What Drives Audience Reach on Instagram? Evidence from an Indonesian Government Institution’s Instagram Account

Abstract

Optimizing social media content has become increasingly important for government institutions seeking to disseminate public information effectively in the digital era. Although public organizations consistently publish content on social media platforms, audience reach often varies substantially across posts, suggesting that not all content characteristics perform equally well. This study investigates the effects of posting time, content type, and hashtag count on audience reach on the Instagram account of Statistics Indonesia (BPS) of Kepulauan Bangka Belitung Province, with audience engagement acting as a mediating variable. Employing a quantitative explanatory approach, this research analyzes secondary data obtained from the Meta Business Suite, covering 445 Instagram posts published throughout 2024. Data were examined using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS. The findings demonstrate that content type and audience engagement have significant direct effects on audience reach, whereas posting time and hashtag count do not exhibit significant direct effects. Furthermore, audience engagement significantly mediates the relationships between content type and hashtag count with audience reach, but not between posting time and reach. These results highlight that engagement-oriented content strategies are central to maximizing audience reach for government institutions on Instagram.