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How to Grow Your Meme Page to Virality on Instagram: The Ultimate 7 Step Playbook

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So you want to grow a wildly popular meme page on Instagram?

Great idea! Who doesn‘t love scrolling through some hilarious memes to brighten up their day?

But building a successful meme page from scratch is far from easy my friend. The Instagram meme game is competitive, with meme lords battling for the coveted title of "most viral meme page".

Not to worry though! I‘ve got your back.

In this epic playbook, I‘m going to reveal the insider strategies top meme pages use to go viral on Instagram. From niche topics to collaboration tactics, we‘ll explore 7 fundamental steps to launch your meme page into the social stratosphere.

Let‘s get started shall we? This is going to be fun!

Step 1: Laser Focus on a Specific Meme Niche

The foundation of every great meme page is its niche.

Trying to create content around generic memes and random viral trends will only get you so far. To stand out, you need to double down on a specific niche or topic.

But don‘t just pick any broad niche like "fitness" or "gaming". You need to dig deeper into hyper-specific sub-niches and themes.

For example:

  • The Office memes
  • Anime memes
  • NFL memes
  • Memes for cat lovers
  • Psychology memes

A tightly defined niche does three things:

  1. Attracts super fans who are obsessed with the topic. This builds a highly engaged community.

  2. Gives you endless meme material to work with around current events, inside jokes, etc.

  3. Differentiates you from the sea of broad meme pages on Instagram.

So how do you select the right niche? Here are my top tips:

Go with topics you genuinely love and enjoy. Don‘t just chase niches that seem popular. Your passion will come through in the memes you create.

Research different niche sizes. Some are too small to have demand while others are overly saturated. Look for that sweet spot in between.

Check out competitors. Search related hashtags and accounts to analyze what other meme pages exist in the niche. Make sure it‘s not too crowded.

Consider trends and seasonality. Sports and TV show memes align with their seasons. Holiday memes work for short windows. Factor that in.

Once you‘ve selected your Holy Grail meme niche, it‘s time to start creating some hilarious content!

Step 2: Craft an Appealing Profile to Showcase Your Niche

With a niche locked in, you need to create a gorgeous Instagram profile to reel in followers.

Your profile serves as the storefront to your meme page. A sloppy profile signals low-quality content and will repel followers.

Some quick profile optimization tips:

Profile Picture: Use an image relevant to your niche – like a cute dog for animal memes. Don‘t just upload a random selfie.

Bio: Explain your meme niche in a short, catchy bio. Include relevant keywords people may search for.

Name: Tie your name to the niche too. "Fitness Memes" is better than your real name.

Link: Add your website or Linktree to direct people to other pages or merch.

Highlights: Show off your best and most "on brand" Stories as Highlights. Give followers a taste of your content.

Aesthetic: Pick a color scheme and style that fits your niche. Anime memes want a different look than NFL memes.

With a polished profile that clearly communicates your niche, it will be much easier to build an engaged following.

Step 3: Master Instagram Stories to Take Engagement to the Next Level

Posting in the Instagram Feed is just the beginning my friend. Instagram Stories is where the engagement magic really happens.

Meme pages that actively post on Stories and interact with followers see their overall engagement skyrocket.

Here are some of my favorite ways to use Stories for insane engagement:

  • Give followers meme teasers and sneak peeks of upcoming content.

  • Do weekly meme Q&As and ask me anything sessions. Let followers submit questions.

  • Run funny polls and questions to crowd source memes. Engage your audience in content creation.

  • Share user-generated memes and fan art submissions. Repost the best ones.

  • Go live and chat with followers in real time. Take live requests and feedback.

  • Promote your best Stories as Highlights on your profile so they remain visible.

See how powerful Stories are? Don‘t miss out on this game changing tool for engagement.

Oh, and one more thing – make sure you actively view and respond to your followers‘ Stories too. Engagement is a two-way street!

Step 4: Post Viral Memes Consistently and Constantly

Now for the fun part – posting hilarious, engaging memes multiple times a day!

But you can‘t just post low-effort recycled memes and expect them to go viral. Your memes require thoughtful strategy.

Here are my top tips for creating viral meme content:

Quality over quantity. Only post your very best memes. Don‘t flood feeds with excessive posts. Craft high quality content.

Curate and create. Both originally created memes and curated viral memes can work great. Find a healthy mix of both.

Know your niche. Study meme formats and jokes popular in your niche. Create content specifically catered to your audience.

Leverage trends. Stay on top of current events, news and trends related to your niche. Turn them into timely memes quickly.

Use data to optimize. Analyze your top performing memes and formats. Make more of what succeeds.

Engage with your audience. Reply to comments. Repost user generated content. Build a relationship.

Find the right hashtags. Include a mix of popular and niche hashtags so the right people find your memes.

Post consistently. Aim for 1-3 posts per day during peak times when your audience is most active.

Pay attention to analytics. Use tools like Iconosquare to identify your audience demographics and best posting times. Continuously optimize.

With the right mix of science and creativity, your memes will be primed for virality!

Step 5: Partner with Other Meme Pages to Expand Your Reach

The more meme pages you team up with, the faster you can grow. Forming partnerships allows you to tap into each other‘s audiences for growth.

Here are some powerful ways to collaborate:

  • Repost each other‘s best memes and tag/shoutout partner accounts. Share audiences.

  • Jointly run meme contests and campaigns. Co-create exclusive content.

  • Promote partners via Stories takeovers. Do weekly meme page takeovers.

  • Create a meme "Network" channel featuring partner channels. Cross-promote.

  • Like and comment on each other‘s posts. Help boost engagement.

  • Share each other‘s posts and accounts to your Close Friends list. Access their inner circle.

The key is to partner with meme pages in related niches so the audiences overlap but don‘t directly compete. A win-win!

Step 6: Run Meme Contests and Giveaways

Contests, giveaways and sweepstakes are growth-hacking staples for a reason – they work!

Offering prizes and incentives is the perfect way to rapidly grow an engaged following. Plus they‘re fun!

Some creative meme contest ideas:

  • Meme of the Week – Users submit memes and the one with the most likes wins a prize.

  • Caption Contest – Supply a meme template and users submit caption ideas.

  • GIF Emoji Meme Contest – Users make GIFs of your branded emoji.

  • Tag-a-Friend Giveaways – Users tag friends for a chance to win. Viral reach.

  • Hashtag Contest – Create a branded hashtag and users submit memes with it.

Contests not only attract new followers, they also deepen engagement with current followers. Everyone loves prizes and friendly competition!

The key is to promote the heck out of your contests using Stories, posts, emails, and more. Maximize entries by making it ultra-shareable.

Step 7: Diversify Your Presence Across Multiple Platforms

While Instagram may be your meme headquarters, having a presence across multiple platforms is critical for continued growth.

Each platform allows you to reach new audiences:

  • TikTok: Repurpose video memes. Huge young user base.

  • Twitter: Known for edgy memes. Retweet memes that crush it on Instagram.

  • YouTube: Upload a weekly meme compilation video. Rank in search.

  • Website: Build an email list and sell merch. More impact and revenue.

  • Reddit: Share memes in relevant subreddits. Tap into communities.

The broader your reach across the social web, the faster you can scale your meme audience.

Treat other platforms as additional distribution channels for your best performing Instagram meme content. Recycle and repurpose as much as possible.

Wrapping Up the 7 Steps to Instagram Meme Domination

And there you have it my friend! The complete blueprint to building a wildly viral meme page on Instagram.

Let‘s quickly recap the 7 essential steps:

  1. Choose a niche meme topic
  2. Craft an appealing, on-brand profile
  3. Use Instagram Stories for engagement
  4. Post viral memes consistently
  5. Partner with other meme pages
  6. Run contests and giveaways
  7. Expand your reach across platforms

Now the fun begins. It‘s time to start putting this strategic playbook into action and making some magic happen!

The Instagram meme game is certainly competitive, but with focus, grit and creativity, you have all the tools needed to build the next legendary viral meme page.

I can‘t wait to see the awesome memes you create and the communities you build! Feel free to reach out if you have any other questions.

Good luck and go crush it!

AlexisKestler

Written by Alexis Kestler

A female web designer and programmer - Now is a 36-year IT professional with over 15 years of experience living in NorCal. I enjoy keeping my feet wet in the world of technology through reading, working, and researching topics that pique my interest.