Instagram is a constantly changing social media platform that used to be known for food and vacation photos and now is the destination place for everyone from Gen Z youth to activists and news organizations. If you’ve been struggling to have your nonprofit or foundation’s content get seen amidst the crowded memes or are confused about why your Instagram reach and engagement has been lower than usual, it may be time to refresh your strategy. 

Here are some approaches that can help revive your organization’s Instagram page and engage more people with your content.

Create an Instagram Reel

Instagram Reels are fun, short videos lasting 15 or 30 seconds that can get you more engagement than a regular post on your feed. For Black Girl Freedom Fund’s first cohort of grantees, we created an Instagram Reel to celebrate and tagged all the organizations. In just one day, the Reel received 3,737 views and was shared 20 times!

Add stickers and polls to your Instagram Stories

The more engagement your Instagram Story receives, the more likely it’ll show up for your followers. Two ways you can increase engagement is by adding stickers and polls that allow your followers to respond to your content. You can poll them about their opinion on a topic, their excitement for an event, or add reactions to a donor testimonial.

Create Instagram carousel posts

Instagram carousels can have up to 10 slides, so use that space wisely to tell a story, share a news article or break down a topic that’s important to your organization’s work. You may not get people to go to your website, so if you can provide all the relevant information in a post then you will successfully capture their attention. Check out a few great examples from StopAsianHate, where they shared key parts of their Stop AAPI Hate National Report and Justice4BlackGirls, where they informed their followers about the murder of Mikayla Miller and shared call to actions.  

Focus on content that gets shared and saved

Instagram’s algorithms are tailored to how users navigate and interact with the content they see. If your followers are not liking, commenting or sharing your posts, your content will start appearing less and less in their feed. Don’t just post the same content you shared on Facebook or Twitter. Make sure your images are high-quality, cropped to a square size, and have friendly fonts and colors that make people want to take the time to read and share your posts. If you share helpful or educational information that isn’t just self-promotional, your followers will appreciate that and increase their activity and interest in your account which will boost your visibility.  

Include a link in bio service to increase web traffic

Instagram generally has a low click rate to websites outside the app, but if you want to get your followers to go to your website to read a blog or purchase a ticket for an event, you’ll want to make the pathway easy for them. You can include a link in your Instagram bio such as Later that replicates your feed with clickable photos that take you directly to whatever page you want (much like online stores do with their products). Later also provides great analytics and a scheduling platform so you can manage your Instagram content in one place. 

When it comes to social media, you don’t have to be everywhere, but Instagram is one of the most actively used platforms especially with younger audiences. If you want to capture their attention and move them to support your cause, try out the tips we’ve shared to take your Instagram to the next level.