Instagram and TikTok growth tricks: what works, and what gets accounts restricted

Instagram and TikTok both tell you, in their own words, what they rank on. Most “growth hacks” either use those signals well or try to fake them. The first kind works. The second kind is against the rules, and both platforms say what they do about it.

Start with what they say. Instagram's head, Adam Mosseri, has named the top three ranking signals: watch time, likes and sends. Likes matter slightly more with your followers. Sends matter slightly more with people who do not follow you yet. TikTok says its For You feed runs on what each viewer does, plus video information like captions, sounds and hashtags. It also says follower count and past hits are not direct factors.

So a small account can win on both apps. Here is how.

The hook and the first-seconds rule

In an October 2024 reel, Mosseri reportedly called the first seconds of a reel super important, and said the best hooks use on-screen text and set expectations for what is coming. The exact “three seconds” you hear everywhere is a rule of thumb, not a number either app has published. The idea behind it is sound, because watch time is a top signal.

The trick: open on the payoff, not the setup. Show the finished kitchen, then the mess. Put a short line of text on screen in the first second, because plenty of people scroll with the sound off. Cut the “hey guys” intro. Every second before the point is a second people can leave.

Trial reels: test on strangers first

Instagram's trial reels show a reel to non-followers first. It does not appear on your grid or in your followers' feeds. About 24 hours later you can see its views, likes, comments and shares. You can share a winner with everyone yourself, or set it to share on its own if it does well in its first 72 hours.

This is the honest version of the old “post, delete, repost” hack. Try two hooks for the same idea as two trials. Keep the one strangers watch longer. Your followers never see the loser.

Posting windows: use your own numbers

Every “best time to post” chart is someone else's audience. Yours is in your analytics. TikTok's analytics show when your followers are active, by day and hour. Instagram's insights do the same for professional accounts.

Post a little before your followers' busiest hour, so the video is fresh when they arrive. Then check after a few weeks and move the time if your numbers say so. Treat any one-size-fits-all time as folklore.

Carousels vs reels

Neither app has published a rule that one format beats the other. Some marketers suspect carousels do well because swiping holds people longer, but that is a guess, not a statement from Instagram.

Use each for what it is good at. Reels for reach with new people. Carousels for things people save and send: a checklist, a before-and-after, “five things to ask before you hire.” Sends are a ranking signal, so a carousel worth forwarding earns its place. Then let your own insights decide the mix.

Collab posts: borrow an audience, honestly

An Instagram collab post shows on both accounts. When the other account accepts, its name goes on the post and the post is shared with its followers. One post, two audiences, one shared set of likes and comments.

Pair with a business your clients already use and trust. A landscaper and a pool builder. A bakery and the coffee shop next door. Make one useful video together and both of you post it.

Keywords people search, in captions and on screen

Both apps are search engines now. Mosseri has said that to show up in Instagram search, put keywords in the caption, not the comments, and in your name and bio. Hashtags help Instagram understand a post, but they are no longer a big reach lever. TikTok says captions, sounds and hashtags are part of the video information it uses.

The trick: write the caption's first line the way a client would type the search. “Kitchen remodel cost in Austin,” not “Big news!!” Say the same words out loud in the video and put them on screen. Keep it natural. A caption stuffed with keywords reads like spam to people, and people decide whether to keep watching.

Trending audio: the business-account catch

Trending sounds can help a video get picked up. But on TikTok, a business account only sees the Commercial Music Library, a library of about a million cleared tracks, not every trending song. That is a licensing line, not a glitch. Switching to a personal account to grab a hit song for an ad does not clear the rights.

One more Instagram trap: do not post a TikTok with its watermark still on. Instagram has said it does not recommend reels with other apps' logos. Your own logo is fine. Export a clean file and post it to each app.

The gray-area tricks, and which ones break the rules

Follow/unfollow. Following hundreds of accounts to get follow-backs, then unfollowing them. It breaks the rules. Meta's spam standard bans very high-frequency activity, by hand or by tool, and says accounts can be restricted even at lower rates when other signs of spam are there. In practice that means blocks on following, liking or commenting.

Engagement pods. Groups that agree to like and comment on each other's posts. It breaks the rules. The same Meta standard bans selling, buying or exchanging engagement such as likes, shares, views and follows. A pod is an exchange. The likes come from people who were never going to buy from you anyway.

Buying views, likes or followers. It breaks the rules on both apps. Meta bans buying engagement. TikTok's integrity rules ban services that artificially boost engagement. TikTok says it removes fake likes and followers it finds, can restrict an account from posting or from the For You feed and search, and can ban it, along with new accounts made to get around the ban. In the US, the FTC's 2024 rule also bans buying fake indicators of social media influence to look bigger for business.

Reposting other people's videos. Allowed, but it costs reach. Mosseri said Instagram ranks original content higher, and accounts that mostly repost others see less reach.

“Comment ‘yes’ to get the guide.” Fine as an offer. Not fine as a gate. Meta's spam standard bans telling people they must engage to see content you promised them. Give the thing away in a DM to anyone who asks, not only to people who commented.

How to tell if you have already been hit: Instagram's Account Status screen, on professional accounts, shows whether your posts can be recommended to non-followers. If they cannot, it shows what may be the reason, and you may be able to ask for a review.

Or just ask VEXI

The tricks that work are a steady habit: a good hook, the right time, a version for each app. VEXI does that part.

Ask for a reel in the chat and it comes back cut, with B-roll and captions, sized for each platform. Show it a video you like and it studies the pacing, captions and energy, then makes yours the same way, with your words and your footage. It posts for you to Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Threads and your Google Business Profile. Autopilot posts at the times your audience actually shows up, and it can wait for your approval on everything.

No pods. No bought views. Just the steady habit, done for you. Or just ask VEXI.

See what VEXI makes, see how Autopilot works, or see the plans.