs inquiries and sales, not a pretty wrapper. If it doesn't work, your cooperation won't be long either.
Where can I see the reach on Instagram?
Instagram statistics allow you to look at the reach of individual posts and stories, as well as weekly and monthly reach. It's easy to find if you have a business or creator profile enabled. You need to click on the "Insights" button in your profile.
Select the time period and the “Accounts Reached" option to see the profile's reach. You will see the metrics of the parameter.
Weekly and monthly profile reach is NOT the sum of the reach of your posts. It takes into account both the reach of the posts and the stories. Profile reach shows how many people have seen at least one of your posts during the selected time period.
You can see full statistics on IGTV posts, stories, and videos in the "Content You Shared" section. Instagram will show the reach of all publications over the past 2 years. There are also insights under each post.
What is considered normal reach on Instagram?
It is better to have a weekly and monthly profile reach of 60% or more. Divide the reach by the number of followers and multiply by 100% to calculate.
Reach/Followers*100%
A normal reach under each post equals 20-25% of the number of followers. The normal reach for each story is 7-8% of the number of followers. The more, the better.
Count your reach at least two days after publishing the post, not before 24 hours after posting. Statistics are collected within 24 hours.
Why the reach is dropping?
External effects
- Instagram is releasing a new update.
Instagram can be slowed down and everyone's reach goes down when its engineers implement new options. Don't panic.
- The constant growth of competition and information noise tiredness.
It's impossible to consume so much information - users get tired. Especially from selling content. It's hard to compete for reach and audience growth in 2022. You can whine, or you can admit that it's not going to get any easier and move on.
- Seasonal occurrence.
People spend less time on social networks during the warm season. July is usually the worst month for your reach.
When it's all about you
- The quality of the content is poor
It is unpleasant, but obvious and fixable. Instagram assesses the quality of content by audience engagement. If users like, comment, interact with you, and pay attention to you - it means you're interesting. In this case, Instagram shows the content to more users and lifts it to the top of the feed. The reach is growing.
- Non-regular posting
Instagram likes consistency, don't drop out of the main feed and stories.
- Unsuccessful promotion methods
This includes buying bots followers and setting up a mass following for non-target audiences. In both cases, you're bringing "dead souls" into the account, who don't read you and don't respond to posts.
It turns out that the number of followers is flattering, but the engagement drops. Instagram concludes that the content is of poor quality and does not show it. Which means it cuts the reach even more.
- Activity spikes and mass unfollowing afterward
It’s all about giveaways and likes for money. It’s not pure evil, but it must be used carefully. You will pay for the new audience with your reach. Giveaways will end, people will leave, and Instagram won't like this negative dynamic.
In addition, you'll get a percentage of accounts created specifically for giveaways. They usually have a million subscriptions, which means those users just won't see your content.
it is very important that the audience was targeted if you have already decided to make a giveaway, although this is not the fairest method of promotion.
- Hashtags overuse
You can use up to 30 hashtags under a post. You can, but you don't have to. There is an opinion among Instagram gurus that now the platform considers a list of hashtags to be spam, just like the similar hashtags from post to post. Instagram doesn't like spam and cuts reach for it. The social network does not reveal its algorithms and there is no official confirmation of this statement, but it is better to be cautious.
Use up to six hashtags, but really suitable ones. We recommend using popular hashtags, but not highly-used hashtags. Your publication will descend to the bottom in 30 minutes. Hashtags from 10k to 100k are the best choice.
- Shadow ban
In this case, the reach drops dramatically. Your posts disappear from the hashtag and location section and they are much less likely to get into the feeds of followers. At the same time, technically, everything is okay, Instagram doesn’t send any notifications about that. This situation can last from 2-3 days to two weeks.
What can you get into a shadow ban for?
- a huge crowd of bots following you at one time;
- using third-party services for scheduled posting, mass following, and mass liking;
It is clear that a person can't like 100,500 posts an hour, that's why using third-party services is prohibited by the Instagram policy;
- a lot of complaints on the account;
It can be about inappropriate content or just hating, although Instagram is trying to maintain a friendly atmosphere. The actions of haters can affect your reach.
- mass unfollowing;
For example, when the giveaway is over.
- a lot of similar hashtags, highly-used hashtags (where posts appear almost every minute).
Instagram may think you are spamming or posting low-quality content.
How do I get out of the shadow ban and get my reach back?
- no activity for 48 hours: don't post, don't like, temporarily stop promoting;
- disable third-party services;
- do not log in from new devices;
- delete hashtags from the last 10-20 posts, and remove the highly-used ones;
- switch to a personal profile (be prepared for all statistics to disappear);
- change a few words in your profile header;
- publish the post without hashtags or geotags at the end of the 48-hour silence;
- post a few posts without hashtags but with geotags and see if they are visible by location;
- continue to delete the hashtags as needed.
How to increase your reach on Instagram?
Clean up the list of followers if necessary
20-25% untargeted audience is ok even for an account with the cleanest promotion history. But if you've participated in giveaways, unsuccessfully launched mass following, and used highly-used hashtags for a long time, then you're 99.9% likely to need to gradually clean up your list of followers. Engagement and reach will be grateful if everything is done right.
Mass unfollowing is always a shock to the account - the reach will drop. This decline needs something to compensate for, act calmly and consistently:
- Get ready to clean up and schedule the coolest content possible.
- Run the promotion.
- Delete 200-300 followers a day, starting with the most hopeless.
- Constantly monitor the statistics and adjust your strategy.
Boost engagement
The easiest way to do this is through stories. Votes, sliders stickers, questions to followers, a link to a previous story... take advantage of it. Also, plan engaging posts that followers will comment on and save.
The less obvious methods to increase engagement and reach:
- set up a mass liking for your followers;
Instagram will still count it as an engagement with your audience, even though it's not you who makes contact. You'll also remind your follower of yourself and maybe make them feel good.
- start a direct message mailout;
Inform about contests, special offers, promotions, and discounts. Your target audience will take it well.
- run a contest or a marathon.
On the one hand, you need to make it simple, and on the other to get the maximum number of reactions to the content from followers. Look for the balance.
Post regularly
Taking a break from Instagram means saying goodbye to reach. Make a content plan to stay on your follower’s feed. It is good for discipline and systematizes the work. When writing a content plan, you're sure to think about your near-term goal and be able to think through balanced content.
Promote
Everyone has an audience outflow, and that's ok. Some are bored with you, for some the content is no longer relevant. The blog necessarily needs fresh blood in the form of new followers for the development. Learn promotion methods, try them several times, and get the results.
If you look at the method in detail, you can use the "Boost Post" button when you need to revive your reach. Spend a couple of dollars to promote each post, and they'll all make it to the top of your followers' feed. Instagram will also show them to other people.
Be careful! The automatic audience can only be created if all activity on the page is from the target audience (no click-throughs, like-times, comment-chats).
Develop
Instagram is changing very quickly. You have to rush at least at the same speed to keep it up. When the Instagram community has advanced 135 steps forward, and you're still the same "Mary, happy mom, John's wife" and use the same methods of promotion - you're doomed.
Read our blog and stay up to date with us. Take care!