Learn a few tips from digital service agency Studio Culture on how to get more people looking at your amazing photos on Instagram!
Here are 3 tips for increasing your business or personal Instagram followers:
Have a content strategy
You have an Instagram account - but are you making the most of it? Using any social media network without aim can lead to wasted resources and a low return on investment. Having a great content strategy in place will help you to define what you want to achieve and how you want to get there. There are three elements (at least) that the team at Studio Culture believe your Instagram strategy should cover:
1. Competitor research
Analysing what your competitors on Instagram are doing will show you:
● What a realistic following is for businesses in your industry - or, if you have a personal account, what the following is like for similar accounts
● What sort of content other businesses/similar accounts post, and whether it works for them
● How often you should aim to be posting
● The ways other businesses/similar accounts engage with their audience
Not sure how to keep track of all this? Well, now that Instagram is integrated into Hootsuite, you can monitor your competitors from the same dashboard you use to manage your other social media accounts. More information:
● Hootsuite for personal accounts
● Hootsuite for business
● How to add an Instagram account to Hootsuite
2. Who you are & what your story is
To be attractive to new followers, your content needs a compelling narrative and a sense of purpose. For example, rather than posting photos of everything and anything you see in your day, limit your posts to something that fits within your chosen theme - this can be anything… health tips, artworks, travel photos, cat pics, makeup tutorials, memes, or, heck, even something more out-there, like what I’m holding. Once you’ve found your shtick, make sure to post high-quality photos regularly (at least once per week).
3. Your goals
Your Instagram strategy will only be as effective as the goals you have set for it. If you don’t know what you’re aiming for, what’s the point?
Use the right hashtags:
Using hashtags in your captions will make sure that your posts reach new people. Before adding your hashtags, make sure to find out which hashtags are trending (you can do this on Hootsuite with the Trendspottr app, IconoSquare or Websta) and incorporate the RELEVANT hashtags into your posts.
Try not to:
● Go too crazy - using too many hashtags can distract your viewers and dilute your message.
● Use desperate hashtags such as #likeforlike or #follow me. Although this might get you a temporary spike in new followers, this will not help you to create a meaningful and engaged community for your page.
● Use popular hashtags that aren’t relevant to your content. For example, if you are posting a picture of a coffee, don’t add hashtags like #wedding, #christmas or #cats just because they’re popular! This will make your post appear spammy, insincere and desperate for likes.
Interact with your audience
The easiest way to get people to notice you is to interact with them - on Instagram, you do this by following others and liking/commenting on their pictures. Richard Lazazzera recently ran a test to find out which types of engagement got the most amount of return. When he followed users, 14% of them followed him back. When he followed and liked other users’ photo, 22% of them followed back. Finally, when he followed, liked AND commented on other users’ photos, 34% of them followed him back. So, when you see a post or an account that you love, make sure to interact with it and get your Instagram account out there!
Want more digital marketing tips? Stay tuned at the Studio Culture blog or view their social media marketing services.
