Instagram, the newborn amongst the social media channels is really making it huge. The 400 million active users of the platform tell the entire story. A deeper analysis reveals that 60% Instagram users log in daily. Therefore, have no doubt that it can be an effective digital platform to promote your brand, especially when you want to reflect the humane side (showcasing company culture, delighted clients, and building new relationships) of your business.
But there are conditions. Until you are famous, none will be able to view what you are trying to portray. And it’s not that much easy to make yourself recognized as a reputed brand. It demands time, skill and regular attention.
Don’t get worried? Here are some easy techniques to increase your followers on Instagram.
The first things to ensure right after the creation of your profile are:
a. It should look good
b. Your objectives are clear
c. You have added a reason to follow you
It’s better to make your brand name the username. If it is already taken, keep a name that has some connection with your business so that people can find you easily. If possible, you should give your full business name.
As the purpose of your Instagram profile is to market your brand, you have to make it public. Make sure that “private account” is turned off. An attractive profile picture is also necessary if you are to make followers. You can upload your company logo to leave the impact of your brand.
When it comes to Instagram, a meaningful bio is much needed. It’s only through the bio that a user comes to know about your business and gets interested in you. A link right at the end of the bio is also beneficial as it would help users visit your website just by making a single click. There’s a specific place in the bio where you can add a clickable link. Just use it carefully.
It’s quality that really matters on Instagram. You might have some low quality posts on Facebook and some bad tweets on Tweeter. But there’s a big no to poor quality photography here. You should have a basic idea of photography and should know how to use editing apps. Since, Instagram is a mobile app, it is expected that most of the snaps will be taken on mobile devices. But, it’s not what you have to do. Here are some basic photography tips that you must learn before posting on Instagram.
Instagram comes with some default editing abilities but they are not enough to help you compete. Therefore, try at least two or three additional editing apps before making a post.
After you are done with optimizing your profile, it’s time to start posting. You should start with at least 10 to 15 photos so that when people visit your profile, they will view a full screen of photos instead of just a few. Make a posting schedule, especially when you are targeting customers of different time zones.
There’s no doubt that photos and videos are the basic elements of your Instagram marketing. But that doesn’t mean that they are all that you have at your hands. You should think of attractive and shareable captions. They play the role of dessert after the main course. Besides, great captions are able to humanize your brand and build relations with your viewers.
Adding a hashtag to your post helps it reach more users than only your followers. But you need to take some smart steps while including hashtags. It’s better not to add more than three hashtags in a single caption. To learn what kind of hashtags the users associated with your industry are using, you have to do a little research. The best way to learn about relevant hashtags is to search on Instagram itself. Just go to the explore tab and insert the topic of your post. It will give you a list of related topics from where you can choose the hashtag that suits your post most.
Instagram is very much social and a great way to make friends here is to search for people whose posts interest you and follow their account. It is an effective way to draw their interest towards your profile. When you start following someone’s account, he will get notified and thus there’s a chance that he checks out your account and follows you. This is the reason behind posting rich contents before you start following others.
The filters that you can find on Instagram are not just for fun. They have their own specific purposes and choosing the suitable ones can certainly prove to be profitable for you in forms of more views and engagement. A recent research from Yahoo Labs found that filtered photos have 21% more probability of getting viewed. At the same time filtered photos get 45% more comments than the unfiltered ones.
Research showed that the filters like higher exposure and warm temperatures beckon more viewers.
A great way to attract the attention of viewers is by getting associated with the communities that support your brand. For example, if you run a restaurant, you can show your partnership with the local farmers who produce organically sourced vegetables. This partnership will not only promote your restaurant but also will establish your healthy-living values. Besides, it’s beneficial for gaining a local recognition.
Now it’s time to understand what your customers wish for and find a way to match your services with your customers’ likings even when there’s a fine distance between them. Confused right? Let’s get it straight.
Suppose you sell financial services and come to know that one of your customers has passion for sports cars. Thus, posting images of latest sports cars will certainly be a great way to attract his attention.
But wait. How can that be beneficial for you? You are selling financial services and posting images of cars wouldn’t do the task for you. You have to redirect your customers’ passion towards your services. Right after an appealing image, add a few lines that read “Would you like to own this thing? You can if you start taking wise financial decisions. Call us for free consultation.”
Make sure that you don’t post too many images of car within a specific time span as it may transform you from a financial service provider to a car dealer.
At the time of opening your Instagram account you have an opportunity to connect it with Facebook. It will allow you to pull in your friends in Facebook. But you are not done yet. You have to run Instagram campaigns across all social media channels and send messages to all employees and partners stating that they should use your business hashtag or any other relevant hashtag. It would also be great if you can influence your employees to promote your account personally. You can ask them to link your company Instagram in their email signatures. Another effective way of marketing can be promoting your account on business twitter and other personal accounts.
Truth is that an increased number of followers in your profile will denote how social you are. It largely depends on your ability to be a part of a community. Pragmatic application of these approved tactics will transform your little Instagram village into a high-traffic hub within a short span.