How to Appear on Instagram Explore Page in 2021

Have you ever desired your next post would go viral?

If yes, then you’re not alone.

Millions of Instagram marketers crave for a feature on the front page of IG, but more often than not, the Explore page remains a dream for the strugglers.

According to Instagram, 200 million accounts check out the Explore feed every day therefore, it is a colossal potential for your business to procure more customers.

If you’re trying to figure out how to get on IG’s Explore page, you’ve got to think inversely. You can’t just post and beg.

Getting on the Instagram Explore page 2021 is the social media correspondent of striking gold: when it ensues, gaining Instagram followers gets easier.

If you want to get on the Explore page, you have to integrate some strategies to stand out.

You’ll also need to understand what’s behind the curtain over at IG HQ. The gears of the machine. I’m talking about the top-secret Instagram explore page algorithm

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In this article, we’ll explore the “Explore page”. The nitty-gritty.

What is the Instagram Explore Page?

The IG Explore page is an amalgamation of public photos, videos, Reels, and Stories customized by the Instagram Algorithm to help each specific user discover posts, accounts, hashtags, and even products they might like.

It is a monster feed of doorways to more feeds, each one more tenacious and focused than the last.

The algorithm behind the IG Explore page customs machine learning to acclimatize and improve its content recommendations.

“We’re working to update the types of photos and videos you see in Explore to better tailor it to you,” enlightens an Instagram post.

According to the podium, posts presented are selected “based on things like the people you follow or the posts you like.”

The Instagram Explore page 2021 can be found by tapping the magnifying glass icon in the lower menu ahead of the steadfast Reels and Shop tabs. At the top of the feed, individuals can search for accounts, hashtags, and places.

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IG users spend an average of 30 minutes per day on the platform in 2021, hence, you need to be premeditated to reach your target audience speedily via the feature.

As of April 2021, Instagram was one of the most popular social networks worldwide, principally among young adults.

Leading countries grounded on IG audience size as of April 2021 (in millions):

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The Explore page started as the “Popular” page. Then, only prevalent accounts with high engagement had a chance to feature on this page.

Unfortunately, many times, the Popular page was neither relevant to users nor beneficial to businesses. Enter “Explore”.

Now, each IG user can receive recommendations based on their activities on the platform and topics they’ll probably love.

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IG improved the Explore tab in May 2019 to make it easier for users to investigate at the subterranean levels- into their niche interests.

The platform's foremost objective was to make it easier for people to find what they were penetrating for and what they liked. It's latest update brought a substantial UI upgrade.

By monitoring how you interact with it, it is able to operate its algorithm to select content- Instagram explore feed, that coordinates with how you use the app.

Why You Should Be on Instagram’s Explore Page

If you are a brand or marketer, you should be advantageously targeting the Instagram Explore page 2021 for all the reasons you are using IG for small businesses.

1. Free Promotional Tool to Drive More Sales

In addition to increasing IG likes, getting on the Explore page will also help a business’s bottom line by constructing brand awareness, selling products, and procuring new customers. This is probably because the Explore page offers the opportunity- exposure to a new audience, which is targeted—not casual.

The preeminent measure is that unlike using ads to increase IG engagement & reach, taking benefit of the platform’s Explore page is completely free.

2. Capability to Reach a Highly-Targeted Audience

On the Explore page, it’s all about personalization and applicability. Thus, any view you get on Explore is from users expected to have a concern about your brand and the subjects you post about.

3. Opportunity to Upsurge Brand Awareness

When consumers consider buying anything, they think of the brands they previously know. Appearing on the IG Explore page 2021 means more potential customers get to know your brand and the exclusive benefits you offer.

4. Help in Gaining More Followers and Customers

Users engrossed in your niche are likely to engage with your posts and follow your account. Similarly, these users can discover your shopping posts on Explore to buy your products. 

Augmented engagement on all future posts, because of these new followers. With appropriate CTAs, more conversions.

Keep scrolling to know how to appear in Instagram explore section 2021

What Determines Your Instagram Explore Page?

To deliver relevant content on Explore, IG sequences its algorithm to comprehend each user’s interests through the posts they engage with and accounts they follow. Hence, each user sees an exclusive Explore page.

This page changes as the user’s activities variate. Moreover, this platform contemplates the actions of accounts a user engages with. 

What is the Instagram Explore Page Based On?

1. Instagram Follows and Engagements

The sturdiest trigger that determines what IG will put in an individual’s Explore page is what they are presently following and liking.

If a user follows lots of travel accounts and likes and comments on posts on that theme, the platform will oblige more travel-related posts, videos, IGTV videos, and stories in the explore page, but only from accounts that they don’t follow yet.

2. Video Content

Prodigious photos will still be prioritized over typical video posts, but there is a drive to show more video content on the Explore page.

Videos auto-play in the Instagram Explore page 2021 so may get more responsiveness than a stagnant graphic.

3. Instagram Stories

Instagram stories or videos that have an animated component will get preference in the IG Explore feed.

Correspondingly, IG Stories with less text, but more visuals like GIFs and stickers could rank better on the Explore page as well.

4. Reposted Content

You must think twice about reposting content if your chief objective is to get on the Explore page as certain content types like reposts of other people’s feed posts are downgraded by the algorithm.

Although you can still include reposted content in your approach, you may want to arrange other content types like videos and Instagram Stories if you want to get a desirable place in the Explore page lattice!

With more than 95 million photos shared on Instagram per day , IG has a gigantic data set to lure from when inaugurating behavioral patterns. This has led the company to become a master in understanding how users engage with content, which is characterized through the assortment of posts displayed on the Explore page.

How Do You Get on the Explore Page of Instagram?

1. Leverage Your Instagram Analytics to Find Out What Content Reverberates on the Explore Page

Probabilities are, some of your IG content is previously appearing on the Instagram Explore page 2021!

That could have effortlessly glided under your sensor, and you might not even have recognized where your superfluous boost in likes and engagement came from.

Nevertheless, the noble news is, you can now know exactly how many people are observing your posts from explore Instagram insights.

To view your analytics, head to your IG feed and tap the View Insights button beneath your post. From here, you can swipe up to track more metrics about your post-presentation.

Under the Discovery section, you can check out a cessation of your post’s parodies.

Pay consideration to your IG Analytics to see what content is performing the finest and gaining some traction on the Explore page in your current content, then repeat or take motivation from that type of content for the future.

2. Get To Know Your Target Audience

You must get familiar with your IG demographics; identify the target audiences you’d like to reach in Explore and learn what content these users engage with most.

Dig into posts, classifications, and niche feeds and jot down the maneuvers that you might be able to emulate. The questions you might ask embrace:

• What tone appears to resonate most with the audience?
• Is there a pictorial style that performs unsurpassed?
• What type of caption stimulates the most reactions?

3. Share Engaging Content

You must stir some engagement and smear your audience research to your brand’s social media content strategy.

As mentioned above; Videos have a leg up over stagnant visuals in the engagement department, as they auto-play in the Explore tab, and they’re repeatedly given more real estate in the feed. Nevertheless, static visuals with product tags, carousel layouts, or just magnificent imagery can be engaging, as well.

Share high-quality graphics, hook audiences early, and provide real value, from inordinate storytelling to loyalty reward.

4. Nurture a Vigorous Community

One of the fundamental tenacities of Instagram’s Explore page 2021 is to associate folks with communities on the platform. Community building is crucial to IG’s success, which means it should be strategic to your marketing plan too.

The more energetic your brand community is on IG; the more likely the platform will be to acclaim it to target audiences on the Explore page.

Give your audience a plentiful break to engage with your account. Fuel and join the brand conversations in the comment section, DMs, and on other active brand channels. Inspire your community to turn on notifications for your posts so they can get engaged quickly.

5. Use Widespread Instagram Hashtags and Location Tags To Get Revealed

You must integrate Instagram hashtags in your content, which makes it more discoverable by more than just your existing followers.

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Brands with at least one hashtag have up to 12.6% more engagement than those deprived of.

Conversely, you don’t have to rely solely on marginally limited brand hashtags. Incorporate the use of unbranded hashtags to safeguard that your posts reach new audiences.

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Though the maximum number of hashtags allowed in a post hashtags is 30, an expert’s guidance has been that the optimal number of hashtags is 11.  According to a TrackMaven study posts with 9 hashtags get the highest average engagement per post.

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6. Leverage Captions to Reassure Action

Don’t undervalue the power of your Instagram captions to boost unambiguous actions on your Instagram posts (how to create).

A compelling IG call-to-action (CTA) in your caption is an incredible way to cheer followers to engage with your content. This can be thru asking them questions, adding branded hashtags, and publicizing a sale.

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You can share humorous or attention-grabbing photos, and appealing individuals with a “Double-tap if you agree” call-to-action at the end of your caption.

It will promote Instagram communications and help you to convert your followers into paying patrons.

7. Schedule Content For the Most Ideal Times

Although the eminence of your content is a huge factor when evaluating engagement, numerous studies have found that what time you post also plays a role in how thriving your content flourishes.

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If you own an IG Business Account, you can inspect Analytics data for when followers intermingle with your posts, which is the paramount way to gauge optimal times for your audience.

8. Acquire Big Brands and Influencers to Intermingle with Your Posts

You can tag brands and influencers in your posts, but it may just culminate in coming across as spammy. After you are marked as a spammer, you’ll have a tough time making truthfully respectable connections with these same individuals in the future. There are 500,000 active influencers on Instagram. 69% of US marketers plan to spend most of their influencer budget on the platform.

You should start with an enduring aim of building relationships with key influencers in your industry.

•   Follow them
• Reach out through DM presenting yourself
• Sending a post from an email that you’d like them to check out, with a reason why it would be germane/worth their time

9. Run Contests or Giveaways

We all love gifts and the ecstasy of winning a contest. And that’s why contests are a verified way to increase engagement for your IG posts.

For beginners, most contests necessitate users to like, comment on the post, and/or follow an account. Hence, such posts get a lot of engagement in a short period.

10. Run Instagram Explore Ads

Using Explore ads lets you get quick results.

To create an Explore ad, you’ll have to produce an Instagram feed ad. Then, you can select Explore as one of your placements. Through these ads, you can get more followers for your account to upturn your audience size.

11. Try Protuberant Formats, Such As Reels

Instagram Reels are a key to success on the platform. Because Reels appear in both the Explore feed and its own devoted tab.

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The tab is so dominant to the app’s user experience that the entire home page was entirely reorganized to accommodate it.

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Getting discovered in the Reels tab could mean getting discovered in the Explore tab, as well.

12. Leverage the IGTV Format

Video is the unsurpassed performing content in all social media. And Instagram is enthusiastically promoting the IGTV format. Using the IGTV format works best because IGTV has a separate section on the explore page and it is permanent at the top.

13. Create a Stop-Motion Graphic from Motionless Images

As an alternative to posting a fixed product shot, you can layer images to create a stop-motion influence for your images. Instagram still catalogs this type of content as a video so it could showcase it higher on the Explore page.

You can use Adobe Photoshop to layer still images collected to create GIF-like videos.

This kind of slideshow video showcase works predominantly well for product shots.

14. Add Motion to Your Tranquil Images

A subtle modification to your still images can make a real difference to how your posts perform both on Instagram Stories and feed, and on the Instagram Explore page.

15. Include an Animated Element to an Unmoving Photo

Add a little style-animation; to your feed post, as it can again improve your engagement as Instagram recognized it as a video post.

I hope you found this a useful guide, on how to appear on Instagram Explore Page in 2021.

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