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Your Reels are getting views and reach, but those views aren’t turning into new followers.

We’ve all been there.

This means your starting conversion rate is low. Let’s talk about how you can fix that.

Here’s the hard truth not everyone wants to hear. Everyone wants more followers, so all they focus on is “how can I get more reach?”, “how can I get in front of more people?”, “How can my post go viral so I can grow fast?”, BUT they simply aren’t ready to grow!

They want to skip a few of the fundamental steps to “grow quickly,” which actually HURTS them in the long run because they end up having to go back anyway after realizing, “hmm something isn’t working..”

Maybe that’s why you’re here!

Know Your Instagram Conversion Rate

Before you even try to grow your Instagram, you need to know what your current conversion rate is.

Your conversion rate on Instagram tells you the percentage of people that are pressing the follow button after visiting your profile.

If you aren’t able to convert a visitor NOW into a follower, reaching more accounts isn’t going to help you.

This is the formula you’re going to follow:

(# of follows / # of profile visits) x 100 = Conversion Rate %

Let’s take a look at my account for example:

• In my insights section, I had 8,130 new followers in the past 30 days from when I made my YouTube video on this topic.
• Divided by the # of profile visitors (which is 50,291)
• Times 100

(8,130 / 50,291) x 100 = 16%

That means my conversion rate is at 16%.

Right now, there is no industry standard or “rule of thumb” since nobody is really talking about this. Personally, I try to set a goal for 10% or more.

How to Interpret Your Conversion Rate

If your conversion rate is currently at or above 10%, you’re probably in a good place with your account. What if that’s the case for you and you still aren’t getting new followers from your Reels? You may simply be making a few common Reels mistakes.

For that, I recommend reading my post on the 8 most common Reels mistakes to see what you can do to improve your current Reels. But after reading this post, of course.

If you have UNDER a 10% conversion rate, then there’s your reason why your Reels aren’t helping you grow. You need to work on increasing that conversion rate!

How do you do that?

How to Increase Your Conversion Rate on Instagram

Here are 5 questions to ask yourself to help you increase your conversion rate.

“Am I actually pushing out my content consistently?”

Remember, consistent doesn’t have to mean you’re posting every day, but it does mean you have a schedule and you stick to that schedule.

If you’ve posted 10 Reels and you’re already thinking, “well this doesn’t work,” then you’re not really in it for the long haul

Reels create a snowball effect: the more Reels you post, the more people will want to binge your content when they find you.

If you’re not posting consistently, your first action step is to create a posting schedule! I have this video here that teaches you HOW to create a schedule that works for you.

“Am I being topically consistent?”

When I say “topically consistent”, yes I do mean, “are you niched down?”

This is SO SO SO IMPORTANT and one of the BIGGEST reasons I see people not convert the views they get into followers when a Reel blows up.

It’s not just your Reels that need to be topically consistent, but your entire page. If one Reel blows up that’s in the fashion niche, it’s safe to say that people who are interested in fashion are watching that video. If they go to your page, and the entirety of your bio, photos, and content is NOT fashion related, most of those people won’t follow you.

(Pro tip: if you’re running low on ideas for Reels content, check out my 50 Reels hooks to increase views.)

I’m not saying it’s BAD to post a variety of content, but if your goal is growth, you WILL grow quicker if you keep all of your content around one topic.

That brings me to the next question…

“Is it obvious what I want to be known for?”

or “Is there an obvious reason why someone should press that follow button?”

If I were to go check your profile right now, is it going to be clear to me what you do? What you want to be known for? The VALUE that you provide?

You want to give a new viewer a reason to follow you. What do they get in return for pressing that follow button?

Will they be getting meditation tips for beginners? Will they get couples humor videos? Will they get adulting 101 relatable content? Brand yourself and tell them WHY YOU.

As human beings, we all have natural selfish instincts. When people follow you, they aren’t thinking, “I just love this person and want to support them.”

No.

They’re thinking, “Wow, this will really benefit me. I really like this stuff. I’m feeling inspired.”

You need to be able to communicate what they have to gain by following you.

“Would I follow someone whose profile looks like mine?”

This one is hard to answer because you have to be as objective as possible. You need to be able to look at your page, without judgment, and still be able to analyze what you can do to improve your current strategy.

This isn’t time to be hard on yourself and say “hmm I suck”, but just be real with yourself and take some notes and give yourself an Instagram audit.

Keep track of your findings and ideas. If there’s anything, in particular, you see about other Instagram/Reels accounts, take screenshots and organize them along with your ideas on a project management platform like Trello or ClickUp.

The more detailed and organized you are with any changes you plan to make, the easier it will be to actually make those changes and track what worked and what didn’t.

And finally, this last question is the most important one.

“Why do I even want to grow in the first place?”

Why do you want to grow? There is no wrong answer here and everyone’s answer is going to be different, but understanding your WHY is strong.

When answering this question, it’s important not to criticize yourself or the answer that comes to mind.

If the answer is “because I want to be famous” or “because I want to make money”, GREAT! GO WITH THAT! Dig deeper into it.

Now ask yourself, “Why?”

Why do you want to be famous? Why do you want to make money? Keep asking why until you get to the truest answer.

Maybe it’s because you grew up watching your parents struggle financially and want to create a strong foundation for your children.

Maybe it’s because you believe there needs to be more representation and people of color in the Influencer space or in your niche.

Always circling back to your why will help you create content that is true to you and your mission and will reach the RIGHT people.

Moving Forward: To Reels and Beyond

With all of this information and those five questions, you should be able to change your Reels strategy to optimize for gaining followers.

Feel free to comment your findings and results in the comments at the bottom of this post. I always love going through and seeing what feedback you all have and interacting with my blog followers.

And if you’re ever looking for more tips, feel free to binge my YouTube videos or check out my free downloadables on growing as an Influencer.

If you’re really ready to take up a notch or two, then check out my online Instagram Course. It’s amazing. Trust me, I’d know.

I’m always telling my audience the newest and best ways to grow online as a Creator or Influencer, and I don’t hold back.

And as always, follow your joy!