As the years go by it’s harder and harder to get noticed on Instagram. What started as a picture-sharing app has morphed into a powerhouse for brands, influencers celebrities alike to market themselves. Today you share a post and unless you know what you’re doing, it’ll probably get lost among the endless stream of content. Pair an overly saturated platform with a forever-changing algorithm, and you have yourself a major challenge. So it’s no wonder that so many are struggling to get exposure among the over 1 billion active users on the platform.

READ – How The Instagram Algorithm Works In 2021

You’re probably too happy to hear that no matter your expertise level, everyone is having a hard time trying to get noticed on Instagram. It’s not just about quality content and using hashtags anymore, although both are important factors. As a result, many are having to readjust their way of creating and publishing content. While navigating the algorithm is a great way to improve your reach in reality that is only half the battle. Reaching your audience is one thing, but captivating their attention enough to engage and/or follow you is just as important. So if you’re ready to start standing out among the crowd these 10 tips might be helpful for you.

10 Tips To Get Noticed On Instagram

1. Create Quality Content

At the end of the day, high-quality content will always win on Instagram. You can spend all your time nailing hashtags and writing captions. But if your content is there you shouldn’t be surprised you’re not getting noticed on Instagram. After all, Instagram is a platform built on visual content. Avoid overly editing your pictures and using too many filters on your content. You should also use either a high-quality smartphone camera or a DSLR camera that way you’re starting with a quality image or video.

2. Choose An Appealing Aesthetic

Beyond the quality of your individual piece of content, it’s important to focus on a cohesive aesthetic. You can achieve this in a few different ways. First, you want to settle on a specific filter or way you edit your pictures. Stick to tones that represent your brands, like warm nudes or bright colors. You also want to make sure you have a clean and refined bio. Story Highlights that use a cover image can help keep the top half of your profile looking fresh. From there, it’s all about the order you publish your content, trying to create balance within your feed. Using feed planning apps is a great way to organize your content before you post it.

3. Find Your Niche

Finding your niche plays a role in building your aesthetic. But it also will help your chances of getting noticed on Instagram. Staying consistent with the type of content you post is another step in building your brand. It’s hard enough to fight 1 billion users for attention. But floating between all different areas of interest will make that job much harder. It’s okay to dabble in a few related niches, say beauty and fashion, or maybe fitness and healthy eating. But the fewer niches you try to compete in the better your chances of growing out your audience.

4. Be Active Daily

It’s hard to get noticed if you’re not there. So if you’re only posting here and there, and not getting the results you’re looking for there’s a reason why. Being active daily doesn’t mean you should be spamming out content. But being consistently active on Instagram every day will help keep you on the minds of your followers. Posting anywhere from three times a week to once a day is a reasonable goal, including on your Stories. And don’t forget to engage with your favorite accounts and followers to build those relationships with them.

5. Be Smart With Hashtags

Hashtags will forever be an important part of getting noticed on Instagram. Not only do users browse them to find content, but brands also look through them to find potential influencers. And vice versa! But you can’t just slap on a bunch of hashtags and hope they’ll work out for you. Be smart with the hashtags you choose to use. Always make sure they’re related to the content you’re posting, and go for ones that are more popular. The rule of thumb is to aim for hashtags that have at least 1,000 posts, so you know they’re somewhat active.

6. Interact With Your Audience

The brand and influencers that always do the best in terms of building their audience are the ones who interact with them. Your followers want to feel like they’re heard and a part of your journey. And a great way to do that is by engaging with them. Answering your DMs, creating polls in your Stories, and replying to comments is a given. But if you want to go the extra step you can return the favor by interacting with your follower’s content and maybe even giving them a follow.

7. Use Engaging Captions

Let’s face it, most people are on Instagram for the visuals. But you’d be surprised to know that many users are just as interested in your written content. Instagram has slowly become a place for microbloggers, also known as Instabloggers to express themselves too. So don’t be afraid to invest a little time in your captions. Using calls to action, asking questions, or sharing key information in your captions can help you grow a following of readers to your profile.

8. Share Instagram Stories

A great way to continuously be at the top of your followers’ feeds is to be active on Instagram Stories. You’re essentially fighting for those first 4 icons above the feeds, so it’s important that you’re posting as much as you can to better your odds of showing up first. Instagram Stories are also usually one of the first areas users check when looking at your profile. So if they see you’re active on Stories they can assume you’ll constantly be posting new and exciting content.

9. Post At Prime Times

How is your audience supposed to notice you if you’re not posting while they’re online? It’s really important to narrow down the right time of the day, or week to share your content. Otherwise, there’s no audience to entertain. There really isn’t a set “prime time” that you should follow. Instead, take a look at your insights to determine where your audience is located, and the times of day they are active. That will give you a better sense of when you’ll have the most eyes on.

10. Monitor Your Competition

Just like in any business or industry, keeping an eye on your competition is one of the smartest things you can do. And that couldn’t be more true when it comes to getting noticed on Instagram. If you want to stand out among your niche or peers it’s important to see what content they’re creating so you can differentiate yourself from them. On the flip side, seeing what content works better for your competition can help you understand what your shared audience is interested in.