1. Post regularly
Posting consistently is the first step to grow your Instagram following. Each time you post, you’re reminding your audience of your brand. Your Instagram account is a reminder of what you can offer and your overall personality as a company.
I recommend to clients that they should be posting at least 3-6 high quality posts per week per social media platform. Where do you sit on that scale?
2. Use Instagram Stories
The most successful Instagram marketing uses a variety of Instagram features.
Instagram stories are short videos or images that are shared on your profile. They disappear after 24 hours unless you save them to your profile. The disposable nature of these posts means they are consumed differently to posts sent to the Instagram feed.
Instagram stories are the place to put your content which is rougher around the edges. It’s the perfect place to give your audience a behind-the-scenes glimpse of your company.
3. Use Instagram Highlights to group your content
If you’ve got lots of different categories within your company then Instagram highlights can be a great way of grouping your content. This means that Instagram users who visit your profile for the first time can quickly and easily see what you’re about. Don’t forget to make the highlight covers match your brand!
4. Don’t use the most popular hashtags
Relevant hashtags are vital for your posts. However the popularity of your content can depend on which hashtags you use.
Promote your Instagram post with some less popular hashtags. This may seem a bit counter intuitive but posting in the most popular hashtags may get you a few likes but your content gets easily lost. The best hashtags to post under are those that have new posts about once every 30 minutes.
5. Interact with your followers and other users
Be a human!
Your audience will want to see what they can gain from following you. This will help drive traffic towards your Instagram profile. This interaction might include liking, sharing or commenting on other people’s content.
6. Use Instagram to develop your brand
A branded social media presence is crucial when using Instagram for business. I develop branded social media templates. This means that you can add what is essentially a frame to your posts which have the relevant social media details, colours and logos onto each post. This creates a recognisable feel to your posts on Instagram but also across other platforms you might be posting onto too.
Keep your followers aware of where else they can find you. This isn’t taking your followers away from Instagram but giving you more touch points with your customers. Remember that if you can and you have accounts across multiple platforms try not to duplicate your content.
7. Remember Instagram’s purpose
Instagram is used primarily for leisure. Your content needs to reflect this. Content needs to be easy to consume. If you’re creating content using more academic language then it will be harder for your audience to consume the information.
8. Post in the correct time zone
If your target audience is in a particular country, be sure your Instagram content is timed for when they are awake!
Put yourself in your audience’s shoes. Think about when they may be browsing social media. Is it when they’re travelling to work? At lunch time? At night? Try to align when you post with these key points during the day.
