Top Instagram tips for publishers: grow your audience and boost engagement

Instagram continues to be a powerful platform for publishers to grow their audience and ultimately their revenue, but are you doing all of the right things today?

Instagram does have tools to drive traffic to your website that are definitely worth experimenting with — and I will cover some of those today — but the real reason to use the platform is to attract new audiences.

Instagram has over 1 billion active users, including a younger demographic that probably didn’t grow up using traditional media. By being on the platform and being really active, you have a much better chance of reaching this demographic.

Here are my three biggest tips with Instagram today:

1. It’s a platform to tell a complete story

Publishers who use Instagram to truly tell a story and not just treat the platform as a referral channel, are seeing success.

If you create a Reel, provide the reader with enough information about the place you’re showing or the content you’re talking about so the reader doesn’t leave unsatisfied. There are definitely ways to get readers to longer content that may be associated with your video, which I will address later in this newsletter, but don’t make your Reel a billboard to find out more. Tell a complete story.

This is true for Instagram posts as well. Your captions should be detailed (AI can be really helpful with this) that tells your story. For example, if it’s a guide of pumpkin places to go to, use your caption space to list all of the details about each of those locations. If it’s a news story about a city council meeting, break out the three biggest things that came out of the meeting with detail about each.

For albums, I often tell print journalists to think of it the same way you would when you create a photo page. You’d story tell in copy blocks and cutlines. Do that in your caption.

2. Consistency with posts and design matters

It’s critical that you are consistent with your Instagram efforts. Daily posting is required, both with traditional posts and Reels. And everything you post should get shared as an Instagram Story.

Do as much video as you possibly can. One a day is a great goal to shoot for. While Posts are totally fine — and should be part of your mix — just know that any effort you put into Reels is going to be rewarded so much more.

Also on the consistency topic, make sure that you have a style you’re using ongoing for the posts. That style should work whether it’s a post with a headline, a quote or a question.

Here’s a good example that illustrates how to be consistent.

We have a guide you can use to access templates we have already made for publishers.

3. Here’s how you can build traffic

While Instagram may not generate huge traffic spikes directly, there are tools to maximize clicks and guide your audience to content on your website.

A service like Linkin.bio allows you to create a clickable landing page from your Instagram bio, directing users to your top content. You can also use your profile to showcase a few recent stories you have created.

Tools like Manychat allow you to send links directly to your followers’ DMs when they interact with your post (e.g., by commenting on a specific keyword).