I love Instagram for business. In fact, I use it to get leads and to get people to sign up for Socialdraft. What I love about Instagram is that it gives you direct access to your potential customers, and…if you do things right…that you can be seen by potential customers. If you’re new to Instagram and only have a few followers, or if you’ve been stagnant…don’t worry. We’ll show you some tips on getting more Instagram followers and how to encourage them to leave Likes and Comments.
Instagram Tips To Land More Followers
1) As with other platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, leaving Comments and “Likes” on photos from other Instagram accounts is one of the simplest ways to get followers of your own.
2) Use hashtags in your image captions. This groups the photo with other photos of similar themes. Use up the maximum amount of hashtags. This is how a budding account will be found, so don’t be shy. Especially if you’re just starting out.
3) Only post gorgeous images. It helps if you take a good picture in the first place. If your picture came out badly, click the LUX button to enhance your images (the one that looks like a sun). This is especially useful with underexposed pictures. The feature is best on landscapes, but it is worth trying on other sorts of images as well. It’s also worth noting that lighter photos get more “Likes” than darker photos, as do images with faces. You can also watch the video above for a more in-depth tutorial on how to edit your images.
4) Yes, people do check profiles, so make sure your bio is up-to-date. Plus, bio sections are the perfect place to leave a link back to your webpage or blog. Make sure to include keywords, your website link, and a clear call to action.
5) Update! Update! Update! Post often. Minimum once a day, maximum 3 times a day (some can have success with more – but it takes a lot of energy) And this applies to all of your social media accounts. The fresher and more frequently you post new material, the higher your engagement rate will be. When you update frequently, it’s like leaving on an inviting night light. You can easily do this with the Socialdraft calendar. It lets you schedule to multiple Instagram accounts AND assign different people to manage them.
6) Engage with your followers on a regular basis by liking photos, and making astute and/or lighthearted comments. People love it when you shine a light on their posts, which they often take great care in creating. You can also spend some valuable time finding hopeful new prospects to follow.
7) Use Socialdraft’s Instagram photo search. Let our Instagram photo search help you find the people who are talking about your brand so you can engage them, amplify their content, and build brand advocates. You can also monitor your competition and their fans to try and convert them.
And although this does not apply directly to Instagram now, Socialdraft’s “Drag & Drop” calendar makes it easy for you to schedule posts to Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn with just a few simple clicks, making re-scheduling and editing a breeze.
8) Remember to share your Instagram account with your email subscribers, as well as on your other social media accounts and profiles.
9) By following your Facebook friends on Instagram, you’re sure to earn a few quick and easy return followers.
10) Hold an Instagram contest. Contests require a lot of planning so be sure to do some specific research on Instagram contests. For example, the prize you will be offering may be the deciding element in attracting participants and should dovetail with your strategy for marketing your unique brand.
11) Never miss content from leads. Turn on notifications for any leads you are trying to close a sale on. This way you always remember to engage them.
Simply go to their profile, click the three dots, click on “Turn on Post Notifications”
12) Check on the activity of those you follow. To see what the people you follow are up to, click on the heart on the bottom of the screen, then toggle to “Following”
13) Save Posts for later. Saw something interesting but don’t have the time to check it out. Save it to your PRIVATE collections! Tap the ribbon and then select the collection.
14) Hide Your Story From Particular People. Go to the person’s profile, tap the three dots in the top right-hand corner and click “Hide my Story”.
15) Find People in Your Area. This is fantastic for local businesses. Simply click on the search icon, type in the name of the city or place you are looking to explore and then click “Places” on the top right-hand corner. This will pull your place. Click on the location icon and explore away.
16) See the People Who Viewed Your Story. It’s easy and a great way to see the people who are truly invested in your brand. Click on your story icon. Click on the user icons on the bottom where it says “Seen by +number”. You will go into analytics. Click on the eye icon followed by a number. That’s it!
17) Clear Your Search History. This is where we get a bit naughty. Lost a client and don’t want them to figure out your strategy? Clear the search history. Simply clear the gear icon and then click “Clear Search History” all the way at the bottom of the post.
How to Manage Your Instagram Account
Now that you have all these tips, you will need a great tool to help you manage your Instagram accounts. Socialdraft is that tool and more.
Socialdraft is an all-in-one Social Media Dashboard. It is the most robust and simple tool for agencies and teams to effectively handle social media. With Socialdraft you can:
Schedule posts to Facebook pages, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn Business Pages and Pinterest Boards
Schedule posts individually, as recurring posts, or bulk upload them as CSV
Easily re-schedule with a drag & drop action
Schedule GIFs to Facebook and Twitter
Download content calendars as PDF
Keep an eye on your online reputation and easily share the good news to social
Find content on Instagram and easily schedule reposts not just to Instagram but to all other social networks
Engage on Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin
Download Facebook and Twitter reports & tons more.
If you are curious about Socialdraft and any of its features, just click this link. If you’re ready to take us for your risk-free trial, simply click here to find the perfect plan for you.
Instagram ads are a relatively new way to gain an audience online. As you probably already know, Instagram is a platform where users may post videos and photos and look at the videos and photos of others. Photos and videos may be captioned and others may “like”, comment on and share preferred content. Content may be shared across an array of social media platforms, from Facebook to Flickr and beyond.
Some of the world’s biggest celebrities use Instagram in order to connect with fans – model and reality TV star, Kendall Kardashian, is just one example. This does not mean that Instagram is only for the cool kids. Companies also utilize Instagram in order to promote their goods and services, find customers, and build their brand.
To take things to the next level, the team at Instagram now offers paid Instagram ads. While it is possible to grow your Instagram audience organically, it takes a lot of work. And, unlike other social networks, Instagram’s tight API does not allow for cheats. Instagram ads are an easy (and – if done right) inexpensive way to build a targeted audience.
If you’ve ever seen or bought paid Facebook Ads, you will get the general gist of what the benefits of buying social media ads are. These benefits will be similar no matter which online social media platform you buy from.
Basically, with any platform, you’ll be able to put your ad in front of new people who may be intrigued enough to click on your ad and buy whatever you are selling. Instagram is incredibly popular, has great engagement, and is growing exponentially, so you should strike now.
Now that we’ve talked about what Instagram is and discussed the value of buying Instagram ads, let’s talk about how to create these paid ads…you’ll find that the process is pretty simple and straightforward.
Step by Step Guide on How to Create Instagram Ads
1. Choose an Ad Format
There are a trio of ad types available, so you’ll have choices: image ad, video ad, carousel ad.
Image: When you opt for the Image style, you’ll be able to use pictures in order to tell a story and sell your goods and/or services.
Video: With the Video feature, you’ll have thirty seconds of run time – within this time frame, your video may deliver any type of message that you desire (according to Instagram’s Rules of Service).
Carousel: The third option, Carousel, will allow you to use an array of images which may be swiped through by the person who’s looking at the ad.
How to create Instagram ads starts with choosing an ad option. So, give some thought to which one is best for you. Now, let’s talk about how to create effective Instagram ads, no matter which format you choose…
2. Link Up Your Instagram Account
Getting going with Instagram ads will require a few steps. After you choose an ad format, you’ll need to visit your business Facebook page and hit the Settings area, which is located on top of the web page. Inside of the Settings feature, you should click on the area called Instagram Ads. When you do so, your Instagram account will become connected to your business page at Facebook.
Next, you’ll need to stay on Facebook and log into the Ads Manager account. If you don’t know how to create an Ads Manager account, the link above will help. You can also use Facebook help or do a search online in order to find instructions. There are plenty of them out there.
You should know that you won’t be setting up your ads via this ad manager interface. Instead, you’ll need to download the advertisements via the Power Editor. This is a necessary step for making an Instagram ad. You’ll find the Power Editor feature on top of the web page, below the Ads Manager section. You should use Chrome as your browser in order to utilize Power Editor.
The next step is downloading the Power Editor feature. You may do this by clicking on the Manage Ads section which is found within Power Editor. After this, you’ll need to click on the “Create Campaign” section.
You must now choose your preferred objective. You have three choices:
- Video views (great if you want to increase your reach)
- Clicks to your website (direct call to action)
- Mobile application installs (another very direct call to action)
Selecting one of these three choices will help you to get the right results from your Instagram ads.
To continue, you’ll need to make a new campaign, make a new ad set and then create your ad. You may adjust Instagram placement if you like.
Next, it will be time to create your parameters in terms of your budget, your ad schedule, your target audience and your placement. This happens in the Edit Ad Set area. Browse the options and choose the ones which are right for your objectives. Just be certain that you click “Instagram Advertising” and de-click (de-select) the other selections.
Lastly, before you create your Instagram advertisement, you’ll need to sync Facebook with Instagram. This happens within Ad Set, in the Ads area. You’ll see an option to connect Instagram with Facebook.
Next, wrap things up by making your ad. You’ll do this by entering a website URL, as well as any text which goes with your picture. You’ll have three hundred characters to choose from. If you want to, you can put a call to action with your ad.
Once you’ve chosen your ad image, etc., just save the changes and the ad will enter the review phase.
Make an Instagram Ad Today
Now that you know the steps, why not make an Instagram ad today? When you do, you’ll be able to expand your outreach and attract new customers. This strategy works for tons of entrepreneurs and it will work for you, too.
How to Manage Your Instagram Accounts
Socialdraft is an all-in-one Social Media Dashboard that helps you manage Instagram. It is the most robust and simple tool for agencies and teams to effectively handle social media. With Socialdraft you can:
Schedule posts to Facebook pages, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn Business Pages (and one LinkedIn account) and Pinterest Boards
Schedule posts individually, as recurring posts, or bulk upload them as CSV
Easily re-schedule with a drag & drop action
Schedule GIFs to Facebook and Twitter
Download content calendars as PDF
Keep an eye on your online reputation and easily share the good news to social
Find content on Instagram and easily schedule reposts not just to Instagram but to all other social networks
Engage on Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin
Download Facebook and Twitter reports
and tons more…
If you are curious about Socialdraft, take it for a risk-free trial. You’ll get to try out all the features and decide if Socialdraft is right for you.
If you’ve already read our blog post on how to find the perfect hashtags, then you are absolutely ready for this next tip. If you are an internet marketer, social media manager, or community manager, you probably have a steady message and voice. This means that (for the most part) you will be talking about a similar subject most of the time. This means that you can recycle your hashtags.
But this is a pain if you do it manually. This means you’d have to take the picture, edit the picture, watermark the image, research and create the perfect caption, do hashtag research, and then manually post these hashtags to your post. And that’s just the posting process…after this you need to take time to engage your audience to get likes and comments. It can be a time suck.
If you’re on iOS, we’re going to save you the final hashtag step. You’re seriously going to love this.
How to Save Time Typing Instagram Hashtags
- Open “Notes”
- Enter all your optimized hashtags
- Copy the hashtags
- Go to “Setting”
- Tap on General, Keyboard, Text Replacement
- Paste the Hashtags you copied
- Add the word you want to trigger these hashtags (don’t use commonly used words like “and” or “an”
- Save
Now, whenever you post your hashtags, all you have to do is type in the shortcut and BAM! You’re done.
Don’t get too lazy though, check your hashtags at least monthly to make sure they are still effective. And don’t forget that you can schedule to multiple Instagram accounts using the Socialdraft dashboard. It’s super easy, watch the video above to see how it work.
Now that you know How to Save Time Typing Instagram Hashtags, check out our Facebook Group. We share tons of tips & tricks to help you on your way to Social Media success.
How to Manage Your Instagram Accounts
Socialdraft is an all-in-one Social Media Dashboard that helps you manage Instagram. It is the most robust and simple tool for agencies and teams to effectively handle social media. With Socialdraft you can:
Schedule posts to Facebook pages, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn Business Pages (and one LinkedIn account) and Pinterest Boards
Schedule posts individually, as recurring posts, or bulk upload them as CSV
Easily re-schedule with a drag & drop action
Schedule GIFs to Facebook and Twitter
Download content calendars as PDF
Find content on Instagram and easily schedule reposts not just to Instagram but to all other social networks
Engage on Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin
Download Facebook and Twitter reports
and tons more…
If you are curious about Socialdraft, take it for a risk-free trial. You’ll get to try out all the features and decide if Socialdraft is right for you.
With close to two-thirds of the world’s population active on the internet, businesses have recognized the necessity of making themselves available through online platforms to better communicate with their target market. There are lots of different internet-based solutions that brands can utilize in order to propel their business to greater heights, and among the most popular are social media sites. Instagram, for example, is a prime online platform that can bring about impressive results when used as a part of a social media marketing strategy.
How exactly can you adjust your strategy to increase your Instagram success? Read on to find out.
How to Improve Your Instagram ROI
Publish Relevant, High-Quality Content – Would you follow a brand or personality that posts content that’s neither appealing nor interesting? Precisely. More than anything, people want to see relevant, important, or aesthetically pleasant content on their feeds and will unfollow anyone who fails to meet their expectations. As with any other social media site, it’s vital that you publish content that users will appreciate in order to increase your chances of appealing to prospects. This means clear beautiful pictures or images followed by well thought out write ups. Watch the video above for a quick tutorial on editing images for Instagram.
Interact Where Necessary – It is a social media platform after all, so why not get social? There are lots of ways you can engage in meaningful conversation with users who are relevant to your brand, so make sure you locate the right places and the right opportunities. Don’t just comment for the sake of it however as spamming others’ posts with irrelevant information will do you more harm than good. We’ve found for every 100 thoughtful interactions, you get 10 followers. So figure out how many targeted followers you want and you’ll know how many engagements you need to do per day.
Increase Your Follower Base – An Instagram profile that has more followers will appear more credible, trustworthy, and reliable than one that has less. If you want to increase your follower count, make use of the appropriate hashtags to bring your posts where they would best perform and opt to make use of Instagram influencer campaigns to push your brand to relevant audiences. If you want to learn how to find the perfect hashtags and how to use them, click here.
Structure Contests and Giveaways – One of the most common contest structures on Instagram goes a little like this: a business announces a race to a certain number of followers which it aims to attain by encouraging its existing followers to share an image of their promo. Users are free to repost the photo as many times as they prefer until the brand reaches their target number of followers. Once the target is attained, all entries are tallied and a winner is selected at random with the same mechanics used in a raffle. The lucky winner will then be given a special giveaway or freebie. Of course, you can mix up your structure, but generally, these strategies are effective when used to gain more followers and increase user interaction.
Post Consistently: You need to be constantly present on Instagram. This is a feed based system, so as soon as you post an image, it is being pushed down the feed. On top of this, Instagram has announced that they will be implementing an algorithm which will make coming up on the feed more challenging. This means that you will need to be active daily (and that means posting daily). Frequency varies per brand and industry. We suggest you start off with 1 daily post. Once you have a nice flow, test out what happens when you post 2-3 times….just make sure you space this out so as not to bore your follower base.
One thing that will make it much easier to keep a handle on all this is to schedule your Instagram posts. You can do that with Socialdraft, and you can schedule for multiple accounts. On top of that, you can add various people to the dashboard to both schedule content and to publish your posts. This is on top of everything else Socialdraft does including posting to Facebook, Facebook groups, Twitter, LinkedIn business pages, and Pinterest boards.
Instagram is one of the fastest growing social media platforms, with 15 times more user engagement than Facebook, and 40 times more engagement than Twitter. Instagram allows users to take pictures and videos, apply digital filters, and share them on social networking services. Instagram is a great addition to your social media lineup and a powerful tool in brand building. It’s a wonderful way to reach influencers and customers and an invaluable opportunity to turn them into fans of your brand.
If you haven’t yet obtained an Instagram account you should get one as soon as possible. If you already have an Instagram account, we’re going to provide you with some nifty tips to help you substantially grow your account in a very short period of time.
1) Boost Your Level of Engagement
Use whatever tactic you can think of to increase the engagement level within your community. There are various ways to do this:
- Ask questions: Asking questions increases interaction by a significant percent.
- Like photos: Search for photos that are in your niche. Start by clicking on hashtags that have to do with your industry. Then like photos that are similar to yours. This will pique the content creator’s interest and lead them to your images & profile.
- Comment on photos: Yup, it’s that simple. Use the same tactic as the like tactic above on likes, but go above just a like. Comment on those images. Engage with the community in your niche by liking photos AND making relevant comments. Skip those “nice” or “great picture” and add comments that are well thought out. We have found that this is the best way to gain a targeted following. People appreciate praise from others on posts they have taken great care in creating.
- Follow others: You can also spend time finding new prospects to follow. Again, make sure they are targeted to your industry. When you find someone who you think could convert, take the time to like their images, comment on them AND then follow them. This will result in a much higher conversion rate.
2) Stay In Your Niche
Make sure to maintain whatever theme you’ve chosen for your brand’s niche. In addition to posting product photos, you could also post photos in the niche related to your product or service. Do not post images that are unrelated to your niche. For example, if you’re a Social Media “Guru” you may not want to post pictures of your kid at the dentist. This offers no value to your community. If you’re a financial company, do not post pictures of your dinner. Think your photos out carefully and make sure to always keep your audience and goal in mind.
3) Use Carefully Chosen Hashtags
The selective and intelligent use of hashtags can seriously add to the success of your Instagram account. Hashtags on Instagram serve as the means by which your content is found, and are the equivalent of Instagram SEO. You should spend time choosing hashtags uniquely associated with your product, and ones that compliment your selected images. There are those who say to not use hashtags at all, or to keep hashtags down to a minimum. From our experience they are wrong. Hashtags are Instagram SEO…it takes a LONG…LONG time to get to the point where you don’t need to include hashtags. Hashtags should always be used…and they should always be used if you’re just getting started. You want your hashtags to be targeted, but not so targeted that nobody searches for them. Here are some example of bad hashtags:
Too Generic: These hashtags will get you followers who are not targeted and will not convert. These hashtags are also incredibly popular, so your image will soon drop off the search: #followforfollow #likeforlike #me #instamood #photooftheday
If you want a more indepth view on how to use hashtags click here and on how to generate the best hashtags here.
4) Contests and Giveaways
Contests and giveaways can be powerful ways to bolster engagement and grow your Intagram account. You can run a contest to get new fans, keep fans engaged, expand awareness of your brand, or to generate fresh user content. A well designed contest with a reasonably valuable prize can land you contact information on hundreds of potential customers.
5) Comment and Like Other Photos
By exploring and liking other people’s photos and even commenting on some, you may stumble upon some great accounts to follow, and you will also gain followers. We touched on this before, but wanted to emphasize the power of a good comment.
6) Include Your Logo on Photos
As long as you’re posting images that may be shared by others, why not include your business logo on your photos to promote your brand, as well as links to promotional articles and downloads. You can do this with apps such as WordSwag (one of our faves), or add it on Photoshop and then use a scheduler like Socialdraft to schedule these posts.
7) Use a Photo Editor
The more impressive the quality of your images, the more Likes you will receive. In order to enhance the caliber of your photos, you should use a photo editor such as Afterlight, Aviary or LunaPic. With a photo editor you can add extra flair with graphics, fonts and text layouts that will really make your images stand out.
8) Track Your Followers
Use a tool such as Unfollowgram to track your Instagram followers. You can use it to easily unfollow any people that are not relevant to you, or people that are inactive or who do not follow you back. Remember – the key is to have a targeted audience. Keep in mind that you can only follow 7,500 people on Instagram and that engagement is key – so you need to keep your follows in check.
9) Find and Follow Influential Accounts
By following big, influential accounts you can learn some professional tricks on Instagram, and you may even end up being followed by them which would influence others who consider following you.
10) Only Post Top Quality Images
If you want people to return to your Instagram account on a regular basis, only post the best photos you can manage to supply. Photography and the production of high quality images is an art, so you should at least learn the basics.
11) Use Images That Elicit Strong Feelings
Photos that are inclined to bring forth an emotional response will spark more engagement with your audience. Now obviously there’s no emotion associated with some products, like say furniture, but a photo of an attractive couple sitting on furniture with a plush rug in front of a warm fire with hot chocolate may trigger feeling of comfort and security.
12) Post on a Regular Basis
The majority of the world’s top 100 social brands post at least once per week, and 28 percent post at least 5 times per week. If your images are always of high quality, your followers will be looking forward to your next post so don”t disappoint them. We recommend that the minimum be 1 time per day, although others say that 3 times per day is best. We suggest you stick with 1 high quality image per day with some high engagement for optimal results. You can use Socialdraft to schedule posts to Instagram. It’s super easy!
13) Unique URLs and Phone Numbers
Including custom landing page URLs or phone numbers in images or post text lets you track call-to-action conversation rates for particular images or campaigns.
14) Promote Your Instagram Account
Mention your Instagram account on other social media, your website, on printed materials and your email signature. Drive traffic.
15) Keep Your Profile Current
People do check profiles, so make sure your bio is up-to-date. Plus, bio sections are the perfect place to leave a link back to your webpage or blog. A few things to check off:
- SEO – use key words for your industry on the first line of your bio
- Call to action – include a call to action
16) Socialdraft’s Instagram Photo Search
Use Socialdraft’s Instagram photo search. Let our Instagram photo search help you find the people who are talking about your brand so you can engage them, amplify their content, and build brand advocates. You can also monitor your competition and their fans to try and convert them.
17) Emoticons
The use of emoticons in your descriptions can be an effective way to trigger curiosity in your audience. You can also use emoticons to draw users to your profile link or to draw attention to a call to action in the comments section.
18) Use Multiple Images
Some experts claim that by combining multiple images into one image you can get around 25% more likes and comments than single images. Be sure to maintain a high quality of images in your combination.
19) Be Selective With Filters
Instagram audiences reportedly respond to certain photo filters more favorably than others. Using these preferred filters can help to increase engagement on your account.
According to Populagram, the 10 most popular filters on Instagram are:
Normal
Valencia
X-Pro II
Earlybird
Amaro
Rise
Hudson
Lo-fi
Hefe
Sierra
You can use IconoSquare to measure the performance of the filters you have been using. Then you can determine more accurately what the best filters are for your particular audience.
20. Run a repost campaign
Craft a custom hashtag and ask your community to tag their pictures with it for a repost. When you do repost, give them full credit and push out all over your social media channels. Others will want to participate and follow you as well. This can easily be done in the photos area of Socialdraft.
Have questions on these? Let us know in the comments.
