Instagram is called the sweetheart of Social media, and this is the place for brands. There are over 1 billion active accounts and 500 million daily users on this platform, so the competition to rise above the rest is more than ever. To touch the sweet spot of the sweetheart, you must be adequately creative too. We have listed ten powerful tips for you to shine and be more successful on Instagram.
• Use appropriate Hashtags
Your choice of hashtags would mean whether you are going to walk up the ladder or drifting down to the bottom of the feed. Use unique hashtags as much as possible; use less competitive ones. For example, if you use hashtags like #beauty, #fashion, then the chances for you to present at the top of the feed are meager. Instead, you should consider more industry-specific tags aiming for a targeted audience.
• Build a Brand
If you intend to go beyond the expectations, try your heart out to build a strong and long-lasting brand for yourself. Be creative all the time, have clarity on what you are doing, use hashtags masterfully, present your profile in a positive manner, try to interact with the audience regularly, and build a reliable connection among your followers. You can use numerous tactics to build up your brand. One is creating an email list out of your followers. Without much of an effort, you can convert them to your subscribers. Subscribers will automatically turn into customers!
• Number of Hashtags
The standard Instagram allowed number is 30, but when you are deploying them, you must be thoughtful. Excessive usage of Hashtags won’t do any favor for you but would look unprofessional and ugly. The ideal number to use is between 7 to 11. You may explore your successful competitors and figure out how much they use to gain the maximum engagements. Importantly, the Instagram algorithm penalizes if your number of Hashtags and the types of them found to be spammy, so use them wisely if you want to extract maximum out of them.
• Use Videos
Videos are the best and the easiest way to spread an idea these days. Instagram offers numerous options for you to utilize videos if you capable enough. You may consider Instagram live video platform and IGTV option to deliver messages with diverse creativity. Also, try to upload videos with different time durations targeting the appropriate audience. Have a look at the famous brands. They all use videos for their marketing campaigns inside Instagram.
• SEO on Instagram
Yes, it applies for Instagram too, but barely people know or use. Try these two points and figure out whether they work or not. The first one is to use the “@” name (the name you use to register) wisely. The “@” name should relate to your product or the brand. It should be short, eye-catching, and easy to remember. Then, your account name, one that appears underneath your profile picture. This name also should reflect the industry you represent. Consider inserting a keyword that is related to your industry. These two things will help you definitely to rise above your competitors.
• Using captions for Videos
Instagram revealed that 60% of their video content viewed with the sounds on. What does it mean? How about the rest 40%? That is why the usage of subtitles is becoming more vital. While the videos are dominating the internet nowadays, Videos without captions can be unproductive too. Subtitles are a critical factor most people miss when they promote via Instagram. Try adding a subtitle file into your video. You will reap the rewards for it.
• Use GIFS
Studies say that most of the people love watching videos for less than 15 seconds. So it is the right time to learn how to make GIFS. They are more appealing and considered more effective than an image too. GIFS not only looks cool and cute, but it also saves money and your valuable time than producing a video. These days, most of the successful brands use GIFS for their Instagram marketing campaigns.
• Use Instagram as a traffic generator
It’s a no brainer to explain how easy it is to convert your Instagram audience into your website traffic. It is just a click away! You can mention special offers, sales promotions, or any catchy description to grab the attention of the reader and influence them to click the link to your desired website or the location. Use Instagram ad formats and call-to-action features to take them to your site.
• Get partnered with Micro-Influencers
Instagram influencers can be exploited as an excellent marketing strategy these days. You may think hiring a celebrity is beyond your reach. Probably yes, But you don’t need superstars. You can easily afford a micro-influencer and push your brand message more effectively to a specific audience. Most commonly, they have personal connections with the audience; in fact, they have a higher engagement rate of 3% compared to the 1.7% of macro Influencers. Make sure you provide adequate freedom, resources, and instructions to carry their role on the campaign to get the maximum benefit out of the collaboration.
• Instagram stories
This feature has become the most famous across the platform, with more than 500 million users per day, even exceeding the popularity of the main feed. Though the stories appear only for 24 hours, the engagements and reach you receive out of it lasts much longer. Utilizing this feature enables your brand to look unique and creates a sense of urgency in the reader’s mind. You may even try posting live videos as your stories because it is considered to be more engaging. It is ideal if you post more regular stories if you want to be more successful on Instagram.
