When it comes to social media, one of the most important platforms is Instagram.
It is the platform to concentrate on growing if you are looking to monetise your social media and build your business or your brand. Instagram can give you access to audiences like never before, so you want to make sure that you can grow your account to access them, but if you aren’t sure where to start, let us help.
Reels
Reels are the latest edition from Instagram and their answer to TikTok, and they can really make your brand and your feed stand out. They give you the opportunity to make 30 second videos and they take centre stage in the updated navigation bar.
Because they are only 30 seconds, there is a higher change that the audience will engage with them as they are not as long as full IGTV clips. If you aren’t utilising reels, then you need to start looking at how you can, as we are sure that your competitors will be.
Profile Optimisation
If you use YouTube as well as Instagram, you will already be aware of the importance of this aspect. Instagram didn’t really put too much thought into how searching profiles could increase the visibility of profiles until recently.
Previously, if you searched kettlebell work out, you would see posts that had used the hashtags that reflected this. Now, with the latest update, you when you search kettlebell work out, you will see profiles that have it in their titles, in the image title and even in the comments.
This level of optimisation means that you aren’t having to relentless tag different key words around the same subject to get noticed. Optimise your profile for your content and you can start growing your following!
Content
It is easy to get lost in the nuances of posting times, hashtags and everything else in between, but what your audience really wants to see is that quality content they are used to you putting out.
Keep this in mind every time you get frantic about the latest hashtags and who your audience are. You need to make sure that the quality of your content remains high with solid editing.
This way, your feed will continue to look like a curated online Tate Modern and you can then put effort into growing your profile.
Consistency
You would have heard the saying that consistency is key and that is the same for social media. If you aren’t consistent with your posting, your audience will be quick to forget you.
On Instagram, you need to be making sure that you are posting to your feed once daily. This is enough to keep your audience satiated without overwhelming them. You don’t want to be that person who uploads 5 different photos, on different posts throughout the day, nothing screams ‘I don’t know how to use Instagram’ quite like this.
Forward planning is also key here, you want to make sure that you are always able to post, regardless of where you are or what you are doing. If you think a time will come where you don’t have the resources to create high quality content, then bank images.
Having an image bank as a backup plan will make all the difference when you’re low on time and will help you keep consistent.
Comment
If you see a post you like, comment on it and engage with other users. People loved to feel validated, even if it is just a stranger on the internet.
The more you comment on other people’s posts, the more likely they are to return the favour, which will increase your follower to engagement ratio. The better you can get this ratio, the higher the chances that Instagram’s algorithms will favour your content and put it on the explore page, so get commenting and liking!
Conclusion
Instagram is the platform to concentrate your efforts on getting followers and to do so requires a little bit of knowledge and a little bit of time. Fundamentally, you want to utilise all the features that Instagram gives you, this means that you can access the most amount of people with the least amount of effort.
Even if you aren’t sure of the content you are putting out some days, make sure you put it out anyway. You need to be consistent in your posting to make sure that your audience don’t forget about you and you don’t fade into the abyss of Instagram.