Author: Monika Zeminová
Date of Publication: 28/10/2022
One of the social networks with the quickest growth is Instagram. Compared to Facebook, it works a little differently, focusing on visuals and simplicity. With more than 1 billion people already active on the social network, companies love it as a marketing tool.
But why are companies so fond of it? The features and tools Instagram offers make it easy to grab the user’s attention to your content and profile. At the same time, Instagram allows you to track the metrics of your stories or promoted posts in real time. To ensure your profile is gaining new fans, let’s look at a few tips.
Tips that will make your Instagram successful
Concept
The concept of a feed, or rather your wall, is one of the most important requirements for increasing followers organically. Users will come on their own, but if you can't attract them at first glance, they will leave without any interaction. So, here are two basic pieces of advice:
Focus on the way the feed looks at a glance. You can focus only on certain colors or use only selected filters. However, your feed should contain elements and colors that are also visible on your website or e-store.
Focus on the grid and how your posts stack up. This can mean alternating different colors between posts.
Planning, Continuity, Analytics
Just as you analyze your e-commerce store and its traffic, you need to analyze your Instagram page. For example, you should know when your followers are most active and, as a consequence, when is the best time to publish your posts. This traffic analysis will likely increase follower likes and interactions on your page. At the same time, it will help you see patterns in your followers’ preferences: you will find out which posts are the most interesting to them and which bring the most likes, views, and comments.
Moreover, before you start publishing your first posts, make sure you plan ahead. By posting regularly on your feed, you will be more inclined to experience an organic increase in followers. Also don't forget to have a long-term plan, with different events and news coming up.
Content and Stories
Yes, content is the king, and that's true on Instagram too. There's no point in publishing posts without an idea. They should always be interesting and entertaining to your followers.
Stories are also very popular and effective. For example, you can show all the happenings of your company or e-shop in your stories, and these will only last for 24 hours. You can also feature individual products, brands, events or campaigns, and keep them on your profile within your stories highlights. With this feature, you can sort stories into groups or archives based on their purpose or similarities. As a result, this will keep everything in your profile nicely sorted and organized.
Hashtags
Hashtags are intrinsic to Instagram. Right after planning your concept, a good advice is to analyze the hashtags that belong to your posts or industry. Also check what hashtags your competitors and followers are using. This will give you insight into what you should be focusing on.
Overall, hashtags can be divided into several categories:
● General names and categories (#food #vegetables #foodbloggers)
● Places and locations (#prague #adidasstore)
Always try to use a mix of them but don't overdo it.
Organic Traffic
Inform people about your Instagram profile. Putting a link to your e-shop, to your Facebook, or to your email is helpful and even necessary to be able to attract new followers and collaborations. But of course, this alone is not enough. For Instagram itself, create a separate page on your website or e-shop with all the information that will encourage users to follow you.
Yet, another proven way to gain new followers is referrals from other Instagram users - especially from other influencers.
Functions
Don't forget to take advantage of the new features that Instagram is constantly adding. Some of the newest ones include IG TV. Compared to stories, the main advantage is that the video time on IG TV can be up to 60 minutes and the content of the video can be saved and stored on your profile for people to rewatch.
Filters are another feature - and an integral part - of Instagram. They were the first and only feature Instagram had at the beginning. They can improve your photos so much that you don't need any additional post-refinement or photoshop.
Finally, live streaming is also a new, effective tool that was added on Instagram to increase followers’ views. The concept behind Instagram live streams is that the follower gets a notification that you're currently broadcasting, which increases your chance to get higher visibility for free.
To conclude, the main message is: be active, like, comment and tag. People often read comments and get really curious. When your great feed appeals to them at first glance, they'll be more interested in your page and start following you. Without a doubt, this is one of the easiest and best ways to get new followers and success.