How to get more views on Instagram: 9 rules from Instagram’s own guidance

How to get more views on Instagram: the short answer

Most new views on Instagram come from recommendations. Instagram says the majority of what people see in Reels and Explore is from accounts they don’t follow, so that is where a small account can find a bigger audience. To get there, post original reels of 3 minutes or less that people watch to the end, share and save, describe each one in plain keywords, and check that your account is eligible to be recommended.

There is no trick that guarantees a post will go viral on Instagram. This guide sticks to what Instagram has published about its ranking, turns it into nine rules you can act on, and shows how to find the posts already working in your niche.

How Instagram decides who sees your reels

For Reels, Instagram says its most important signals are, in order: the viewer’s own activity, such as the reels they have liked, saved, reshared and commented on; their history of interacting with the person who posted; information about the reel itself, such as its audio, visuals and popularity; and information about the person who posted.

From those signals, Instagram predicts how likely each viewer is to reshare a reel, watch it all the way through, like it and go to its audio page. In Explore, the most important actions it predicts are likes, saves and shares, and it looks at how many people are liking, commenting, sharing and saving a post, and how quickly.

In practice, a reel earns its reach one viewer at a time. Each person who watches to the end, shares or saves gives Instagram a reason to show it to someone with similar interests.

Make reels Instagram can recommend

Some reels are held back before any viewer gets the chance to like them. Get these four things right first.

1. Keep it to 3 minutes or less

   Instagram’s creator guidance says a reel must be 3 minutes or less to be recommended. Anything longer won’t be shown to people who don’t follow you yet, however good it is.

2. Post original content

   Instagram says it is less likely to recommend reposts of a reel that is already on Instagram, content with noticeable watermarks, and accounts that regularly collect and reshare other people’s content. If you want to build on someone else’s reel, Instagram suggests using Remix to add your own take instead.

3. Fix the technical basics

   Instagram makes some reels less visible for technical reasons: low resolution, watermarks, no sound, borders, mostly text, or a reel that has already been posted on Instagram. Export in full quality, fill the vertical frame, keep the sound on, and show more than words on a screen.

4. Say what it’s about in keywords

   Instagram recommends including relevant keywords in your content, caption, bio and hashtags. Name the topic the way your audience would search for it: "high-protein meal prep" tells Instagram far more than "Sunday vibes".

Give people a reason to watch, share and save

Once a reel can be recommended, its reach depends on what viewers do with it.

5. Earn the watch-through

   Instagram predicts whether someone will watch a reel all the way through. Open on the payoff or the most specific detail you have, cut anything that doesn’t move the reel forward, and end as soon as you’ve delivered. Length is fine when every part earns its place.

6. Make it worth sending to a friend

   Sharing is one of the actions Instagram predicts for both Reels and Explore. People send reels that say something about them or the friend: a tip the friend needs, a joke they’d both get, a place they want to go together. Before you post, ask who a viewer would send this to.

7. Make it worth saving

   Saves are among the most important actions Instagram predicts in Explore. Checklists, recipes, routines, step-by-step tutorials and side-by-side comparisons get saved because people plan to come back to them.

Test ideas before you show your followers

You don’t have to bet your profile on every new idea. Instagram gives you two ways to reach new people with less risk.

8. Try new ideas as trial reels

   Trial reels are shown to people who don’t follow you first, and they stay off your main grid and Reels tab unless you share them with everyone. After about 24 hours you can see views, likes, comments and shares. You can then share the reel with your followers, or let Instagram do it automatically if it performs well on views in the first 72 hours.

9. Collaborate with creators your audience already watches

   Instagram suggests the Collaborations feature, which lets two accounts share one post, as a way to reach more people. Pick a partner whose audience would genuinely want your content, and agree on a reel neither of you could make alone.

Why are my Instagram views so low?

Start with Account Status in your settings. Instagram says it shows whether your account or its content is eligible to be recommended to people who don’t follow you. If an account repeatedly posts content that goes against Instagram’s Recommendations Guidelines or Community Standards, none of its posts will be eligible for recommendation for a period of time.

Then open your insights. Instagram lets you split Accounts reached into followers and non-followers. If almost all of your reach comes from followers, your reels aren’t being recommended much: check the four basics above, starting with originality and length.

If everything checks out, the reel probably didn’t give enough people a reason to keep watching or share it. Change one thing in the next reel, usually the opening, and compare the two.

Find what is already working in your niche

The rules above tell you what Instagram can recommend. Your niche tells you what people actually want to watch. Before you plan your next reels, look at the posts doing unusually well in your topic right now and write down what they share: the opening, the format and the payoff.

Viral Folder searches Instagram by keyword or hashtag and shows the posts doing best in that search. Our Instagram searches don’t include follower counts, so each post is compared with the rest of the search instead: plays for reels and likes for photos, each divided by the median for its type.

Also on TikTok? Read how to get more views on TikTok, built from 117 breakout videos.

For the first line of your next reel, borrow one of these 42 hook ideas from real videos.

What this guide can and cannot tell you

This guide is based on what Instagram has published: its ranking explainer from May 31, 2023, its creator tips for improving reach, and its trial reels announcement from December 10, 2024. Instagram changes its ranking over time, so trust Account Status and your own insights over any fixed rule.

There are no example posts in this guide. Unlike our TikTok searches, our Instagram searches don’t include follower counts, so we can’t show how far a reel reached beyond its creator’s audience. Nothing here guarantees views.