Instagram TippsPosted by Bendsen Thomsen on May 29th, 2021 The popularity of Instagram is incredible. The only trouble with a platform that boasted over 1 billion active users is making certain your posts are located by people who are thinking about what you need to say (or sell) - needles and haystacks involves mind! The days of adding a few random hashtags to a post are well and truly over - it's becoming much more of a science. And that means you have to have a strategy. Here are my top tips for getting the most out of Instagram for your business. 1. Clearly communicate everything you do Setup your profile properly. Use a great profile image, make sure your Instagram handle instantly conveys everything you do, and write a good bio. Do not forget to include your website URL! 2. Give your posts a unique look Instagram is an extremely visual platform, so make it work to your advantage. Utilizing the same signature filter and maintaining exactly the same style of photography gives your posts a consistent style, which helps to make them instantly recognisable. Whenever Instagram Tipps , make an effort to echo your brand's visual identity - adopting exactly the same colours, fonts and image style used on your website - so that the experience of your brand is consistent in one communication channel to another. 3. Get active! Liking posts in a random way isn't likely to achieve a great deal. But if you do your research, you possibly can make likes work really well for your business. Have a look at what your competitors are around on Instagram - and more importantly, check out who is commenting on their posts. They're probably your target market. So, it makes sense to engage with and follow them. This way, you'll start to build an audience that's actively interested in what your business has to offer. 4. Hashtags are Instagram's signposts Hashtags help people navigate through millions of posts to get what's relevant or of interest to them. Research shows that using 10+ hashtags is good, but don't go too mad beyond that ? too many looks a bit spammy, and less is more definitely applies here!. However many you choose to use, make sure they are relevant. You can check out popular hashtags using tools such as Hashtagify . Some will trend like crazy, others are just too generic to be of any use. It's well worth analysing successful Instagram accounts, especially competitors that have a lot of traction. Study from how they're using hashtags and emulate/adapt what they are doing for your own purposes. You may not get it right straightaway, but when you can find hashtags which are both popular and pertinent to your organization, you'll get instant access to an engaged audience. Some hashtags have observed virtual forums growing up around them - niche communities that'll be interested in you. 5. Use special hashtags wisely I'd recommend choosing a few special hashtags to encourage a bigger following. For example, #L4L means ?like for like' - ie if you want me, I'll reciprocate and like your posts. #follow and #followme are an obvious and transparent request. 6. Hashtags can look messy Putting them by the end of your post keeps things tidy. Better still, keep your post clean and post them immediately into the first comment instead. 7. Make life possible for yourself! Save common hashtags for the business on your smartphone using the standard notes app (most smartphones have one). It makes it so much easier to get ready your hashtags and post them easily and consistently each time. 8. Brand your hashtags Do not forget to add your brand name as one of the hashtags, and be sure you use 4-5 core hashtags that describe your business - use them every time. 9. Caption your images and videos And inject a little bit of personality. By this, I don't mean posting an image of what you ate for supper last night! Every post ought to be relevant to your business, and you also need to find means of adding value to your posts. So consider what comment you can add which will encourage people to like and repost it. Growth can happen incredibly quickly if your followers feel they will have something to get from following your account. 10. Quality control is essential Make sure your pictures look amazing. Be ruthless - edit them, dismiss whatever looks poor or is blurred from camera shake. Keep things simple and shoot directly from your smartphone for simple posting. 11. Use layout and angles The Instagram Layout app (for iPhone or Android) is really best for creating interesting montages, especially if you intend to post a sequence of images or show a step-by-step guide. Canva is an excellent free tool which you can use to create your personal cool Instagram Stories. 12. Use links and landing pages Presumably, you are making use of your Instagram posts to encourage followers to do something , whether that is to read your latest post, discover your new ebook, enter a competition or sign up to your email newsletter. Whatever you are doing, ensure you have an appropriate squeeze page on your website that will enable them to perform the action. A quick note on the restriction of posting only 1 link in your bio - have a look at Linktree, a tool that may create one bio link that will then send your followers wherever you want them to go. 13. Share the love Growth on Instagram depends to an extent on demonstrating that you are engaged together with your particular Instagram community. It's well worth tagging business associates, relevant membership organisations, industry associations or accounts you need to nurture. 14. Ask for a response Instagram is - or can be - a two-way dialogue, so ask your followers to react to your posts. You, of course, then need to react to any comments - it's about active engagement, not just having a passive following. 15. Find the movers and shakers in your town Try to identify who on Instagram is really a key influence in your market, and explore how you my work with them to improve your personal Instagram visibility. 16. Plan your posts Just like a blog, it makes sense to plan your Instagram activity. Setup a rolling three-month content arrange for all your social media, and allocate time and energy to curate images, captions and hashtags. 17. Use scheduling tools There are loads available, but I'd recommend considering Hootsuite, Buffer, Schedugram and Later. Each of them have their benefits and drawbacks, so it's an incident of choosing the one that feels right for you. 18. Track what's working Google Analytics will show what traffic and conversion you're getting from Instagram. Assuming you have an Instagram Business Account you have the added bonus of Instagram Insights, which ultimately shows how effective your posts are. Other tools to take into account are Socialbakers, Sprout Social, Union Metrics and squarelovin. 19. Instagram adverts increase visibility Instagram advertising is working really well for businesses. No matter how tight your marketing budget may be, it's really worth dipping your toe and seeing what traction it is possible to gain for your business. There are four formats available - from a simple single image to a 60-second video - sufficient reason for a choice of banners for your proactive approach, it couldn't be simpler to start advertising. 20. Have an Instagram image feed on your website But always embed them, don't just link to them. Now you have a way of growing your Instagram following directly from your own website, but you shouldn't be tempted to accomplish it with all of your Instagram images - create a taster!Like it? Share it! |