If you’re working on default privacy settings, anyone can see your posts and your profile. If you set your account to private, only approved followers will be able to see your profile and your posts. For business purposes, this is not a good idea. You want to share as much as possible with people, therefore a private profile makes it look like you’ve got something to hide.

Who will see my posts on Instagram?

If your account is set to default privacy settings, your posts will be visible on your profile to every Instagram user. Most users probably won’t see them unless they follow you. Your followers will see any posts you make on their feed.

However, Instagram’s algorithm filters content for users based on what they like, save, and engage with. If Instagram’s algorithm thinks users will like a post, it appears at the top of their feed. To be at the top of feeds, you need to make quality posts that get lot of engagement. Increasing engagement means using hashtags related to the content you post and captions that encourage users to interact with you.  For specific users to see your posts, you can tag them using @username.

Sometimes, Instagram will put featured accounts, posts, or locations in the Search & Explore tab. This is another way that users who don’t follow your account will be exposed to your posts. Depending on who users follow, their Search & Explore tab will be full of posts that match their interests. If a user follows bloggers that use hashtags related to their field, then the algorithm will recommend similar accounts and posts. Using hashtags will increase the likelihood of users seeing your posts on their feed because users can follow hashtags. Any post that has that specific hashtag will appear on a user’s feed, regardless if they follow your account or not. Finally, users can find your posts if you tag a location that they are interested in. This is an excellent opportunity to get some more followers, so be happy if this happens to you!

Start analyzing your Instagram performance

 

Read more:
  1. What should I post on Instagram?
  2. How do I get followers on Instagram?
  3. What is the Instagram Algorithm?

Author

Thomas Kowalski

Content Marketer

Psychologist, marketer, and English teacher & proofreader who is an avid fan of good music and time spent with friends.