PipeflowWhat Instagram means by views
Views count how often your post, your reel or your story was shown on a screen. If the same person sees your post twice, that counts as two views. Reach, on the other hand, counts how many different accounts saw your content.
You can find both numbers in your account insights, as long as you have a business or creator account. If you don't, switching is worth it, because without insights you are working in the dark. How to do that is explained in the guide to the Instagram business account.
First, look: where do your views come from?
Before you change anything, look at your last ten to fifteen posts in your insights. Two questions help:
- Followers or non-followers? Instagram shows you what share of your views comes from people who already follow you. If the share of non-followers is very small, you are hardly reaching new people.
- Which posts perform better? Write down your three posts with the most views and your three weakest. Often you quickly see a pattern: people instead of products, before and after instead of a logo, a tip instead of an announcement.
The first seconds decide
People scroll quickly through the feed. Whether someone stops is decided by the first image and the first line of the caption. With reels, it is the first few seconds.
A few examples of what that looks like in practice:
- Carpentry workshop: instead of a photo of a finished kitchen, an image showing the old and the new kitchen side by side.
- Café: instead of „New in store“, a photo of milk foam pouring into the cup.
- Physiotherapy: a first line with a question many people know: „Do you also sit eight hours a day and feel it in your neck in the evening?“
- Tax advisor: a sentence that sparks curiosity: „Many businesses throw away this one receipt.“
Content people want to save or send on
When someone saves your post or sends it to a friend in a message, that is a strong sign the content is worth something. Instagram is more likely to show such posts to more people.
What gets saved and shared is mostly content that is useful or triggers a feeling: a care tip for a wooden terrace, a checklist before moving house, the recipe for the favourite cake from your bakery, an honest look behind the scenes. You will find more inspiration in the content ideas for small businesses.
Regularly rather than a lot
An account where something happens every week gets noticed by its followers more than one that suddenly fires off five posts at once after a three week break. For most small businesses, a fixed rhythm of two to three posts per week is a good starting point. How to find your rhythm is covered in the guide How often to post on Instagram.
The time of day can also play a role. But there is no magic time. Try one time for a few weeks and then compare. How to go about it is explained in the article on the best time for Instagram.
Mix formats on purpose
Every format has its strength. Photos and text tiles are quick to make and good for tips and news. Carousels with several images suit step by step explanations and before and after series. Reels are often shown to people who don't follow you yet, which makes them a good way to reach new people.
You don't have to become a film professional. A short video of a work step, filmed on your phone, is often enough. Whether reels are worth it for your business is covered in the guide on reels for businesses.
Work together with others
Many views don't come through your own account but through others. These options cost nothing:
- Joint posts: With the collaborator feature, a post appears on your account and on a partner's, for example your supplier, an architecture firm or the winemaker whose wine you serve.
- Tagging: Tag partners, customers with their consent and your location.
- Commenting: Write genuine comments on posts by businesses and clubs in your region. That makes you visible and comes across as friendly.
- Replying: Reply to comments under your posts quickly. Conversations under a post show Instagram that people are interested in it. Tips in the guide Replying to comments and reviews.
What doesn't help
Some shortcuts promise quick views and end up doing more harm than good:
- Bought views or followers: They don't interact, distort your insights and break Instagram's rules.
- Walls of hashtags: Thirty hashtags under every post look cluttered. A few relevant ones are enough. More in the guide Using hashtags properly.
- Deleting and reposting: A weak post won't get better if you publish it again the next day. Learn from it for the next one instead.
- Only advertising: If you only ever show offers, people scroll past quickly.
A plan for the next four weeks
Instead of changing everything at once, pick one point each week:
- Week 1: look at your insights, note your strongest and weakest posts, set a fixed rhythm.
- Week 2: work consciously on the first image and the first line of every post.
- Week 3: post one useful post worth saving and one look behind the scenes.
- Week 4: make a joint post with a partner, then compare the numbers with week 1.