How to Grow on Instagram (Without Posting)

The most effective way to grow on Instagram is, without a doubt, posting Instagram Reels. If you view your insights, it’s the number one type of content that reaches non-followers, aka people outside of your network who don’t follow you yet. 

But, there is a slept-on strategy that can help you grow and get more engagement without actually posting, and it’s COMMENTING.

In this blog, I’m going to lay out five strategies that we discussed on this week’s Walk Thru episode to help you gain more followers and get discovered without posting a thing. 

#1—The Gary Vee $1.80 Strategy

You might have heard this before, but I want to reiterate how important this is. Originally, Gary Vee came up with the $1.80 strategy of searching for ten different hashtags within your niche and commenting on nine of the posts, leaving your two cents. This can help you get discovered and get more followers as other people engage in the comment section and see your brilliance. 

Now, more than ever this strategy works because Instagram has gamified the comment section with likes and pins. Instead of searching for relevant hashtags, I recommend turning on the post notifications of accounts in your niche or big accounts in real estate so you can be the first to comment. The earlier you comment, the more likely you are to rack up likes and potentially get pinned. 

So, go to large local accounts or large real estate accounts (if you want follows from other agents), hit the notification bell in the top right corner, and leave a witty or helpful comment. Do this a few times a day and it will help you get discovered. Dan MacKinnon, a guest on this week’s Walk Thru left a comment that 15,000 likes on a news account, and he picked up 100 new followers. So, it works!

#2—Ask Questions In Your Own Comments

If someone leaves a comment on your post, ask them a question back. This will drive another comment, netting you THREE total comments from one comment. 

For example, if someone says “I love this neighborhood!” Simply reply, “What do you like about it?” BOOM. Engagement Bomb. 

Lindsey Jo recommends using their name in your reply to personalize the message and really show them you appreciate their interaction. 

Moral of the story: if someone takes time to comment on your post, you should comment back. It encourages more comments on that post and future posts. 

#3—Use Keywords In Your Comments

This one blew my mind. Lindsey Jo shared a post from social media guru Julia Broome, in which she said that IG users should use keywords in their comments to make them more searchable.

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A post shared by Julia Broome (@juliabroome)

To summarize, TikTok already does this and she thinks Instagram is becoming more like YouTube and TikTok where it recognizes keywords for SEO. So, she recommends using keywords in your caption and in your replies to other comments. 

For example, if the post is about a house in Sarasota, use words like Sarasota, real estate, house, open house, and listing to make it more discoverable. Jury is still out on this one, but it’s definitely worth the try. 

#4—Pin Comments To Drive More Comments

Another tip from Lindsey Jo is pinning comments supportive of your content or comments that drive more engagement. 

For example, if she posts something controversial that gets people debating, she will pin a comment that she knows will cause more interaction on the post. I also do this on my own comments (almost like a secondary caption). 

Some people go straight to the comment section and don’t read the caption, so it’s good to try to catch them again with a call to action. For example, if I’m running a ManyChat bot I will pin my own comment that says “comment the word ___” to make sure people see it. 

#5—Let People Find Your Content Organically

Danny Deals told us his comment strategy is to text the link to his team so they can all comment to “rally the troops.” He also said he comments from a bunch of his own accounts to try drive more engagement. 

But, I am here telling you NOT to do this. If you want to get your friends to comment on a post, text them and tell them you just posted without sending them the link. That way they come across the post through search and more organically. Instagram picks up on inauthentic engagement and engagement farms so it’s best to let people engage through discovery. 

We dropped all these comment tips on this week’s Walk Thru, which is a must-watch: 

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By the way, if you want to dive deeper into all things Instagram, I have an entire course in BAMx where I teach all my growth strategies. Plus, courses on profile optimization, lead magnet plugs, ManyChat, and more. 

BAMx also gives you WEEKLY content to post with three social templates, two video scripts, one email, and one blog that you can customize and send to your database. 

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Have a great weekend!