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How to promote brands on instagram


7 Marketing Tips to Help Grow Your Brand on Instagram

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By Jonathan Long

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

It's no secret that your business needs to be active on Instagram -- with more than 500 million users, it's a social network that provides a great marketing platform to reach potential customers from every corner of the world.

ArthurStock | Shutterstock

In order to improve your Instagram marketing, you need to increase your following on a steady and consistent basis. After all, the more people that come in contact with your brand and follow you on Instagram, the larger your audience is that you can potentially reach every time you post. Here are seven easy to implement Instagram marketing tips that will help you grow your brand -- for free.

1. Take advantage of free Instagram tools.

Instagram just started to roll out business profiles, which heavily mirrors Facebook's business profiles, complete with a huge "contact' call-to-action, allowing users to email, call or text the business.

Along with the contact option, business profiles have access to analytics, or as they call them, Insights, giving users access to impression and engagement data. If you use your Instagram account for your business, you might want to consider converting your personal profile to a business profile in order to take advantage of these options. The more you understand about how your users are interacting with your content, the better you can make adjustments to improve your engagement.

Related: Why Your Business Should Establish an Instagram Presence ASAP

2. Cross promote Instagram posts.

Want to easily add new Instagram followers that already love your brand? Post across all over your other social media profiles -- Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. -- and invite them to follow your Instagram profile. They are already following you on social media, so they are obviously interested in what you offer, so give them another way to socially connect to your brand.

Don't assume that your posts will reach everyone that's connected to your brand on social media. Many people move away from certain social media platforms and some aren't as active on some than they are on other networks. You want your followers to be connected to as many of your social profiles as possible to increase your reach per post.

3. Don't overwhelm your audience.

You want to post often enough that your brand stays relevant, but at the same time you don't want to post so frequently that you overwhelm your followers and they end up unfollowing your account because they feel you are constantly in their face.

There isn't a magic posting formula that will work for every brand. You need to test and see how your audience responds. As a starting point, I would suggest posting twice daily, alternating times of the day to find out when your highest engagement occurs. Then start to experiment with more and less posts per day, really paying attention to engagement. Once you find your sweet spot, the work doesn't stop -- as your following increases you will have to adjust. Post frequency optimization is a never ending task.

Related: Social Media Is for More Than Just Marketing

4. Interact with followers to spark growth.

If someone takes the time to leave a comment on one of your posts, take two seconds to reply and thank them. That simple engagement can create a loyal customer as well as a raving promoter of your brand.

Also, incorporate ways to get your followers to interact with your posts. A simple, "Tag three of your friends that would love this" can quickly put your brand in front of a larger audience as well as attract new followers. Since they are being introduced to your Instagram profile through a friend, there is less resistance, resulting in many of the tagged users following your profile.

5.

Create an interactive hashtag.

Creating an interactive hashtag is a great way to create instant engagement -- just make sure you are using hashtags the correct way. A very simple strategy I have used for some of the larger brands I consult for is creating a hashtag that customers use to tag photos of them with the product that they just purchased.

For example, creating a hashtag that your company can search for to re-post the pictures of your customers with your product will accomplish two things:

  • It will cause more of your followers to use the hashtag and post images of them with your product because they will want to be featured on your page
  • Every time someone posts using your hashtag they are exposing all of their followers to your company and product(s) -- free advertising!

6. Repurpose content from other relevant accounts.

If you are finding it hard to come up with enough content to meet the needs of your following, consider repurposing content from other relevant Instagram accounts. Just be sure to credit the original source in the post by tagging their profile and mentioning them in your caption.

Related: 9 Tools to Improve Your Instagram Marketing

There are many apps available that download Instagram photos and save them to your camera roll, allowing you to easily repost them. Repurpose content from accounts that have an audience you would like to get in front of, because many accounts will return the favor and repurpose your content after they see you share theirs.

7. Use creativity to connect with your audience.

Being creative with your images is a great way to connect with your followers -- it's much more effective than posts that look like straight up advertisements. Take this Instagram post by FedEx as an example:

Vegas, baby. #lasvegas #vegas #neon #elvis #roadtrip #delivery #delivered #travel photo: @the_carrie_edit

A photo posted by FedEx (@fedex) on Jun 30, 2016 at 9:00 a. m. PDT

The "Elvis Slept Here" sign actually overpowers the FedEx truck. Everyone knows what FedEx does -- they ship packages. Their Instagram strategy is based around branding, and incorporating their FedEx delivery vehicles and staff into creative images. It's a smart move, because without the creative angle nobody would follow their account, let alone engage with it.

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How to Get Sponsored on Instagram (Even if You Currently Have 0 Followers)

It's no surprise you want to become a paid Instagram influencer -- heck, the average price for a sponsored Instagram post is $300, and if you become more successful, like yogi Rachel Brathen, you could be making $25,000 per post.

But the idea of getting your posts sponsored might seem laughable to you. You're not posting pictures skydiving in Australia -- you're posting pictures of your brunch. However, you could be more marketable than you think.

Instagram has become an insanely popular channel for brands to promote their products. In fact, Influencer Central found consumers consider Instagram to be the sixth most effective at influencing their purchasing decisions.

Instagram's popularity might make you feel the platform is already too crowded for you to stand out. But here's the thing -- brands are quickly realizing the power of normal people to promote their products. Micro-influencers, or people with a small number of followers compared to the big players, see the most engagement out of their audience.

Think of it this way: I'm going to trust my best friend's advice over Kim Kardashian's when I'm purchasing a product. I trust my best friend, we share similar interests, and I know she's genuine with her advice (no offense, Kim … ).

It's the same concept for micro-influencers -- with the right strategy, your audience will begin to see you as one of their real friends. The more they trust your advice when seeking out purchasing decisions, the more likely you are to get sponsored.

Here, we're going to show you everything you need to do to get sponsored on Instagram, even if you currently have zero followers. Keep reading to get started or click the links below to jump to a specific section of this article.

  • How to Get Sponsored on Instagram
  • What's a Sponsored Instagram Post?
  • Using #ad and #spon Hashtags

How to Get Sponsored on Instagram

  1. Define your brand.
  2. Know your audience.
  3. Post consistently.
  4. Use hashtags and geotags.
  5. Tag brands in your posts.
  6. Include contact information in your bio.
  7. Pitch paid sponsorships.
  8. Know your worth.

1. Define your brand.

You'll see the best engagement if you're able to define your niche. Do you want to post food and health related content, or focus on fashion? Whatever the case, it's important to establish your brand.

Besides the type of content you post, branding has a lot to do with your overall aesthetic. How do you want to style your posts? What's your messaging? To further solidify your brand, you might want to consider creating a cohesive feed theme (use these feeds for inspiration).

Specificity is key. A good influencer's posts are distinguishable and unique -- when a user is flipping through her feed, she'll be able to pause and recognize every time she sees a post from that influencer. As she continues to see similar content, she'll grow to trust that brand as an expert in the field. If the influencer suddenly and randomly changed course, the user might not understand or trust the content anymore.

Additionally, you might want to connect your Instagram brand with an online presence. Creating a website with similar aesthetic and messaging is a good way to do this -- the more you unify your social media accounts, the easier it will be for brands to distinguish how you can help them.

2. Know your audience.

Knowing your audience is critical for convincing a brand to work with you. It's mutually beneficial for you, as well -- if you understand your audience, you're able to correctly identify which brands will see the most success from using you as their sponsor.

Start by gathering the basics -- what is the gender, age, and geographical location of your core demographic? Which of your posts do they like the best? What times of day do they respond best to content, and what can you infer from this?

The demographic information you gather will help you pitch partnerships with brands. Brands want to know who they can reach if they work with you. Explaining "You'll be reaching thirty-something, working women, primarily from New York, who often use Instagram first thing in the morning and prefer fitness content" is certainly more powerful than saying, "You'll be reaching women. "

3. Post consistently.

CoSchedule gathered research from 14 studies to identity how often you should post on social media sites. For Instagram, they found you should post a minimum of once a day, but can post upwards of three times a day.

CoSchedule also found 8:00 AM to 9:00 AM, and 2:00 AM, are the best times to post.

To grow your following, it's critical you post at least once a day. Instagram's algorithm favors new and fresh content, and you don't want your audience to unfollow you or forget about you from lack of consistency.

However, you'll need to figure out what works best for you and your audience. Perhaps your audience feels bombarded when you post three times a day, or maybe they prefer it. Maybe your audience engages most with your posts at noon. It will take some trial and error, as well as Instagram metrics tools, to figure this out.

Featured Resource

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4. Use hashtags and geotags.

Hashtags make your content more discoverable, so they're necessary for growing your following. You can use up to 30 hashtags per post, but TrackMaven found nine to be the optimal number for boosting engagement.

You'll want to use hashtags as relevant to your content as possible. You'll also need to check to make sure the hashtags you use aren't broken or banned (take a look at this list of banned hashtags if you're unsure).

It's critical you choose hashtags that aren't too broad. #Healthyliving, for instance, has over 20,000,000 posts, while #healthylivingtips only has 13,000. The less competition, the easier it will be for your content to get discovered.

When you peruse a hashtag's page, you can also get a deeper sense of what types of content your post will be up against. #Healthylivingtips might typically feature posts with food recipes, while your post is about cycling -- this could defer you from using that hashtag.

Geotags are equally important, but for a different reason. Geotags can help people find you if they're interested in a certain location. This helps you gain more followers, and it also helps you appeal to brands that are interested in reaching a certain demographic. For instance, maybe a boutique sees you often post fashion tips from the California area, and they're looking to appeal to people in that region -- it's a win, win.

5. Tag brands in your posts.

Okay, now you're officially ready to begin reaching out to brands. You've defined your brand and audience and have created some quality, authentic posts. Now, you should have a pretty good idea what types of businesses would benefit from a partnership with you.

It's important to start small. If you're interested in skincare, don't go straight for Estee Lauder -- instead, try tagging small skincare start-ups you've seen across Instagram already.

Let's take a look at an example -- @Tzibirita, a travel influencer, posted this image of herself wearing a Paul Hewitt watch. The image is high-quality and fits with her brand, and she tags @paul_hewitt in her description. Even if you're not paid by Paul Hewitt, you can still post the same type of content and tag their brand in the post. Ideally, it will at least put you on their radar.

Begin with small brands and tag them in your descriptions. Engage with your audience by responding to comments like "Where can I get one?" or "How much?" and the brand will soon see you've proven yourself a suitable sales partner.

6. Include contact information in your bio.

Consider your bio a chance to signal to brands your interest in becoming an influencer. Include an email or website so they can reach you, and include a press kit if possible.

For instance, @tzibirita doesn't waste her bio space. She includes her email and website, and even adds a title -- "content creator". Brands will have no doubt she's open to doing business with them.

Furthermore, you should use a website or blog as your chance to expand on your brand and demonstrate your versatility. Consider adding a Press Page to your website, so brands can take a look at your services. Once you begin sponsoring brands, you can add them to this page so brands can see you have influencer experience.

7. Pitch paid sponsorships.

There's nothing wrong with reaching out to brands and offering your services. With the right pitch, you might be able to land some gigs without waiting for brands to find you.

Look for brands that clearly invest time and money into their Instagram presence. You might start by researching what similar influencers in your industry already sponsor. Remember, it's okay to start small. Working with smaller brands will allow you to build a portfolio.

Once you've curated a list of brands that might want to partner with you, send them an email. In your pitch, clearly and briefly outline who you are, what you do, and any achievements you have in the field that make you an expert. Then, explain why you're a good fit for the brand, and include data such as follower count and average engagement rate.

Alternatively, you might consider sending a brand a DM straight from Instagram. It's certainly more relevant to the job you're vying for, but it might get lost if a brand get hundreds of DMs a day.

8. Know your worth.

Make sure you know how much you're going to charge when brands reach out to you. The industry standard is $10 for 1,000 followers, but it could also vary depending on how many likes you get per post. Additionally, as you grow, you'll be able to charge more.

While you'll want to have a minimum set, you can negotiate to encourage brands to pay more. Perhaps for $300, you'll throw in five Instagram Story posts, and a link in your bio to their website for 24 hours. You can use other Instagram features to sweeten the deal.

Once you have your pricing structure nailed down, you'll need to know how to sponsor a post on behalf of the brand you're working with. Now, keep in mind there are two different kinds of "sponsored" posts: those for which brands pay Instagram, and those for which brands pay another user.

Confused? Here's what I mean:

What's a Sponsored Instagram Post?

A sponsored post on Instagram is paid for by the poster to reach a wider audience. There are two main types of sponsorships: In one, a brand creates a post and pays Instagram for access to a custom audience. In the other, a brand sponsors another Instagram user -- often called an "Influencer" -- who creates a post that features the brand in some way.

Here's more detail on each type of sponsored post:

Promoted Posts & Ads

Just like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook, Instagram comes with a native ad management platform. Advertisers can use this tool to customize a target audience -- using attributes like age, sex, location, and interests -- and invest a specific amount of money to getting their post in front of Instagrammers who identify with this audience.

The thing to remember here is that the advertiser is making and publishing the post. They're paying Instagram for the audience they want access to, but the post is theirs to create.

Paid Sponsorships

Paid sponsorships take place between a brand and another Instagram user. Typically, this user has a personal brand and attracts an audience of his or her own. This user is often called an "influencer."

This person can then use the steps explained earlier in this article to find and work with brands that appeal to a similar audience. When they find a brand who wants to sponsor them, they can charge this client a certain amount to create a post that features their product or service. Think of it like social media product placement; just like a business might pay a TV show to have their brand of soda on the countertop in the series finale, they can also pay a person on Instagram to hold that same soda in a picture on their Instagram feed.

Clearly there are more creative sponsorship ideas you can come up with -- I decided to go with a cliché ...

Influencers are similar to Instagram's ad manager in the sense that they both draw an audience that brands might not otherwise have access to. However, the differences in this type of sponsorship are that the brand is paying the influencer -- rather than Instagram -- for access to their audience, and the influencer -- rather than the advertiser -- is the one creating and publishing the post.

There are numerous influencers for each industry. Here's a big list of today's known influencers and the types of audiences they attract.

Using #ad and #spon Hashtags

In the past couple years, brands have come under fire for hiring influencers but not making it clear to the audience that these influencers were getting paid.

Department store Lord & Taylor, for instance, settled charges with the FTC in 2016 after paying 50 influencers to wear a dress in their posts without hashtagging #sponsorship or #ad.

Influencers are supposed to hashtag #ad or #sponsored in posts they're being paid for, but these tags make some brands uncomfortable because it makes the post appear inauthentic.

In 2017, Instagram released a paid partnership feature to combat this issue -- if you tag a brand in a post and the brand confirms the relationship, the ad will be marked at the top with a "paid partnership" label. This also helps the brand gather data regarding how well the campaign is performing.

It's critical your followers know if you're getting paid to promote a product. Ethics aside, it could destroy your account's credibility if you're caught, and lose everything you've worked hard to build -- namely, an authentic, trusting community.

If you truly don't want to post #ad or #spon, there are some ways around it -- for instance, Airbnb created the hashtag #Airbnb_partner, to signal a paid partnership without using the word "ad".

When in doubt, adhere to Instagram's policies. You can read Instagram's branded content policies in full here.

Ultimately, getting sponsored on Instagram isn't easy -- it takes time, effort, and perseverance. But if you work hard to differentiate yourself in the industry, and connect on a personal level with your followers, it can be extraordinarily rewarding.

Topics: Instagram Marketing

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How to promote a brand on Instagram in 2021

Now, in order to promote a brand on Instagram, it is not enough to have only a Facebook page to promote your brainchild and increase sales. Modern problems require modern solutions, so Instagram with its huge variety of tools enters the fight for the target audience.

Mass following, contests, hashtags, flashy descriptions, and a pleasing visual are true companions that help attract the attention of potential customers and shift the scales in favor of buying a product. In today's article, we will tell you how to promote your brand on Instagram as efficiently as possible, as well as tell you about the most common mistakes that beginners make.

What can be classified as a brand

Brand is a rather multi-layered and ambiguous term. It is a set of ideas about a product or service, as well as a set of emotions and associations that the object evokes in consumers.

In simple words: brand is an individual set of characteristics that distinguish the product from competitors. In modern realities, it is important not only to appease customers with the quality of goods and low prices, but also to do everything possible to attract the attention of the audience.

Historically, the consumer, who always has a choice, is very spoiled by the advertising information broadcast from each "iron". This is where the brand comes in handy. Yes, you may not have the most delicious chocolate chip cookie, but if it is well known, then sales automatically go up.

In this case, you should ask yourself a completely logical question: why does your brand need Instagram? Each business has different goals: someone wants to tell the audience about promotions and discounts, while someone plans to promote the product.

The first step in building a brand on Instagram is developing a competent strategy . You need to clearly define the promotion scheme and the desired results.

Instagram in terms of its potential is an “unplowed field” of opportunities. And here are just a few of them:

  • increase brand awareness;
  • strengthening loyalty;
  • reputation management and feedback;
  • receiving targeted inquiries to the company.

What makes your brand successful on Instagram

Even if your brand is incredibly popular, this does not mean that you will quickly earn the trust of the audience on Instagram. For real success, it’s not enough just to periodically publish photos, set up targeting and monitor statistics. Followers will need to be fought for, and in this war, all means are good.

Here are some secrets that directly affect the popularity of the brand on Instagram:

  • A carefully thought-out strategy. If you plan to post a few photos, and then just sit in one place and wait for the cherished moment when subscribers fall on you from heaven, you can immediately put an end to your account. In order for followers to see your posts, you need to work hard on the quality of the content. In the era of the algorithmic feed, only those brands that are serious about building a competent strategy are reaping the laurels of success.
  • Branded hashtags. A brand needs some visual form of marketability , which should not turn into banal advertisements. You do not want users to unsubscribe from you because of excessive obsession? In order to maintain influence on the audience, but not bother her, use branded hashtags . They should be unique, memorable and thematic.
  • Call to action. Some brands forget about the text, relying on visual content. This is a big mistake that can nullify all efforts! Each of your posts must contain a call to action .
  • Communication with the audience. The success of a brand directly depends on audience feedback, because it is not the number of subscribers that matters, but how they interact with your content.

So, we have figured out the main components of success, it remains only to talk about the steps that need to be taken to effectively promote the brand.

Reasons to create an Instagram account

Still don't have an Instagram account? Then we recommend urgently correcting this omission. And here's why:

  • A popular social network has many stars who can advertise your product.
  • Instagram is used by socially and economically active people who are able to show effective demand for a variety of services and goods.
  • An Instagram account allows you to significantly expand the parameters of the target audience and attract the maximum number of customers.
  • While the audience of Vkontakte and Facebook is “aging”, Instagram is at the peak of popularity, which means that advertising campaigns organized within this social network are most effective.
  • Since 2019, the male audience of Instagram has been gradually catching up with the female audience in terms of numbers, and this is a very favorable trend for various business segments.
  • You can create a full-fledged online store on Instagram if you use additional tools that allow you to carry out the entire sales cycle - from consultation to transactions.
  • Instagram is a social network where people come for visual enjoyment, inspiration and informal communication. This means that you can present promotional materials in an interactive format: entertaining posts, stories, short videos and funny memes. In a word, your imagination will be where to roam.

Brand promotion in 6 steps

Do you still think that promotion without fabulous investments is a myth? No matter how! We will prove you otherwise.

This section will be useful for those who are planning to take their business to the next level, but do not know where to start. Below is a list of required steps that will help you create a beautiful and interesting profile that will help you attract potential buyers.

Strategy development

A competent strategy is an important component of a comprehensive account promotion. First, analyze the pages of competitors : what they post, how they communicate with customers, whether prices are written under the photo. Using the experience of other brands is not only a portion of inspiration, but also an opportunity to learn from the mistakes of others without stepping into your own rake.

Yes, thoughtlessly stealing ideas is unlikely to lead you to success, but using the insights that your closest competitors have noticed as the foundation of a communication strategy is possible, and even necessary.

Ask yourself the following questions:

  • What is the mission of my business account? (expand the target audience, increase sales, regularly remind customers about promotions and discounts).
  • What useful information can I present to subscribers?
  • What is my main difference from the competition? How do they promote their products on Instagram? How often do you post new posts? How does the target audience react to new entries?

What to publish?

So we got to the most interesting and, perhaps, the most difficult point. First, decide on a profile avatar. Remember : no small details, colorful colors and confusion. A laconic logo that reflects the essence of your business as much as possible is an ideal option for all occasions.

Second, select @. For your account name, use your own brand and phrases that clearly describe your products or services.

People love bright, juicy and stylish photos. A gloomy picture, low-quality images and the lack of a well-thought-out visual - all this will ruin your business in its infancy. Practice shows that photos taken in bright colors collect 24% more likes than dark images.

Don't forget the text accompaniment . Think about what you can tell customers about the product/service. Skip bland descriptions, make paragraphs, add emoji, and think about the concept and style of the story.

Be sure to develop a content plan , specifying the frequency with which entries will be published. Regularity is necessary, thanks to it, subscribers will always expect something new and interesting on the page of your company.

Don't forget about hashtags

Well-chosen hashtags are +100 to recognition and promotion efficiency. Breaking into Instagram without relevant hashtags is very difficult, so come up with your own unique and original # that reflects the essence of the business.

Quick Fact: RadiumOne did a study and found that 55% of hashtag posts get more likes. Impressive, isn't it?

Try to supply each new entry with “hot words”. This is necessary in order to quickly bring the publication to the top. By tagging posts with popular hashtags, you automatically attract the attention of potential buyers. In the early stages of promotion, you can borrow reach # from commercial pages or influencers.

Periodically hold contests

To increase the loyalty of your subscribers, please them at least sometimes with contests and useful gifts. Any activity on Instagram is a great chance to stimulate the audience for feedback and creativity.

The contestant's task is to share their own branded content. Such simple manipulations can significantly increase the recognition of the company and ensure the influx of new customers.

In order for the contest to “shoot”, we recommend attracting an influencer who is popular with your target audience. Do you sell rubber bands for sports? Then enlist the support of a fitness blogger.

Use user content

Periodically repost follower posts tagged with your brand page, and you will be happy in the form of a trusting relationship with your audience. This approach has helped a large number of accounts without any investment to grow into large communities with an impressive number of subscribers.

How does it work? For example, a client tags your product in stories, and you duplicate this post in your account. Naturally, a person is pleased with such attention from the company, which means that next time he will also not miss the opportunity to “light up” on the page of his favorite brand and make the coveted mark, which, most likely, will lead new customers to your profile.

Where to look for your audience?

Everyone who decides to create a page on Instagram has a completely logical question: where to find the target audience? We warn you right away: cheating is not suitable, as you risk getting into a “shadow ban” and falling out of favor with the social network for a long time.

The first option is to bring the target audience from the brand's website or from other official communities in social networks. The second way is to like, tag followers on publications, comment on their posts and order advertising from influencers.

Examples of successful brands on Instagram

A brand's page on Instagram is not about the same type of photos and boring longreads, it's about beautiful visuals and soulful texts.

Get inspired:

H&M organizes creative and juicy advertising campaigns. Yeah, we got that yummy … Justin Bieber merch! Cop yours now. #HM

A post shared by H&M (@hm) on

The Fedex delivery service account looks very warm and cozy. There is a sea of ​​​​positiveness and there is a place for dogs and even koalas. Why not?

View this post on Instagram

We’re sure everyone agrees that these are the best kinds of special deliveries ? ? ? ? : @whimsycookiecompany

A post shared by FedEx (@fedex) on

The page for one of New York's most popular bakeries is so amazing you can't take your eyes off it. The profile of the Magnolia Bakery is mesmerizing.

View this post on Instagram

???Put your kitchen skills to the test with our NEW DIY Banana Pudding Kits, available in classic OR gluten-free. We'll supply ingredients, the recipe and serving utensils and you'll supply the elbow grease. Mix it all up and you've got your very own cup of our famous Banana Pudding. Head to magnoliabakery.com and click nationwide shipping to order and don't forget to tag a friend who needs to make you some. ??#magnoliabakery *Ripe bananas and heavy cream are not included in the shipment*

A post shared by Magnolia Bakery (@magnoliabakery) on

When you think of Vogue , you inevitably think of fashion and celebrities...and the brand's amazing Instagram page.

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@VogueItalia asked photographer and filmmaker @TylersPhotos and playwright @JeremyOHarris to craft a response to 2020’s global cry that Black Lives Matter. They returned with the idea of ​​#BlackNonsense. “I wanted to write a piece in response to this moment. The utter nonsense of it. Black boxes and Black models hiding red blood and Black labor spilt and stolen for years without apology or recognition. Why dignify that with sense? Nonsense,” says Harris. See more via the link in bio.

A post shared by Vogue Global Network (@vogue) on

Frooti is a mango juice maker and a proud account holder.

View this post on Instagram

A big shout out to all the teachers, gurus and mentors out there. Frooti wishes you all a very happy teacher's day. May we continue to learn and get inspired by you. #livethefrootilife #teachersday #september5th

A post shared by Frooti (@thefrootilife) on

Starbucks makes amazing coffee and delicious social media content. Fall star line up. ? #PumpkinCreamColdBrew ? #PumpkinSpiceLatte ? #SaltedCaramelMochaFrappuccino ? #SaltedCaramelCreamColdBrew ? #SaltedCaramelMocha

A post shared by Starbucks Coffee ☕ (@starbucks) on

Tips & Tricks

A checklist of useful tips that will help you quickly attract the attention of your target audience and win your place in the sun:

  • Use Russian hashtags. If you plan to popularize your product among the citizens of the CIS, you should remove hashtags written in Latin or English words from everyday use.
  • Don't forget about themed hashtags. Push vague language into the background. For example, if you're creating something in the fashion vein, add hashtags like "street style" or "looksday".
  • Work with the audience. Respond to comments, respond to brand mentions and don't make customers wait, otherwise there will be more efficient competitors who will give feedback much faster.
  • Show behind the scenes. Beautiful product photos taken with a professional camera are, of course, good, but variety is needed. Therefore, we recommend periodically demonstrating backstage to the audience. Remove stories from production, show yourself at work or share funny cases with clients.
  • Share inside information. The client should become your best friend, with whom you will share first-hand information: show new products before they go on sale, announce hot discounts and give the target audience the opportunity to test the product. Do not be afraid of negative feedback, because they are the engine of progress and a direct path to improvement.
  • Do not distance your Instagram account from other social networks. After posting a photo, after a while share it, for example, on Facebook, adding text accompaniment and emoji. In this case, users will know that you are present in many social networks and will choose the most convenient communication option.
  • More beautiful photos. People love with their eyes, which means that you should work closely on the visual component of the profile. If you generate low-quality content, then don't expect a lot of likes and flattering comments. The client is now sophisticated, so it is difficult to impress him with a picture taken “on the knee”. Think globally: photograph not just a product modestly lying on a plain surface, but what can be done with it.
  • Don't forget to tag geolocations. Geotargeting allows you to customize ads for an audience that lives in a particular region. By specifying the location, you will automatically attract the attention of potential buyers.

Now let's talk about the most common mistakes :

  • Creating an account exclusively for advertising publications. Stop stuffing customers with insipid pictures and boring texts containing obsessive calls to buy something. Post interesting entries, hold contests and live broadcasts, share behind the scenes in stories.
  • Refusal of material investments. In order to promote the brand, you have to fork out a little. Targeting, advertising with bloggers, photo editing apps, help from specialists - all this costs money, so be prepared to invest in your brainchild.
  • Choosing the wrong direction for positioning the brand to be promoted. Focus your brand on the needs and taste preferences of your target audience. In order to avoid this mistake, it is necessary to analyze the market before promotion.
  • Bot abuse. Do you remember that the main thing is not the quantity, but the quality of the audience? Spammy comments and faceless profiles in subscribers spoil the overall impression of the brand, so we strongly do not recommend using services to cheat bots, otherwise you risk falling straight into a “shadowban”. Want to check your account? Register on the platform trendHERO .
  • References in the text. This fakap often happens to beginners who naively believe that if they paste the link directly into the text, it will somehow magically open. Unfortunately no. Just imagine how motivated the client must be to, being in his right mind, manually copy the link and transfer it to the browser. Do not force users to take unnecessary actions, insert active links in the profile header.
  • Website not adapted for mobile. Instagram is a network where 99% are mobile users. Do you understand what we are getting at? If the site from which the sale of products is carried out is not adapted for smartphones and tablets, this is a failure. You are simply dumping traffic without getting proper feedback.
  • Provide the blogger with the finished text. The desire to control everything is, of course, understandable, but let the influencer independently adapt the text to the needs of the target audience.
  • No strategy. Yes, without the right strategy, you run the risk of staying in one place, and this mistake can cost you a lot of money. The specialist must clearly understand the purpose of the campaign, for whom, what are the features of the goods or services, and so on.

Conclusion

It's time to take stock:

  • in order to quickly and effectively promote the page, in the first stages it is necessary to publish posts with a frequency of 2-3 times a day;
  • beautiful visuals and interesting texts are a win-win way to success;
  • comment on the posts of followers, like their photos and continuously work on establishing two-way communication;
  • come up with original hashtags;
  • do not chase the number of subscribers, bet on quality;
  • do not neglect competitions;
  • the most important thing is not to make your customers bored.

Take advice and don't be afraid to experiment, constantly changing your strategy!

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How to promote a personal brand on Instagram

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Promoting your I-brand on the Instagram social network will help you attract the target audience, make yourself known, increase reader loyalty and increase the value of the services or products you promote. Also, competent promotion of a personal brand helps to declare oneself as an expert.

There are many problems in promoting a personal brand related to competent positioning, constant retention of attention, and choice of publication format. We will talk about what strategy works and how to solve these problems.

Program for promotion on Instagram - SocialKit:

  • Collecting and filtering the target audience
  • Masslooking, massfollowing, massliking
  • Delayed posting of photos, videos and stories
  • Mailing in Direct, autoresponder

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How to promote a personal brand on Instagram

We will not talk about designing a page, setting up a business profile and other basic issues - we have covered them in detail in other articles. Let's move on to the main thing - we will tell you what is needed for the competent promotion of a personal brand on Instagram.

Positioning

This is the main stage in the formation of a personal brand. It depends on positioning how the target audience will treat you, what kind of readers you will attract and what image will be associated with you.

Tell us who you are and how you will be useful to the target audience. You can immediately tell about the services that you promote through your personal brand, or simply indicate the area of ​​\u200b\u200byour interests. For example:

  • tell us what you say about politics on your blog;
  • indicate that you are a psychologist with 10 years of experience and help clients solve personal problems;
  • mention that you are a business coach and help clients increase profits.

It is desirable to place this information in the profile description so that every person can see it. You can also add themed hashtags to your posts — for example, #cook, #kitchenlife, #kitchen, #kitchensecrets for an expert chef profile.
An example of good positioning: it is immediately clear who this person is and how he can be useful to the target audience. A segment is immediately highlighted - Svetlana helps women.

Expertise

Demonstrate your expertise. There are thousands of profiles with hackneyed quotes, other people's thoughts and non-unique content. There are very few profiles with expert content. Talk about what you really understand, mention participation in specialized events, and answer subscribers' questions in the comments in detail.

But here it is important not to go too far with expertise. Each profession has its own terms, and they are not always clear to the target audience. If you are targeting a broad target audience, try to keep your writing simple and clear. And if your target audience is exclusively builders, programmers, doctors or people of other professions, you can and even need to use complex terms. This will emphasize that you really understand the topic.

A good example of confirmation of expertise is a cook's profile showing competent table setting.

How to make a sales post on Instagram

Stay alive

Instagram has many accounts created to promote a personal brand, but they are half empty and almost dead. Their owners try to publish only useful expert content, but it usually takes a lot of time to prepare it. Therefore, posts come out infrequently and are “lost” in the general feed.

To prevent this from happening, stay "alive". Post at least 1-2 posts a day. You can even not quite thematic - for example, publish a photo from a conference or other event, a picture of a beautiful landscape or a photo from the office. This way you will achieve several goals at once:

  • once again remind subscribers of your existence;
  • slightly increase positions in the smart Instagram feed;
  • Improve engagement rates if posts get likes.

Singer Alexei Vorobyov does not forget to make his account live - he publishes a photo from life. By the way, he has 3.3 million subscribers.

Post useful content

To keep the attention of old subscribers and attract new ones, you need to be useful. Post interesting and useful content - for example:

  • some non-standard or popular solutions to typical difficult situations;
  • Tips for reinstalling Windows properly, caring for a pet, or losing weight, depending on your focus
  • screenshots that clearly show where and in what sequence to click to perform a certain action
  • infographics with statistics or other valuable information for the target audience
  • a visual diagram or description of the exercise: physical or psychological
  • think about what your target audience will be interested in and what benefits your posts can bring.

By publishing useful content, you once again show your expertise and increase engagement rates — recommendations are often read to the end, like posts and leave comments. Do not forget to answer additional questions from followers - this will have a positive impact not only on ER, but also on your image.

Instagram marketer Kristina shares good writing techniques with her followers.

All types of content on Instagram

Share cases

Cases are another type of post that will help increase interest in your account and once again prove your expertise. Post a photo report on the work done, describe the difficulties you encountered and the result you came to. Post photos with satisfied customers or testimonials from them - this will increase the loyalty of the target audience. Or provide a case in the format of dry statistics: what happened before your work and what happened after you solved the problem.

If there are no cases yet, you can replace them with photos of the workflow. Show what you are doing and what it is for. Tell us in detail about some stage of the project or the task and your thoughts about it.

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