Instagram’s Explore page remains a vital source of organic reach. The Instagram algorithm finds content that each user might like and recommends it to them. It does this through machine learning. The recommendations are becoming more and more accurate as the algorithm constantly evolves and learns.
ON Instagram, it can be difficult to access the user’s Explore page because there is a lot of competition. However, it’s not impossible.
Here are some tips you should follow to access Instagram Explore pages.
1. Know your audience
Identifying and understanding your target market is essential to any content marketing strategy or SEO campaign. Think about it. If you know your audience well, you can create content that resonates with your audience. Knowing your audience also helps SEO campaign management. If you know your audience, you can easily determine what types of keywords to target and track in your campaign.
Knowing your audience is also important when it comes to logging into Instagram’s Explore page. To create content that appeals to your target market, you need to know your target audience.
So if you don’t have an Instagram account yet, sit down and think about the audience you want to target. Helps create an audience persona, a visual representation of your ideal target audience:
You can get the information to develop your audience persona from surveys and interviews.
If you already have an Instagram account, you can use Instagram’s built-in analytics feature to determine who your target audience is. The core of your audience already follows you on Instagram. You can access this data if you use a company account.
Let’s go over how to upgrade to a professional account and check your insights.
1. Open your profile and click on the settings icon (three horizontal lines in the upper right corner)
2. On the Settings page, click on “Account”
3. Click “Switch to Professional Account”
4. Choose your category and click “Done”
With Instagram, you can access information like your audience’s top locations and age range.
When you know your audience, you can determine what their interests are. For example, an older audience is more likely to be interested in the music of Frank Sinatra. A younger audience is more likely to prefer music from his generation, such as the music of Ariana Grande.
Taking the time to understand your audience will help you create content strategies that will produce positive results.
2. Take advantage of Instagram post analytics
You also need to pay attention to the analytics of your Instagram posts. The logic is simple. If you create content that has already resonated with your audience in the past, the same content is more likely to still resonate with your audience. Content that resonates with your audience is more likely to land you on Instagram’s Explore page. You can analyze the performance of each Instagram post through metrics like impressions, likes, saves, actions and comments.
Once you access your post analytics, it’s as simple as looking at which posts have the most engagement. You may find that your audience likes short “How To” videos and carousel posts, or enjoy your more light-hearted subs. Take note of all the details.
3. Create engaging content based on audience research and analytics
Now that you know your audience and the posts they care about, you can start creating content that will resonate with them. For example, if you see, based on your research, that your audience in the 35-44 age group likes your tech posts, you might want to produce tech content. The content should be written in a language that your 35-44 year old audience also relates to.
Speaking in general, video content it is more engaging than static images on Instagram. Static images on your audience’s feed are ignored and scroll more easily.
In addition to being naturally more engaging, videos also perform better with the Explore algorithm. Video content plays automatically in the Explore tab. Also, as you can see in the screenshot below, video content takes up more space on the Explore page, making it stand out more.
That’s not to say that still images can’t be engaging. Carousel posts, for example, like the example below, allow you to be very visual. You also don’t have to write a long caption that people are likely to skip.
Whatever type of content you choose, your goal should be to create exciting content that delivers value. Content that invites people to talk and encourages likes, comments, and shares will work well. You’re more likely to land on Instagram’s Explore page.
3. Find trends
If you’re not sure how to create engaging content, look at what types of content are trending right now. To do this, follow these steps:
Search for your niche on the Explore page. So in this case, we’re looking for the word “hardware”.
Then click “Tags” to see the most popular hashtags. We’ll discuss hashtags in more detail later. But that’s what I get when I look at the most popular hashtags for the term “hardware”.
Click on one of the hashtags you see. You will get a list of content that appears under the hashtag. This is what I get when I click on the “restore hardware” hashtag.
By following this strategy, you can determine popular topics, trends, content types, and formats that you can emulate.
However, since Instagram is a fast-paced platform, keep in mind that trends don’t last very long. What went viral on Monday could be old news by Wednesday. So, be sure to closely monitor recent trends so you can strike while the iron is hot.
4. Add relevant hashtags and tags
Hashtags are additional ways to extend the reach of your content. When you include hashtags, your content is more likely to span the Explore ecosystem. After all, users can also search for specific hashtags on Instagram Explore. When they do, the content carrying that hashtag is displayed. Here’s what I get when I search for the #travelblogger hashtag:
Additionally, users can also follow a specific hashtag. This means that if you don’t use hashtags in your posts, you lose your chance to be seen on Instagram’s Explore page.
However, hashtags aren’t the only visuals you should use in your posts. Users also search for products and services in their area using the “Places” tab on the Explore page.
For example, the screenshot below shows a search for “Cork web hosting”. Under the places tag, you’ll see a list of web hosting companies in the Cork area.
In other words, to increase your chances of being found on the Explore page, be sure to include your location tags as well. This will also help potential customers know you’re nearby.
Account tags provide another way to reach new audiences and help increase your chances of accessing your Explore pages. Tagging brand partners, influencers, or employees can create an engagement boost. With account tags, your posts will appear in the feeds of people who follow your brand partners, influencers, and employees.
Influencers, especially, can be very valuable here due to their massive following. You can easily contact them for possible collaborations (the type of collaboration they tag you and you tag them). Look up their Instagram handle and send them a message. Nowadays, it’s even easy find an email address. This includes the email addresses of even the most popular influencers.
5. Build your online community
Another important aspect of the Instagram Explore page is community building. The more active your brand community, the more likely Instagram is to recommend you to lookalike audiences on the Explore page. Then, you should be as interactive as possible with your existing Instagram audience.
But how exactly can you get your audience to engage with you? Simple. Your content should encourage healthy debate and conversation among members of your community. Instagram polls, quizzes, and Q&As, for example, are great ways to give your audience a voice. Check out this sample Premier League Account Instagram Story quiz.
Also, second Exceedvisual content that includes online quizzes, polls, and Q&As is 40 times more likely to be shared on social networks.
These types of content can behave like email forms, also. When used correctly, they can capture your audience’s contact information, which you can use to further nurture your relationship with them.
However, it’s not always necessary to start the conversation from scratch with a post of your own. An even more authentic method is to engage with social media posts from consumers that mention your brand. You can even reply to comments other users make on those posts. Check out this example from Chipotle:
People don’t expect brands to respond and interact like this, so it makes a big impression when you do.
Closing
In summary, joining the Instagram Explore page should be part of your content marketing strategy. It can provide huge opportunities to increase exposure and engagement.
The good news is that accessing Instagram’s Explore page isn’t that difficult.
Just know your audience and look at the analytics of your Instagram posts. Then create engaging content based on your audience research and Instagram post metrics. Also focus on trending topics. Just be sure to strike while the iron is hot. Also add relevant hashtags and tags. Finally, focus on building your community.
Follow these steps and you’ll be appearing on Instagram’s Explore pages in no time!
