HOW TO WORK INSTAGRAM TO YOUR ADVANTAGE
What began as a fun app for kids has now become a serious content making, networking and audience building tool for individuals and brands. It’s one of the most popular social networking sites on the planet, so if you aren’t on it by now then you need to.
HASHTAGS
What may seem like a simple way to get people to your post, it's not. Hashtagging has become an art form in itself. Using the generic obvious one-word hashtags will get you some interactions but it will be a slow way to the top. What you need to do is mix it up and use hashtags to tell part of your story. Do not just use the same hashtags for each post instead use them to track your engagement rate to see which hashtags work more than others and then implement them into your future posts. I like to see it like its the board game ‘Mastermind’ where you have to figure out what the pattern is by changing the different colours. But this time you are just changing the hashtags.
INFLUENCER MARKETING
Once you have identified influencers who are in front of the people you want to get in front of then make sure you click “Turn on Post Notifications” which will notify you every time they share new content. This will allow you to interact with them regularly and will put you in the comments section in front of all their followers. Make sure the comment is interesting though, there is no value in a single emoji.
DEVELOP YOUR OWN INSTAGRAM STYLE
When everyone else wants to fit in its important on Instagram to stand out! This is where branding comes in. Having a unique visual content style that is instantly recognisable will be beneficial and help to retain and gain more followers as they know what they’re getting.
CREATE AN IGTV SERIES
Ever wanted your business to have its own TV series? Well, now you can. IGTV is only continuing to grow in popularity and is a way to get long-form content out to people who might not usually see it. “We’ve seen so many people go to this destination and find new content,” - Jon Youshaei (Product Marketing Manager of IGTV). Just make sure its good quality content and regular.
WRITE LONGER CAPTIONS ON YOUR POSTS
This is something that was initially neglected when Instagram began. They say a picture speaks a 1,000 words however social media authenticity speaks a lot more. The latest trend in 2020 is authenticity. According to influencer research by Fohr, the average caption length has more than doubled since 2016. Long-form captions allow your audience to learn more about you or your business and your mission.