INSTAGRAM GROWTH MASTERCLASS
By MrStepan
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Introduction
First of all, thank you for purchasing the Instagram Growth Masterclass
e-book. If your goal is to grow an audience on Instagram, no matter the
type of your profile or content, then you’ve made the right choice.
In this e-book, I am going to cover (in the following order):
● How to find the right niche
● How the Instagram algorithm works
● How to properly set up your account
● How to research topics for your content
● How to create viral Reels content
● How to post to go viral
● How to grow your account faster
● How to monetize your account
● How to (potentially) sell your page
● …And many other things in between
The techniques explained here are very universal and will, therefore,
work with all sorts of niches and profiles. You can use these techniques
to grow a theme page where you never show your face, a personal
brand, or even a business profile. I will dive deeper into each type of
profile throughout the e-book.
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Finding The Right Niche
In this chapter, I am going to cover how you can choose the right niche
and the complete basics when getting started. This information isn’t
any secret, but I believe that it’s important to go through this, even as a
more experienced person, because your future success depends on this
fully. By just going through this, you might already get some ideas on
what you could potentially do.
But before getting into this, I first want to make one thing clear. It’s
completely essential to choose a niche and then stick with it and almost
never close the red line of your niche. Sure, once you grow, you can
sometimes post something not so related, but it should still be
somewhat connected to your main niche. A good metric would be
80-90% of the content in your main niche; the rest can be outside of the
niche but generally still somewhat connected. Most people get this
right as it’s very logical, but some don’t, and this is the reason why they
fail no matter how much effort they put in.
Now, after getting this straight, you will have to choose between two
types of Instagram profiles:
1. Personal brand page
2. Theme page
If you decide to go with the personal brand, you’ll have to keep in mind
that you will most likely have to share some of your personal life, face,
and voice, and you won’t be able to outsource all of the work. On the
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other hand, the benefits typically are more money in the long term (you
are building authority and trust) and more opportunities for you to
connect with other creators in the same niche. Keep in mind that to
build a personal brand, you absolutely don’t need to be a professional.
Even if you are just starting out in something like fitness, people will like
to see your progress, and they will relate better. You can use it as a way
to document your journey and then monetize it.
With a theme page, you could profit more in the short to medium term,
but you won’t be able to build as strong of an authority long-term as
with a personal brand. However, you can easily create more of them,
you are anonymous (if you want to), and get more of the work
outsourced or automated. You also don’t have to be an expert or already
somewhat knowledgeable in the niche (although it’s still helpful).
Now, I can get into the general niches out of which you can choose.
Most sub-niches and niches will fall under these seven categories:
➔ Travel
◆ Type of profile: Personal brands and theme pages
◆ Profitability: Low to medium
◆ Competitiveness: Quite high, but lower for personal brands
as it’s easier to create your own sub-niche.
➔ Beauty/fashion
◆ Type of profile: Personal brands recommended, theme
pages possible
◆ Profitability: Medium
◆ Competitiveness: Varies depending on the sub-niche.
➔ Health/fitness
◆ Type of profile: Personal brands and theme pages
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◆ Profitability: Low to medium
◆ Competitiveness: Can be low if you differentiate yourself
from the stereotypical fitness theme pages.
➔ Wealth/business
◆ Type of profile: Personal brands and theme pages
◆ Profitability: High
◆ Competitiveness: Medium to high, but varies depending on
the sub-niche.
➔ Relationship
◆ Type of profile: Personal brands and theme pages
◆ Profitability: Medium to high
◆ Competitiveness: Medium, as there are many sub-niches.
➔ Entertainment
◆ Type of profile: Theme pages
◆ Profitability: Low
◆ Competitiveness: Many sub-niches and possibilities to go
viral. Low profitability is the biggest downside.
➔ Passion
◆ Type of profile: Personal brands
◆ Profitability: Medium
◆ Competitiveness: Can be low for passion niches like, for
example, fishing. Having a personal brand profile is
recommended.
Before going for any of these main niches and finding a good
sub-niche, I recommend choosing something you are already
somewhat knowledgeable or passionate about, as this is what will keep
you going.
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Also, it’s worth noting that each of these niches has two types of
sub-niches. The first type is the ones that are evergreen (e.g., business
theme page/personal brand with a focus on affiliate marketing), and the
second type are theme pages/personal brand profiles related to trend
topics, such as NFTs (or a crypto chain…) which may die off pretty quick,
but on the other hand are typically easier to go viral with. I’d still go for
these only if you are interested in or knowledgeable about the niche.
However, keep in mind that before choosing any niche, I recommend
first finishing this e-book and watching the case study, as it contains
some other information that could be detrimental to the niche you
choose.
Summary:
● There are two types of profiles: theme pages and personal brands.
● You can research a niche by choosing one of the seven main
niches and looking for a sub-niche.
● The deeper you dig for a sub-niche, the less competition there will
be.
● Trend niches can sometimes be a good opportunity to grow faster
in a shorter period of time.
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How The Algorithm Works
There are only two main sources, out of which you’ll get new
impressions and followers organically. I will explain how each of them
works and what triggers the algorithm to push your content more on
each of the placements. I will also provide several actionable tips for
this. Some of the tips might sound slightly repetitive, but I believe that
they’re actually beneficial as you’ll be more likely to remember them
and apply them afterward. Some topics are also related to other
chapters, which is the reason why they are mentioned multiple times.
Explore Page
Explore page is a known and respected traffic source on Instagram, but
in my opinion, it’s quite oversaturated. Still, I’m going to cover what
makes posts (not-reel) blow up on the Explore page of Instagram. But
firstly, let’s cover the cases when I think that posting “normal” and
carousel posts is still worth the effort:
1. When you already have a huge following, normal post content
can be helpful in converting your already existing audience into
profits, as it’s more likely to reach the Instagram home page than
reel content, and if you post a carousel, you can use one of the 10
spots for your advertisement or CTA.
2. If you have a lifestyle/fashion or similar personal brand,
carousels and posts can be a great way to keep your audience
engaged. Keep in mind that you probably won’t reach much new
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audience via the explore page, but if you implement something
like Pinterest into your growth strategy and report your pictures
along with your Instagram username there, you’ll still very likely
grow from these posts/carousels.
3. If you manage to find “a blue ocean,” it can still be worth the
time for a theme page growth. I borrowed this phrase from a
book called “Blue Ocean Strategy.” By this, I mean that the explore
page is already full of completely/half-copied posts in all sorts of
niches, and they have a clear pattern. Heck, even on sites like
Fiverr and Blackhatworld, people sell hundreds of these
“infographic” templates in many niches. Don’t buy and post there
because probably another 100 people posted these before with
just an edited watermark. If you manage to find the sort of
content that isn’t common on the explore page in your specific
niche and people are craving it, you can find a goldmine. But keep
in mind that this would for most people, take a lot of time and
isn’t worth it unless you are interested in experimenting.
A personal brand profile, “@yodakotayou,” is a good example of a
personal brand that grew a lot on the Explore page by posting
original content that is very unlike what most theme pages and
creators post. He grew thanks to posting Twitter-like text content
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on Instagram, as shown in the image below:
Now, let’s get into the actual algorithm for the explore page posts.
So, just like most other social media sites, Instagram favors posts people
spend more time on, which results in more money for Meta from
advertising. So, Instagram will generally favor carousel posts over
normal, one-image posts. You can also convert carousel posts more
easily to new followers. For normal posts, the most important metric on
Instagram is the engagement rate, which can be quite easy to increase.
Here are some ideas to increase the engagement rate:
1. Ask people to save your post. This can be effective, especially if
you post informative carousels. You can add a small save icon to
the image or a save prompt to the end of the carousel. Many
theme pages do this.
2. Say something controversial or start discussions in the
comments. You can even go as far as asking a friend to comment
on something controversial and pin it. This works better for Reels,
but it can be done with normal posts as well. This will increase
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your engagement rate by a lot.
3. Post some sort of resource in the comments or tell them to
comment something in order to get a resource. You can later
send it to their DMs or start an automation (shown later).
So, to conclude, to be successful and go viral on the Explore page, you
need to focus on keeping high engagement on your posts by
increasing the number of reactions and, most importantly, saving,
which can be done quite easily, especially on the Explore page. It’s
important to remember that the explore page isn’t (for most people)
the easiest way to go viral on Instagram and that there are more
efficient ways to grow, such as Reels, which I’m discussing as the next
topic.
Summary:
● Posting normal posts or carousels with the aim of growing your
follower base definitely isn’t the best way to go viral and grow.
● Larger accounts have higher accounts of reaching the explore
page with their normal posts.
● In certain niches, carousel posts can be a great way to engage
with your current audience and give them a variety of posts (not
only Reels).
● A high engagement rate is what can potentially make your post
go viral.
Reels
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Reels are definitely the best way to grow in 2024 and in the upcoming
years. If you don’t know what Reels are, they are short-form videos with
a maximum length of 90 seconds.
In this chapter, I will cover many topics related to Reels and the
Instagram algorithm, some of which are also covered in the content
creation chapter as they are related to that as well. This chapter,
combined with the content creation one, is one of the most valuable
ones in the whole e-book, as it combines knowledge I have from dozens
of hours watching other people’s tips, testing them, seeing what works
and what doesn’t, and finding my own tweaks.
Types of content
First, let’s cover the types of content you can post. These types of
content might sometimes overlap each other, but generally, your
content will always fit the most into these categories. These types of
posts aren’t necessarily tied to your niche.
1. Inspirational content includes posts such as outfit videos, travel
videos, car videos, etc. It’s easy to combine it with entertainment
and sometimes educational content. This content isn’t the best
way to grow theme pages, but it can be a good complement to
your personal brand posts. Here’s an example of such content.
2. Educational content combined with inspirational or entertaining
is the best way to grow and maintain a personal brand long-term.
For example, if you were in some sort of self-improvement niche,
you could first have some before and after as a hook (the
inspirational part of the Reel) and then show how you achieved it
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(the educational part with the true value). I will later mention how
to actually structure and clip your content.
3. Entertaining content includes memes, funny videos, sports
videos, and more. Entertaining content can be combined with
other types of content as well.
4. Controversial content includes clips of people like Andrew Tate
and Jordan Peterson. This can often be combined with
entertaining and sometimes educational content. This is more
suitable for theme pages than personal brands.
Metrics that matter
Now, I’m going to cover the major metrics essential to success on
Instagram Reels. Throughout this e-book, you will also find many tips
and tricks on how to increase each of these metrics. These metrics are
similar in all social media platforms, so this knowledge might be useful
even in other cases.
1. Average view duration (Watch time)
The average view duration is how much time is spent viewing your
video per view on average. This is the most important metric, as
Instagram’s aim is to get people to spend as much time on their
platform as possible. A general rule of thumb would be that you
want the number of plays at least 10-30+% higher than the
number of accounts reached. Plays mean the actual views and
accounts reached, including all accounts that have seen your Reel,
even if they scrolled past it. This can be seen under insights if you
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have a creator or business professional account (covered later).
Most of the tips to increase the average view duration by
editing/structuring the video are included in the content-creating
chapter, but some are also included at the end of this chapter.
2. Engagement rate
The engagement rate is the second most important metric for
Instagram Reels. Now, unlike on normal posts (the “Explore Page”
chapter), you will focus more on comment discussions rather than
on asking people to save your posts. If your content is really good
at at least one of the first three categories (inspiring, educating, or
entertaining), getting saves should be easy without even having a
CTA for that. There are also other ways to increase both the watch
time and the engagement rate as well, which are mentioned in
the content creation chapter.
Summary:
● Reels are the best way to grow at the moment.
● Generally, there are four categories of content you can post that
aren’t necessarily related to your niche: inspirational, educational,
entertaining, and controversial.
● The most important metric to go viral is the average view duration
(also called “watch time”). You simply want people to have your
video playing for as long as possible to increase the chances of
going viral.
● Engagement rate is also important, but it still comes second.
● In-detail Reel creation tips are in the content creation chapter.
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Stories
Stories are another placement I’m going to swiftly mention in the
algorithm chapter of this e-book. You won’t be using stories to grow
your audience but instead to maintain an active one and potentially
monetize your account.
The key to success on Instagram stories (Instagram pushing them to
the front and to more people) is to, as before, have a high engagement.
You can do this by posting controversial content, adding polls and CTAs.
For monetization purposes via stories, you’ll have a much bigger edge if
you have a personal brand rather than a theme page because your
authority would be significantly higher, and people would therefore
trust you more and would be more likely to buy from you. If you are
interested in that, you can later check the story monetization
framework in the monetization chapter, where I show you a method
that not only helps you maintain an active follower base but also makes
money.
Summary:
● Instagram stories aren’t used to grow your follower base.
● Instead, they help you maintain your current follower base and
monetize your profile.
● Posting Instagram stories that have high engagement (reactions
on polls, replies, shares…) tells the algorithm to push your stories to
the front and overall tell Instagram that you have a high-quality
active account.
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Hashtags
Another often-discussed and controversial topic in relation to the
algorithm is hashtags. I’ll keep this simple, as hashtags are easier than
ever before.
A few years ago, by using the correct hashtags, your posts would often
get shown in the top posts category of hashtags, which were still visited
quite often by people browsing, which could result in new followers at
that point. People were trying to find and create the right hashtag lists,
which they thought were the “secret to success” on Instagram, which
might have been true for some; however, nowadays, the situation is very
different…
So, let’s make one thing clear: in 2024 and later, you absolutely won’t be
getting any new followers from direct traffic to hashtags. However,
hashtags, on the other hand, can help you with SEO on Instagram, and
when you are starting out, they can also help you recognize the topics
of your videos.
My new approach to hashtags on Instagram is choosing only ~4-8
hashtags (Instagram’s maximum is 30) for each video that describes the
video topic. I don’t overthink it and typically choose 1-2 popular
hashtags, and the rest is more about the actual topic of the video. So, if I
had a video about a protein pizza recipe for bodybuilders, my hashtags
would be something like #fitness #receipes (two larger hashtags about
my account niche) #fitnessreceipes #bodybuildingreceipes
#nurtitiontips #proteinpizza (four smaller hashtags mostly for SEO of
the video). Basically, I approach hashtags more like keywords.
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You can take my approach and do something similar or not use
hashtags at all. It’s best not to overthink this step as it’s not a very
important variable in your Instagram success. Many creators go viral
without even using any hashtags at all. Possibly, an even better option
in the future could be to simply write longer and more engaging
captions with many keywords inside of them. Instagram could possibly
become the next YouTube search but for more short-form content. I
personally think that people will start taking advantage of the search
feature more and more to find the exact information they’re looking for,
just as they would on Google.
Summary:
● Hashtags are less important and relevant to your Instagram
success than ever before.
● A few years ago, hashtags were one of the most important
aspects as people were actually looking at them.
● Nowadays, hashtags only affect the SEO (your videos will appear
more when people search for keywords in your tags), and from my
experience, when you are starting out, the algorithm can also pick
up faster what your actual niche is, and it can start
recommending your videos better faster.
● You don’t need to have 30 different hashtags – if you want to use
hashtags, just pick ~4-8 and treat them more like keywords.
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Setting Up Your Account
Before setting up your account, you should already have your niche and
a good understanding of how the Instagram algorithm works.
Things to keep in mind before registering
It’s a good idea to keep a few things in mind before actually registering
on Instagram. You might not want to apply all of these tips depending
on your needs, but it’s a good idea to keep these points still in mind.
1. If you want to target an English-speaking audience outside of the
USA, UK, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia, you should do the
following things:
○ Post content only in English (after registering, of course).
This also includes hashtags, bios, and comments.
○ Have English on your phone as your main language, and also
consider using an English keyboard. This might depend
from case to case, but from my experience, it has helped me
reach a more English-speaking audience.
○ Register your account with a private US 4g proxy or buy a
US-registered account. From my experience, this step isn’t
necessary at all, but if you are having trouble after following
all the previous steps, you can get a US-registered account.
○ Aged accounts aren’t worth it, from my experience, as they
are often shadow-banned.
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○ Don’t use a normal public VPN too often; this will just get
your account flagged.
Choosing your username
The first step of creating an account is to choose a good username. You
generally want to choose a username that has no dots or underscores,
as it just looks cleaner, and people will remember your account more
easily. If you have to use something, I recommend using an underscore.
For personal brand profiles, you can either just go for your full name, or
if it’s harder to remember, too long, or you just don’t want to publicize
your full name, you can use your first name plus a different word, which
should be related to the niche, before or after your first name. If I don’t
feel creative, there are two methods I use:
➔ Namelix name generator
Namelix is a popular name generator, which you may already
know. I use “Auto” in the style settings for a variety of different
usernames with high randomness, and in the brand info, I add 3-6
keywords related to the niche. In the image below, you can see
the information I used to find a username for a new affiliate
marketing niche page:
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After generating the name ideas, you’ll need to scroll for at least
5-10 minutes and use your intuition to write down the names you
like. You can also look at the competition for inspiration on what
might look good. Generally, the username should have no more
than 2, maximally 3 words.
I, for example, found a decent username, “myaffiliatewealth” after
just 3 minutes of scrolling. When you write down your usernames,
you’ll need to check if it’s free. For that, you can just type it into
Instagram or use a checker like this one.
➔ ChatGPT prompts
From my experience, Namelix is better for this task for these
pages, but you can also try using ChatGPT to find a username.
However, it can be quite useful when trying to find a username for
a personal brand profile.
I use the following/similar prompt for theme pages:
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I need your help with choosing a username for an Instagram
theme page. Pretend to be an Instagram branding specialist.
The username should have no more than 3 words in it, out of
which one should be very short. The username should be
preferably either without underscores or dots, or have maximally
two underscores in the middle of the username (not in the
beginning or the end).
The niche for which I need the username is related to these
keywords: [affiliate marketing, money, hustle, income]. It must
contain "affiliate marketing" or "affiliatemarketing"
Generate me at least 50 username ideas. The username should
be realistically available, so be creative.
Here is an example prompt for personal brand username
generation:
I need your help with finding a creative username for my
fitness/workout Instagram page. I want to include there my first
name "Alexey," but I'm not sure what to include before or after it.
Please use maximally one underscore or one dot, or not anything.
Please be very creative.
Please give me 40 ideas.
Now, you’ll also want to check the username availability.
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Picking a name
After choosing a username, you’ll need to pick a name. Keep in mind
that the name is completely different from the username. The name is
what shows right under the username and post, follower, and following
counts.
Picking a good name is important, as it makes it possible for your page
to be found easily through search by new people that aren’t necessarily
yet aware of your full username.
I use the following name format for these pages in which you can utilize
the keywords you chose to generate a logo using Namelix:
➔ [keyword 1] | [keyword 2] | [keyword 3]
Here are some good examples:
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For a personal brand, I would recommend something where you first
mention your first name and what you do.
So, for example, Alex | Fitness & Calisthenics Coach or Adam |
Instagram Marketing Expert. This is the format that most popular
people with a personal brand use.
Normal vs. creator vs. business account
So, on Instagram, you have four types of accounts:
1. Private – We’re not going to use that at all as you cannot reach
any new audience through posts
2. Normal – I don’t recommend “normal” either as you don’t have
access to any insights. The only difference is that anyone can see
your posts/stories and your follower count.
3. Creator – This is the type of account I recommend for all theme
pages and personal brands. It allows you to get more insights into
your audience demographics, the times they view your content
and more analytics. Also, you can add contact information to your
profile and get more DM sorting options. I recommend choosing
the “digital creator” category as it’s universal, or you can go with
something closer to your actual niche, like “Entrepreneur” if you
have a wealth/business theme page.
4. Business – This type of account is almost the same as Creator, but
it has slightly different account categories and allows you to use
Instagram Shop to sell products. You can use it for both theme
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pages and personal brands as well, but it’s wise to get started as a
Creator and switch to business later if you intend to monetize your
page more.
You can switch your account type by going to Settings and Privacy,
clicking Account Type and Tools, and clicking the first option.
Getting a professional logo
When it comes to a logo, it’s important to consider your type of profile
first.
For personal brands, use a photo of yourself that resonates with your
niche. So, for example, if you are in the fitness niche, use a photo of
yourself flexing muscles or working out. If you have a personal brand in
the business niche, use a photo of yourself in a suit or some “old money
aesthetic” outfit with an expensive car or a nice building.
Here are some good examples of logos for personal brands:
Brandon Balfour – Fashion influencer
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Omar Spaneshi – Fashion influencer
Dorian Vranjes – Fitness influencer
For theme pages, however, it’s the best idea to go with a simple logo
with either the initials of your page or the full name of your page (if it’s
not too long). The font and colors used should also somewhat resemble
your niche. So, for example, in the case of a business/money page, you
could use black and golden gradients as your colors and a modern,
clean font.
There are three ways to go about your logo creation:
1. Canva, Photoshop, or similar
2. Buying one on Fiverr
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The bio
There is a universal bio format that most theme page owners use. If you
have a theme page, you’ll want to have a 3 line bio:
1. The first line should shortly describe what your page is about. For
example, “#1 Publication for Motivation & Investing” or “Latest
workout and fitness content.”
2. The second line should be a call to action (CTA) to follow your
account. For example, “Follow for daily investing tips.” If you don’t
want to include a CTA for following, you can instead mention what
differentiates your page from other pages in the same niche. You
don’t have to include the word “Follow”; instead, you can write
something that will make people want to follow you on their own.
3. The third line should be used for future monetization. It should
also include a CTA, but instead, for something like a digital
product, affiliate link, or newsletter, which you can later monetize.
I will go over these later on; in the beginning, you can skip the
third line or write something else. Especially in the beginning,
you’ll want people to view your page as something you do out of
your passion and not with the goal of making money off them.
For personal brand profiles, it gets a bit more tricky. In the beginning, a
single-line bio should be enough. In the beginning, it’s not worth
putting time into monetization efforts, as you don’t yet have a large
enough audience for substantial monetization.
Here are some great examples of bios for inspiration:
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This guy has a mission statement in his bio, which is also a good and
clean idea for personal brands.
To conclude, it’s best not to overthink your bio; choose something that
looks clean, and keep in mind that you can possibly change it in the
future. Keep it simple, include keywords related to your niche, and you’ll
be good to go.
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Content Creation
In this chapter, I’m going to go over many content creation strategies
for both theme pages and personal brands. Some of these methods
require less creativity, some more, but generally, for personal brands,
you’ll need to be at least a bit creative yourself, as you can’t just
completely copy everything.
But don’t worry if you consider yourself an uncreative person; I will go
over how to increase your creativity and get content ideas that will
perform well.
Also, the techniques mentioned often focus on helping the metrics
mentioned in the algorithm chapter, so you have a higher chance of
going viral and growing faster.
Researching Content Topics
Researching content topics might seem a little bit tricky, but with a
proper framework, it’s actually relatively easy as it suddenly won’t seem
so arbitrary and creativity-dependent. If, in the beginning, you choose a
niche that you already at least somewhat understand, as I mentioned,
this process will become a whole lot easier. If not, you can still use the
simple ChatGPT research technique I am going to mention to get more
ideas.
In this chapter, I will mention X different methods I’ve personally used
to find content that made me go viral several times. Some of them
might fit your niche and needs more than others, so there’s no need for
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you to utilize all of them; instead, a better idea would be to choose one
that brings you the best results and then master it.
Remember, now you are only researching your content topics – not
scripting your videos or coming up with interesting hooks. Even if you
think the topics you find or come up with aren’t good, still write them
down.
Pain Points Research Method
So, the first method involves researching the biggest pain points and
desires in your niche. These can easily be converted into video ideas
that can easily go viral. I’ll show you several ways to find your audience’s
pain points and desires without wasting hours on research.
1. The Quora Method
First, you’ll want to visit Quora and register there. Let’s say that you
are in the personal finance niche. You could simply log into your
Quora account and type in “personal finance.” Now, you’ll see the
most popular questions amongst your audience, out of which you
can get hundreds of ideas for your content.
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Of course, you’ll need to restructure it and improve your video
script, but we’ll take a look at that in the next chapter. Depending
on your niche, these topics might not be detailed enough or
interesting enough to intrigue your audience, so you might need
to divide the topic into more sub-topics. Don’t worry about how it
sounds, as I will later show you how to convert these topics into
viral-worthy Reels by having a good script, structure, and editing.
After you find your topics, you can use the content tracking sheet
to add the video topics there. At this point, you don’t need to focus
on it sounding good, only on jotting down the topics.
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2. The ChatGPT Method
So, first, you’ll want to divide your niche into around 5-10 subtopics.
I recommend you do this yourself without using AI.
For example, if you were in the personal finance space, your
subtopics could be cryptocurrency, credit cards, the stock market,
government monetary policy, and retirement savings.
With ChatGPT, researching topics is swift, as you get an answer
immediately. I will give you three different prompts you can use:
a. What are the [X] biggest misbeliefs in the / about [Y]?
b. What are the [X] biggest pain points in the / about [Y]?
c. What are the [X] biggest desires in the / about [Y]?
I recommend you try all of these prompts, as each of them will
give you slightly different topics. From there, you can use the
following follow-up prompt to get even more topics:
Divide each of these [X] into multiple subtopics
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Now, you should have at least double the amount of topics you
can use as your video ideas. In an ideal situation, you could divide
each subtopic into even more subtopics yourself. For example, if
you were in the fitness niche, you could record multiple videos in a
series about nutritious foods that increase testosterone.
3. Creative thinking
You can do the same thing as with ChatGPT, but just by yourself.
This is obviously better if you know your topic very well; otherwise,
you should maybe consider using one of the other methods. Write
down 5-10 main subtopics in your specific niche. Then try to think
of yourself as an average Joe interested in your niche, what the
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biggest problems and desires he has, and how you could create
content about it.
The TikTok-Stealing Method
This method works well for both theme pages and personal brand
profiles, and it’s very straightforward. This research method will be even
easier to implement if you have already gone through “Pain Points
Research” methods, as you will have a general understanding of your
niche.
The first step is to create a new TikTok account on your phone (which
you won’t use for anything but research, so the name and the details
don’t matter) and start interacting with profiles in your niche. You can
start by searching for keywords related to your subtopics and
interacting with these posts by liking, commenting, and saving. After
doing this for some time, you can simply open the TikTok “for you” page,
and you will start seeing posts in your niche. Now, continue interacting
with these posts and saving account usernames of creators who are
getting a lot of views and engagement in your niche. The more profiles
in your niche you save, the better.
The next step is to open TikTok on your computer in Chrome and
download the Sort for TikTok extension, which is 100% free.
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Now, just click on Start and wait for the extension to sort the videos by
the highest number of views. Then, write down the topics of the ten
most popular videos. You’ll later be able to recreate them yourself, but
for Instagram, optimize them even better.
Remaking Others’ Reels
The following method is similar to the last method mentioned, but
instead of using TikTok, you are going to use Instagram itself. This
method can used for both personal brands and theme pages, but I
would recommend it mostly for I’m going to divide it into a few simple
steps:
1. You are going to view the Reel page and start interacting with the
posts there for a few minutes. You’ll want to like posts within your
niche or even leave an insightful/funny comment and also save
some of the posts. After doing this for 5-10 minutes, your Reels
page will be full of content in your niche.
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2. The next step is to save the videos related to your niche that you
could potentially recreate. For that, you can also use the content
tracking sheet I provided in the resources.
3. Now, you’ll want to install the Sort My Instagram Reels extension
on Google Chrome, which will allow you to sort the Instagram
Reels by the number of likes, views, comments, and Likes /Views.
4. After installing the extension and opening it, you’ll want to use
either the Sort by Views and/or the Sort by Likes/Views option. I
usually first try to use the Sort by Likes/Views option as it gives you
the posts with the most engagement rate, but many of the posts
that have a very high engagement rate will also have a very low
number of views. Your goal is to find content that has many views
but also many likes. So, look for content with 10 to 20k+ views. If
you’re unable to find many content ideas, you’ll want to use the
Sort by Views option. You don’t necessarily need to only go for
videos that have many views, but you can also write down the
topics of videos that have lower amounts of views and then use
the techniques mentioned later in this guide to create a much
well-optimized video on the same topic, and potentially go viral.
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From Topic Ideas to Reel Content
This subchapter will be the most detailed in this whole guide. I will
cover everything from coming up with a good headline to actually
finding and/or creating content for the Reels. This chapter focuses solely
on Reel content creation, not on normal post creation or utilization of
Instagram stories.
Coming up with an attractive headline
Creating a good, attention-grabbing headline is the first step to going
viral. Many successful creators whose (especially old) videos went
unnoticed simply re-upload the same videos with the same content
after just changing the headline at the beginning of the video, and their
videos go viral. It’s so important because in today’s day and age, when
people’s attention spans are lower than ever before, the first few
seconds they see can make the significant difference between just
scrolling past your video or watching it till the end.
Here is a list of my best headlines, which you can pick or just use for
inspiration:
● Stop [doing X]
● Stop [doing X], try this instead
● It should be illegal to [X]
● Stop [X] before it’s too late
● The harsh truth about [X] no one admits
● [X] is dead/doesn’t work, and here’s why
● The risks of [X] you need to know
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● This may be controversial, but [X]
● You are f***ing up your [X] if you are [doing Y]
● [Number] mistakes that will prevent you from [Y]
● F*** [X], here’s why
● Don’t hate me, but (X)
● [X] nobody knows (part Y)
These hooks/headline templates can be used for both personal page
brands and theme pages, but I’d personally use them more with
personal brand profiles. I plan to keep this list updated and add more
hooks/headlines in the future, but for now, these are the
best-performing ones based on my accounts and the accounts of other
successful creators. If you think of more ways to phrase your
hook/headline, then perfect! You can record multiple videos for the
same topic (so you save time), but you’ll also be able to test which ones
perform the best for you specifically and increase the chances of going
viral.
Another option would be (that I have personally used) to create a video
series about something. If you have a men's beauty page, you could do
something like “Underrated glow-up tips (that models hide)” and then
create many videos in that series without constantly thinking of new
names and headlines.
However, these are not the only ways of crafting your headlines. You
could also:
● Call the audience out (E.g., “Do you want to get international flight
tickets under $50? Listen up”)
● Social proof (E.g., “Here’s how thousands of bankrupt students can
afford international flight tickets”)
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● Personal story (E.g., “Here’s how I bought airplane tickets from LA
to Berlin for $50”)
These are only some ideas I’ve personally used, but I’m sure many of
you will be able to come up with your own variations and hooks.
And lastly, I want to emphasize the importance of numbers in
headlines. An even better variation of the glow-up tips hook/headline
mentioned before would be “7 Underrated glow-up tips (that models
hide)”. This is copywriting 101, but adding numbers to your headlines
can make a major difference (when it’s applicable). It gives people more
clarity and specificity, and it makes people perceive it as easy to digest
and of higher value.
Here is an overview of things you should follow when writing your
hooks/headlines:
● It’s better to focus on negativity first than on positivity (e.g., “never
do X again” rather than “do X to get Y fast”); people will be more
likely to go through your video. Don’t do this always, but in the
majority of cases, it can be worth it.
● It’s always a good idea to come up with 2-5 headlines for each
topic you research. This can save you time on research and
increase the chances of going viral. Schedule the content wisely,
and don’t post more videos on the same topic right after each
other.
● Add numbers (e.g., “7 secrets” or “3 tips”) to your hooks/headlines
but also further to the video script when applicable.
● You can consider creating a series and creating more of the videos
on the same topic. This works well, especially for theme pages.
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● Keep in mind that the “hook” is still a hook – not something that
the whole video must necessarily be about or something that is
entirely true. For example, if you were in the fitness niche, you
could say, “Stop doing bench press right now,” and then transform
the video content to the most common mistakes with that
exercise or show present alternatives.
● You can also try utilizing ChatGPT, but I personally haven’t found it
remarkably helpful, as many of the hooks it came up with were
either too lengthy or just didn’t sound good. If you’d like to utilize
ChatGPT, first give it as many examples as you can and then ask it
to create something similar in the same format. You can also say,
“Give me at least X hooks,” so you get more of them with just a
single prompt. At the end of this subchapter, I also cover my
systems for AI utilization when scripting and generating the video,
but it’s generally a good idea to get good at this yourself and only
then utilize AI for the more time-consuming parts or when you
need help with creativity.
Writing the script
Now, you should have a video topic and hook/headline (or ideally
multiple hooks for the same topic), and you are ready to write down
other parts of the video.
Here’s the format for some of my videos, but keep in mind that there
are many other ways to structure your videos, especially if you plan to
run a theme page. Many successful creators don’t follow this structure
at all and still are very successful.
1. The hook – You already have that.
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2. Alternative (overview of the video) – If your hook was negative
(like “Stop X”), then now is the time to present the alternative. If
your hook is positive, now is the time to introduce to the viewer
what you are going to talk about (e.g., “Instead, do these 3 secret X
to get Y”)
3. Common objections – I sometimes add this part of the video, and
sometimes I don’t; if done right, it can increase the average view
duration and increase the engagement rate. This step involves
naming the most common objections about that topic (e.g., “And
no, it doesn’t involve/you don’t have to (do) X, Y, Z”)
4. Question – I usually add this part as well, but sometimes I don’t.
Now would be the time to ask the viewer a question based on
your script from the last three parts. So, an example could be, “So,
do you want to really know why X?”
5. The answers(s) – The question should be followed by the most
important and valuable information in the video. I usually shortly
present something without any fluff and then (when it’s possible)
try to add some social proof such as names of well-known people
who do it/are associated with the topic or even your
customers/clients (especially if you want to use Instagram to sell
something). Make it as short as possible and valuable at the same
time.
6. Call to action – The next and last part of your script should be the
call to action. If your video was valuable (either entertaining or
information-wise), you could simply say something like “Don’t
forget to save this post and follow me for more” or “Follow for
more value” and also add something like an animation of
following your profile.
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If you’re not sure how exactly the script should look or how the actual
Reels should look like, you can check out the “Reels Script Examples”
document for scripts I’ve written myself in this format and the “Reels
Video Examples” for some Reel examples from both personal brand
creators and theme pages with my comments on why they performed
well.
Stock footage
The next step would be to get stock footage and/or record the content
yourself. If you plan to run a faceless theme page, then you probably
won’t be recording any footage yourself, but you can still record the
voiceover yourself (if not, read the chapter “Using AI for overovers”).
This part is quite simple; you should simply look for B-roll footage for
the Reel, and the background video clips should change every 2-4
seconds, ideally. If you also record your own footage, you can switch it
up with B-roll footage every few seconds and also add some effects like
zoom-ins, which are covered in the following chapters.
To find video footage, use sites like Pexels and Pixabay, and even create
your own pack for your niche. I also like to use Pinterest for stock photos
(later, I add effects to these photos so they’re not static) for my Reel
b-roll footage, which I’d also highly recommend, especially for theme
pages. A good idea is also to create your own pack out of the footage
you find for your specific niche, so you don’t have to waste time finding
new clips/photos every time you create a Reel.
Another way to get really high-quality clips that are already optimized
for Reels is to follow other creators in the same niche and look for clips
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that could be used as the footage in your own Reels. To find the
accounts, you can use the same method as in “Remaking Others’
Reels.” If you decide to use this, always mention the creator in the
caption.
Recording content
This part is mostly for people who want to run a personal brand on
Instagram, so if you plan on running a theme page, this probably isn’t
very important for your specific case.
Here is a relatively simple setup that would suit most creators and I
myself use:
1. Smartphone or a mirrorless camera ($0): If you have one, for
video recording. So, for most people, this wouldn’t involve any
additional investments. And you absolutely don’t have to have the
latest iPhone; I myself use an older iPhone X. If you have an old
Android phone or a very old iPhone, investing in a newer one
could be the best investment out of all of the products mentioned
in this subchapter.
2. Microphone ($50-$150): A microphone is optional as well, but I’d
highly recommend it, especially if you plan on working more
online in the future. I don’t recommend buying very cheap
microphones as the quality is comparable to the one on your
smartphone, but you can find many good ones in the $100-$150
range. If you don’t want to use a microphone, you can simply use
voice memos on your phone and then add the audio to Adobe
Podcast, where you can use the Enhance Speech feature, which
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significantly improves the audio using AI. I personally use one of
the Shure microphones, but a very good one is the Elgato Wave 3
microphone.
3. A tripod ($15-$40): A tripod can hold your phone for video
recording. You can get one on Amazon or AliExpress for very
cheap and it is useful in other parts of lives as well. Before buying
one, make sure that the dimensions will fit your device (or be
compatible with your camera, if you have one). Most tripods will
have an adjustable height and angle.
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4. Lightning set ($50-$300): A lighting set is also optional and will
depend on your specific needs. If you plan on recording indoors, I
highly recommend getting one. Maybe not right in the beginning,
but as you start seeing success on social media, consider getting
one. A lightning set isn’t as universal as the equipment mentioned
above, so I don’t think rushing on that is worth it. So, to
summarize, for your lightning set, it’s worth investing in a quality,
more expensive one as you start seeing success with your Reels
already unless you have a high budget to invest right in the
beginning.
Editing videos
In this chapter, I will briefly summarize the video editing process that
can be used for both theme page content and personal brand content.
A more detailed example is shown in the video example included with
the premium package.
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So, the app I recommend to most beginners is CapCut. The app is free,
but it also offers a premium version for more advanced edits.
Here’s my workflow for a non-voiceover clip (theme page content
with music only):
1. I found a Reel that went viral on Instagram previously and
downloaded the video using SaveInsta (or any other “Instagram to
mp4” tool). This will allow you to reuse the audio but also to keep
some parts of the original clip if you want.
2. I look for other content, mostly on Pinterest and stock footage
sites I mentioned in the previous chapter. I recommend you
create your own folder with photos/videos that get your attention
so you can potentially access them and easily reuse them in the
future.
3. Create a new project (under “File”) and import your content to
CapCut.
4. First of all, extract the audio and then split the scene (CapCut will
automatically recognize where different scenes are).
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5. Now would be the time to replace the different clips with your
own photos/videos and your own style. Your style includes the font
and colors you use in your videos, potentially watermarks, etc. You
can try to slightly or completely change the hook of the video or
even create multiple variations of the same Reel but with different
hooks/first pictures and/or videos.
6. If you use a lot of pictures in the video, add some effects and
transitions. Try to replace as much of the content in the video with
your own content.
7. Export it when it’s finished (with the default settings). I named the
videos using the hook in the first part.
You can actually watch how exactly I followed this framework in one of
the videos included in the folder. This workflow is very simple, and I
don’t recommend you waste much time on unnecessary edits; instead,
focus on the first few seconds of the clip (e.g., the first picture they see
and the hook).
For a clip with a voiceover, you could follow the same steps but also use
the “Auto captions” feature to generate captions based on your audio.
For music, I recommend you take the sounds from other creators (if the
Reel doesn’t have a voiceover and you like the music, simply download
it, add it to the editing app, and separate the audio and video).
Using AI for voiceovers
If you don’t want to use your own voice, then you can create your own
AI voice for the video voiceovers.
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For my theme page content, I usually don’t even fully write the script
myself. Instead, I took a clip that went viral and focused on improving
the hooks rather than the whole script. I also focus on adding better
clips and improving the already successful clips.
If you want to convert a clip into a text script, you can use the Descript
web app. Simply download the Reel in mp4 (e.g., using SaveInsta or any
other “Instagram post downloader” tools), open the Descript app, and
click on “New” and “Video Project.” Then upload the video, and you will
get a text script as shown below:
Take that script and make a few little changes. You can, for example,
make 1-3 versions with different hooks and different synonyms in the
body of the script. It should differ from the original script.
Then, navigate to ElevenLabs and open the Voice Lab feature. I
recommend you buy the $5/month subscription, as it will allow you to
clone voices from other clips. If, however, you can’t or don’t want to buy
the Starter subscription, you can choose one of the voices from the
voice library.
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If you decide that you want to clone a voice from a Reel, you’ll need to
do the following:
1. Get around 60-120 seconds of the voice speaking in mp3 format.
You can use any mp4 to mp3 converter.
2. If there is music in the background, separate the voice and the
music using a vocal remover such as this one.
3. Now upload the separated, voice-only audio file under VoiceLab.
ElevenLabs will create that voice, which you’ll later be able to use
under “Speech Synthesis,” and from there, download any
text-to-speech in mp3.
Once you get the mp3 and start editing the video, don’t forget to
remove the blank parts of the audio (between sentences, for example)
so the clip is as short as possible. Having too many spaces would just
decrease your average view duration.
Utilizing AI
Thanks to AI, short-form content creation is much faster than it used to
be even a few months ago. But content creation still cannot be
completely outsourced by AI if you want high-quality content with the
potential to go viral.
Here is how exactly I utilize AI in my workflow and some additional tips
from my experience:
1. Descript
I use the Descript app I mentioned in the previous chapter for a
huge part of my Reels that have a voiceover. I first upload there
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the clip, get the captions, and then create a Google Document
where I make 1-3 versions with some of the content changed. I
recommend you mostly focus on changing the beginning (the
hook) and then adding something to increase viewer retention if
it’s not already in the script. (e.g., tip number 4 will shock you).
Don’t forget to highlight the differences in the script to avoid
confusion.
Here’s an example of one of such Google Documents:
2. ChatGPT
By now, you’ve probably already seen some ChatGPT
content-creating tutorials and methods somewhere on the
internet, so I thought I would cover it here as well. Many people
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claim that with their method, you can completely outsource the
work to ChatGPT and claim how much time they save, but most of
them make these claims just to get views and attention. ChatGPT
simply won’t do the whole job for you. From my experience, it’s
very useful, especially when researching content ideas and with
the smaller parts when you aren’t sure about something, but it’s
relatively bad at crafting hooks and writing content (scripts) for
your Reels. This is partly because it is designed to be as politically
and overall correct as possible (which won’t make your content go
viral), and writing the many prompts to get what your end goal is
can be more time-consuming than doing the job by yourself.
If you want to use ChatGPT for writing content, always give it as
large a set of examples as you can. This will save you time by
having to write fewer follow-up prompts than you normally would.
A popular ChatGPT + Reel creation method often mentioned on
YouTube is to ask it to generate quotes specific to your niche and
then ask it to convert them into longer text, but I don’t
recommend it. I’ve personally tested this and had little to no
success because everyone is already doing this. You won’t go viral
by posting the exact same thing thousands of people have already
posted.
Here’s a summary of (in my opinion) the best ways to utilize
ChatGPT to grow on Instagram:
a. Specific tasks during research – For example, asking for the
biggest pain points of an audience.
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b. Writing based on as large a set of examples as possible –
ChatGPT generally isn’t good at the content you desire
unless you give it a large set of examples. For example, you
could use ChatGPT to rewrite a specific text in a similar
format or give it a caption you like (from another creator)
and ask it to write you your own caption in a similar format
and language but based on your video script. But keep in
mind that even after giving it an example, you’ll often have
to go through more edits yourself.
c. Call to action and bio – I also very often use ChatGPT to
write my bios and CTA’s at the end of the videos. Again, give
it as large a set of examples as possible and the specific
information you want to include. Then, ask it to give you at
least 20-30+ samples.
The content-stealing framework (summary)
In this chapter, I’ll summarize the process of going from a topic idea (as
a result of seeing someone’s content) to a ready-to-post video. This is
useful especially for theme page content, as it’s often not specific to the
person/brand. As time passes, you will get better at this and find your
own tweaks, and eventually, it will take you only a few minutes to
(re)create each Reel.
1. Download the video – By the first step, I already assume that
you’ve done your research (you can use the research sheet) and
have links to potential Reels. You can use any “Instagram post
downloader” tool out there.
2. Get clips – You’ll want to use at least slightly different clips than
the ones in the original video. You can use free stock footage sites
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I’ve already mentioned, but also download pictures from Pinterest
(my favorite) or reuse some clips from Instagram and/or TikTok.
3. Background music – You can look at others’ Reels/TikTok and use
the same background sound. Many great trendy sounds can be
found on TikTok on accounts like these:
But the sound doesn’t always have to be trendy. Most importantly,
it should fit the overall mood of the Reel.
4. Voiceover (AI) – You’ll first need to convert the clip into text script,
for example, using the Descript app. After that, either duplicate a
voice you like from a Reel/TikTok (recommended) or choose a
voice from the public library on ElevenLabs. Then, take the script
and make some edits to it, for example, changing/adding hooks
and paraphrasing. This whole process was explained much more
in the previous chapters.
5. Editing – Edit using CapCut (if you have little to no editing
experience) or using Adobe Premiere if you have more editing
experience. You can start by splitting the scene of the original Reel
and replacing their clips with your own clips. Then, don’t forget
about branding, which includes things such as the font and text
color you use, as well as a potential watermark.
6. Exporting – Now export the video at 1080px x 1920px, and it’s
ready to publish.
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As you see, the process is fairly simple and doesn’t require any special
skills to get started.
If your goal is to grow a theme page, you can consider doing this at a
specific time every few days/weeks so you can prepare multiple videos
in bulk. As time passes, you’ll have your own resources, like sounds and
clips that perform well for your specific niche, which will decrease the
time spent on content creation even more, and more of your content
will go viral.
Posting To Go Viral
After finishing your Reels, you might think that your whole work is
finished, and now it’s time for the algorithm to do the rest and make
your video go viral, but you would be wrong. There are many (stupidly
small) factors that could prevent your videos from going viral. In this
chapter, I will cover how to post your content correctly.
Posting from phone
The first thing you should never do is to post from your computer. It’s
not clear why (especially Reels) posted from PCs and laptops perform
worse than the ones posted from mobile devices, but my theory is that
Instagram is trying to fight spammers and bots this way as it’s much
easier to upload in bulk from a computer than a mobile device.
The simple fix is to airdrop (on MacOS) or transfer the MP4 files of your
Reels from your computer to your mobile device and then post them
from there. Don’t use something like Messenger to send it, as it reduces
quality.
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Best posting times
Determining the best time to post is easy, but you already need to have
some views/followers and posting history. You can do so by going to
insights, clicking on total followers, and scrolling down to the most
active times tab. From there, take the most active time and post 30-60
minutes before that.
Suppose you don’t have any insights available yet, either post in the
evening (6-11 PM) or in the morning (6-9 AM). On weekends you can
post later in the evening/morning than during a business week.
Scheduling content
The next thing I don’t recommend doing is scheduling content using
any content scheduler. Again, these tools increase the chances of you
going viral, as Instagram is more likely to see you as a bot.
I recommend you simply create ready-to-post drafts and post them at
your desired time. However, if you really need to schedule content for
some reason, use Instagram’s built-in scheduling feature. To do so,
prepare what you want to post (including caption, etc.), and on the
posting screen, go to advanced settings and schedule content. You’ll
later be able to view already scheduled content under your profile
options. Keep in mind that you need to have a professional account to
have this option.
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Add topics
When posting, don’t forget to add 2-3 topics for your video. This will
ensure your video gets shown to the right audience and, therefore,
performs well. You could have the best Reel on the planet, and if it was
shown to a bad audience, you’d still get bad results.
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Captions
Another important aspect that can heavily affect your posts’ reach is
the captions for the following reasons:
1. They help your post/Reel rank on Instagram search.
2. They tell the algorithm more about the exact topic so it can show
it to a better audience that responds better to the post.
3. They can also increase your AVD when done right, which pushes
the video to even more people.
If you want to take advantage of captions to increase the AVD, which
will push your video to many more people, all you have to do is write a
long, easy-to-read, and engaging caption and tell people in the video to
read it to get the promised explanation/content or to get something
more detailed than the information in the video.
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I included an example of such a Reel which you can watch from the
Instagram Growth Masterclass folder.
An even improved version of the Reel I included would be something
that has a CTA at the end, which could be either something
follow-related or a prompt to leave a comment.
Instagram Theme Page Remix Strategy Bonus
The last strategy I’m including is the Instagram remix strategy, which is
something similar to so-called “duets” on TikTok. This can be used on
both theme pages and personal brand profiles.
All you have to do is take a Reel you found using one of the research
methods and remix it as shown below. Keep in mind that you might not
be able to remix Reels with a copyrighted song, so look for Reels with
original audio.
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After you click on Remix, click on the camera and choose the last layout,
as shown in the image below.
If you run a theme page and don’t want to show your face, simply go
further away from the camera and record it. If you run a personal brand
page, you might want to show your face and point to the clip or react to
it.
This can be an extremely easy way to get content fast, but the key is to
not overdo it. A good ratio is, in my opinion, one remixed Reel for every
4-5 unique Reels.
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Growth Strategies
Since it’s not 2015 anymore, the best growth strategy for all niches and
accounts in 2024 and onwards will be to consistently post content, as
explained in detail in the previous chapter. The algorithm simply works
very differently than one, two, or three years ago, so the “typical” growth
strategies you could find on YouTube are either a waste of time or
something that could potentially get you (shadow) banned.
I am going to cover here the most popular growth strategies and also
my best growth strategy that can still be very effective in 2024.
The Comment Strategy
This is, in my opinion the best and safest growth strategy in 2024 and
onwards, which didn’t work just a few years ago as well today. Many of
the popular growth strategies you could find on YouTube either
stopped working or are less effective as a result of Instagram’s updates,
but for this one, it’s quite the opposite.
To perform this method, you first need to have an already active
account with good branding, engaging content, and at least a few
hundred followers.
If you have that, you’ll need to find and follow at least 20 other content
creators in your niche and turn on the new post notifications on their
profile in the Instagram app.
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After that, each time a new (preferably) Reel comes out, leave a
comment that is either funny or helpful/informative and relatable
because your goal is for your comment to get liked as much as possible.
Spend at least some time thinking about the comment and Reel
because it can pay off heavily in the next week or so, especially if the
Reel/post goes viral. People will be naturally curious and check out your
profile. If you set up your profile correctly and they find your content
interesting, you will get a bunch of new followers.
If you wanted to take it a step further, you could buy just a few
comments likes on an SMM panel like SMMFlare and Justanotherpanel.
This will make your comment appear higher. I’ve done this many times
and never had any problems, but keep in mind that it’s still breaking
Instagram’s TOS.
I know that this method is very simple, but it’s, in my opinion, the best
growth strategy in 2024 out of the three methods I mentioned here. If
you do this for longer, you will even see people reaching out to you with
business-related inquiries and collaboration offers.
Shoutouts
Shoutouts are still a very effective and safe way to grow on Instagram in
2024, but again, they are pretty much useless unless you have
high-quality content. There are two strategies you can use for
shoutouts.
Shoutout for a shoutout (legitimate)
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You’ll be able to perform this strategy only when you get to about 1k
followers. This works best for theme pages.
You’ll want to open an account that has a similar number of followers in
the same niche as yours. Then click on the suggested icon, and you’ll
see a list of accounts you could potentially work with.
If the account has the same amount of followers, you could offer each
other a story shoutout and a post shoutout.
If they have 20-40%+ more followers, you could, for example, offer them
a story shoutout and a post shoutout in return for just a post shoutout.
You can start by DMing them with a message like this one:
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For a story shoutout, I recommend first adding a poll where most of
your audience will answer positively and then a second follow-up story
where you’ll give them the account you’re promoting. Ask the other
person to do the same.
For posts, giveaway shoutouts generally work the best, but this can be
harder to organize as you’ll generally want more than 2 accounts in the
shoutout. The other type is to mention their account in the caption for
at least 2 posts with a CTA to follow.
Shoutout for shoutout (unethical)
For the second, more unethical shoutout for shoutout method, you’ll
need a small investment of $5-$50. You can do this even if you have 0
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followers. I don’t recommend this as it’s unethical, but I’ve seen a few
people successfully doing this and growing their theme pages faster.
To perform this method, you’ll need to create a second Instagram
theme page in the same niche as the theme page you want to grow,
but of course, with a different username, logo, etc.
Then post there 15-30 posts, including Reels, which can be copied from
other pages and/or downloaded from TikTok using any “download from
TikTok without watermark” tool you find on Google. The goal here isn’t
to grow the page by making the posts, so the quality isn’t that
important.
After you do this, you’ll need to bot the account by buying followers,
comments, and likes for the posts you made so the accounts look
legitimate.
Start by buying followers on any SMM panel. You can find many panels
on forums like BHW.
I personally have used & recommend SMMFlare and Justanotherpanel.
I’m not affiliated with any of these panels; it’s just what I use.
Here is an example of a service you’ll be looking for.
With this service, you’d pay $0.36 for 1000 followers. I wouldn’t buy less
than 30-40k followers to make this method worthwhile.
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After you buy the followers, buy views, likes, and comments for the
posts. For posts, you’ll want a 3-5% engagement rate, meaning you take
3-5% of your followers, and this is how many likes/comments you buy.
For Reels, you’ll want to make this more random and also buy a decent
number of views.
After you follow these steps and you have a legitimately-looking theme
page, you’ll want to start DMing pages, as I have shown in the last
method. Look for accounts that have 10-20% fewer followers than you,
so the negotiation will be easier, and they will have higher motivation to
work with you. You can DM as many accounts as you want, essentially,
so you drain the most out of that account. Just don’t forget to mention
that you want to promote your “new” theme page, which will be the
actual theme page you want to grow. You’ll post a shoutout on the
account you botted promoting their page, and they will, in return,
promote your “new” theme page instead of the botted account.
Follow For Follow
This strategy isn’t effective at all in 2024, as you risk your whole account
getting shadowbanned for just a few followers because of the strict
limits.
A somehow effective replacement for this strategy would be story
viewing. You’d want to do it as follows:
1. Find a competitor account in your niche with a lot of followers and
high engagement.
2. Open a relatively new post posted in the last 1-3 days.
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3. View stories of the people who liked that post and like their story.
4. A percentage of these people will view your profile and consider
following you back.
You can consider using this to get your first few followers, but it’s not
worth the time in the long term. Also, don’t use any 3rd party tools, as
these are very ineffective in 2024 and increase the chances of getting
shadowbanned or limited even more. It’s not 2015 anymore, so
automating tools like Jarvee aren’t worth the risk.
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Monetization
Monetizing an Instagram account can be extremely profitable but
usually isn’t worthwhile unless you already have at least a few thousand
followers.
You can currently earn directly on Instagram by either creating a
subscription channel or badges (donations during live streams), which
still aren’t available in all countries. These might be a good way to earn
some extra side income on Instagram, but there are much better ways
to monetize your account.
To create a subscription channel, you must have a professional account,
follow all policies, and have over 10k followers. If you pass these, you can
easily manage your subscription from the professional dashboard.
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Under 10k followers, I would forget about monetization, as the return on
your time investment would likely be too low. Instagram
Affiliate Marketing
The first monetization method I am going to cover is affiliate marketing.
This is the best way to start monetizing your account if you already have
a decent follower base (10-20k followers), as you’ll be able to make some
money without spending any time developing your own product and
your own assets.
I recommend this especially for theme pages, as they are much harder
to brand than personal brand profiles, and it’s a good idea to take
advantage of assets like someone else's testimonials.
Here’s how I recommend you approach affiliate marketing,
step-by-step, to get the maximum results:
1. Register on an affiliate network like Clickbank or Digistore24. You
can also promote something completely different, like
Clickfunnels, Gohighlevel, or Shopify, which have extremely
lucrative affiliate programs if your niche is business-based.
2. Open the affiliate marketplace and look for products you could
promote in your own niche. If you can’t find any good products to
promote here, consider looking at the profiles of your competitors,
where you might be able to find better products with an affiliate
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program.
3. Once you find an affiliate product, create a free mini-version of
that product. For example, if you promoted a dropshipping
course, you could create a “7 best dropshipping products”
e-book/sheet. You can do a quick research online and then use a
tool like Canva to put it together. Make sure to put a value to it,
e.g., “Worth $127” or “Value: $127,” which will make people
appreciate it more and also psychologically more likely to buy the
affiliate product. At the end of the e-book/sheet, add a CTA to buy
the affiliate product. Be creative and make the product sound
scarce and exclusive. Then use highlights to your advantage – you
can add at least these three highlights:
1. Free E-Book or Sheet or something else
2. Results
3. Testimonials/Reviews
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Here’s an example of a good highlight design:
4. Create a link in your bio using something like Linktree or Beacons
AI and add there a link to your free product and also the affiliate
product.
5. The last step would be to keep posting stories with the results
testimonials, but also some actionable tips and free valuable
content. Include a CTA for the link in your bio. You can use the
Instagram selling framework mentioned in the next chapter to get
more affiliate commissions as well.
For affiliate marketing, I recommend you to get creative and not
promote the first product/service you see. There are many lucrative
programs on Impact, which I personally use, but also on sites like
MaxBounty. This will heavily depend on your niche, so finding
something unique to you is the best way to go.
Below is a screenshot of my recent affiliate commissions on Impact:
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Some people claim that “affiliate marketing and CPA are dead,” but this
definitely isn't the case and never will be. You just have to find your own
approach to it and not copy what everyone else is unsuccessfully trying
to do.
Selling Own Product/Service
The next method is very similar to the last one, but in this case, you
would create your own product and/or service. I recommend doing this
only if you already have a significant and active audience (30k+
followers), as otherwise it might not be worth the time.
You’d want to do something like this:
1. Create a free digital product as before, something like a free sheet,
video course, plan, or an e-book related to your niche. Don’t forget
about nice graphics. This will build trust, especially if you provide
some significant value, and the law of reciprocity will also apply
(the customer will be psychologically more likely to buy your paid
product). This will also get you their email, which can help you
with converting people to customers even more. Keep in mind
that your product should solve some problems, ideally several
problems. Remember, you are trying to provide some actual value,
not just give people a little something in return for their e-mail.
2. Then create a free Gumroad account which is where you’ll be able
to offer both the free product and the paid one. If you already have
a bigger audience and your budget isn’t tight, you can use a tool
like GoHighLevel or Clickfunnels, where you can build custom
pages and send newsletters. Gumroad will be good enough for
most people because it’s very common on Instagram, and people
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already trust the platform. Also, it allows you to send newsletters
within the platform. I’m not going to cover here in detail how to
create automated e-mail sequences and how to build your sales
page, but the best would be to reverse engineer it by yourself
from your competition while improving their flaws.
3. After creating the free product, it’ll be time to create a paid
product. This can be a course, e-book, or something else. I
recommend you create either a low-ticket product (under ~$50) or
a medium-ticket product (~$50-$140). You can host these on
Google Drive for free. The free product can be like a smaller
version of the paid one.
4. Again, use something like Linktree or Beacons AI to add the links
to your bio unless you already have a custom-built funnel.
Next, you’ll want to sometimes mention your both free and paid
products in your content. Don’t try to sell it there; just mention it as a
reference. People will be curious and not feel overly pressured, which
will make them more likely to buy from you.
The last thing I recommend doing to increase conversion is to post
stories using this framework which can be used with essentially
anything:
1. Post a poll with a question related to a common problem in your
niche that your product solves, to which the vast majority will
answer “Yes.”
2. Next, post something people struggle with the most. Make it
relatable and make the struggle sound as bad as possible.
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3. Next, come up with a solution, which will be your product. You can
start by saying, “This is why I wrote…” and then show results from
the product.
4. Lastly, post a story with a prompt to DM you some one-word
keyword or post another poll with two “Yes, I want that too”
answers. If you want to add the stories to your highlights, add a
prompt for a story reply instead, as they will be able to reply even
after 24 hours. Don’t use the link feature very often.
The DM replies, and answers to polls will also make the algorithm show
your stories more in the front and to more people as it increases
engagement.
If you want to set up completely automatic DM replies, you can use
either the Meta Business Suite or some 3rd party app like HootSuite.
However, I recommend sticking with “Saved replied” on Instagram,
especially if you are just starting out.
You can create these by opening the professional dashboard, settings,
and “Saved reply.”
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If you are using Instagram DM’s just to deliver your free product, you
can use a simple two-message framework. In the first message, present
the free sheet. In the second message, also present your paid product
and offer a limited-time/spot-only discount not available anywhere else.
If you want to sell your paid product straight away, the first message
should elaborate on the problem and be at least a little bit emotional.
Your goal is to get a “Yes” response from the person. In the second
message, after getting a “Yes,” present the solution, which will be your
paid product. Again, make the product seem more limited and offer a
special discount.
This selling framework is simple yet very effective. I’m personally not a
professional sales agent; this is just what I’ve had success with. I’m sure
you can watch more sales content on YouTube with a deeper dive into
psychology and learn even better strategies when the time comes.
Shoutouts
The next way to monetize your account is using shoutouts. Shoutouts
involve posting an advertising post, story, or Reel in exchange for
money. Shoutouts are a great way to earn some side cash, but they are
hardly a sustainable way to monetize your account.
I don’t recommend mentioning in your bio that you sell shoutouts, but
you can add your e-mail/phone number as a contact option on your
profile. If your account is large enough (generally 10k+ followers), you
might start occasionally getting inquiries and business offers via DM’s
and the contact method you provided.
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To set your shoutout pricing, contact 3-5 accounts with a similar
number of followers as yours in the same niche, get their shoutout
pricing and make your own pricing 10-15% lower to stay competitive.
When someone contacts you and is interested, you can use either
PayPal or Stripe to accept the payment.
If you wish to take shoutouts even more seriously, you can add a story
with shoutout pricing to your highlights and also list your shoutout
offering on forums such as Blackhatworld, Nulled, OGUsers, and
Hackforums and also on sites like Shoutoutcart, Shoutoutify, and Fiverr.
Account Selling
The last way to make money with Instagram if you have a theme page
would be to sell your account. I don’t recommend doing this because, in
most cases, you won’t get a fair deal for your account, and you will deal
with many scammers.
To determine a good price for your account, look at accounts in the
same niche and of similar size on sites like FameSwap and SocialTradia
and then set a 5-15% higher price as many people will try to bargain
with you and if you are following strategies in this guide, your account
probably already has a higher engagement rate than the competition.
If you are sure that you want to sell your account, I recommend first
trying to sell it on one of the forums above and using a middleman so
both parties get what they expect. If you fail, you can list your account
on sites like FameSwap and SocialTradia.
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Conclusion
I would like to thank you once again for purchasing the Instagram
Growth Masterclass!
In this guide, I included information I wished I had known when I was
starting out on Instagram, plus updated methods for 2024 and
onwards. You can use the techniques mentioned here to grow any type
of account, including a theme page, personal brand, and business
profile.
This guide covers everything from how the algorithm works and how to
choose the best niche for your account to content creation and
monetization in one place. I plan to keep this updated and keep adding
bonus content that I newly discover and use myself.
Now, if you have any questions or need help, feel free to contact me
alongside your invoice/order number on the forum or using the
contacts posted on the sales thread, and I will get back to you as soon I
can.
I wish you the best of luck with your Instagram journey!