How to be better at instagram
10 Instagram Best Practices to Build Your Audience
With Instagram being the most frequently accessed social network among U.S users, brands can’t afford to not be on Instagram. But it’s not enough to simply create an Instagram profile for your brand and leave it at that. Your presence on the platform should serve a purpose and deliver some kind of business value.
To make Instagram work for your business, following some best practices can help you get ahead of the game. This involves steps to grow your brand visibility on the platform, gain new followers and drive audience engagement.
In this post, we take a look at some of the top Instagram best practices that can help you build your audience. Let’s find out.
1. Maintain a consistent feed of high-quality visuals
When it comes to Instagram, visuals are everything. A badly photographed image or a poorly-designed graphic isn’t going to cut it. You need high-quality images and videos that stand out and instantly attract your audience.
Make smart use of colors and filters so your images not only look great but also give a consistent look and feel to your entire Instagram page. Ideally, you should stick to color combinations and visual styles that fit your brand persona.
On Whataburger’s Instagram page, the brand’s signature white and orange colors are a prominent element in every post.
2. Stay on top of Instagram changes and updates
Instagram is constantly evolving, which means brands have to always stay on top of the latest trends and features. This will give you the foresight to leverage these changes and updates ahead of your competitors.
The platform has added on to popular content options like Stories and IGTV to introduce features like Reels and Instagram Shopping, which brands can use to engage their audience or drive store conversions. Moreover, it has even enhanced existing features to introduce trends such as augmented reality filters to Instagram Stories. Brands can even create custom AR filters to promote audience engagement and gain better visibility.
Staying on top of all these updates will allow you to capitalize on them as soon as possible and find new ways to engage your audience.
3. Pay attention to what your audience wants
Even if they don’t explicitly express their thoughts, your audience’s behaviors and actions can tell you a lot about what they want to see. Use insights from your social media analytics to find out what kind of content they like to interact with.
In the Sprout Social Index, Edition XVII: Accelerate, our research found some disconnects between what consumers and marketers think makes a brand best in class on social. Consumers’ top priority is customer service (47%) followed by engaging content (46%) and transparency (44%). Don’t just guess about what type of voice or content your customers might find interesting, ensure you’re getting outside your own biases and using data to understand what your customers actually care about.
Social insights can help you answer questions like: Which content formats see the most engagement? What kind of approach works best in getting them to comment? Does it help to include questions in your captions?
Answering these questions and others that help you connect with your audience will help you come up with some interesting post ideas to use in your content calendar.
Adapt your Instagram content strategy to provide your audience and potential customers with exactly what they want to see.
4. Perfect your timing
Although the Instagram algorithm changes constantly, one thing that has remained consistent is the priority on engagement. Posting at the right times when your audience is active can translate to a boost in visibility and engagement.
The goal is to post your content at the right time when users are most active and most likely to engage with it. When we conducted a study on social media usage, our latest data showed that Tuesdays and Wednesdays were usually the best days to post, with peak hours being 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
However, the specific optimal times may vary depending on factors like where you’re located, which industry you’re in and how your audience behaves. Read our study for more detail per industry, and dig into your account analytics to find the optimal timing for your business in particular. You can then schedule your posts to go out on those times.
Sprout Social’s publishing tools uses features like ViralPost offer an automated alternative to all this research by determining for you when your audience is the most active. ViralPost will then automatically push out your content at optimal send times. This greatly helps you streamline your publishing efforts, enabling you to catch your audience when they’re the most engaged.
5. Tell visual stories
For your brand to leave a lasting impact, it has to be memorable. And that’s where storytelling comes in. Instagram is the perfect platform to create intriguing and captivating visual stories about your brand. Start creating visuals to tell engaging stories about your brand history, your customer stories, your employee experiences or your brand impact.
Equinox uses this approach to tell a story about fitness as a lifestyle. The brand leverages Instagram to share captivating visual stories that tie into their brand slogan of “It’s Not Fitness. It’s Life.”
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A post shared by Equinox (@equinox)
On their grid, this image fits in with ongoing brand visual themes that feature bold, sophisticated color palettes, striking photography and integrate fitness into inspirational lifestyle images.
6. Use hashtags to boost content discovery
Hashtags are your best friends on Instagram. They help your content show up in the search results of said hashtags and in the Explore pages of people who’ve viewed or interacted with similar content. So hashtags on Instagram are a great way to boost content discovery and overall brand visibility.
Make the most of niche hashtags and industry-related hashtags that can help you hone in on the right audience. Picking the most used hashtags globally or regionally may mean you just get lost in the noise–targeting meaningful hashtags relevant to your product or service is more likely to get your content in front of potential customers.
And don’t forget to share branded hashtags to encourage user-generated content (UGC).
Nature’s Path uses a mix of branded and niche hashtags in its Instagram posts like this one. Instead of crowding up the caption, it includes the hashtags in the comments.
You can easily optimize your Instagram hashtag use with Sprout. In addition to hashtag reporting that will help you find the best options for your content, our Instagram publishing features first-comment publishing that saves you extra steps if it’s your brand style to keep your hashtags in the first comment.
7. Make the most of games, contests & challenges
One of the top Instagram best practices to generate tons of engagement is using games, contests and challenges. These tend to be highly engaging as they involve directly encouraging audience participation. If you throw in a reward with your contests and games, your audience is more likely to get involved since they have an opportunity to get prizes from brands they follow or that relate to their interest.
You could create fun quizzes and trivia games to get your audience to comment. Or you could run giveaway contests that involve people liking, commenting, sharing or tagging their friends in the comments.
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A post shared by Grove Collaborative (@grovecollaborative)
Many contests also involve getting people to create UGC, which will further put your brand in front of their followers and give you a stock of content to build up your publishing calendar with. Similarly, you could create challenges that involve your followers taking a certain action. This can be anything from putting together a makeup look around a certain theme or dancing in a particular choreography. Encourage them to share content that shows them performing the challenge, which drives more brand visibility as they use your relevant branded hashtags and tag your account.
8. Use Instagram paid ads to expand your reach
Organic brand reach on social media can be more challenging than ever with how active the platform is. While Instagram fares better than other major platforms, an Ignite Social Media analysis found that out of 150,000 followers, only 14,100 will see an organic post in their feed.
You can bolster your visibility and better promote your Instagram using paid ads. Paid targeting can help your content gain reach beyond current audiences who see it in their organic, algorithmically served content and find new potential customers.
Use paid ads to target highly relevant users who are likely to be interested in your product and content. Instagram advertising allows you to get your brand in front of the right people using a number of highly granular targeting options. This means you can attract new followers and new customers alike.
Even if you don’t want to invest in paid ads on a regular basis, make sure it’s part of your strategy when ramping up a new campaign or trying to grow your account’s reach.
9. Partner with influencers to reach new audiences
With the ability to reach hundreds of thousands of people through their posts, influencers can add fuel to your Instagram promotion efforts. Influencer marketing is another way to get your brand in front of new audiences, and the trust that audiences have in influencers’ recommendations can be a huge boost to your customer base.
When partnering with influencers, it’s crucial that you work with people whose audience base overlaps with yours. In other words, make sure you only partner with influencers who can reach your target audience. This typically means people who’ve built an influence in your industry or a related niche. For example, vegan food influencers for brands that produce eco-friendly and organic products.
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A post shared by Edible Arrangements (@ediblearrangements)
10.
Make data-driven decisionsLast but not least–don’t underestimate the power of data. If you want to make Instagram work for your business, best practices such as tracking your post performance and measuring audience engagement are vital. As long as you know what to look for, data can inform your content strategy and your marketing decisions.
Here are a few ideas:
- Track comments and post performance to see how your audience is responding to a particular style of post. Then use those insights to modify your Instagram content strategy.
- Make data-driven decisions on what influencers you should partner with based on the people that your target audience follows and looks up to.
- Monitor Instagram trends to gain foresight on how to craft timely posts, adapt your campaign or create a new one.
- Measure audience engagement to see how your campaign is performing. Then look for opportunities to improve, modify or replicate your campaign for best results.
Tracking your data gives you precise insight on what’s working and what strategies aren’t taking off, allowing you to continually refine your approach.
Using data effectively means that you’re not only producing content and campaigns for Instagram, but creating an invaluable source of learnings about what works for your brand and customer base along the way.
Make Instagram work for your brand
These Instagram best practices are the perfect starting point for brands of any size to build a new audience or take your account presence to the next level.
For more in-depth tips on how to use Instagram for your business, download our free and comprehensive guide on Instagram for Brands.
25 Instagram Best Practices for Faster Growth in 2023
Instagram marketing best practices
Instagram Reels best practices
Instagram Stories best practices
Instagram post best practices
Instagram ads best practices
Instagram bio best practices
It seems like things never stop changing on Instagram.
The network keeps adapting its features to compete in the increasingly crowded social media landscape. So, do the Instagram best practices that worked in 2022 still apply in 2023?
While the fundamentals of your Instagram marketing strategy should stay consistent, some of the tactics you need to achieve your goals are shifting. Keep reading for a list of best practices that will help you succeed on the platform in 2023 and beyond.
Bonus: 14 Time-Saving Hacks for Instagram Power Users. Get the list of secret shortcuts Hootsuite’s own social media team uses to create thumb-stopping content.
Instagram marketing best practices
1. Set clear goals
You’ve heard this from us before and you’ll hear it again. Every great social media marketing strategy begins with a solid set of clear, measurable goals.
Are you planning to use Instagram to build brand awareness? Drive product sales? Engage with your community? Maybe all of the above?
What you want to get out of Instagram will determine what you should put into it.
Think about how the platform’s various surfaces – feed posts, Reels, Stories – can contribute to real business goals.
2. Post at the right time
Hootsuite research shows that the best time to post photos on Instagram is 11 a.m. on Wednesdays. For Reels, it’s 9 a.m. and 12 p.m. Monday to Thursday. Keep in mind that the average Instagram business account posts 1.71 main feed posts per day.
That’s a good place for you to start. But to find the most effective time to post for your particular account, you’ll need to understand the Instagram habits of your particular audience.
Hootsuite Analytics provides a heatmap showing when your followers are most likely to be online. It also provides custom suggestions for the best time to post to your followers based on your chosen Instagram goals.
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3. Schedule your content in advance
Once you know the best times to post, you can start planning and creating your content in advance, then scheduling it to post at the appropriate time.
This allows you to create quality content in dedicated blocks of time, which maximizes your creative resources. It also gives you the breathing room to edit and review your content thoroughly before it goes live.
Hootsuite helps you post consistently with no effort. It allows you to schedule your Instagram posts, Reels, and Stories alongside other social posts, so you can see the complete picture of your social posting schedule in one content calendar.
This also gives you a good overview and allows you to ensure you’ve planned the perfect mix of photos, videos, and carousel posts.
4. Engage with your followers
Remember: Instagram is not a broadcasting service. It’s a social network. That means your followers expect two-way communication and a sense of community. If you want people to engage with your Instagram content, you’ve got to get engaged yourself.
When you’re first getting started, it’s easy to reply to DMs and comments on your own. As your following grows, it can become overwhelming to keep up.
At this stage, it’s a good idea to bring in some tools (and team members) to help manage your Instagram communication.
Hootsuite Inbox allows you to effectively manage your Instagram comments and replies by assigning messages to other team members for a response or follow-up. You can also create templated replies to common comments and questions to help speed up your response time.
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5. Tag your products
Nearly half of Instagram users shop the platform weekly.
Brands that tag their products in feed posts see 37% more sales on average. And brands that tag two or more posts per day see a 117% increase in transactions.
Tag across surfaces: Reels, stories, posts, and even ads. Sixty-one percent of weekly IG users say ads with tags make them more likely to shop.
Source: Instagram
6. Analyze and improve your results
We’ve already mentioned a few times that you’ll need to do some experimentation to learn what works best for your particular audience.
That will continue to be an ongoing theme throughout this post.
To learn the results of your experiments, you need to use Instagram analytics. The native Instagram insights tool provides some good information to get you started. To take things up a notch and get a richly detailed picture of your results, it’s a good idea to incorporate professional analytics tools like Hootsuite.
The Instagram analytics within Hootsuite include downloadable and exportable charts and graphs that make it easy to understand what’s working and what’s not. You can also see how your Instagram efforts compare to those on other social media platforms.
One particularly useful tool in Hootsuite Analytics is the ability to compare the performance of Instagram Reels to TikToks. This can help you refine your short video strategy – not just within Instagram, but across platforms.
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Instagram Reels best practices
7. Make (more) Reels
Not using Reels yet? It’s definitely time to start.
Instagram is leaning hard into video in general and Reels in particular. Reels already account for 20% of time spent on the platform. And Hootsuite research shows that Reels get up to 300% more engagement than regular Instagram videos. The Instagram algorithm loves Reels, too.
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A post shared by Julia | Polymer Clay Earrings (@indigoclayjewelry)
So, this is a simple but very important Instagram best practice. Just make (more) Reels.
8. Show your human side
Reels that show a person have a 25% higher clickthrough. They’re not the right format for stuffy product videos. Be dynamic and show real humans using your products. Get your team involved. Show a little personality. Be human and have fun.
9. Make the most of the first 3 seconds
Capture attention right upfront with dynamic motion and teaser titles.
(Just make sure you deliver on the promise of your title – watchbait is a big no-no.)
Show (and tell) people in the first three seconds what they’ll get out of your Reel and why they should keep watching. On that note…
10. Add text to your Reels
Adding text to your Reels offers a number of benefits. First and foremost, it makes your content accessible to the deaf and hard-of-hearing community. It’s also important for the 20% of Reels views that happen with the sound turned off.
Closed captions are now automatic on Reels unless you turn them off. Users can always adjust this on their feed if they don’t want to see captions, so there’s no advantage in turning them off on your end.
You can also add timed text to emphasize specific points in your video.
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A post shared by Instagram’s @Creators (@creators)
11.
Use trending audioIncorporating trending audio into your Reels is a great way to boost your exposure. You can identify trending audio by the little arrow next to the name of the sound in any reel.
Source: @biabeible
Tap on the audio to see how many reels have already been made with that sound. Your best chance for getting a boost is using trending audio that doesn’t yet have too many other competing Reels. Aim for 30K or fewer.
In this case, the track already has 285K Reels, so you might want to keep looking for one with less competition.
Source: Instagram
If you come across audio you love, you can save it for later by tapping the Save audio button. If you specifically want to use it for that trending boost, just be sure to check that it’s still trending when you’re ready to use it.
12. Try a template
If you want to use multiple photos and/or video clips in your Reel, a template can be a great way to get started.
Using a template automatically syncs your clips to the audio in the original Reel.
To find templates, open the Reels tab and click on the camera icon in the top right, then scroll to Templates at the bottom of the screen. Scroll until you find a Reel you like, then tap Use template.
Instagram Stories best practices
13. Use interactive stickers
Interactive features like the vote button, quiz button, and question button really let you get to know your audience. They also provide a great opportunity for getting your community involved and driving good engagement rates.
Source: @yoga_international
Try asking followers what kind of content they want to see from you. Or use the Question sticker to do a follower Q&A.
14. Save your best Stories to highlights
Instagram Stories are a great way to experiment with new ideas and more casual content because they disappear after 24 hours.
But sometimes you want your Stories to stick around. For those occasions, there are Stories highlights.
Highlights live on your Instagram page above your grid. In addition to saving your best Stories, you can also use them to create space for extra information about your business or products.
Source: @sephora
For more ideas, check out our full blog post on how to use Instagram Stories.
Instagram post best practices
15. Develop a consistent style
Your Instagram grid should have a visually consistent style, and viewers should be able to recognize one of your posts instantly when it appears in their feed.
One way to achieve this is to keep the colors you use in line with your brand style guide. Another is to use design tools with pre-built templates, like the Canva integration in Hootsuite Composer.
16. Use the right hashtags
Social SEO may be reducing the importance of hashtags, but that doesn’t mean you can avoid them altogether.
In particular, using specific niche hashtags can help you connect with existing passionate communities on Instagram. And creating a brand hashtag can help you collect user-generated content and social proof.
Here’s everything you need to know about using hashtags on Instagram:
17. Write catchy captions
Yes, it’s the quality of the image that will grab attention and stop the scroll. But you can’t ignore the power of captions on Instagram. Instagram captions help users connect with your brand and learn about what you stand for.
Writing great captions is also one of the best practices for Instagram posts because they help the Instagram algorithm understand what your post is about to help with Instagram SEO.
Captions are one of the sources the algorithm checks for relevant keywords when someone searches for content on the platform.
18. Use alt text
This is another quick thing you can do to make your content more accessible while also boosting your Instagram SEO ranking signals.
Alt text on Instagram works just like alt text on the web: it provides a text description of what’s in the image or photo.
Instagram uses artificial intelligence to create auto alt text for all posts, but you can customize the alt text yourself for better results.
Check out our detailed instructions for adding alt text to Instagram posts.
19. Pin your best posts
The first three spots on your Instagram grid are prime real estate. Fortunately, you can now choose what appears there. You can pin up to three posts (or Reels) to the top row of your grid.
Try pinning your most popular posts, or your most timely. Have a promotion going on? Or a new product about to launch? Pinned posts keep users’ eyes on the prize.
You can also get creative with pinned posts, as Rocky Mountain Soap Company did to tease a new product launch:
Source: @rockymountainsoapco
Instagram ads best practices
20. Experiment with ad placements
Instagram ads can appear in feed, stories, Reels, and the Explore tab, with the potential reach ranging from 713.2 million for the Explore tab to 1.32 billion for feed.
Instagram data shows vertical ads have a 48% lower cost-per-action than non-vertical ads, so Reels and Stories are an obvious choice to test if you’re running video ads.
As with your organic strategy, you’ll need to do some testing to see which placements tend to work best for your audience and your goals. The important thing is not to get locked into one format and rely on it to serve your needs. Instagram is constantly changing, so it’s important to keep testing to see if the effectiveness of various formats ebbs and flows with time.
21. Partner with creators
Working with influencers – aka creators – to create branded content can give a credibility boost to your Instagram advertising campaigns.
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A post shared by Shayla Oulette Stonechild (@shayla0h)
Meta research shows that 78% of consumers say influencers help them discover new brands. In addition, campaigns that include branded content ads alongside business-as-usual ads have an average 53% higher click-through rate.
22. Unify your product catalog
Using a single product catalog for Meta ads and your Instagram shop make tagging easier while allowing you to get the most complete Pixel data.
Here’s how to get your product catalog set up:
The Shopify integration in Hootsuite makes this easy if you already have a Shopify store.
Instagram bio best practices
23. Make it complete
You don’t have a ton of real estate in your Instagram bio – just 150 characters to tell users who you are and why they should stick around.
But you can bulk this up by completing all the fields available on your Instagram profile – like your profile picture, address, a link, and an account category. On that note…
24. Choose the right account category
Using the correct category in your Instagram bio makes it easier for people to find you and understand what your brand is all about.
It’s also an important feature for enhanced tagging. If you collaborate with other brands or creators, enhanced tagging shows each account’s contribution to a post, including the account category.
Source: Instagram
25. Get verified
To give more credibility to your account, think about getting that blue check and applying for Instagram verification. Instagram verification goes a long way in helping your business account look more professional while preventing impostors from stealing your thunder.
Find out how you can get verified.
For more Instagram bio tips (and even some templates), check out our full post on how to create the perfect Instagram bio. Or, get a quick overview in this video:
Save time managing your Instagram presence using Hootsuite. From a single dashboard, you can schedule and publish posts directly to Instagram (and other social networks), engage the audience and measure your performance. Try it free today.
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11 Tips on How to Become an Instagram Blogger and Start Making Money
Pick a Niche You Like
First, you need to define an area of interest that suits you. It should be something that you love very much and understand. Don't just follow successful people - find what interests you.
For example, you found a fitness blog with a huge following. Should you also write about a healthy lifestyle if you are indifferent to it and you know nothing about it? Of course no. Remember: it is useless to pretend on social networks.
Photo: Instagram
Think about what you like. Maybe you love needlework? Or do you like food and are interested in different types of cuisine? Or are you into fashion and constantly follow the trends? Your Instagram posts should show what you're really interested in, not just some random stuff.
You can write about different things at once: for example, about food, travel and lifestyle, like this blogger. As you can see, she publishes on these topics equally.
Enter interesting information about yourself
After you have decided on the area of interest, put your account in order. First of all, you need to provide information about yourself that will instantly attract the attention of the audience. Tell about yourself in a way that others would be interested.
Remember that your CV is the first thing brands or potential subscribers will see. So if you want to become a successful Instagram blogger, be sure to design it responsibly.
Photo: Instagram
Take a look at the profile of travel blogger Helene Sula. The line with the name is "travel blogger", so her account will be issued for such a search query. The biography tells a brief story about how she went to Germany to explore Europe.
At the same time, the girl left everything she had, except for the dogs and her husband. Draws attention, doesn't it?
Tell stories
Posting photos is not enough to become a successful Instagram blogger. Photo captions are just as important as the pictures themselves. Tell stories to create an emotional connection with your followers. Give them a reason to trust you, follow your account, and engage with you.
Do not forget to be sincere - subscribers will notice your falseness. The personal stories you share with your audience need to be not only interesting, but also true.
Photo: Instagram
Take a look at this inspiring blogger story in which a young woman talks about how she continues to travel despite her illness. The publication caused a heated discussion among subscribers, which means that the audience appreciated it. And when brands want to partner with a blogger, they look more at audience engagement than the number of followers.
Your feed should look attractive
This is one of the main rules of a successful Instagram blogger. Your photos should not only be beautiful, but also adhere to a single theme. And this means that all profile photos should look good next to each other.
Many bloggers choose a particular style of photo manipulation, such as a consistent color scheme or composition. Use Instagram's built-in filters or third-party photo editors like VSCO or Lightroom. Take high-quality pictures with good light so that they look really good.
Check out this Instagram account for inspiration. His publications are perfectly sustained in a single style.
Photo: Instagram
Constantly publish content
Another main rule of a successful blogger. Most Instagram stars post every day, but someone prefers to post photos several times a day, and someone a couple of times a week.
Research has shown that increasing the frequency of posts can increase audience engagement. But choose your posting schedule wisely and be sure to stick to it. Do not build too unrealistic plans.
To work on a schedule, you will need tools that allow you to make scheduled publications, such as Buffer, Planoly, Preview or Ripl. You can upload your content to these platforms in advance and set the desired date and time of publication. You no longer have to manually publish posts - they will appear automatically.
Preview is free, and Planoly allows you to post up to 30 pending photos for free per Instagram account. Buffer allows you to schedule up to 10 posts for three accounts for free. Ripl works on a subscription basis ($9.99 per month).
Use the right hashtags
Hashtags help other Instagram users find your account. There is a limitation on the platform - no more than 30 hashtags can be left in one publication.
It is better to use them all, but which ones should you choose?
Remember that popular hashtags are not always effective. Since they are popular, then you will have more competitors, and the chances of being found are lower.
Photo: Instagram
It's better to use hashtags that generate from 10,000 to a million posts. But definitely not the ones that show more than a million results. For example, this blogger's post uses the #adventurecouple hashtag. More than 46 thousand posts are issued on it.
Get a business account
If you're serious about becoming an Instagram blogger, get a business account that offers a number of benefits.
The main advantage is access to statistics. You will be able to find out not only the actions of your audience, but also which posts cause the most engagement and at what time it occurs most often. Your follower activity data will come in handy when you are discussing potential brand collaborations.
Numbers will tell them about you better than your photos.
Photo: Instagram
Another advantage of a business account is the ability to advertise it. You can set up a promotion for one of your posts to generate additional engagement.
Use Instagram Stories
The Stories feature is perhaps the most popular feature on Instagram right now. More than 200 million people use it every day. This is an ideal tool for increasing subscribers and promotion.
Even non-followers can see your stories if you add your location and hashtags to them. If you have more than 10 thousand subscribers, then you can insert the function of following the built-in link into the story using a swipe up.
Photo: Instagram
You can also tag other people in your stories, so you can not only make connections, but also increase your audience.
Interact with your audience the right way
Social media is all about people and how you interact with them.
Engagement is one of the most important factors that will help you become a successful Instagram blogger. When someone comments on your photos, reply, leave mutual likes and comments on their profile.
Here's how to increase subscriber engagement:
- Leave a call to action in the photo description.
- Post at the time when engagement is at its peak (to find out, use the statistics that are available for business accounts).
- Run contests and giveaways.
- Take polls in Stories.
- Subscribe to accounts with topics close to you and interact with their content (you will find them using the "Interesting" tab).
You can also follow certain hashtags so that all relevant content appears in your feed.
Tag and connect with brands
Becoming an Instagram person happens in two stages. First, you need to grow followers organically and get good engagement.
Then comes the most important stage - you start making money.
Once you have more than a thousand followers and good engagement rates, start looking for the right brands. Tag them in relevant photos and try to get noticed. Sometimes brands can even showcase your post and get you some extra attention.
You can write to companies that work in your area of interest. It is especially worth paying attention to those who have already collaborated with bloggers. Prepare a pitch in which you explain why you applied and what you can offer. It won't be easy, but some of the answers may surprise you.
You can use Grin, SocialPeeks, InsightPool, HYPR, InfluencerBay, TRIBE or TapInfluence to search for brands. Some have restrictions on the minimum number of subscribers required to participate in advertising campaigns.
Don't buy followers
Many Instagram bloggers make this mistake. If you want to become a media personality and make money, your best bet is to grow your audience organically.
Yes, it's not easy and it takes time.
But bought subscribers are not useful because they do not interact with your content and do not increase engagement. And the less engagement, the lower the chances that brands will want to cooperate with you.
Source.
Related materials:
10 indispensable tools for working with Instagram
12 life hacks for using Instagram Stories
VDudya integration is better than any advertising: how influence marketing works now
5 tips for those who wants to become a blogger
40 tips on how to promote your Instagram
1. Do not forget to put hashtags that will help increase the number of subscribers: #instafollow, #l4l (Like for like), #tagforlikes and #followback.
2. Like as much as possible. For every 100 likes you give to random photos, you will get an average of 6 new followers.
3. Run contest .
The easiest way to do this is to post a themed picture and ask people to like it so they can participate.
4. Start promoting profile on your pages in other social networks. Write what your blog is about and why people should read it and invite them to join.
5. Be generous with likes and comments - this is the easiest way to attract new subscribers.
6. Use common hashtags to make your photos visible in the global search. Among the most popular are #love, #instagood, #fashion and #photooftheday.
@westwingde
7. Time matters. Research has shown that the best time to fast is between 2 pm and 5 pm.
8. Subscribe on people who use popular hashtags (#followme, #likeforlike) because many of them will follow you back.
9. Remember, quality is important , not quantity. Monitor your profile and leave only beautiful and high-quality photos.
Believe me, no one is interested in flipping through hundreds of photos of salads.
10. Love the Mayfair filter. Track Maven listed this filter on The Fortune 500 Instagram as the best choice for marketers.
11. Check that you have completed the biography section . Complete it with suitable words and hashtags, and also provide a link to your website. But remember: no spam! Otherwise, subscribers will lose interest in the profile.
12. Ask questions to subscribers. This is a great way to connect with your target audience.
13. Publish on Sundays . It is on this day that people post photos a little, so your post will be seen by the maximum number of people.
@nastiapoberezhna
14. Be consistent with . Think about who and why you are doing this. The more clearly you answer these questions, the faster you will attract the right audience.
15.
Call people to action. For example, ask them to write their opinion about your photo in the comments.
16. Don't be afraid to post often. It may seem that the more often the photos flash, the more indifferent the subscribers behave. But according to the Union Metrics program, there is no relationship between posting frequency and audience activity. At least negative.
17. Follow suggested users. Go to settings and select "Find and invite friends" and then "Recommended users".
18. Set geolocation to . This will be especially useful if you run an Instagram company. So you will have the opportunity to attract new subscribers-neighbors.
19. Schedule publications using the Later program. Consistency never hurt anyone.
20. Make a deal with a popular blogger about advertising your profile or product. So information about you will quickly scatter over the network.
21. Studies have shown that blue images get 24% more likes than orange or red images. Post something blue and see for yourself!
22. Let fasting on Wednesdays become your obligatory ritual. This is because posts get more attention and likes in the middle of the week.
23. Write the word "comment" more often in posts. This encourages your followers to share their opinions and be more willing to join the discussion.
24. Post photos showing 's face. According to research, such publications are 35% more popular than others.
25. Tag in photos of people. Your post will also be seen by friends of friends.
26. Remember the rule: the more light the better.
27. If you have a business account, create a branded hashtag . So users will be able to specify it when buying a product. And it will increase your visibility on Instagram several times over.
28. Share live photos. Show that behind the beautiful picture there are living people .
29. Business trick: share photos of your followers mentioning your brand or product. This pleasant step shows that you value each client. In return, they will definitely share your photos in their feed.
30. Brand yourself : Use your nickname for more than just your profile. A notebook, a case or a branded sticker on a car will surely attract the attention of potential subscribers.
@romantimo3
31. Invite 's Facebook friends to follow you. To do this, in the profile settings, select "Find friends on Facebook."
32. People love stories. Share your experiences and thoughts, so you will gain their trust and establish contact. Just remember that the post should be emotional and bright, not snot in sugar.
33. Tag people , even in stories, don't be lazy.
34. Feel free to post ask for likes . As practice has shown, such publications receive 89% more likes.
35. Plan ahead not only the time, but also the content. Prepare your materials and only then start filling out your feed. For example, write posts for a few days in advance, and then publish them gradually. The Instagram filling schedule will help you stay focused on the main topic of the blog.
36. Post a motivational or inspiring quote .
37. Synchronize phone book with your account. Go to settings and select "Contacts" in the "For Subscriptions" section.
38. Be active on profiles with similar topics. Especially if you run a business profile. Chat in the comments , ask questions and let influencers know about you.
39. Collaborate with other users. Find accounts with the same number of followers and invite their owners to arrange a joint promotion.
