Instagram is one of the top social media platforms used by over 1 billion people every month. With its huge userbase, Instagram presents a major opportunity for brands and influencers to reach a large audience. But with so much content being shared, how can you make your posts stand out and go viral?
In 2023, the criteria for what is considered viral on Instagram will continue to evolve as the algorithm and user behavior changes. However, there are some key factors that can help increase your chances of creating viral Instagram content that gets widespread engagement this year.
How to Go Viral on Instagram?
Going viral on Instagram requires strategic planning and consistent high-quality content that resonates with your audience. Here are some key tips on how to go viral on Instagram:
Leverage Trends and Challenges
Latching onto trending challenges, hashtags, audios, and topics can help put your content in front of a bigger audience already engaging with that trend. For example, create your own version of a viral dance challenge, recreate a popular meme format with your own twist, or share your take on a trending topic like Stranger Things or Wordle.
Optimize Your Captions
Captions play a major role in being discoverable on Instagram. Use relevant hashtags and keywords, ask engaging questions, add emojis for visual interest, and encourage viewers to like, comment and share.
Post Consistently
The more frequently you post quality content, the more chances you have of one going viral. Schedule posts in advance and analyze performance data to determine optimal posting times when your audience is most engaged.
Leverage Influencer Marketing
Collaborating with nano or macro influencers relevant to your brand can help expose your content to new audiences. Offer to create branded content for their feeds in exchange for them sharing your posts.
Run Giveaways and Contests
Giveaways that encourage users to like, share and tag friends drive significant engagement. Require multiple steps for entry to increase visibility and make the prize enticing.
Use High-Quality Video
Eye-catching video content stands out in the Instagram feed. Shoot vertical videos, use popular audio tracks, add captions and hashtags. Short form Reels have huge viral potential.
Engage Your Audience
Respond to comments, encourage sharing, and interact with your followers. Ask questions in captions and run polls to drive engagement. An engaged audience is more likely to share your content.
Promote on Other Channels
Cross-promote your Instagram content across your other social platforms like Facebook, Twitter and TikTok. Drive traffic to your Instagram from all channels for maximum visibility.
How to Go Viral Overnight on Instagram
Going viral overnight on Instagram involves a perfect storm of factors like timing, marketing and pure luck. Some tactics that can help tip the scales in your favor include:
- Capitalize on urgency - Leverage trends and newsjacking by sharing content with a timely, urgent appeal that motivates users to share right away before the moment passes.
- Post at peak times - Analyze when your followers are most active online and schedule Instagram posts to go live during those high-traffic times.
- Use power hashtags - Include both high-volume generic hashtags like #viral and niche hashtags to reach your target audience for the content.
- Run promoted posts - Run Instagram ad campaigns with your content to boost visibility beyond just your current following.
- Encourage shares - Ask followers directly in your caption to tag friends who need to see your post. Add "Share this post!" CTAs.
- Seed to influencers - Send your content directly to relevant influencers in your niche and ask them to help share it with their audience.
- Leverage existing connections - Activate your current network on Instagram by sharing your post URL directly with them or in Instagram Stories.
- Use clickbait - As controversial as it sounds, employing curiosity gap headlines and intros can work to attract attention and clicks to maximize reach.
- Get lucky - At the end of the day, unpredictable factors and timing play a role in what suddenly goes viral. Keep trying with high quality content!
What is Considered Viral on Instagram?
So what engagement thresholds does content need to hit to be considered viral on Instagram? Here are some benchmarks:
- Over 30,000 likes - Once a regular post surpasses 30,000 likes, it enters viral territory. However, lifestyle niches require higher engagement for virality.
- Over 5,000 comments - If the comments section blows up to 5,000+ comments, you've struck a chord that got people talking.
- Over 1 million views on Reels - 1 million views is considered the viral benchmark for Reels based on average performance stats.
- Over 200,000 views on Stories - Given the ephemeral nature of Stories, 200K+ views starts veering into viral status.
- Rapid reach in 24 hours - If your content quickly accumulates off-the-charts engagement within a day, it has gone viral.
- Repeated high-profile shares - Having your post organically shared by multiple big accounts/celebrities gives it the social proof for virality.
- Trending hashtags - If your content helps launch a trending hashtag or drives significant volume for existing trending hashtags, you've gone viral.
- Top search rankings - Trending in Instagram search or for related hashtags also indicates you've created viral content.
- Complex algorithmic engagement - Instagram's algorithm looks at more than just Likes, considering saves, clicks, follows, comments, story engagment, etc. If you notice spikes across many engagement factors, you likely have a viral post.
How to Make Your Instagram Story Go Viral?
Instagram Stories allow you to be creative with content that captures attention fast. Here are some tips for creating viral Instagram Stories:
- Use interactive stickers like polls, quizzes and Q&As to get your audience engaging with your Story.
- Join viral hashtag sticker challenges like #oddlysatisfying or #wfh to get more exposure.
- Create suspense by spreading your Story across multiple posts to keep viewers hooked as they eagerly await the next part.
- Go behind-the-scenes and give your audience exclusive sneak peeks they can't see anywhere else.
- Leverage trends and memes by recreating them with your own branded twist for a familiar yet fresh take.
- Collaborate with other creators and accounts to do "takeovers" or cross-promote each other's content.
- Use captions and text highlighting key points to make your Stories more screenshottable and shareable.
- Add a strong CTA prompting viewers to "Share this story!" or "Tag a friend who needs this!"
- Promote your viral Story across your other social channels to maximize reach to new audiences.
- Run paid ads to get more eyeballs on your Story beyond just followers. Target relevant demographics.
- Analyze your Stories analytics to optimize based on timing, demographics and high-engagement frames.
FAQs
1. How many likes is going viral on Instagram?
There is no definitive threshold, but generally getting over 30,000 likes on a regular photo or video post puts it into viral territory. However, keep in mind that some lifestyle niches naturally have much higher engagement rates.
2. How many views on Instagram Reels is viral?
For Reels, a short video getting over 1 million views can be considered as going viral. The average views for Instagram Reels currently tend to range between 10,000-100,000.
3. How many followers do you need to go viral on Instagram?
You do not need a certain follower count to go viral per se. However, having an existing engaged audience in the 10,000+ range can help give your content an initial boost and platform to gain more organic traction. Ultimately though, even accounts with only a few thousand followers can create viral content.
4. What is a viral post on Instagram?
A viral Instagram post is one that gains widespread reach and engagement at an exponentially high rate beyond what that account usually gets. It resonates broadly often across different demographics and communities, and inspires people to share and engage with the content at high volumes.
5. How do
Instagram accounts go viral overnight?
Strategies like optimizing hashtags, running influencer promotions, promoting across multiple platforms, and marketing viral content aggressively through paid ads can help Instagram accounts gain tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of new followers literally overnight as their content takes off. Timing and luck also play big roles in exploding virtually overnight.
So in summary, viral Instagram content in 2023 will likely continue needing to achieve over 30,000 likes, get shared rapidly by prominent accounts, and leverage trends and engagement tactics optimally. The more creative and compelling your content strategy, the better your chances of having that viral post that breaks through the noise and gets amplified across the Instagram community. Keep experimenting with new ideas in 2023 until you strike viral gold!
