The video and photo sharing platform, Instagram, has proven to be a very valuable addition to the social networking arsenal. Not only does Instagram generate a huge amount of traffic, Instagram’s engagement rate far exceeds that of Facebook and Twitter, which is why over 85 percent of top brands are regular users. This means that if your brand or business is on Instagram you have a better chance of attracting new customers AND converting them than other social networks.
The more active your Instagram account, the more you will capitalize on Instagram’s incredibly high engagement level. That’s why it’s so important to grow your Instagram account. In order to do this you need to engage people in your industry (or geo-targeted area if you’re a local business) and enhance this with the savvy use of hashtags, and captions.
Since Instagram does not allow you to add links to posts, the bio serves as the only space for links on Instagram, and the link in your bio is crucial for driving Instagram website traffic. Make sure your username closely reflects you, your brand or business, and your message, and try to update the link on your profile as you post. If, for example, you penned a new blog post, you could change the link on your profile and include a prompt to click the link to get to the article. You’ll note that we do this on an almost daily basis.
How to Use your Instagram Bio to Promote Your Brand
Make sure to Include your company name and contact instructions in your bio. The contact information could be in the form of a phone number, link to a web or blog, an email address, or physical location. You’ll see many influencers leave this on their bio, it’s an easy way for sponsors to reach out to them.
Make use of your brand hashtag, consisting of your company name, or a tagline in the bio. KitKat’s brand hashtag is the tagline: #HaveABreak. They use it on all their social sites, and they use it to engage with the social KitKat community.
In your bio, you can lure your Instagram fans to connect with you on other platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, or Snapchat, by using the username for other social channels. However, the username or business name should be the same on all your social media accounts so people know your profile belongs to your company and not a fraud.
Since visuals are processed 60 thousand times faster than text, and to create a little personal magnetism with your brand, you could add emojis to your Instagram bio. Emojis amount to visual expression and will also help you get more likes, comments, and shares on Instagram. Emojis are an international language that attracts readers worldwide. These look ok on your desktop – but amazing on your mobile.
You can include a link to your website in your bio, or a link to a product or promotional event. You can also include a link to any article you may want to use for a detailed description of a product or service you would like to advertise, explaining to fans that the link to learn more can be found in your bio.
You could space your bio out vertically rather than horizontally. This makes your bio easier to read. On Android devices, you press the Enter or Return key on your keyboard to drop down a line. For iOS users, you use the Next key instead of a Return key to drop down to the next field. Using iOS you can also compose your bio in another app, such as Notes, and then copy and paste it into Instagram.
But don’t forget that your Instagram bio is only there to enhance your efforts. It is incredibly important to be consistent – post on at least a once daily basis AND engage your community & those you want to become part of your community. You can schedule posts to Instagram via the Socialdraft dashboard. You will receive an SMS which makes it super easy to post. And our Instagram photo search will help you find the people who are talking about your brand so you can engage them, amplify their content, and build brand advocates.
With over 1 billion monthly active users, Instagram is still one of the fastest growing social media platforms, with over than three times the monthly active users on Twitter. Instagram is powerful since it does not restrict brands and businesses from directly engaging their target audience. Today, we will discuss updated Instagram statistics and then we will give you actionable tips on how to increase Instagram engagement so you can see an actual ROI from your time invested on the network.
How To Increase Instagram Engagement
Cross-Post Instagram Images
Publish to Instagram and then cross-post those images to your other social media accounts – especially your Facebook business page. Facebook will absolutely give this type of post more organic reach.
There’s a science to getting the most Instagram engagement. Here are some tips on what to post to get the most engagement.
Post Videos
Post video, Videos get 38% more engagement than regular photo posts. When you combine that fact with knowing that photos make up 91.07% of all Instagram posts, you know that you need to start posting videos asap.
Use Hashtags
Hashtags are SEO for Instagram. They are a big factor to images being discovered. In a previous SocialDraft post, we mentioned that Hashtags are one of the keys to success on Instagram. Make sure to use relevant, popular ones for your image content. By using hashtags on Instagram you can tap into existing audiences where people are actively looking for photos on specific subjects. There has been some research that says that 9-11 hashtags is the optimal range of hashtags you could use, but we say use the max allowed. It makes sense when you are thinking in terms of search optimization.
Use Location Hashtags
Include at least 1 or 2 hashtags that relate to your location if you are a local business or service. This will give you a better chance of being discovered by locals and tourists who are perusing the network to find out what is going on in your city.
Post Consistently
If you don’t post consistently, you will have very little chances of being discovered. Basically, if you don’t post, you aren’t giving people on Instagram a way to engage you. If people don’t engage you, then you drop out of their feed. So…stay active. Post daily and if you can’t post daily, post every other day. Heck, the 55 most popular brands on Instagram normally post an average of 1.5 times per day.
Post Relevant & Timely Content
If you create content that is relevant to the season, holiday, or event you are posting about, your audience will be more likely to engage it.
Run Contests and Giveaways
These still work and are a fantastic way to grow your audience on Instagram AND to get more engagement on your posts.
Promote Your Instagram Account
You’re not on social media to be shy. Promote your Instagram account on other social media sites, your website, and your printed materials.
Measure Instagram Engagement
If you want to track your Instagram ROI — and you should — these are the measures you can build into your key performance indicators (KPIs).
Likes and Comments
The two engagement measured within Instagram are likes (99 percent of engagement) and comments (1 percent of engagement).
Hashtags
Using defined hashtags, and encouraging followers to use them, lets you track posts and shares via search engines or hashtag-tracking apps.
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.
Tracking Apps
There are several apps out there for tracking Instagram, usually in conjunction with your other social media.
Instagram Content Tips
Use faces, images with Faces get 38% more engagement and 32% more comments
Give away product. Images of real people using product get 30% more engagement.
Choose blue instead of red. Blue gets 24% more engagement.
Keep things bright. Lighter images get 24% more likes.
Post on Sundays and skip Wednesdays. Those are the two days with the most (and least) engagement.
How to Manage & Grow Your Social Media Accounts
Socialdraft is your all-in-one tool for Social Media management. Socialdraft allows you to:
Even with the drop on Instagram reach, we still recommend marketing your brand or business on the platform. Why? Instagram does not restrict you the same way when it comes to reaching out to potential customers. It’s incredibly easy to engage them into a conversation. If your business has not yet created an Instagram account, go ahead, take the plunge and establish a business profile on Instagram so that your brand is visible to another new market. Then, take a second to read this post. It’s a quick guide for absolute beginners (we’ve got plenty of advanced articles for you to read once you’ve mastered these basics).
Instagram Beginners Guide
We’ve mentioned this before but it bears repeating — Instagram is still one of the fastest growing social media platforms, with 15 times more user engagement than Facebook, and 40 times more engagement than Twitter.
1. Double tap a photo to like it.
2. Create an Instagram Business profile. You’ll hear that this decreases your engagement, but you can’t be fully in the game unless you keep score. When you create a business account, you’ll be able to:
Get insights on performance for stories and promoted posts
Get information on your followers and how they engage you
Add more information about your brand or business (example – hours, location, contact info)
Run ads and get reporting on your ads
Include call-to-action buttons
3. Choose an aesthetic look. This will help you keep consistent branding and increase brand recognition.
4. Make sure your images are always easy to read (clear, simple and to the point)
5. Click the raindrop to use tilt-shift focus on the photograph. What does this do you ask? This allows you to select part of your image to be in focus, while the rest is slightly blurry. This gives an edgy and unique to particular pics.
6. Use your phone’s camera to take all of your photos and then upload them to Instagram. This provides agents more control over design.
7. Use hashtags in your image captions. This groups the photo with other photos of similar themes and makes it easier for your audience to find you.
8. Once your picture is published, click the three dots under it to delete it, share it, copy the photo’s URL, or to email it to someone.
9. Respond to any comments under your photo by holding down the user’s name. You can mention the user or be taken to their profile. By doing this they will get a notification that you have responded.
10. Keep your comments area spam free. Leaving those crummy “nice pic” comments makes it look like you don’t care about your business. Besides, as you can see in the above video, it is super easy to remove spam and block spam commenters.
11. You can delete comments that you’ve left on another individual’s photos by clicking the top right-hand corner, and then clicking the red circle next to your name. Remember to take your time and use discretion to avoid needing to do this often.
12. Want to put a filter on your photos and save them to your photos? But you also do not want to publish them on to your Instagram feed? Use this trick: Put your phone in “airplane mode” and load your photos as you would normally. Your photos will be saved to the camera roll.
The online photo sharing and social networking service Instagram, allows users to take pictures and videos, apply digital filters, and share them on other social networking services such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Flickr. It’s a fantastic marketing tool for all types of businesses and really encourages your audience to engage with you by liking your images and leaving comments on there.
In 2014, Instagram had over 150 million users. In April of 2017, this number had grown to 700 million ACTIVE monthly users. Instagram has become the fastest growing social media platform. As part of an effort to maintain quality posts on Instagram, you should choose storylines that are authentic to your brand and are best conveyed through captivating imagery. Create posts that follow these themes. Include images and videos that are well-crafted, and take time to learn from other brands. Keep captions short and fresh and include hashtags. Lastly, make sure you manage your account. This means keeping an eye out for spam comments and deleting those when they happen.
How to Delete Comments on Instagram
Typos and Comment Spam
Comment spam sucks. It comes about mostly from those bots that leave generic comments such as “great pic” or “awesome” regardless of the content of the post. This is done by those trying to game the system to get more followers. Frankly, it stinks. This is not the way to grow an engaged following that can convert. It merely leads to vanity metrics that no brand should be interested in.
If your business account gets this type of comment, don’t just leave them there. You can delete them and keep your feed clean. It’s easy to delete comments on any picture or video you’ve posted. This includes any comment another user has left on your photo or any comment or caption you’ve added beneath your photo. You can also delete any comment you yourself have left on somebody else’s photo.
Delete Instagram Comments oniPhone
Swipe left on the comment
Tap the Garbage icon
”If somebody is using abusive language or harassing you, choose “Delete & Report Abuse.”
Delete Instagram Comments on Android
Tap the little speech bubble beneath the photo like you’re leaving a new comment.
Tap and hold on the comment YOU WANT TO DELETE.
Choose either Delete or Delete and Report Abuse.
Delete Instagram Comments on Desktop
Go to your Instagram page (it’s instagram.com/username) and log in.
Find the photo in question and hover the pointer over the filthy comment.
You’ll see a small [x] appear next to it. Click that and choose “Delete.”
How to Manage Your Instagram Account
Socialdraft is more than an Instagram management tool. Socialdraft is an all-in-one tool to help you manage your social media including Instagram. With Socialdraft you can:
Schedule posts to multiple Instagram accounts, Twitter accounts, Facebook pages, Pinterest boards, and LinkedIn pages
Schedule one-time posts, recurring posts, or duplicate posts
Schedule posts in bulk with a CSV
Engage your community on the feed
Be made aware whenever your brand or business is mentioned online
By now you know that Instagram gets more engagement than any other social network. If you are a local business who is just starting to use Instagram to try to get more people to come in, you’ll be playing catchup. That does not mean that you can’t succeed. Very often, small local businesses stop being “active” on Instagram within a month or so. They get discouraged because they see no results from just sharing a picture. I’m going to be honest here, Instagram takes strategy, consistency, and work. Today, we’ll give you the break down on how Instagram works; then we’ll give you 15 easy to implement Instagram Tips for Local Business.
How Instagram Works
Instagram is a social network that revolves around images – both photos and videos. When someone first logs onto Instagram, they see images taken by people they follow. Instagram users can also use the search feature to search the top posts for a particular term, people, hashtags and places.
How are Images Organized on Instagram
When you log onto Instagram and you see the images posted by people you follow, they are prioritized by how often you engage them. So, if you always like and comment on someone’s posts, it is most likely that you will see those first.
If you search people, those you follow will come up first, then those you engage most, then those that are active on the network.
If you search by hashtag or location, you will first be shown the top 9 performing posts, then you will be shown the latest images to be posted with that hashtag.
Why Should You Use Instagram to Market Your Small Business?
Instagram is an incredibly effective marketing tool for small businesses. As a business, you can grow followers and directly speak to them on the network. Because the site is focused on images, it makes it easy to tell the story of your business or brand. It is also one of the fastest growing social networks. As of September 2017, there were 500 MILLION active users. Those are some strong numbers.
Before we get to the tips to help you maximize your return on investment, let’s cover the basics.
How to Create a Solid Instagram Business Account
Create Your Username and Fill Out Your Profile
The above example is a good profile for a local business on Instagram. Why? The profile clearly and simply states what this account is and where it is located. There is no question that this is a French restaurant in New York City. Here are some tips on how to make your Instagram business account effective:
UseConsistent Handles
When choosing the name of your Instagram account, try as much as you can to be consistent with your username/handle. Sign up for an Instagram account with the same name as your Twitter & Facebook account. Madison Bistro has the same handles across Social Media, including Twitter. This makes them super easy to find across networks. If your desired username is taken up, keep the new version as simple as possible.
Connect to Facebook
Make sure to connect your account to Facebook. When eligible, switch to a business profile.
Take Care of Branding
Add a profile photo or brand logo. Bear in mind that your profile photo or brand logo will be cropped into a circle and appear as a 150 x 150-pixel image on most phones, so your logo or image needs to be legible on smartphones and mobile devices.
Link Out to Your Website
Add a link to your website. This is especially important because you can’t add links to Instagram posts. Your profile is the only spot where a link can push people towards your website, so make this a priority.
SEO Your Profile
Make sure to include call-to-action phrases and geo-location information so people know where your local business is located. In the example above we have “Traditional French Cuisine” and “Madison Avenue”. This gets the point across without being spammy.
Convert to a Business Account
You will hear from many that it is harder to get engagement as a business account. To these people, I say – analytics are key. What does engagement matter if the people who are following you are not your target audience? If you were the above restaurant in NYC and your following was in Spain, you’d want to know and re-work your strategy, right? The idea is not to have vanity metrics, but to have followers who can convert. If you don’t have access to analytics, you will have a much harder time getting people to convert.
Instagram Tips for Local Businesses
Start with Clear Goals
Consider how Instagram fits into your overall brand marketing strategy. Is your objective to increase awareness, shift perception, or reach a new audience? Pick a goal or two that can be achieved by connecting with Instagram’s highly visual and creative community. If you were this French restaurant in NYC, you could start with setting a goal to get 100 people in NYC to follow your account. This is clear, attainable, and measurable. Once this goal is set, then you can create more aggressive goals, like getting 50 people to click thru to your website to make reservations for an event. Again, the key here is that your goals are clear and attainable.
Choose Themes to Tell a Cohesive Story
Choose storylines that are authentic to your brand and are best conveyed through captivating imagery. Create posts that follow these themes for a diversity of content that also remains consistent over time. For example, pick a filter and stick with it. Make all your images black and white…you get the idea. The example above uses Tiffany’s iconic blue as the overall theme of their account.
A photo posted by Madison Bistro NY (@madisonbistrony) on
Create High-quality Content Work with your brand or creative team to produce images and videos that are well-crafted and feel at home on the platform. Or, if you’re a one-person shop, take some time to learn from other brands and popular Instagrammers and follow their lead.
Keep captions short and fresh. People online have a short attention span, so don’t give them a book to read.
Ask questions to engage people This will get them to comment on your post and increase your engagement. A few examples: What do you think our most popular dish is? Are you ready for Happy Hour/Friday/The Weekend? Are you Hungry? [fve]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ5Nj7HIC0w&feature=youtu.be[/fve] Comment & Like Use hashtags, location, and photos of you to find others’ images of your brand. Engage with them by liking and commenting on their images. Since you are a local business, you will also want to engage those posting images of your city, state, and neighborhood. They’re nearby…you can convert them!
Geo-Tag your Posts
Include the location of your photo or video when it helps tell the story of the image. This will make it so your image comes up when people search by location, it’s a great way to be discovered especially now that people will be able to follow hashtags.
A photo posted by Le Bernardin (@lebernardinny) on
Tag Relevant People Use the Add People feature to tag accounts in your image when they will help you reach a broader audience. Note how Le Bernadin tags their Chef Eric Ripert. [fve]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVu4aVZRDcE[/fve] Use Image Editing Apps Edit your images with filters and other tools available in the Instagram app. These effects give images that unmistakable “Instagram” look that people respond to. You can also use these to say add a logo to brand all your images. Highlight Your Brand’s Identity Post photos and videos of beautiful and unexpected moments that also feel authentic and immediate. Whether your subject is a person or an object, capture it in a context that gives a sense of your brand’s identity or point of view.
Hashtags are one of the keys to success on Instagram. Make sure to use relevant, popular (but not too popular) ones for your image content. Incorporate a mix of targeted and general hashtags (we recommend you use all 30). If you don’t know how to use Instagram hashtags, click here. But in the meantime, make sure you use location-specific hashtags.
Pay Attention To The Background
Sometimes the background in your photograph is more interesting than the person or image in the foreground. You don’t want someone to sneak in the background for a photobomb that can ruin your shot. Or maybe you do want things like that to happen. As long as it’s interesting it can get you and your brand attention.
A photo posted by Bellini Italian Restaurant (@bellininyc) on
There are a lot of photos on Instagram, as in billions of photos. You’ll know when you’re getting too much light in the frame and when you’re not getting enough. “There is a lot more you could do with light, but for quick ways to make your photos different try shooting from unique angles. Get real low and shoot up on things like buildings, walls, and people. These photos will stand out and will get you lots of attention.”
Promote Your Business on Both Facebook and Instagram
If you really want to maximize your efforts, then boost them with paid media. Chances are your competitors are not currently doing this which means you can get some amazing ad prices and tons of rewards.
Widen Your Exposure to Other Brands
Social Media Examiner advises small businesses to follow other brands on Instagram. It’s good to research, you can engage their followers, and you can stay fresh with ideas.
Balance Fun Images With Pictures From Your Business
Keep your Instagram feed fun. Don’t just push out promotional items, Instagram is all about lifestyle. Take pics of your staff, customers (always with permission) and get them involved in the process.
Post to Instagram daily
Studies show that if you don’t post consistently, your audience will leave and your reach will drop. It will also make it harder for you to come up on search. That’s why it is so important that you post daily on Instagram. You can schedule posts for multiple Instagram accounts using the all-in-one social media tool, Socialdraft.
Socialdraft is more than just an Instagram management tool. With Socialdraft, you can:
Schedule to multiple Instagram accounts, Twitter accounts, Facebook pages, Pinterest boards, and LinkedIn pages
Schedule one time, duplicate, or recurring posts
Schedule in bulk (perfect if you run recurring promotions, post reviews, and evergreen content).
Set up different people on your team with different permissions.
Instagram is unlike all other social networks. I’ve been recently getting more and more active and LOVE the interaction and connections to be made here. However, it is not as easy to get engagement and to grow your account as it used to be. First, Instagram was purchased by Facebook. Then, the Instagram algorithm was put into place. Lastly, Instagram announced not just that it has 800 million users, 500 million of which log on daily and 200 million who advertise. This means that there is more competition and that you need to be smarter than ever in how you use Instagram.
How to Grow Your Instagram Following
As a brand or local business, you may be a little concerned on how to get started with your Instagram account and how to grow your audience. But if you take it step by step, you will be just fine.
Understand Your Audience
If you are going to grow your Instagram, you need to know your audience. Instagram’s demographic has changed tons, especially with its rapid growth. Let’s look at who uses Instagram today:
80% of Instagram users are outside the US
31% of American women and 24% of men use Instagram
32% of all people who use the Internet use Instagram
59% of people between the ages of 18 & 29 who use the web use Instagram
33% of people 30-49 years old who use the web use Instagram
38% of women who use the internet use Instagram
26% of men who use the internet use Instagram
17% of teenagers say Instagram is the most important social network
Start by making a user profile. Then begin to think about what other accounts like yours they will like. Check out the followers of those accounts and engage them. This is your audience. One Socialdraft user, Cognac Maniacs, represents the Cognac region. Since this beverage is very popular within the male urban market., Instagram was the perfect platform for them. They were able to grow their account organically on the platform by 5,000 followers in just 3 months by engaging followers of similar accounts.
Instagram is all about passion…and pictures, of course. Make sure your content expresses that passion, be creative. This is the last place you want to be boring, repetitive, or overly salesy. Keep the 80/20 rule in mind and don’t bore your audience with constant product shots. Instead, highlight your team at work, take pics of your neighborhood, or of silly things that happen. A repost campaign is perfect for this. With a repost campaign, you are publishing other people’s content. They are the ones creating the message, not you. It’s all about rewarding your audience for being loyal. If you use Socialdraft, scheduling these reposts is super easy.
3. Take a Photography Class
Yes, I said that. Instagram is all about visuals, and high-quality photos and videos can make or break your marketing efforts. Luckily, you have the internet at your fingers and there are tons of great tutorials out there. Start off with learning about the rule of thirds.
4. Get Appy
There are tons of apps out there to help you create amazing photos, check out Afterlight, VSCOcam, PicFrame, and PhotoStudio. These are a few of our staff’s favorites photo editing apps to get you started.
5. Post Daily
We polled Socialdraft users, and the overwhelming opinion was that not posting daily can result in lower engagement. This is dangerous, as your fans can lose interest, or your competition could swoop in and steal them from you. Make sure to post on a daily basis, twice a day if possible. Don’t overpost either. Once a day is good for most brands but look at analytics. Your brand is not average, so make use of the info given to you by Instagram’s analytics dashboard to figure out what is best for you.
6. Engage (Lots)
With all the extra competition out there, you can’t rely on hashtags and the algorithm to get people to come to you. The best way to get followers is to get out there and engage them. Find other accounts that are similar to yours (same industry or brand type). Find the people who engage them by checking out their latest images. Click through to their profile and engage them. Comment on their images, but make the comments good. “Great picture” is not going to get you anywhere. Engage them, like their image and comment. You will begin to see them reciprocate.
7. Get Organized
You create a calendar and strategy for Facebook and Twitter, you should do the same for Instagram. Yes, I know you can’t “publish” posts, but with Socialdraft you can schedule your posts. They will go to your phone and you can schedule from there. It is the best way to make sure you publish daily.
8. Repost Community Content
This is especially powerful if you are a brand (as in the cognac example above) or even a local business. Search for content created about you on Instagram (super easy to do on Socialdraft). Then, share this content not just to Instagram, but the rest of your social networks. We recommend that you ask permission before you do. When you do this you are both complimenting the content creator, and starting a conversation. This is a fabulous way to build brand advocates.
9. Measure
A game is no fun if you don’t keep score. This also applies to Instagram. The one issue with Instagram is that it only gives you 7 days worth of analytics, so make sure to keep track of them on Google docs.
10. Shorten URLS
Since you can’t add links to pictures on Instagram, you can use a URL shortener (like Bit.ly) to create easy to remember URLs that will help point people to where you want them to go. This will also allow you to measure if people are actually going outside of Instagram to your website. If you can get them to do this, then you’re an Instagram success.
Instagram is an incredible marketing tool. For the most part, due to how Instagram restricts apps, it means that the principals behind the account usually are behind the account. That means you have a direct line to the person making choices. This is powerful. The issue with Instagram is that because of how it is set up, it can be a time suck. In this article, we’ll outline a few Instagram Tips to Save you Time while marketing your brand or business on Instagram.
Replying to comments is one of the most effective techniques on Instagram. It will get you more likes, comments and engagement; and in turn it will push you up on the feed. Typing these names manually can be time consuming, lead to mistakes meaning people won’t get your notifications and result in a lower ROI. There are two ways to handle this:
Press and hold over the name of the person who you want to reply to. Their handle will auto populate on the comments area.
Swipe left over the person’s comment. Press the arrow and their handle will come up on the comments area.
This is a fantastic feature from Instagram on how to block offensive comments. Simply go to your settings and scroll until you see comments. Click on that. There is an option to Hide Inappropriate Comments. What’s cool is that Instagram lets you add custom keywords. This means that if you have a troll that is using certain words on your comments, you can easily block that particular content.
Instagram basically cloned Snapchat when they released the Stories feature earlier this year. The ui is much easier to understand than Snapchat and has really taken off.
If you want to see the people who have viewed your Instagram Story. First, click your story to open it up. Then swipe up on the number on the bottom. That’s how many people have seen your story. From here you can see all the people who watched your story. You should take the time to engage these people.
Schedule Posts and Repost (to all other social networks) with Socialdraft
Socialdraft allows you to work with teams to schedule Instagram posts to multiple accounts. It also allows you to search Instagram by keyword. On top of that, you can also repost from Instagram…but not just to Instagram, but to all your other connected networks including Facebook pages, Twitter, LinkedIn business pages AND Pinterest boards. This feature is powerful, especially for repost campaigns and can help you grow your accounts quickly and efficiently.
Organize your Instagram filters so that you can access the ones you use most first. It’s super easy. Just press and hold on the filter you want to move and drag it to its desired location.
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.
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.
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.
