Instagram – Not just for kids!
If your brand’s not already sharing content on Instagram, you probably already know why you need to start: this social network is brimming with intriguing photo and video content, and has attracted over 300 million users so far. But though you may know why you should build an engaged Instagram audience, do you know how to make it happen?
Think Like Your Audience
First things first – you’ll need to get a handle on what to post. Ask yourself, what would my target audience like to see in their Instagram feed? Really put yourself in their shoes. What content would you scroll past? What content would you stop to interact with? What would make you want to leave a comment? The more you identify with your ideal followers, the more ideas you’ll find for content to post. Think about how you could position pictures of your product and service in order to grab attention. Try asking a question, or adding hashtags that are already trending. Don’t underestimate the importance of artistic value on Instagram – to catch the eye of potential followers, your photos need to be unique and creative.
Getting the Ball Rolling
You can attract followers by having great content, but you can also go out there and find people who should be following you by searching for the hashtags that your ideal audience uses. If you find Instagram users who are posting with these hashtags but haven’t yet interacted with your content, you can try a few different tactics to get their attention. One surefire way to spur them towards looking at your profile is to like several of their posts in quick succession. You can also try leaving comments on their posts with the aim of building rapport and relationships, not selling to them.
The time for making the sale will come later. Your main objective at the beginning is to start a conversation and make friends. Once you’ve started building relationships through likes and comments, you can kick it up a notch with a tactic called regramming. By reposting someone else’s photos (making sure to always give the original poster credit and an @ mention) you spread good karma and make loyal followers. Regramming is especially great when your followers post their own photos of your products.
Running an Effective Instacontest
After you’ve built a foundation of several hundred followers, you can run a contest on Instagram. Contests have the power to spread your brand’s image beyond your immediate circle of followers. By requiring anyone who enters your contest to regram your contest photo and tag you, you get your image in front of each of your followers’ Instagram circles, multiplying your reach. However, contests can backfire pretty dramatically if your followers don’t participate. To avoid this, make sure you wait until you know you have a solid group of followers and that the prize for your contest is a big enough incentive to get followers to participate.
The suggestions above should give you enough fuel to make a real difference in your Instagram strategy, but there are many more Instagram tips and tricks that will help you build a loyal following. For more, take a look at ONTRAPORT’s Instagram Guide for Entrepreneurs, a playbook of tried-and-true Instagram moves that you can put into action right away.
Learn how to post with finesse, like and comment with a purpose, and use hashtags like an Instagram native. Get your #InstaGuide now!
