Cheatsheet: Organic Instagram

We trimmed our strategy section into a concise cheat sheet. You’ll find all of the tactics without the context or reasoning. Consider this a checklist for you to reference while you implement your Instagram strategy.

How to get started with Organic Instagram

Here's a simple framework to help you reach customer-content fit:

• Decide what your narrative is
• Create 3-5 content buckets that support the broader narrative
• Refuse to post anything that does not fall into one of those buckets
• Consistently post that content
• Post more of what resonates, less of what doesn’t

Research your space

• Learn what types of content drive the most organic engagement and reach.
• Discover adjacent brands who can help you access new audiences to accelerate growth.
• Use brands you know to discover adjacent brands you don’t know.
• Study their content and bookmark them for partnership opportunities.
• Search for relevant hashtags to learn what top-performing content looks like.

Verify user engagement

• Weed out accounts with fake followings.
• Use a tool like Modash to help.

Understanding the algorithm

• Understand the three main ranking signals:
• Interest — Instagram uses past behavior to "predict" which content you'll enjoy seeing and engaging with in the future.
• Recency — Recent posts are prioritized above older posts.
• Relationship — Instagram prioritizes content from accounts you interact with frequently.
• Instagram rewards accounts who post consistently high-quality content that drives authentic engagement.

The optimal posting strategy

Step 1: Post content that people engage with

• Feed posts
• Stories
• Highlights
• Reels
• IG TV
• IG Live
• Guides

Step 2: Increase reach and get follower

Key strategies:

1. Get others to share your content with their audiences
2. Get discovered on hashtag pages and the Explore feed
3. Seek out organic partnerships and collaborations

Optimize your profile for SEO and follows

People who visit your profile page are more inclined to follow you when:

• They understand your value props without having to think too much.
• They’re able to self-identify with a distinct theme that’s relevant to their interests.
• They intuit that your profile is real, active, and focused on the audience rather than itself.

Elements of a high-converting profile:

• Username — Include your company name at the front of your username for SEO.
• Name and description —Include relevant industry keywords in the name field for searchability.
• Add a CTA —Include a CTA that brings followers into your sales funnel or sends them to a product page (could be a link or DM invitation).
• Highlights — Showcase your best stories (results, valuable tips, PR).
• Home feed — For evergreen content that accurately portrays your brand and specific value you provide. Posts should complement each other to create a cohesive grid and aesthetic

Interact with brands and personal accounts

Plan to spend at least 30 minutes a day interacting with other brand accounts and their followers:

• Make sure to like and reply to comments on your brand page.
• Keep tabs on adjacent brands.
• Engage with Stories and Reels.
• Like and comment on their followers’ posts.

Seek out organic partnerships

• Brand-by-brand partnerships are one of the only ways to increase organic reach without any monetary spend.
• The goal is to absorb followers from large accounts with similar audiences.
• Two ways to do this: Product for post and share-for-share (S4S)

Step 3: Strategies to convert followers into leads and customers

Use the swipe-up feature

• If you have 10k or more followers, you can use the swipe up feature in your stories to send traffic to a link of your choosing.
• Give followers valuable insights through “Story storms.” (credit to Ross Simmonds for this term)
• Invite them to engage, ask for feedback, and lead them to a relevant offer.

Drive traffic to a link in your bio

Test different offers:

• Shop pages
• New posts
• Lead magnets
• Download in the app store
• Use a Linktree link

Tag products in shoppable posts

• Tag shoppable products featured in your photos or Reels videos.
• Set up an Instagram Shop page
• Sign up for Instagram Checkout

This unit was co-created with Galactic Fed. We’ll show you how to execute Organic Instagram yourself. If after going through this course, you’re looking for a partner, Galactic Fed is it.