New member here – focused on Instagram and content marketing

[jessicabrr]

Title: Looking for advice on growing an Instagram page the "smart" way (no shady stuff)

Hey everyone,

I’m building an Instagram page in the iche and I’m looking for solid, *smart* ways to grow it. I’m not interested in anything illegal or that will obviously get the account banned in a week – I want something sustainable that actually builds an audience.

Current situation:
- Niche: [describe your niche]
- Followers: ~[X]
- Average reach per post: [X]
- Content type: [Reels / carousels / memes / educational content, etc.]

What I’ve already tried:
- Posting consistently
- Basic hashtag strategy
- Engaging with comments and DMs
- Testing different post formats and hooks

What I’d really like help with:
1. Traffic sources *outside* Instagram that are worth testing (forums, communities, SEO, email, etc.)
2. Any tools or automations that are still relatively safe to use (respecting platform limits and rules as much as possible).
3. Suggestions on how to turn followers into leads or buyers (funnels, tripwires, low-ticket offers, etc.)

If you have any working methods, case studies or even threads here on the forum that you recommend I read first, I’d really appreciate if you can point me in the right direction.

Thanks in advance!