The secret behind the green circle: How the Close Friends feature can grow your Instagram page

3 minuten leestijd • Laatst bijgewerkt: 26 augustus 2025

You have probably seen it before on Instagram: someone uploads a story and you see a green circle around the profile picture. Chances are this story will catch your attention sooner than the hundreds of other stories popping up in your feed. It may seem like a fun way to share personal updates, but did you know that this feature can also be a real game-changer to grow your page?

What is the Close Friends feature?

First things first: the Close Friends feature on Instagram allows you to make certain stories visible only to a select group of followers. You choose who you add to this, allowing you to share personalized content that is not visible to your entire follower list. This is a great way to have a more personal interaction with your followers. It also allows you to more easily specify your content for a particular group of followers. 

Fivefold your reach with Close Friends

So, the Close Friends feature is a handy way to reach a specific group of followers in a more targeted way. But, it can additionally be a powerful growth hack to grow your profile. By using this feature smartly, you can increase the number of views of your stories by about 5 to 8 times! 

How exactly does that work? The trick is in adding all your followers to the list. Then you share your stories only with this list, giving them a special notification when you post something. This will put that green circle around your profile picture and encourage your followers to check out your stories more often! Over time, this will not only increase your reach, but also engagement on your page. 

By the way, your followers won't be notified when you add them to your Close Friends, nor can they see this list. This means you can subtly share exclusive content without worrying about who sees what.  

Learn to grow your page with the Close Friends feature

The Close Friends feature is a simple but incredibly powerful way to get more out of your Instagram stories. By sharing exclusive content and using that green circle cleverly, you not only attract more views, but also build a stronger bond with your followers. 

Want to know all the details on how to use the Close Friends feature to grow your page? Then contact us and we will be happy to share our tips with you!