5 Ways on How to Get on Instagram's Explore Page

Give the people what they want! Always be on time. Tell them what to do. Give a little to get a little. It's all about the hashtag.

1. Give the people what they want!

You’ve heard it before and we’ll continue to tell you, it’s all about content. In order to have a successful social media strategy, you must have compelling content that appeals to your audience. Think like your audience. What do they like? What appeals to them? How can I get them to click on my photo?

An easy way to find out how to get those clicks and ultimately achieve that “viral” effect is with a little social listening. You probably do this already with your personal social media accounts – creeping on pages of friends, celebrities, shops, etc. you enjoy following. As a business owner, follow your customers and see what their activity is every once and awhile. What other photos are they liking? Who else are they following? Get advice directly from your customers without even having to ask them for it!

2. Always on time

There’s a specific strategy every business owner must adhere to in order to captivate your audience. The second-most important part of the strategy (second to awesome content) is when you post that content. Picking the time that best suits when your audience is on Instagram will boost your chance engagement. And, the more engagement you have on a post means the better chance you’ll have for that post to end up on Instagram’s Explore page.

How do you know when your audience is online? Use the insights section of your Instagram profile. (Note: you’ll have to make sure you’ve set up your account as a business account first.) In this section, you’ll see what time during each day of the week that your audience is most active with your posts.

What about that pesky new algorithm that’s plaguing Instagram just like it’s done with Facebook posts? Well, that’s when the timing of your post comes into play. Bursts of likes when your post goes live will drastically improve its chances of moving over to the Explore page.

3. Tell them what to do

You have a great post planned for the perfect time. You post it and wait anxiously, but nothing. Why is that? The next important factor to the perfect post is an intriguing call-to-action. You must tell your audience what to do.

The right caption should pack a big punch. If someone sees your post in the Explore page and click on it, that caption is going to be their first introduction to your brand. Remember to keep your caption clean, concise and creative. Adding that call-to-action will help these new visitors
take further action with your brand. Everything doesn’t have to be “click here to learn more.” Rather, use the caption as a chance to advertise a sale, promote a brand-specific hashtag, sign up for deals and the list goes on.

Keep in mind that a proper call-to-action also boosts the chances for actual engagement. Your audience reads: “come shop our 40% off sale!” and they’ll take action over a post that reads: “great deals on fabulous styles.” Give them a little incentive to want to more about your business!

4. Give a little to get a little

Does your business enjoy partnering with other businesses around town? Well, if it means more engagement and, ultimately, more customers than why not!? Team up with a few local shops around town for a “group post.” Tag each other in the post and feed off the following.

Another way to gain traction like this is by tagging larger brands in your post. Of course, it only makes sense to tag a large, national brand if it pertains to your post. If you sell children’s consignment clothes and many of your items are Matilda Jane, then tag that national account in your post. Take advantage of their huge following to gain interest of your own.

Larger Instagram accounts will take the time to see who is tagging them in posts. If they stop and actually “like” the post you’ve tagged them in, the chances are even greater that your post will now appear in the Explore page. Imagine the amount of attention you can get from a national brand placing your post directly in front of their audience!

5. It’s all about that hashtag

One of the most iconic words of this decade is “hashtag” thanks to the rise in popularity of Instagram (we’ll give a little credit to Twitter, too). Did you know that using at least one hashtag in your Instagram post could average 12.6% more engagement than without one at all? Basically what we’re saying is, embrace the hashtag.

Using hashtags are probably the quickest way to get recognized by someone new. While you want to be trendy with your hashtags, you also need to make sure you are using ones that adhere to your brand. Don’t just throw #Rio2016 at the end of a post just because you know people were talking about the Olympics for two straight weeks.

Nonetheless, hashtags are an essential part of your Instagram game. Use them often, but use them wisely. Create a list of industry-specific hashtags to use with every post and watch the engagement pour in!