← Build Your Tribe | Grow Your Business with Social Media
Build Your Tribe | Grow Your Business with Social Media
12 Tips to BOOST VIEWS on Instagram in 2026 (I answer your questions)
00:29:11
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- [00:00]
Brock
You are going to be interviewing me. I put out an Instagram story a few weeks ago asking you for your questions and I have hundreds of audio messages. So let me first say thank you so much for everyone who asked a question and submitted themselves to possibly be on this podcast. I appreciate all of your openness and willingness for me to give you feedback, give you advice, and answer your questions here. In today's episode, Aliza asked, what should
- [00:26]
Audience Member
you do, especially when you notice algorithm changes around the holidays? Should you continue your normal posting schedule or should you post fewer?
- [00:36]
Brock
Great question. Super relevant at the time this was asked and I know that you might be thinking, well, Brock, the holidays are over, so why does this matter? Let me tell you especially because there's always going to be holidays coming in the future. There are always going to be dips in engagement. There's always going to be times where people are just less engaged, less active, less attentive on the platform. And so let me say, just keep posting. Like Dory the fish says in Finding Nemo, just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. The same is true on Instagram. Just keep posting. Just keep posting. If you need a break for your own mental health, for your own sanity because your own life is stressful and crazy, go ahead, take a break, take a few days off, decrease your frequency. But there's no reason to decrease your level of posting, your consistency or anything like that during the holidays or during any other time where you notice that views and engagement drops, because that can oftentimes lead to a cycle where your views and your engagement keep going down. Basically you see less views and engagement engagement, so you start posting less. And then even as engagement and views return, maybe a few weeks or a few days later, you're still posting less, so you're still getting less views and engagement. So then you start posting even more, less, less frequently. And it's just a negative feedback loop. So just keep posting, keep staying consistent as long as you can sustain that level. This question comes from Slice of Social
- [01:53]
Audience Member
how do you do keyword research to make sure that your content contains the best keywords for SEO?
- [02:00]
Brock
When it comes to keyword research, especially as it pertains to Instagram, I think of people overthink the keywords that they are using and they stress out over SEO and all these fancy terms when instead you really just want to make sure that you are using the terms that your audience is using? You want to be using lingo, using adjectives, using verbs, nouns, all the different parts of speech that your audience already uses. That's really the key. And so while there are definitely tools that can help you out, I like to use Google Trends, I like to use Vidiq, which is technically a tool for YouTube keyword research, but very, very similar audiences of and then just general hashtag research. The best kind of research that you can do is just going into the comment sections of either your own posts or posts from popular people in your niche and just reading through the comments. What words are people using, what terms, what phrases, what lingo, what inside jokes. You can even get as specific as what emojis are they using. Like Gen Z uses the skull emoji for laughing, Millennials use the crying with laughing face and Gen X often uses the crying laughing face, but the one that's kind of tilte to the side so you can do your own research to figure out what your audience is doing, what they're using, what words they're into, and just make sure that you're using those things in your post. But the biggest thing with SEO is don't overthink it. This next question comes from Mandy and she wants to know how to reach to non followers. How do you reach non followers? There's a few things that you can reliably do to reach more non followers. The biggest one, the most important one, is to consistently create content relating to one singular topic because then the algorithm can learn what that topic is and it can show you two non followers who are interested in said topic. That's number one. Number two, increase shares, AKA create more shareworthy posts. We've talked about that in a few other episodes, but essentially share worthy posts, the things that people are sending to one another, is one of the most reliable ways to reach more non followers without even having to rely on the algorithm. So think about creating relatable humor, creating motivational posts, creating posts that are slightly unpopular, opinions or maybe even controversial posts that relate to pop culture or break breaking news. Those things are oftentimes very shareworthy. And then of course, just make sure that you are telling people to share your posts. Don't just create shareworthy posts, encourage your audience to actually share them. And then the third relatively new tool that you can use to reach non followers is trial reels where you can now post your reels to only non followers. So some of your followers I guess could find these reels, but really the purpose of them is to specifically reach non followers so that you can try them out and test out how this reel is going to perform. But a kind of added benefit is that these posts are going to reach 90% plus non followers. So it could be a great way to grow your following. This next question from Vanessa is one that I know so many of you have as well.
- [04:54]
Audience Member
How can I have more engagement on my posts?
- [04:56]
Brock
Is it by doing engagement myself? Refining my messaging engagement, the holy grail of growing on Instagram. The more engagement you get, the more views you get. The more views you get, the more followers or non followers you reach. The more followers and non followers you reach, the more customers you can get gain from Instagram. So it all starts with engagement. Speaking specifically to Vanessa, one huge mistake that I noticed she's making that I know so many of you are making is burying your calls to action. What I mean by that is you do one of these trending audio reels. It's funny, it's engaging, it's educational, whatever. It's one of these quick little, you know, seven second reels and then you write this long caption and then at the bottom of your long caption is where you put your call to action. No, no, no. We can't bury our call to action and hope that people are going to discover it like some secret treasure. Instead we need to put it in people's face. And what I mean by that is literally put it in the text, on the screen, on the reel. Which brings me to my second point. If all you're ever doing is these trending audios, these lip sync reels, it's hard for people to build community with you because they don't even know what your voice sounds like. So as scary as it is, put your face on camera and put your voice on camera. By creating educational or inspirational motivations, motivational talking head reels. That way your audience can connect with you more deeply as a human being. And hopefully that should create more of a sense of community, more trust and understanding, which should also hopefully increase your engagement. There are also a million other tips I could give, like create more share worthy content so that your post just has more views and more eyeballs in general. Another thing that I would recommend is using DM automation so you can increase the number of comments that you're getting on your posts. I would also say that controversial posts are some of the best posts on for engagement. Now whenever I say this, people are like, wait, I should try to get canceled and be offensive? No, of course not. You shouldn't try to offend anyone or try to be rude or crass or anything like that. But what I would recommend doing is using the unpopular opinions or the things that are common in your niche that you kind of disagree with and turning those things into post ideas. So you're not attacking anyone, you're not going after anyone else in your niche. You're going after ideas or topics. And I shouldn't even say going after. You're just sharing your alternative opinion, your point of view that you personally have. And these posts are usually great for engagement as well. Are you ready to take your business marketing to the next level? Meet Brevo, the all in one marketing and CRM platform built to help you connect with customers, boost engagement and grow your business smarter. With Brevo you can manage all of your customer interactions in one place, nurture leads with their built in CRM, reach your audience through email and SMS and keep them coming back with powerful automation. But here's where it gets really exciting. Meet Aura, Brevo's AI assistant. Aura helps you craft smarter campaigns by suggesting personalized content, optimizing send times, and even analyzing performance data to help you improve your strategy in real time. It's like having a marketing expert on your team 24 7. And of course, Brevo offers advanced analytics, seamless integrations and AI driven personalization. Everything you need to create multichannel campaigns that hit the mark every single time. Get started for free today or use code TRIBE50 to save 50% on starter and standard plans for the first three months of the annual subscription. Just head to www.brevo.com tribe and take your marketing further. With Brevo and Aura, how do you
- [08:20]
Audience Member
go about finding out who your online niche or audience is to sell to if you're mostly in person but trying to extend to online as well?
- [08:29]
Brock
Great question there from Connor. And of course identifying your niche is step number one for growing on Instagram. But where I think a lot of people get messed up when it comes to niche is that they have to either find near their niche, they have to discover it, they have to unlock it, or they think that their niche has to find them. When neither of those things are true, ultimately you just pick your niche. It's not that big of a deal. I mean, it is because it's step one for growing on Instagram. But it's not like getting a tattoo. It's not permanent. You can change it at any time. And so ultimately you just have to pick. Fortunately, if you're someone like Connor here and you already have an in person business or a local business, you already have a great idea of who your clientele is going to be. I define niche in two parts. It's the who and the what? Who is your clientele going to be? The demographics, the age group, the location, all of those different little things that might matter. Maybe for you it doesn't matter what their marital status is. Maybe it does. Maybe for you it doesn't matter what their age is. It probably does though. Maybe for you it doesn't matter what their education level is or anything like that. But basically try to get as specific as you can with those demographics and then the what is just the thing you're going to be talking to them about, the problems you're going to be solving, the topics you're going to be addressing. That's what your niche is. Ultimately you just pick. And like I said, if you're in Connor's case here and you already have an in person business, luckily for you, your online niche is basically going to be the same group that you're speaking to in person. Probably this next question comes from Sarah and I'm going to give her a specific answer based off her industry and a more general answer that's going to apply to pretty much anyone listening.
- [09:58]
Audience Member
What is the best type of content for me to post As a real estate agent? I have been posting 6 seconds ish b roll type content with a long caption, but I wonder if that's not the best thing for me to post.
- [10:12]
Brock
First, let me say that this 6 second trending audio reel with a long caption, while that can be effective for many people, that's not like the end all be all holy grail to having success on Instagram. And so if you're watching or listening today and that isn't what's working for you, by all means try something else. Experiment with other kinds of posts. That's the first thing I would say. Specifically for someone who is a real estate agent. I have seen a ton of super creative and engaging real estate content recently. Some examples that I could name off the top of my head is one woman, she said I'm gonna play hide and seek in my listing. And then she was like hiding in different rooms and she was like whispering into her mic so you could hear her talking but you couldn't see her. And then she would say step out. So it was like a really creative way to show off the house. Another example is a guy who does speed tours. So he literally like sprints through the house and like yells out everything that you need to know about the house super quick. There's also a viral trend a few months ago where the text on the screen was I let my Gen Z nephew edit my real estate video. And then the video was just like hilariously edit with all these crazy cuts. It was just a bunch of them, like breathing in, like getting ready to speak. So it was just like, it was super funny. Super hilarious. So my point in this is, as a real estate agent, get creative. You can't just post the same trending audio that everyone else is and expect it to do well. You also can't just do the old school, hey, I'm going to walk you through this house and tell you about every room as if you were here at the open house. Now that's not going to be engaging on social media. You have to get creative with it. And of course, while that specifically applies to real estate agents, that also is going to more generally apply to anyone listening. If you are not having the success with, let's be honest, let's call it the low effort reels, then kick it up a notch and experiment with some more high effort reels that are more creative, that are more original, more unique and not just a recreation of a trend. Next question comes from Jolie. And if you're just getting started, starting over, or you have a relatively low following, this question is for you.
- [12:05]
Audience Member
How do you gain traction when your accounts knew? Because a lot of people won't follow until you have followers, like social proof. But how do you get followers if nobody will take a chance on you? So it's kind of hard.
- [12:16]
Brock
It's not kind of hard, it's really hard. Growing is something that kind of snowballs downhill. Growing your following online, it. It's kind of like an exponential growth curve where the more followers you gain, the more followers you will gain because you have that perceived authority. That's just simple human nature. And so it's tough. The only thing that I can tell you is keep working, keep showing up, keep improving your content, keep putting yourself out there into the world. It's not easy. Most of the time. Most of us have family and friends who are good but not great. Like they're not going to hype us up as much as we would like and we don't have a following on other platforms. So all you can do is just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep posting, posting, posting, showing up, improving your content, refining your messaging, pouring into the followers that you do have, focusing on serving the people who are already on your page rather than constantly seeking out more. And of course, there are other little things that you can do, like creating shareworthy content, doing giveaways, but generally just, just keep showing up, keep creating content. I know it sucks, but embrace the suck, embrace the challenge. And the people who do embrace the challenge and who keep staying consistent are the ones who end up growing the most. It's the people who are like, ah, it didn't work for me after a month or two months or six months and they give up. They never have success. Success will come definitely eventually. So just keep staying with it. I know it's not easy, I know it's challenging, but keep refining, improving and posting. This next question from Anna Isabel is one that so many people are going to resonate with. And so I think it's important that we answer it and about it.
- [13:46]
Audience Member
How do you get over the fear to start? I feel like the knowledge I might have to help others is already out there.
- [13:53]
Brock
The fear of starting is why most people will never get started. But ultimately you have this story, you have this experience, you have lived the life that you live and you're even considering this for a reason. And so yes, you're absolutely right. The things that you're going to be sharing are most likely already out there. The tips, the education, that's most likely already out there. But your own story and experience is not. And you have your own unique story and experience so that you can share it and share your knowledge through your own lens with the world. Those things have happened to you so that you can help others with those things. The experiences, the problems that you've solved, the challenges you've overcome, those things have been done so that you can share that knowledge, that experience or that expertise with the world. So I know it's scary, I know it's scary, but be scared and do it anyways. As someone who cooks about 95% of their meals at home, and no, that's not an exaggeration. Usually the only meal that Tay and I eat out each week is our Sushi Saturday. What we eat, what we prepare, it matters a lot to us. And that's why I'm so excited to introduce you to our newest sponsor, HelloFresh. HelloFresh allows you to choose between more than 100 recipes every single week, including cuisines from all around the world and bigger portions that satisfy everyone. Over 35 of those weekly recipes are high protein recipes, which fires me up, up. And it allows me to feel great because I know that I'm eating wholesome ingredients like sustainably sourced seafood and 100 antibiotic and hormone free chicken. And of course, most important of all is how it tastes. And let me tell you, it actually tastes really good. This helps me be a better business owner because I'm able to eat meals that taste good and help me feel satisfied. I don't have to spend as much time thinking or prepping each meal and I can make sure that I'm hitting my protein goals in the process. Go to hellofresh.com byt10fm to get 10 free meals plus a free Zwilling knife which is a $144.99 value on your third box. This offer is only valid while supplies last. Free meals applied at discount on your first box for new subscribers only and varies by plan for the last few years, I've been using Notion to basically organize my entire life. It's so much more than just a to do list app. It's truly a one stop shop for organizing any area of your life or business business. And it's not just great at organization, it's also great at automations as well. There's so many complex things that you can do and build that can happen automatically and instantly within Notion. And now for the first time, they are introducing Notion AI agents. The new Notion Custom Agents will allow you to automatically perform advanced tasks without you even having to lift a finger. For example, I built a Notion custom agent that automatically pulls the link to any reel that I have posted and then it pulls out the text that I say or the text on the screen in the first few seconds of the reel. Basically, it pulls out my hook and then it's able to look at how that post performed and compare it to the hook, which allows me to see which hooks are actually working so that I can reuse them and tweak them for future reels. Notion is an AI powered connected workspace for teams. Notion brings all of your notes, docs and projects into one space that just works. It's seamless, flexible, powerful, and with AI built in, you spend less time switching between different apps and tools and more time creating great work work. Now with Notion's custom agents, busy work that used to take hours or let's be honest, didn't really get done at all runs itself. The easiest way to think about the difference between a custom agent and normal AI is that normal AI requires you as the human to prompt it, but custom agents work for you 24, seven behind the scenes without you having to lift a finger. But don't just take my word for it. Notion is used by more than half of Fortune 500 companies and some of the fastest growing companies in the world like OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. Try custom agents now at notion.com byt that's all lowercase notion n O-T-I-O-N.com by t to try custom agents today and when you use my link, you're supporting our show again. Notion.com byt Something that I'm trying not to do in 2026 is to use the term small business. Because let's be real, there's nothing small about the business that you are building. The number of different hats that you have to wear is not small. The decisions that you to make on a daily basis are not small. And the impact that you're making on yourself, your family, your customers, and possibly the entire world is not small either. And for so many business owners, the number of different platforms that you have to learn to use is also not small. But thanks to Shopify, it can be. Because Shopify is the e commerce platform that has all the tools you need in one place. Because Shopify itself used to be a quote unquote small business. Shopify's point of sale system is a unified command center for your retail business business. It brings together in person and online operations with up to 1,000 locations, which makes your customers lives easier by making shopping convenient. Endless aisle ship to customer, buy online pick up in store, all made simpler so that customers can shop the way they want and staff has tools to close the sale every time. But let's face it, acquiring new customers is expensive. With Shopify POS you can keep customers coming back with personalized experience and first party data which gives your marketing team a competitive edge. In fact, it's proven and you know I love me Some numbers based on a report from EY businesses on Shopify POS see real results like 22% better, total cost of ownership and benefits equivalent to an 8.9% uplift in sales on average relative to the markets that surveyed. Get all of the big stuff for your small business right with Shopify. Sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling on Shopify today@shopify.com Tribe go to shopify.com Tribe again, that's shopify.com Tribe how can I authentically sell authenticity? And doing things authentically is something that is always kind of a little bit funny to me because how do you be authentic is kind of like asking the question of how do you be yourself? You just do. But that's an oversimplification. So let me try to answer this question in a few helpful ways. Ways. Number one, use your own stories to sell your products. So use whatever stories or experiences or challenges that you've overcome or problems that you've solved that led you to create this product. Use those things in the promotions of said product. Let me give you an example. If I'm promoting like my Instagram membership, the Insta Club Hub, I oftentimes tell the story of how it was 2020, we were on lockdown, I was living with my mom and we were talking about how frustrating it was at as course creators to constantly be coming out with Instagram courses which then constantly had to be updated and then you constantly had to make a new one because Instagram changed again. And then you were constantly having to sell it again and you were selling something to people and then you were like a few months later being like, wait, now buy this new thing. And it was frustrating. And so that led us to the creation of an Instagram club, one that was constantly being updated and one that people could pay a month to month subscription for at a much lower price, rather than constantly having to buy a new course that was very quickly becoming outdated. So that's a story, a pain point that I have that I solved for myself, but also solves a pain point for my audience. And so that's an authentic sale. I also think, generally speaking, when you first start selling online for the first time, it's going to feel inauthentic because it's something you've never done before. So how can it feel like you, if it's something that you've literally never done, that's normal to an extent. I think that over time it's going to feel more natural, it's going to feel more normal, it's going to feel more authentic. And then the final thing I would say is that if you ever really record something that is salesy or promotional and you record it and you feel icky afterwards, that's different than feeling uncomfortable. I think there's a certain amount of uncomfortability that's normal, that's good, that's helpful, that we should embrace. But once it gets to the point where you're like, ooh, I feel gross and slimy and icky and I just don't feel good about putting this out into the world, that's different. Maybe we can then revisit that, post that content, whatever it is that you said and pick it apart and see, like, was there a specific word or, or phrase that you used that felt icky or that specifically made you very uncomfortable? And most likely it's going to be a word or phrase that you used because you've Heard someone else use it and so you're like, I think this is just the right thing to say. So you tried it out and it's not for you. That's great because now you're one step closer to finding out what is for you and what is truly authentically yourself online. This next question comes from Source the Stunner.
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Audience Member
How do I get more reach out of my stories?
- [22:21]
Brock
This is what I like to call my STD strategy. And yes, it's named that so you don't forget it. First, you're going to take a 48 hour break from your stories. Basically let all of your existing stories expire and then let an additional day go by where you have no new stories posted. You're fine to post on your feed, post your reels, whatever, but don't post any new stories. Then once that break is done, your algorithm, specifically your stories algorithm, will be reset. It will be wiped clean, clean slate. Then what you're going to do is post. And this is where STD comes in. You're going to post an STD and that stands for a single text post story with DM automation. So single meaning just one. You're not going to post multiple stories. You're just going to post one singular story and that's it for the entire day. Not post one, then a few hours later post another. No, literally one singular story. That's the S. The T is a text post story. So it's going to be a story with either a blank, solid color background or maybe like a photo of you doing whatever it is you're going to be doing. But it's key that it's a photo and not a video. And then on top of that photo or that solid color background, you're going to add a bunch of text. I'm talking about like paragraphs, like a lot of text. Like write multiple, multiple sentences of text. And then at the bottom of that text, you're going to end with a call to action that uses DM automation. So essentially it's going to end with something like reply with the word question. If you have a question, reply with the word code. If you want the discount code, reply with the word X. If you want Y. That's what's going to end your story. And then that's it. Let it sit for 24 hours. And statistically speaking, I'm pretty confident in saying what I'm about to say. That will be your most viewed story maybe ever. At least it'll be your most viewed story recently. Essentially how this works is because your algorithm is wiped clean whenever you post a story. The algorithm is essentially, this is an oversimplification, but it's doing a math equation that is a big division line. And on top of the division line, the numerator is, is the total number of engagement, the total amount of engagement that your story is getting, whether it's a reply, whether it's a, like, whether it's someone clicking on like a sticker, total amount of engagement, division bar. And then the denominator below the division bar is how many stories have you posted? So, simple math. Let's say that you have 100 people engaging with a story and you have one singular story posted. Well, the answer to that equation is 100, right? 100 divided by 1 is 100. Well, if you have 100 engagements on that story and then you post a second story, well, now the answer is 50. Literally half the engagement rate. And so essentially every time you post an additional story, your average engagement rate goes down. And the algorithm is not a fan of that. So just post one story, post an std, and it should be your most viewed story, maybe ever. Okay, next question comes from Kai. Or maybe it's K. I'm sorry if I'm saying it wrong. Here's her question.
- [25:11]
Audience Member
What's the single most important strategy or habit I should focus on right now to consistently grow my audience, engage them, and convert followers into clients?
- [25:23]
Brock
Okay, so yes, shareworthy posts is a great way to reach those people. But bigger than that, and I want to give kind of a different answer to this question, I would say focus on improving your own skill of empathy. Empathizing with your ideal customer, empathizing with your follower. Why is that? Because empathy is what will allow you to create content that resonates more strongly with them. Them. Content that when they see it, they stop, they watch, they engage, maybe they even share. Empathizing with your audience means understanding their pain points, knowing their struggles, knowing exactly how they're feeling. Like, if you've ever been scrolling through your feed and you're like, oh my gosh, I needed to see this, or I needed to hear this, or oh my gosh, is this person living in my brain with the things they said in this post, that's because that person was able to empathize with you, maybe even without ever talking to or meeting you. So that's a skill. That's a skill that can be improved and refined over time. And yes, there are things you can do to practice that skill, but ultimately it's just going to take time. To improve that skill. Doing that skill will improve every area of your business and your content, whether it's from creating more engaging, share worthy posts, to creating offers that are irresistible to your audience, to actually creating then promotions and sales posts that promote that offer in a way that makes your audience feel like, oh my gosh, I need this. And you know, they need it because it could clearly solve their problems. I know it's not like the sexy strategy of an STD strategy, but at the end of the day, empathizing with your audience and your ideal customers is something that if you can Master, you will 100% be successful with online business. One of the most common questions that I receive is the one that Tanya asked How many times a day should I post on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube in order to grow those accounts? What's interesting is the answer is actually going to vary based off each of the platforms. So let's start with YouTube. YouTube I would recommend, when we're talking about long form, horizontal, that kind of traditional YouTube videos, no more than two a week, really one to two, with a focus more on quality than quantity. You really want to make sure that your videos are professionally done. I shouldn't say professionally done, but they're, they're as good as you can make them. One a week is a great goal to strive for, but even if you can only do, let's say, one every other week, I think that's great for consistency on YouTube. On TikTok it is almost the complete opposite. Yes, quality matters, but TikTok we see a super strong correlation between accounts that are posting three, four, five times a day and accounts that are growing the fastest. So on TikTok it truly is the more you post, the more you grow, with less of an emphasis on quality and more of an emphasis on quantity. Again, I'm not encouraging you to just post random crap, but make sure it's related to your niche. Make sure it's valuable or educational or, you know, relatable, funny, whatever, but post as much as you can on TikTok on Instagram. It is also true that the more you post, the more you grow. However, I wouldn't Recommend necessarily posting 5 or 6 times a day, especially when you're first getting started on Instagram. But if you can post twice a day consistently on Instagram, you will have success, likely a lot faster than someone who's posting only once a day or once every other day. Because it is true on Instagram as well that the more you post, the more you grow. Generally speaking, with all of these platforms, though, I got to tell you that this focus on what you can sustain. Because what a lot of people do is they hear me say the more you post, the more you grow. And then they start going for two posts a day and then they burn out and they run out of content and all of a sudden they miss a few weeks, they miss a month. That inconsistency is going to lead to a lot less growth rather than, you know, sprinting for a month and then standing still for a month. Slow and steady does truly win the race. So figure out what you can sustain based off of your goals, your current season of life, your current your availability, your resources and whatnot, and stick to that number that you can sustain. I think we're actually going to continue this Q and A as almost like a series continuing on. We'll see how long it lasts. I might try to curate some questions about specific topics so that maybe we can do an entire episode where you ask me questions about selling, or you ask me questions about niche, or you ask me questions about stories or whatever. So just be on the lookout for that. And also, if you ever have any questions that you want answered on the show, send me an audio message on Instagram. Or if you have a specific guest or topic that you would like me to cover, you can also DM that to me on Instagram. But again, thank you so much for being here. Don't forget to subscribe and I'll see you next week.