Many businesses find Instagram confusing or a waste of time. However, with 600 million monthly users it remains an extremely popular, visually centered social platform that is fun, fast and easy to use. If your business isn’t using the platform or is having a hard time building a following, this post is for you. Here are the 2 important steps your company needs to take to grow an engaged audience ready to buy your product or service.
Effectively Use Hashtags
This is the most important element of a successful Instagram page, especially in the beginning when your company page may not have many followers. Hashtags are simply keywords that relate to the picture being posted or your company, industry, etc. When using hashtags, it is important to include ones that are active and have many people using and viewing them. For example, using your company’s name as a hashtag will not be very effective in getting your brand in front of user’s eyes unless you’re a behemoth like Coca-Cola or Walmart. Instead, substitute it with a popular hashtag within your industry like #searchengineoptimization or #interiordesign. A simple search within the Instagram app will show you the best hashtags people are using and viewing within your industry. Try searching “Web Development” in the search bar and going over to “tags”. Instagram will show you how many times that hashtag has been used, and other hashtags similar to the one being searched. Another very important tactic is to use quality over quantity with hashtags. Even though Instagram allows you to post 30 unique hashtags with a photo, studies have shown that 9 hashtags are optimal. The more hashtags you use, the more channels there will be for people to find your brand on the app. A good way of not seeming “spammy” when posting hashtags is to type them in the comment section of the picture or video once posted. By putting the hashtags in the comments section they are essentially hidden from view on your followers’ feeds but still actively pushing your posts to more channels through Instagram. Experiment with different hashtags to find out which ones fit best with your company!
Visual Consistency
Instagram is a very visually focused platform, obviously. The most successful pages have a visual consistency when you look through them. They use the same font, same quality photographs, and same color palettes to add a sense of unity to the page. If your company isn’t doing this, you’re not setting yourself up to gain followers. For example, let’s pretend Greg is browsing Instagram and sees a great looking photograph; he is naturally going to be inclined to check out the page that posted the photo. If he goes to the page and it looks like a cluttered mess with many different colors and different quality photos, Greg is less likely to then follow the page. If he lands on the page and sees a sense of unity with a consistent theme throughout, it will display professionalism and most likely lead to a follow. Focus on coming up with a color palette that fits your company and always post high-quality photos to keep customers coming back for more!
Take a look at our Instagram page to see what we’re talking about in action @brewcitymarketing and check out this great study from Buffer on how to grow a massive Instagram following.
Interested in one on one help? Give us a call at 414-208-0700 or fill out our contact form at brewcitymarketing.com. Contact us today to learn more about how to grow your Instagram page!