Introduction
This guide is not as organized as the previous ones because these tips and techniques are in random order. Some of the tips will apply to you and some won’t. Hopefully, you will be able to pick up some tricks and tips on how to take your Instagram to the next level.
Post Analyzation
Analyze your Post-Performance so You Can Determine if it’ll Go Viral or Flop
Here’s the thing: If you have a few thousand followers, you should be able to predict if it’s going to go viral within a few hours. A smaller audience is harder to judge. But if you have over 50,000 followers, you should be able to predict with about 90% certainty how well a post will do within 15 minutes of posting it.
If it’s not doing well after 15 minutes, it’s usually not good news. Remember, your goal with every post is to keep your current followers happy (positively engaged) and attract new followers. If you can’t do the first, you probably can’t do the second. Engagement creates growth. No engagement = no growth.
Why is tracking performance important? The first few minutes after you post are incredibly important. Instagram ranks the initial performance of your post, and compares it to the performance of similar accounts that your followers follow. Remember, Instagram’s goal is to immerse users in as much content as they think they’ll enjoy. They do this by placing the most engaging content at the top of a person’s timeline. If Instagram determines that your content isn’t engaging, then good luck trying to reach your followers – it’s not going to happen. It’s important for you to get real people to like and comment on your post as soon as you post it, so that it has maximum reach. Buying fake likes and comments won’t do the trick.
So what does all of this have to do with tracking performance? Well, think of it this way. If you consistently post bad content that doesn’t engage people, you’re going to lose a ton of followers.
- People won’t see you on their timeline, and they will naturally unfollow you over time.
- People finally see you on their timeline for the first time in a few weeks, and they think, “Why am I following this person? I don’t keep up with them anymore.
- People see your content, dislike it, and then unfollow because your content doesn’t engage or interest them.
In short, having engaging content is a must if you want to consistently gain followers. Not only will it bump you higher in your followers’ timeline, but you will be more likely to:
- Land in the Explore Tab.
- Be shared with friends.
- Rank in specific hashtags.
So, if you can determine with 90% certainty that a post will flop, you can delete it before it does any damage, or you can be aware of it and make the right changes to create engaging content.
So, should you delete poorly performing posts? No. You don’t have to, but tracking performance allows you to learn more about your account. Tracking puts your account under a microscope, and you’ll see trends you didn’t know about before.
For example, let’s say you track the performance of your latest post. Let’s say you normally get two comments within 15 minutes, but today you got 20 people who commented within 15 minutes of posting, asking what song you used in your video. Nothing else is different after 15 minutes – you have the same number of views and likes as usual, but you have 18 more comments than usual.
You find that the massive influx of comments within 15 minutes of posting helps you get more views, likes, and comments than you normally get that day. So how do you learn from experiences like this? What should you do from now on after you notice this trend? You now post every video with a different caption that asks for comments in some way – so you can at least test this theory you have. You start posting captions that say things like:
- “Comment your birthday to find your birthday twin!”
- “What kind of video should I make next?”
- “fI uoy nac daer siht, tnemmoc ruoy eman!”
- “Tag 3 friends for good luck!”
- “The first 20 people to comment will get a follow!”
(now obviously these are super cheesy, but you can tailor this to your niche)
And wallah! You have noticed a significant increase in post performance once you have the initial influx of comments. Now you can milk this for all its glory.
My Results
I like to track the first 5, 10, 15, 30, 60, and 120 minutes after a post. A typical good post for me (100k+ views in 24 hours) gets about 3,500 views in the first 15 minutes, 7,000 views in the first 30 minutes, and 14,000 views in the first hour. A great post for me will get about 3,500 views in the first 15 minutes, 10,000 views in the first 30 minutes, and 20,000 views in the first hour. An amazing post for me will get about 4,000 views in the first 15 minutes, 25,000 views in the first 30 minutes, and over 50,000 views in the first hour.
9 times out of 10, my calculations won’t be accurate, and I’ve come to the conclusion that’s just one of the mysteries of Instagram. Sometimes I get a post that gets 3,000 views in 15 minutes and somehow ends up with 20,000 views in 60 minutes. Sometimes I get 3,500 views in 15 minutes, but only 10,000 views in 60 minutes.
What I Recommend You Do
For the next week, write down on a piece of paper (or in an Excel spreadsheet) exactly what time you post, what you post, and then how many likes, views, and comments you get every 15 minutes for the first hour, every 30 minutes for the next two hours, and then every 6 hours after that. This will give you a good indicator of what performance you can expect at any given time during your posts. If you do this on every post for a week, you should be able to pinpoint exactly when a post is going to go viral.
You will also know when to delete poorly performing posts if you want to, but this will vary from account to account. Personal accounts probably don’t need to delete posts as often (unless the response is overwhelmingly negative) because that’s just you being you. You’re being “real” with your followers.
However, if your goal is to post frequently and land in the Explore as much as possible, then you need to have a game plan for what to do when a post flops. Sometimes it’s best to just let it play out and see how it performs over the course of a few hours. Other times, it’s best to delete it immediately and try again in a few minutes with a different image or video.
Use Elite Telegram Groups
Use Elite Telegram Groups for Insane Growth
Telegram groups are great, but they’re only great for certain types of Instagram accounts. For example, if you own a laundromat in real life and decided to start an Instagram account to promote it, a Telegram engagement group wouldn’t be your best bet. These groups are only ideal for accounts that consistently post viral content.
What are they?
Telegram groups are a little different from regular Instagram DM groups. Normal DM groups are limited to 15 people, and each DM group varies drastically in terms of rules, times, likes, comments, etc. In a normal DM group, you typically send posts to be liked and commented on by other people in your niche.
Telegram groups, however, are not niche specific. They’re a large collection of a bunch of random accounts all posting at the same time in an effort to not only land on the Explore page, but to go massively viral.
How They Work
First of all, there is a huge difference between getting likes from these Telegram groups and buying fake likes. Fake likes won’t help you land on the Explore page. Likes from real, large accounts (often called power likes) will. Power-likes trick Instagram into thinking that your post was SO GOOD that big accounts took the time to like it. Because huge accounts with real followers like it, Instagram wants everyone to see your post.
Now, power likes alone won’t make you go viral. Your posts have to be viral. When you post, Instagram will test your post in the Explore Feed. If people are scrolling past it, not looking at it, not liking it, not commenting on it, Instagram will remove it from the explore feed. If your followers are scrolling through it, not looking at it, not liking it, not commenting on it, Instagram will push you down on your own follower’s timeline. Your posts have to be engaging to get the benefits of Power Likes, and your posts have to be engaging to be seen by your followers. That’s how it works.
Typically, these groups contain hundreds of different people and hundreds of different accounts all participating in the same round (or posting time). Here’s how they typically work:
1.) All users will be invited to 2-3 chat rooms once they are accepted into the group.
- A general chat, discussion room
- b. A rounds room (likes)
- A rounds room (comments)
2.) In the rounds room, every 30-50 minutes (depending on the group), an automated message (or bot) will instruct members to “drop users”. This means you must comment your Instagram username so it can be added to the round in session. So, if my Instagram username was “@ViralVideos”, I would comment “@ViralVideos” immediately after seeing this bot message. This is often called “the username drop”. It is very important to comment your username as soon as that message appears. This will allow you to receive likes (or comments) before anyone else. The sooner your account receives likes after you post on Instagram, the more likely it is that your account will go viral.
3.) Group members are usually given 10-30 minutes to drop their usernames. When the username drop time expires, the bot will post all usernames that have dropped during that time.
4.) Members then copy and paste the list of dropped usernames and send it to themselves on Instagram via DM. Since all usernames start with an “@”, it’s very easy to click on a username, like, go back, click on a username, like, go back, click on a username, like, go back, etc.
5.) When you are done liking the photos, go back to Telegram and comment “D @yourusername” so other people in the group know that you finished the round. Members are usually given 30-50 minutes to like (or comment on) the dropped usernames. Failure to tell others that you’ve completed the round (or to like it) will result in you being kicked from the group.
Here are a few screenshots so you can visualize how it works.
Getting In
Unfortunately, there are usually requirements to be accepted into the elite groups. Most of them have a follower minimum (to ensure that only high quality accounts are liked by other high quality accounts) and an engagement minimum.
Typically, these elite groups are by invitation only. For a few years, there were two large telegram groups, Xplor and SYNC. Xplor was open to any account with more than 80,000 followers, and SYNC was open to any account with more than 800,000 followers. They have recently been discontinued, but many other similar groups still exist.
Don’t meet the minimum for these groups? No problem. Sometimes you can find sellers in Telegram Marketplace chats who will drop your username in rounds for a fee. I’ve also seen users buy active Instagram accounts with over 80K so they can participate. There are other groups with lower minimums, but I don’t know how effective they are.
Other Tips with Telegram Groups (and Instagram in General)
1.) It’s recommended that you follow everyone you trade likes with. If you follow the people you trade likes with, Instagram will view your account more favorably than if you like posts from an account you don’t follow. Instagram sees your likes as more natural, which is what you want.
2.) There are peak times to post to these groups. Although I would recommend trying a few different times to post on Instagram to see if there are any patterns within your followers, the peak times to post are 9 am, 12 am, 3 pm, and 6 pm US EST time.
3.) Your goal should be to limit the likes you give out and maximize the likes you receive. If you look at the screenshot I shared above, you’ll notice that many members are engaging with other users – this is not by accident. Often, members will receive Likes on an account they want to grow, and give out Likes on an account they have already grown. Most of these groups will allow you to drop a username that is below the requirement ONLY IF you complete all the likes in that round with a username that is above the requirement. This allows you to grow an account very quickly. This is a very common trend in like-for-like Instagram growth.
Instagram will also view your account less favorably the more likes you give to non-niche accounts. Instagram will have a hard time trying to categorize your account; therefore, your exposure on the Explore page could be limited. Although it is not necessary for most accounts in these groups to give and receive likes on the same account, larger accounts will use burner accounts (usually dead, inactive accounts) to help smaller accounts grow.
4.) Do your DM likes before you do your group likes. When I do telegram likes, I make sure to do my DM likes before I do the telegram likes. I’ll get the Telegram likes no matter what I do at that time, but I won’t get the DM likes unless I message the people in them. After I post my picture or video (one minute before the list is published on Telegram), I share my post with everyone in my DMs so that I can get the maximum amount of exposure for my posts. If you can, it’s best to do your DM likes ahead of time so that everyone in your DM groups will be waiting to return the favor to you.
5.) Stay away from comments. For some reason, and this is just my speculation, Instagram doesn’t seem to be a big fan of accounts that do comments in their engagement groups. I’ve seen better growth by avoiding comments. It also saves a ton of time. Try it for yourself and see if it works better for you.
These groups can work insanely well if you know what you’re doing. This is probably the most common growth method for larger accounts. Your chances of going viral are much higher when you use these types of groups.