Building a Strong Instagram Presence for Your Brand
The social network and mobile photo-sharing app Instagram was founded in 2010 by Kevin Systrom and Mike Kreiger, and was bought by Facebook in 2012 for $1 billion. According to the site, the social media platform has over 500 million monthly users and 300 million daily active users.
Instagram is photocentric and videocentric, meaning users can post and edit pictures and short videos, record “stories,” and go live with video. You can use all of these features to beef up your Instagram presence. Here’s how.
Winning on Instagram
Here are a few effective strategies to try when working on your Instagram presence for your business.
Show off your products and services
Capture photos of cool and interesting new products as you get them in. Alternatively, you can share photos of some of your most popular products. If you have a service business, such as a restaurant or hair salon, take some time to take good photos of some of your work.
Offer your followers some behind-the-scenes pics/clips
Capturing photos or videos of how your goods or products are made, especially if the process is interesting and unique, goes a long way in generating interest. You can also post content on something your customers typically ask about. In addition to generating interesting content for your brand profile, it gives your followers and customers a glimpse of what goes on in the background.
Make your employees part of it
Including members of staff in your posts makes your brand’s page more personal. Sharing photos of your team members having fun at company retreats or working hard at the office makes your brand more relatable to your real Instagram followers.
Encourage your customers to show off their photos
Put your custom hashtags and Instagram handle on your promotional materials or products and ask your customers to tag you when they post photos of your work, services, or products. This makes it easy for other users who want to know where the products came from to easily find you. Be sure to like and comment on the customer posts you’re tagged in.
Post exclusive offers and deals on Instagram
Give prospective and current customers incentives such as discounts for following you. Post an image with instructions on how to use the offer or deal. For instance, you can ask users to show they follow you when paying for a service or product, or post a coupon code to be used at your online store.
Note that links don’t work in captions
Your profile or a button on a sponsored post is the only place where you share a working link that directs users to your business website. Links don’t work in comments or captions, so if you want to direct users to your site, change the link in your bio to the specific page and indicate on your caption that the link can be found on your profile.
Respond to comments on your posts
Reply to people’s comments on your posts. Interacting with your followers and customers shows them that you care that they see your posts and are attentive to what they have to say.
Have you any suggestions for building a strong Instagram presence for your blog? Please let us know int he comments below.
Author Bio:
Andrew Thompson is a digital marketing professional. He has extensive knowledge in social marketing, especially gaining and marketing to followers on Instagram with Instamacro. He loves to share his knowledge and experience with his friends and colleagues.
