Instagram is a great visual platform for beginners, marketers, entrepreneurs, small business owners, B2B’s, fashion designers, restaurants, and practically everyone. Whether you are on Instagram for individual content sharing or for the sake of your business, or just for networking, this platform without a doubt will never disappoint you.
So now that you have your Instagram account set up, what steps should you take next to make sure that your content is seen or searched for? If your account is new on Instagram, it may take a while before you see a large number of followers. Sometimes it also depends on the industry or the category of products/services that you offer. However, I would like to bring your attention to the quality of the following that you may want for your account and not just the numbers. If you want to have a good quality of followers, then these simple set of tips are just for you-
#1. Create a Keyword rich Instagram Bio
What happens when someone searches and lands on your Instagram account? They see the first half of your bio. This is why it is important that you create an interesting and creative Instagram bio that grabs your audience’s attention. The best Instagram bios will showcase your brand’s personality, promote your business, and convince people to follow you.
Let’s take a look at the elements that make a good bio.
- Name field– Use this field as an opportunity to reflect what your business does or your superpower. Pump this field with the Keywords with which you want to be known for/ or your business to be found.
In the above image, the Name field is the place where I have the Keywords typed in such as a social media consultant, blogger, digital marketer. Should there be any one searching for any of these keywords, my account is likely to show up on their search results.
In the image below, note how I have used hashtags in my bio. Let’s learn what more elements you can add up to your bio.
2. Username- This is the username you’ve signed up with on Instagram.
3. Website- You can change the URL here depending on where you want your audience to land on. For instance, if you have a contest or a challenge and are seeking out for people to sign up, then change your website URL to the landing page URL if need be.
4. Bio- An Instagram bio has to make an impact on your audience and it gets tricky with words as the limit is only 150 characters for your bio. The 30 characters of your Instagram Name is inclusive in the 150 character limit, thus not an easy task! You can also include your niche, skills, services, emojis (relevant to your business), hashtags (as shown in the image above) and Call to Actions if any in your bio.
#2. Use relevant Hashtags
Hashtags are the best way to get some impressions. Placing hashtags all across your content such as stories, IGTV and feedpost, or even Instagram bio will definitely boost your chances of being highly visible to your audience.
Now, technically a limit of about 30 hashtags are allowed on your feed post and IGTV. This doesn’t mean that you can add whatever hashtags you like. I do recommend keeping your hashtags relevant to your business or category and to some other topics related to your business.
For example, if you have a bridal dress boutique, hashtags such as #weddingdresses, #bridalgowns, #shortweddingdress, #longweddinggowns #designerdresses and so on will work great for your business but you can also sparingly use hashtags around jewelry and accessories, business location, or even hair or beauty makeup, given your content (image or video) covers some aspect of it.
On Instagram stories, a maximum of three Hashtags are allowed so you gotta choose the very relevant ones.
Now, if you are a business and are looking to brand your hashtags then here are a few basic tips-
- Your branded hashtags must be simple and easy to remember
- Must be of the right length- 10-20 characters long.
- Your business related content should be tagged with your branded content
#3. Create a uniform content layout grid with brand colors and images
Since Instagram is a visual platform, your posts or content are most likely to get more likes if it is more visually appealing. This would mean choosing appropriate colors, themes, fonts, and content for your account. Just don’t overthink too much, keeping a consistent theme is important.
#4. Try using a Scheduler or a Content calendar to keep you going
If you are starting on Instagram, use a content calendar, and a social media scheduler that can help you guide what to post and when. I use co-schedule for content planning and Tailwind to schedule my posts sometimes. They have free versions, so you can try playing around. Once you have 100 followers, Instagram insights- a feature on the platform lets you see the best times and days when your audience is usually engaged.
#5. Write engaging posts that introduces your brand and yourself as a person
Introducing your brand, business or services is a good way to start posting out on a fresh new account. You can also start with a funny take on a quote or build up posts as to why you do what you do. Getting creative with your content is the key to a visual platform like Instagram. Your aim is to keep your followers on your content for a decent amount of time. Remember that it is a social platform and there are humans behind every follower that you are seeking. So be merry and social.
#6. Types of content and their combinations
Whether you want to post out text, images, carousels, or video, try using different combinations of content for your audience. There is sometimes more engagement on videos than the text or image. So use your discretion to judge which content format is working for you.
#7. Create Highlights
Highlights are those curated rings you see at the bottom of every bio, just before the grid layout. You can save your stories to highlights. That way your followers can tap into and watch your stories any time they like. Your highlights live front-and-center on your Instagram profile, so they’re perfect for helping new visitors discover what your company is all about, your products, services, testimonials, clients, blogs, freebies everything. Consider these to be the elements of your website if you will. But you have to post your content to the stories first and then get them to add to highlights.
#8. Comment on the posts that are relevant to your business
Engagement is the key to having more followers on your account however it isn’t easy. You need to constantly engage with your followers, add value to their discussion so that your audience can begin to see you as an authority.
#9. Follow the right set of accounts that are relevant to your business
This is again a very crucial element of your social media marketing. Whether you are on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, just ensure that you have the right type of following with your account. You can categorize your followers under 3 types-
- One that follows you for info/inspirations/ideas,
- You follow them for ideas/thoughts,
- You follow because they are in the same boat as you for collaborations/partnerships.
Steer clear of fake followers or empty numbers that may not very well resonate with any engagements necessary.
#10. Post just enough content and stay authentic
Posting too much content is almost killing yourself in your hopes of getting more followers. You do not need to post 30 images or 50 posts a week. Just try to get a few posts out a week, a usual 5-10 posts per week are good enough for engagements. And also remember point #3 where I mentioned having a good decent aesthetic appeal to your Instagram grid.
Being authentic while creating your content as a brand and staying relevant to your brand is integral to your followers. Why should they follow you, if you have nothing original to say? This doesn’t mean that you cannot use quotes from industry experts or share content from others. Give credit to images, quotes to those who own the original ones and represent your brand in its authentic manner.
#11. Time and day
Though consistency is important when you are posting out your social content, what time of the day you post also is an important factor to determine your engagement. Experts recommend posting content between 11 am to 2 pm and then 5 pm to 8 pm from Monday to Friday, Wednesday being the most busy day when a lot of followers stroll on Instagram.
Conclusion
Instagram is a great visual platform to connect with businesses and show off what your brand or your personal self is capable of offering. This platform is best suited for influencers, marketers, designers, small businesses and entrepreneurs. Like with any social media platform, the bottomline with Instagram is to make your audience want to stay on this platform longer. Now in order to do so, you need a good visual appeal and an enticing content that attracts your audience and want them to learn more about you.
To optimize your content, construct proper bio for your business, use right hashtags at the right places, analyze what time of the day your audience is more engaged, identify what content resonates more with your audience (videos, carousels or image), ensure quality followers, be your authentic self and be consistent. Some experts say that Instagram rewards you for being consistent by putting across your content first on feeds or on hashtag search results.
What other tips do you recommend when you are starting out on Instagram? Would love to hear your thoughts.
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