Hello WU Learner!
Instagram has becoming the most used social media tools for business in Indonesia, lots of existing and upcoming features are encouraging businesses and marketer to use Instagram as their digital marketing tool. On the other hand, there are things to be learned to maximize the social media of your startup, to gain more traffic, followers, and engagement.
photo by: battenhall
There are more than 500 million active users on Instagram every day. Out of this, 80% of accounts follow at least one business. So it’s only natural that marketers want to make money of their Instagram accounts.
But for that, you first need to form a strong community of followers. You need more views on your posts, and you need to get your audience engaged. So how can you grow your Instagram fan base? We’ve got some tips to help you get started.
1. Post Creative Content
There is no substitute for creative content. If your content is great, people are going to like and comment on your posts. Instagram is all about great visuals. So include vivid colors and frame your photos well.
Instead of just posting about your products and promoting them, you could create stories around them.
Airbnb does a great job of weaving stories in their niche. They want to promote traveling and want people to discover different cities around the world by staying with locals.
So to create curiosity among users, they posts snippets of the lives of their hosts from around the globe.
Image via Instagram
Their caption talks about the host’s interests or what sort of an experience they can provide to travelers. Along with this, they also showcase different travel destinations. They connect with users through real-life stories. So users don’t feel like they are only looking at promotional content.
2. Post at Regular Intervals
A 2017 study conducted by visual marketing tool, Tailwind, showed that consistent posting is key to growing your Instagram outreach. They analyzed over 100,000 Instagram posts for a three-month period.
The study found out that the social media handles who posted more often saw a significant increase in engagement rate. Additionally, their follower growth rates also increased.
Image via Tailwind
So it’s a good idea to post at least once every day on your Instagram account. Do not expect results right away; you will have to be patient.
3. Use the Right Hashtags
The purpose of hashtags is to reach out to an audience that isn’t following you. It’s important to use the right hashtags if you want to get noticed by the right crowd.
Let’s say you’re creating content related to a FIFA match, you shouldn’t just use #football because the term is too broad. Instead, use #FIFA, #FIFA2018, #FIFAWorldCup or #FIFAWorldCup2018.
Specifically for events, try to use variations of the same term. These hashtags are generally trending and everyone is searching for posts related to them. So you have a great opportunity to cash in on the opportunity.
Before using a hashtag, also check out the search volume for it. You risk getting lost in the flurry of posts if your hashtags have search volumes that go into the millions. Also, analyze which hashtags are giving your posts more engagement, and try to use them more often.
Image via SproutSocial
Instagram allows usage of upto 30 hashtags in one post, but it is advisable to use only nine per post. SproutSocial found in a study that posts with nine hashtags got the highest engagement rates.
The exact number of hashtags to be used has often divided digital marketers. But everyone agrees that overusing hashtags isn’t a good strategy.
4. Encourage Your Followers to Create Content
Posting consistently can leave you dry with content ideas if you haven’t planned it well in advance. But even if that is the case, you can use it to your advantage.
Instead of giving your audience content to consume, get them involved in the content creation process. Your followers’ content can help you grow your Instagram account.
Encourage your followers to create videos, photos, and GIFs with your products. Create a branded hashtag that can showcase all user-generated content for your brand.
This way you are increasing your brand awareness and also getting more content. This is a smart way to get your followers to become advertisers for you too.
Buffer’s Instagram account saw an incredible growth of 400% by using user-generated content. They posted relevant photos that their followers had clicked along with their Instagram handles.
Image via Instagram
This shifts the focus from the brand onto the followers, which actually encourages users to post more for the brand.
5. Organize Contests
To grow your Instagram account, organize contests and give out some freebies. Getting free stuff is a great motivating factor for users to engage more with your brand. You can get as creative as you want with your contest ideas.
You could ask users to repost an image that you have posted previously. Along with it, ask them to mention your Instagram handle in the caption section to increase visibility. Another way is to create a hashtag and give your users a specific theme to post images on.
Image via Instagram
Earthpix used a similar strategy to get more people hooked on to their content. They encouraged users to like and share their content with their friends. By doing so, they could get a chance to win a free trip to Fiji. The post got an overwhelming response. There were over 10,000 comments on the post.
6. Collaborate with Influencers
If you want to grow your Instagram account quickly, you should get the right influencers to endorse you. Reach out to influencers in your niche who have a massive fan following. If you can get featured on their page, you will reach out to all of their fans at once. Get social media influencers to try out your products and encourage them to post about them.
Getting tagged in their posts can work wonders for you. Additionally, you could also give them promo codes or discount coupons that they can feature in their caption. This way, influencers can redirect their followers to your Instagram account or website. Even if your own Instagram account doesn’t have many followers, you can reach out to a wider audience. Influencers can connect you with their loyal fanbase.
Image via Instagram
My First Years, a company that specializes in personalized gifts for babies, used this strategy to their advantage. For their range of Father’s Day clothes, they collaborated with fashion blogger Fleur de Force. Her Instagram post showcasing their products got more than 10,000 likes in just two days.
7. Post Content at the Optimal Time
Posting your content at different times during the day can impact your engagement levels. Sprout Social conducted a study to find out the best time to post content on Instagram. They found that posts should be published from Tuesday through Friday. And they should be published between 9 am and 6 pm to maximize engagement. It also showed that posts published on Thursdays received the most engagement in the week.
According to the study, on Thursdays, 5 am, 11 am, and 3 pm to 4 pm are all suitable timings to post content on Instagram. For Wednesdays, the recommended posting time was at 3 pm, while on Friday, it was at 5 am.
Image via SproutSocial
You should schedule your Instagram posts to suit the optimal timings suggested. Use the findings from this study to your advantage to grow your Instagram account.
8. Advertise on Instagram
Advertisements on Instagram don’t really look very different from regular Instagram posts. So your followers won’t really feel like you are bombarding them with promotions.
You can choose from four basic formats for advertising: Photo ads, video ads, carousel ads, and slideshow ads. Photo ads and video ads are exactly like your normal Instagram posts. The only addition is the “Sponsored” label that you can see above the photo. Carousel ads allow you to organize a number of related posts into a single carousel. You get to showcase your product from more than one perspective in these ads.
Recently, Instagram even extended the features for Stories. Brands like Gap are already using the feature to highlight more about their campaigns by posting multiple videos together. In their post for the Logo Remix campaign, Gap even used features like pinning and drawing tools.
Image via Adweek
Slideshow ads allow you to tell a story by combining up to 10 images into a sequence of animation. You can also background music to your slideshow ads to weave an engaging video from your static images. These ads are lightweight, so they are easier to load compared to video ads.
Instagram has a wide range of ad formats that enable you to get creative with content. You can even add leads and target audiences for your Instagram ads.
To grow your Instagram outreach, use a mix of these ads. It’ll give you publicity, and also allow you to analyze the demographics of your audience.
9. Geo-Tag Your Posts
Geo-tagging lets your followers know about the location from where you are posting a particular photo. Its main purpose is to let anyone looking for events or photos from a particular region, reach your post. You can either just include the name of your city or even pin down the specific location that you are at.
It’s a simple feature that can grow your Instagram engagement rates as well. Simply measured found out that posts that used geo-tagging got 79% more engagement than those than did not.
Image via Simply Measured
If you have a brick-and-mortar location for your business, you should use it to get more publicity too. Encourage your customers to post pictures and videos from your store or office and ask them to geo-tag the location. This strategy can be especially helpful to create buzz around a product launch or a store opening.
10. Engage with Your Followers
Your content should draw eyeballs, but your caption should prompt them to engage with you. Your caption provides a valuable space that lets you tell stories and promote your partners. If you write it well, you can even use it to get further engagement on your posts.
In general, using open-ended questions and using emojis can encourage your followers to engage with you. You could ask how the day has been for your followers or what are their plans for the weekend. It could be anything, really. When you encourage your followers to share their experiences with you, you make them feel valued.
The Cheesecake Factory does a great job with this. For most occasions, they post photos of what their celebrations look like. At the end, they ask their users to share their plans too.
Image via Instagram
It sets the tone for you to connect with your followers. Additionally, once you start getting comments or personal messages, make it a habit to respond to them. Many businesses try to go with automated messages, especially when it comes to reviews and feedback. But that’s not what you should be doing.
Appreciate the enthusiasm of each follower, and genuinely try to have a conversation with them. If they appreciate your posts, saying a simple “thank you” can also help your brand image. Even if you’ve received criticism, be polite and try to keep the tone of the conversation courteous, yet casual. You could also offer some freebies if you find that there were some shortcomings from your side.
By responding courteously to comments, you can set a friendly tone for your brand. You need to make yourself look approachable. Only if you do that, you can grow your Instagram followers and gain more loyalty.
A study by Sprout Social found that 83% social media users wanted brands to engage with them. The study found that being perceived as honest, helpful, and friendly helped in boosting engagement for brands. So make sure your create a brand image that has these traits.
Conclusion
Instagram is a great place for marketers. But just setting up a business account and posting content isn’t enough. You need to have a strong strategy in place to grow your Instagram account and get more followers.
Source: https://medium.com/swlh/how-to-grow-your-instagram-account-2df230be85b0