Key Takeaways
- You must identify a clear and defined niche to increase your chances of going viral on Instagram. Without this, even high-quality, engaging content will fail because the algorithm struggles to promote it to the right audience.
- Initially, virality requires producing much content, as only a tiny percentage will resonate strongly enough to go viral. Balancing frequent posting without overwhelming your audience is key to maintaining engagement and growing visibility.
- While luck can influence a post’s success, achieving consistent virality requires understanding Instagram’s algorithms, creating scroll-stopping content, and refining your approach based on audience engagement.
Generic advice on how to go viral on Instagram will lead you nowhere
It is fascinating that we live in a world where anybody can claim to be an expert on anything. People with no background in nutrition advise people on what to eat. People with no athletic capabilities advise how fast you should run a 5k or how many “pull-ups” you should be able to take. The same goes for marketing. Businesses that have never gone viral on Instagram advise people how to do it.
Three years ago, we were desperately trying to grow on Instagram. It is very appealing, as plenty of influencers go viral consistently and have a lifestyle that aligns with it. Moreover, their content is not always impressive, and plenty of people advise you on going viral online. Therefore, it is easy to conclude that “anybody” can do it.
But if it were that easy, wouldn’t “everybody” do it? Wouldn’t most people spend 10 minutes creating a video, wait for the money to stream in, and travel the world? The reality is that it is far from that simple, and it is considerably more work than most people understand.
Moreover, relying on advice found online is not helpful. Most online advice says to “post quality content,” “use the right hashtags,” and “use trending audio.” We learned the hard way that this is NOT how to go viral.
We spent three years studying Instagram algorithms
Everybody has heard of that one person who created one video that went viral the first time they posted. The issue is that if you don’t know what you are doing and depend on luck, it will not happen consistently. Moreover, you must go viral consistently to grow an account to a specific size.
The sad truth is that one million views will not lead to many followers. Accounts with many followers and few viral reals are most likely fake accounts. Moreover, the advice you find online is very generic and will lead you nowhere fast. Getting help from AI will not make any difference as AI circulates the content already on the internet.
The good news is that achieving virality is rarely about luck. It requires an in-depth understanding of the platform. After three years of analysing Instagram algorithms, we found for you to even have a chance to go viral you must identify a niche and create content that resonates with an audience.
We started an account, and we were consistently going viral within a year. You can see for yourself @getinspired2run
What does it mean to go viral on Instagram?
Going viral on Instagram refers to content spreading rapidly and achieving a high level of engagement in a short time. While there’s no universal threshold, posts with over 500,000 views, 10,000 likes, and hundreds of comments are strong indicators.
However, what is viral for you depends on the account size. This article defines “viral” as having 5x as many views as what is typical for you. For instance, if you usually get 3000 views, a “viral” video will be defined as 15000 views and above.
Virality can manifest in Reels, carousels, or static posts, with Reels providing the most potential for widespread exposure. It is incorrect if you see advice stating that you must use all of Instagram’s features to go viral, including static posts and carousels.
We have only posted stories and reels on the account we created. Sixteen reels have hit more than 500,000, and 76 have hit over 15,000 views only based on reels. We currently have 11,000 followers.
How to increase your chances of going viral
During the three years we spent studying Instagram algorithms, we tested a lot of different content. This was because we read advice that you must create “quality content to go viral.” We spent hours creating quality posts, reading about science, fact-checking them, and adding funny stories in the captions to make them more entertaining for our audience.
We used a different account to do this. You can find it at @antlerzz_longevity. This account has 2k+ followers and an engaged audience. We likely have high engagement on this account because we spent a lot of time building the audience and engaging with others in this community. Moreover, most of our followers are highly interested in health optimisation and longevity. We presented new science entertainingly and received feedback that many people liked our posts.
However, after much testing and failing to go viral, we finally realised that longevity is not an Instagram niche. Talking about science one day, exercise another, and food the third day confused the algorithms.
This made Instagram unsure of which audience beyond our followers to promote our content to. It didn’t matter that our audience was engaged when we switched between topics. For instance, if Instagram pushed our content about science to an audience primarily interested in exercise, it would fail, no matter how entertaining and well-researched it was.
After much testing, we learned that the most important thing you can do to maximise your chances of going viral is to identify an Instagram niche. The niche needs to be big enough for Instagram to identify an audience to push the content to. We, therefore, started our running account. While running is highly competitive, it is clearly identified. However, you might get quicker results if you find a clear, defined niche that is less competitive.
Other factors maximising your chances of going viral
Whilst identifying an Instagram niche is the most important thing you can do, there are other factors you need to consider to go viral. These three are the most important ones.
- Creating content that stops the scroll within the first 1+2 seconds. This is important. People’s attention span is short, and you must get to the point quickly. An effective way to stop the scroll is by creating “click bate” headlines. Look at what has worked for others in your niche. However, don’t use any headline. People want the content to be as authentic as possible, and they want to see your personality coming through. Therefore, use the headlines that resonate with your personality.
- Creating a lot of content. Only 5-10% of your content will go viral, depending on how good you are at creating content that resonates with your audience. Therefore, you need to create a lot to maximise your chances. However, ensure you don’t fatigue the followers you have. If you make several pieces a day, it might get overwhelming for your followers, leading to them unfollowing you. They might also want to see content from the other accounts they follow. Therefore, ensure you have a balance. It could benefit you to post several times a day in the beginning when your views are likely to be low and start posting less frequently after you have gained more followers and more views on your reels.
- Collaborate with Influencers—Partner with influencers in your niche to tap into their audience base. We have not tested this ourselves, but we have seen many do it successfully. This is a way to short-track your visibility.
If you want more details, follow these 19 steps to get more insights and tips on how to get more views on your content.
Why does your account size matter for your strategy?
Contrary to recent popular belief, your account size influences your likelihood of going viral. Many claim the account size doesn’t matter, as smaller accounts can go viral. While this is true, based on our insights, we see our most loyal followers are more likely to watch our content, which indirectly influences our likelihood of going viral.
The more people watch your content, the more likely Instagram will continue to push it out and give you visibility to new accounts. Since your followers won’t like all of your content equally, it is a good way to test which content resonates with your audience so you can make adjustments.
The element of luck
Many believe Instagram’s leadership have all the answers; we certainly did at the start. However, their employees are not working on dividing up content to decide who they choose deserves to go viral. Instagram’s algorithm is not as advanced as many tend to believe. It is based on a set of rules, and the outcome is often outside of Instagram’s control.
For instance, if you post a reel that usually works and it is shown to people who, for some reason, feel unengaged the moment they see your content, the reel might fail. The viewer might have recently fought with a loved one or experienced other stressful events, and they go to Instagram to distract themselves. They will likely be less engaged in anything they watch in that situation.
If this happens to enough people right after you post, your content is less likely to be getting pushed out to more people (who might be in a better mood) and, therefore, get considerably fewer views than other similar content.
We have seen this happening several times. We post the same scene with the same headline; one day, it goes viral; another day, it doesn’t work well. Timing is essential, but it is not always in your control.
You shouldn’t let this discourage you. Just keep posting and try not to get attached to the performance of one post.
Going viral on Instagram requires consistent dedication
Consistency and persistence are essential to building momentum and staying relevant if you want to go viral on Instagram. Post regularly, analyse performance, and refine your strategy based on what your audience resonates with.
However, you must identify a niche before you waste a lot of time creating posts. If you don’t, your chances of going viral are slim to none, no matter how great your content is.
While luck plays a part, you need to keep going. A strategic and dedicated approach following the steps outlined will significantly increase your chances of achieving Instagram virality.
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