Instagram is considered as the king of social media engagement. It has accumulated up to 1 billion active users and research suggests that the number will continue to grow.
People also spend more of their time on Instagram compared to other platforms. A study by Yotpo found Instagram traffic stays for 192 seconds, which is is considerably longer compared to Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter.
It’s obvious that brands would want to maximize its growth out of their Instagram strategies. Here are 12 tips you need to follow.
1. Take high-quality photos
This might seem like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how many people don’t do it.
You don’t need expensive DSLR to make amazing Instagram posts – pay more attention to your lighting and that everything is in focus.
You can achieve these using modern smartphones with capable camera and you’ll start taking amazing photos in no time.
This will help boost your likes and the more engaged your posts become, the higher Instagram will push your posts in feed.
2. Use a consistent filter scheme
This may sound ridiculous, but, it’s also important to create a consistent visual identity of your Instagram posts – and you can achieve this by using set of filters.
By posting updates with consistent color and tone, your audience will be able to recognize your brand instantly on their feeds which helps increase the brand recognition and getting more likes – eventually followers too.
Start selecting a set of filters by Instagram that complement your content and consequently, your brand.
3. Write Great Captions
Agorapulse conducted a research by comparing posts with and without caption. They found that posts with caption have 53.03% more likes – which is not surprising.
They even found the rate of comments almost doubled 0.91 times more than posts with no caption.
In addition, they also found the amount of reach increased for posts with caption up to 873.77 from 678.49.
It is undeniable that caption is a crucial element in order to maximize the potential of every post you make on Instagram.
Caption is something you must not overlook. It’s your opportunity to tell a story about your business and to be able to emotionally connected to the market.
Create a message, provide expertise, or a heart-warming story – become a valuable source to your audience. People will be more incentivized to like your photos and probably to follow you too.
4. Tag Your Location
Simply Measured found an interesting finding from a research; they’ve learned that posts with a location tag receives 79% more engagement than the ones without any.
Apart from the engagement benefits, adding location to every post also helps your business to show people where you’re located.
People can even just click on the location and they can stumble across your profile too, eventually helping to extend your reach further.
5. Post Regularly
The Social Insider Blog found that big and successful brands post update everyday if not more.
The study concluded that brands with over “100K followers have posted an average of 241 posts this year, while accounts with under 5K followers only published around 50 posts.”
It is obvious this could be related to the resources available to smaller brands versus big brands; however, it’s also important to note that by posting regularly, you ought to gain more engagement and likes – which gets recognized by Instagram algorithm.
In addition, posting content consistently also increases your brand awareness – since more people are engaging your posts on daily basis.
6. Time of Day Matters
It’s also crucial that you pay attention to the time and day you post.
The easiest way to determine the best time of day is to use the existing date from Insight which Instagram provides.
Tap on ‘Audience’ and scroll till you’re at the bottom where you’ll find ‘Followers’.
There are two tabs; Hours and Days. Go ahead and study them.
This is where you find out which days and time most of your Instagram followers are typically online. Schedule your posts based on the information.
Finding the optimal time for your target market takes some research, along with trial and error. Always tweak with every data you obtained to determine the best time to post.
7. Share behind-the-scenes photos
Instagram is another platform to be emotionally connected with your audience at another level.
This is your opportunity to share intimate moments from your business with your fans.
What better way to do this, none other than to share behind-the-scenes of your business. Give your audience a preview of your upcoming product, show off your employees hard at work, or even take your followers on an office tour and how things are done.
These are unique ideas and potentially engaging for the viewers, which would most likely help to attract more people to follow your account.
Just be creative with your content; and try your best to connect with your audience with each post you upload.
8. Run a like-to-enter giveaway
Running a simple giveaway is popular for a reason; it is a great way to encourage your market to participate with your company’s activities.
Everyone loves free items – which you can leverage to your advantage.
Try running a like-to-enter giveaway product which your business offers to attract people into engaging your posts.
Since barriers to entry are low, people are likely to like your posts. Who doesn’t like the idea of getting free item in return for a like?
Take it further by awarding to special winner(s) who leaves a comment related to your post; such a motto, or best caption.
Having lots of engagement will lead Instagram to help push your posts to more people as it is algorithm-friendly.
9. Partner with an influencer
There is a reason why big brands often collaborate with famous personalities to promote their product or service; because it’s considered as an efficient ‘word of mouth’ platform which is able to tap into the vast market.
This method does not only help your business extend your reach in the target market, but also acts a tool to increase credibility through social proof.
Celebrities or even online influencers’ followers will be more open into buying a product from your business – as they trust the people your business collaborate with.
10. Video
Videos are often more engaging than photos since the feed is saturated with photos.
A study by Hubspot and Mention found that posting videos on Instagram doubles your engagement rate compared to photos.
Posting videos featuring ‘how-to’ of one of your products, a sneak-peek of upcoming event or product; or some other engaging content that you feel represents yours brand has great potential of creating excitement for the audience.
Just keep in mind to create videos with no or little audio – as people often become reluctant to view your videos since they normally browse their feed in public areas.
If you feel the video requires explanation, then, include subtitles so people can watch and understand the video without having to be too concerned about their surrounding.
11. Join Engagement Groups
Engagement groups work similar to support groups.
These are groups who have come together to support each member with likes and comments.
These groups have rules and restrictions which are key for your to abide if you want to be a part of it.
It’s simple but definitely worth the time for you to look into.
The way it works is simple. You just need to share the link to your post on the group, and the members will start pouring into your account – as long as you obey the rules.
When you get an influx of likes, your content is given a boost by Instagram’s algorithm. It’s a win for all members.
