## New IG Best Practices, Growth Tips, & Hurricane Coverage

Eugene Yao grew 0 to 1M Instagram followers in 6 months. Here are his biggest tips on strategy, outros, and engagement.

#### 0 to 1M Followers in 6 Months

This week in Creator Studio—our Discord Community—we sat down with [_Eugene Yao (@ADHDFounder)_](https://www.instagram.com/adhdfounder/?hl=en) to discuss his insane growth on Instagram. (0 to 1M in 6 months)

Here are a few major takeaways:

#### 1\. Be More Strategic About Your Outros  
We all know a hook is important, but Eugene says outros are just as important. It’s a place to convey what you have to offer as a creator, so use it wisely.

#### 2\. Get People to Unmute

According to Adam Mosseri (the head of IG), 50% of users watch Reels and Stories with the sound off. If your content isn’t optimized for that, you’re missing out on a large chunk of viewers.

_One of many reasons closed captions are important._

#### 3\. Optimize for Each Platform

Eugene found that quantity > quality on TikTok but quality > quantity on IG.

Algorithms are different, and you can get a lot more reach if you’re open to optimizing your strategy for each platform.

[Get 1:1 Advice from People Like Eugene in the Discord](https://link.trykarat.com/DiscordNL)

#### Are Creators the Next Journalists?

First—our hearts go out to those impacted by Hurricane Helene and Milton. If there’s anything we can do to support, hit Reply on this email and let us know. 💜

Second—you might’ve noticed the influx of creators documenting the hurricane, whether via TikTok Live, IG Live, or in video updates.

Millions of people from around the world tuned in to watch creators like [_Logan Durrance_](https://www.tiktok.com/@logandurrance12) and [_Morgan Roos_](https://www.tiktok.com/@morganroos96?lang=en) share updates of the storm and document the damage. Viewers said the Lives were providing them with more real-time information, far before it hit the news.

This isn’t surprising— [_54% of US adults_](https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/fact-sheet/social-media-and-news-fact-sheet/) say they get at least some of their news from social media. And this is only expected to rise.

_via Pew Research_

#### IG’s New Best Practices Feature

IG just released a new feature called [_Best Practices_](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DA6IVAVPGMT/) (it’ll appear in your professional dashboard). It isn’t another algorithm change—just a resource to provide more transparency into how the algorithm works.

Here’s what IG says are the best practices:

**•** Accounts with the highest follower growth rates create 10+ reels per month, on average.

**•** Make the first 3 seconds capture attention.

**•** Reels that are 30-90 seconds get better engagement and are shown to more people. Reels over 90 seconds won’t be recommended to new audiences. (1️⃣)

**•** Post when your followers are active.

**•** Use trending audio.

**•** Reply to comments within a couple days. (2️⃣)

1️⃣ The 90+ second note is good to know.

The guidance to not post videos under 30 seconds is interesting.

However, one IG expert Mya Nichol says she’s found that 30-90 second videos with strong engagement get greater reach in comparison to shorter reels with strong engagement.

This is likely because it’s harder to capture attention for longer periods of time, so videos that do will be rewarded.

2️⃣ In the past, I’ve heard the advice to _not_ reply to comments. Let viewers respond to each other.

But IG says responding can generate _more_ conversation and help your content continue to get more reach.