The Posting Schedule That Got Me 173K Followers: My Proven Strategy for Social Media Growth
Building an Instagram following from scratch can feel like an uphill battle. Whether you're a new creator or have been grinding away for months, you’ve probably wondered how to break through that follower plateau. Trust me, I’ve been there! I’ve hit those milestones: 2K, 10K, 50K—each time wondering what I was missing. But after experimenting, tweaking, and fine-tuning my approach, I finally hit 173K followers. And today, I’m spilling the tea on the posting schedule that got me there.
This strategy doesn’t require expensive courses, gimmicks, or shortcuts. It’s about consistency, staying organized, and engaging with your audience in meaningful ways. I’m here to share the exact schedule and tactics that helped me scale my Instagram—step by step.
1. Consistency is Key: My Monday to Friday Posting Routine
First things first, consistency is the foundation of everything. When I started growing my Instagram, I realized that the key to staying visible and building trust with my audience was sticking to a regular posting schedule. For me, that meant posting Monday through Friday and consistently showing up every weekday without fail.
Here’s why this matters: posting regularly keeps your content in front of your audience, building trust over time. When you show up on a set schedule, people start expecting your content, and you’ll find it easier to build a connection with your followers. This is especially important in a world where attention spans are short and algorithms prioritize regular engagement.
By sticking to a Monday-to-Friday cadence, I avoided burnout while keeping my followers engaged with new content every day. It wasn’t just about quantity—it was about quality and predictability. Knowing my followers could count on seeing new content every weekday meant they were more likely to engage, share, and interact with my posts. And the more engagement I got, the more likely Instagram was to recommend my content to new users.
2. The Power of Content Pillars: Stay Focused, Stay Relevant
Now, posting every day is great, but you need to be strategic about what you’re posting. This is where content pillars come in. Content pillars are essentially your core themes, guiding your content creation. By having defined pillars, you can stay consistent with your message and ensure your content is always relevant to your audience.
In my case, I’ve crafted five essential content pillars that guide my posts. They’ve helped me stay on track and focused, especially when the pressure of constant posting started to feel overwhelming. Here are my five:
Educational Content: Whether it’s tips, tricks, or how-tos, these posts help my audience learn something new.
Behind-the-Scenes: I share snippets of my life, my work process, or even personal stories. This builds trust and connection with my audience.
User-Generated Content: Featuring content from my followers or customers helps foster community and boosts engagement.
Trending Content: I keep an eye on trending topics or viral memes and use them to stay relevant.
Personal Stories: I open up about my own experiences, which humanizes me and allows followers to connect on a deeper level.
By posting within these five pillars, I ensure that my content is diverse, valuable, and appealing to a wide range of followers. If you’re not sure where to start, identify the 3-5 themes that align with your brand and mission. These will guide your content creation and ensure you always have a clear direction for your posts.
3. Timing and Frequency: Finding the Sweet Spot for Maximum Engagement
Once you’ve got your content pillars nailed down, the next step is deciding how often and when to post. While you don’t need to post every hour of the day, finding the right posting frequency and timing can make all the difference.
I posted once a day during the week, Monday through Friday, which gave me a consistent presence on my followers' feeds. But the key to success wasn’t just the frequency—it was the timing.
In my case, I found that posting between 8:00 AM and 11:00 AM (depending on the time zone of my target audience) worked best. Why? Because that’s when my audience was most active—right before they got busy with work or school. By catching them early in their day, I was able to get maximum engagement, which is crucial for organic reach on Instagram.
Instagram’s algorithm rewards early engagement, so if you can get your followers to engage with your content within the first few hours of posting, your post is more likely to be pushed out to a wider audience. Keep an eye on your insights to figure out when your audience is most active and try to post consistently around those times.
4. Leveraging Instagram’s New Updates: The Game-Changer of Longer Reels
Speaking of timing, one of the game-changing updates Instagram rolled out recently was the ability to create longer Reels—up to 3 minutes long. When I heard about this update, I was excited because it opened up so many new possibilities for my content. In the past, Reels were capped at 90 seconds, which sometimes didn’t give me enough time to get into the meat of what I wanted to share.
But with the ability to create longer Reels, I could provide more value-driven content, whether it was through detailed tutorials, in-depth product reviews, or even behind-the-scenes looks at my day-to-day life. Longer Reels also give you the opportunity to capture more engagement, and if your content is valuable enough, people are more likely to watch the full video, comment, and share.
What’s great about this feature is that it doesn’t just benefit creators—it also works for Instagram’s algorithm, which loves longer watch times. So, when you create Reels that keep your audience engaged for longer, Instagram is more likely to show your content to new people. The key here is to create quality content that not only entertains but also educates or inspires your followers.
5. Post-Engagement Strategy: How to Keep the Conversation Going
Finally, it’s not enough to just post content—you have to engage with your followers afterward. One thing I’ve learned over time is that engagement is a two-way street. After posting, I made sure to spend time responding to comments, answering DMs, and engaging with my followers on their content as well.
But here’s the trick: don’t wait for your followers to come to you—go to them! Spend time interacting with other accounts in your niche, liking their posts, commenting on their content, and sharing stories. The more you engage with others, the more likely they are to notice you and engage with your content.
One last thing: be sure to use Instagram Stories to continue the conversation. I use Stories to ask questions, run polls, and engage with my followers in real-time. It’s a great way to build relationships and keep the conversation flowing. And the more engagement you get on your posts and Stories, the more likely Instagram will push your content to a wider audience.
Consistency, Strategy, and Engagement—That’s the Winning Formula
To summarize, growing your Instagram to 173K followers didn’t happen overnight—it was the result of a consistent posting schedule, strategic content creation, and meaningful engagement. By following a Monday-to-Friday cadence, sticking to my content pillars, timing my posts strategically, and utilizing Instagram’s new features like longer Reels, I was able to build a strong, engaged community.
Now, I’m passing the torch to you. Try implementing these strategies, track your progress, and refine your approach as you go. The key is to stay consistent, provide value, and most importantly, keep engaging with your audience.
Your growth journey might take time, but with the right schedule and strategy, you’ll see results!
