A Guide to Socials from The Peaches

Growing an Instagram channel effectively has largely revolved around Reels—at least for the last 4–5 years. While we’re not experts, we get asked a lot for advise because of our own following, so we wanted to share what has worked for us in two different cases.

• In 2021, we grew the account of a Michelin star chef from 1,200 to 4,500 followers in nine months by creating a series of Reels (two seasons) and running two competitions.
• In 2024, we grew our own Instagram from 2,000 to 40,000 followers in the same timeframe—this time by landing a few viral reels and increasing our posting rate.

From these experiences, we’ve put together a few tips that might help you.

The Quick (But Not Easy) Way: Going Viral

For a Reel to go viral—or at least get a significant number of views—you need a high percentage of viewers to watch a high percentage of the video.

How to Get Views (Reels Edition)

The first three seconds are crucial. This is the hook, and you need one of the following:

1. Target the audience directly – Solve a problem or address a need:
   • “Want to make money online?”
   • “Tired of boring holidays?”
   • “Fed up with short legroom on flights?”
2. Something weird or intriguing – Show something unusual or difficult to immediately identify, making people stay to figure it out.
3. Visually impressive content – Start with something eye-catching or unexpected to excite viewers.

The hardest part is getting that first viral video. Once you’ve cracked the code, it’s repeatable. We used the same formula from our first viral Reel three or four times and hit 1 million views each time.

Converting Views into Followers

Not all viral videos bring in followers. If viewers enjoy your content enough, they’ll check out your page—but then comes the real test: will they follow?

To convert views into followers successfully, your page needs a series of similar content that continue the theme of your viral content.

For example, in 2020, we created a cooking series where every episode taught people how to make a dish. The recipe was in the caption, and we ended each video with “Follow us so you don’t miss next week’s episode!” This worked because it gave people a reason to follow.

Sticking with the Times & Staying Current

Content that aligns with what people want right now will always perform better.

•  During the Covid lockdowns, our cooking series did well because everyone was at home cooking—the demand for recipes was huge.
•  A big 2023–2024 trend has been behind-the-scenes content and showing the founder’s journey. People care more about the how and why than the final product itself.

General Tips to Improve Engagement & Views

Community Management:

• Reply to all comments – Ask questions and start conversations. Instagram pushes content with higher engagement.
• Use Stories to interact – Polls, Q&As, and interactive stickers boost visibility.
  • Example: When we posted a Story saying “Looking for a runner?” it got 10K views. A standard shoot photo? 500 views.
  • Lesson: People engage when there’s something in it for them.

Running Competitions

Competitions can be a great growth tool, but they need to be done strategically.

•  Keep it simple – “Like, comment, and follow” works best. Too many steps = people won’t bother.
  Offer a worthwhile prize – If it’s not valuable, no one will enter.
  Wait until you have at least 1,000 followers – Otherwise, people might think it’s a scam.
  Always show the winner – Post it on Stories to prove legitimacy for future competitions.

Final Thoughts

Growing an Instagram following isn’t just about going viral—it’s about turning those views into long-term engagement. By creating valuable, trend-driven content and actively managing your community, you can build a strong, engaged audience.

We hope this helps!