Did you know that Instagram has 500 million active users? Well, now you know. Isn’t that a good enough market to showcase your brand? Yes, it is. So what’s stopping you from getting on top of this social media platform? Whatever it was, it won’t anymore if you follow the below 3 incredibly useful Instagram tips for building an audience on Instagram for your brand.
1. Hashtag Sensibly for Building An Audience on Instagram
Instagram is a visual marketing tool, and just like content marketing, keywords are also needed to make your images discoverable. Hashtags are those keywords. So, whenever a person searches for a hashtag, they can see all the posts with that hashtag together. But most social media management experts will agree that it is more than just a grouping tool!
If you are a store selling movie merchandise, wouldn’t you want to appear in the latest Marvel movie search results? You sure will. It is like booking an exhibition stall at the Comic-Con. If you use the right hashtags, you will appear at the top of all comic book lovers’ feeds, who are the biggest chunk of your potential audience.
So, using relevant hashtags on Instagram is extremely important to get noticed; it’s like being in the right place at the right time.
How to Hashtag on Instagram to Build Your Audience
Now that you know why hashtags are crucial, we have tips on how you can use them well:
- Use the right number of hashtags: You can use 30 hashtags in a photo post and 10 in a story. But just because you can use so many doesn’t mean you should use all of them up. Industry research is an excellent start to finding the optimum number of hashtags.
- Stay clear of banned hashtags: Your posts can get shadow-banned by Instagram. To find out banned hashtags, search them on IG, and if there is a note that posts with that hashtag are banned, don’t use that hashtag.
- Research hashtags: Finding the ‘right’ hashtag is as essential as finding the right keywords. So, research popular and relevant hashtags to drive higher engagements. You can look at competitor posts, influencer posts, industry posts, etc. Or you can even use Instagram Hashtag Tools.
- Stay in the loop: Keep an eye for trending hashtags and see if you can be a part of that trend. This way, you can flow with the current and gain followers with lesser effort.
So, using relevant hashtags on Instagram is extremely important to get noticed; it's like being in the right place at the right time. #InstagramTips
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2. Hang In There Building An Audience on Instagram
Rome wasn’t built in one day, and neither will your Social Media audience be. You can’t just post once a month and expect to receive high engagement and following. Even the biggest brands post multiple times a week or even multiple times a day. So, make sure you post frequently and consistently.
Therefore, a majority of social media management experts concur that consistency is the key. You need to figure out what works for you and then follow the pattern. Below are some key insights into consistency:
- Have a posting schedule: You need to have a routine of when you post and how many times you post. For example, if you are a brand in the health and nutrition segment, you can post three times a day. You can post interesting health facts around mealtimes to catch your targeted audience’s undivided attention.
- Don’t sacrifice your existing following for new ones: If you’ve picked on a frequency and see that your current following is looking forward to your posts, don’t change it abruptly just to gain a new following. Maybe you will end up losing more than what you gain.
- Interact & Engage: If users comment on your posts, make sure you reply to them. This adds the human element to your posts, and people engage more. You can even host contests or quizzes to drive more engagement. Once your existing audience has a good time, they will spread the word, bringing more engagement to your upcoming events.
- Encourage User-Generated Content: If you want to be consistent with your posts, make sure some of those are user-generated also. Not only does it give you time to create your own posts, but it also makes your audience feel that they belong to your community.
3. Build a Brand Identity on Your Account
This is, by far, the most critical aspect of building an audience on Instagram. It encompasses everything about your account – from the visual aesthetics of your posts to the people or trends you follow. It is like branding for a brand – a tool to attract the right kind of audience to your brand. Below could be some defining criteria to curate the kind of content you post:
- Identify how you want to promote your brand: Instagram is not just a marketing tool; it is a Social Media platform too. So, you need to identify how your brand adds value to people’s social life. For example, if you are an organic skincare brand, your posts should not just promote your products; they should promote the benefits of going organic. Show that you care about people’s well-being instead of just selling them stuff.
- Choose the right aesthetics: The content you post should be visually appealing for sure, but it should go with your brand identity. If you are a vintage brand, maybe sepia or grayscale should be your color scheme. Similarly, if you’re a farm-to-table café, make sure all your posts have an earthy appeal.
- Tell your story: If you really want to engage your audience, use stories well. Keep your followers informed of every new thing happening through stories. They will only be there for 24 hours, so make sure what you post is highly catchy and time-sensitive. You can even create highlight albums, so your followers can go back to old stories, or you can create throwback posts.
- Use reels: Reel videos generate a lot more views than other Instagram formats on the platform. Learn below how you can create them using Canva if you don’t want to be “in” the video.
- Associate with like-minded people: Again, pointing to the community aspect of the platform, you can build your audience by following the right brands and influencers so that they follow you back. This way, you acquire a targeted following and attract the right people to your brand.
Wrapping up the top 3 tips to build an Instagram audience
So, to sum up, the top three things to keep in mind while building your audience are – the content you post, how consistently you post, and how you make it discoverable. How are you building your audience today over on Instagram? I’d love to hear more about it.
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