Instagram is a well-known social media platform which became hugely popular in current times owing to its easy to user interface.
Instagram wasn’t always such a huge platform. It started out back in 2010 as a small, yet unique idea for sharing stuff and getting connected with people who would like to follow you.
But as time has passed, it has grown into quite a popular platform, with more than 500 million active monthly users – all of which love to scroll through the photos in their feeds and engage with the content they love.
Instagram is not just about liking photos and chatting with your followers. It is much more than that.
This huge social media platform makes it easier for individuals and businesses to grow their brand into a bigger one.
In fact, more than half of the American brands use Instagram for marketing their messages and services.
If you are part of the huge group of people that like to take advantage of Instagram popularity for promoting themselves or their company, then you have made one of the wisest decisions ever.
Embracing this social media trend is the smartest business strategy these days. You must remember that success is never easy.
And as with any other kind of endeavor, this one will require a lot of skill and patience to make full use of Instagram and its analytic capabilities.
Doing so will ensure that you can make a good impression on the audience that you are looking for.
Post more and make sure to post Instagram stories
According to the Social media analytics tool, Quintly (that analyzed over 5,000 profiles), an average Instagram user posts at least once per day.
Accounts with a higher number of fans posted an average of 2 or sometimes 3 posts per day.
This data gave us a clear picture of the fact that the more successful accounts, or those with more followers, tend to post more than your average Instagram user.
The key point we can take away from this survey: Brands that have decided to go with the regular flow of Instagram trends are seen to be getting the best results.
Clearly, Instagram has been following the successful strategy of Facebook by rolling out a timeline which is based on a Facebook-like algorithm.
Here, consistency is a key element to make your posts visible to your followers and appear at the top of their news feed and timeline.
If your posts get shared on a fairly regular basis and you get good engagement with your viewers, then Instagram’s algorithm will definitely try to put your post near to the top of most of your followers’ news feeds.
Live stories
Going live often on Instagram with great content is sure to tune in more followers.
Tag friends or followers or customers in your stories as it gives attention which users normally crave on a social media platform.
The content of your stories is always the hero, so make your stories interesting and intriguing to keep your audience engaged.
It is best for businesses to use Instagram stories to their advantage, as they have a high engagement rate.
Stories usually play on full screen, which makes the audience pay full attention to the video.
Creating Instagram stories with a theme attracts more of an audience and engages them, rather than random stories mixed together.
Stories with pictures of people are more likely to get noticed than simple pictures of gardens or animals.
Posting stories regularly makes your feed reach the top position in the account of your audience. And always having good quality story images keeps the feed interesting.
Spending time to craft stories in an interesting way makes them rank better to gain popularity. Going live also gives your non-live content great exposure at the same time.
Embrace the Hashtag, as it is an important tool
The descriptive hashtags on Instagram might not look as important as the content shown in the image, but they are more important than you realize.
They help expose your content to more people, which will directly lead to more engagement – and ultimately towards a growth in the number of followers.
For those who aren’t aware of the term hashtag, it is a short, descriptive keyword which is preceded by a hash sign (#). It enables users to find content they are looking for with a simple click.
Including relevant hashtags in your posts is important, as only the relevant hashtags will help you create a dialogue between your business and users.
There are several things that you can do with hashtags to launch your strategy for engaging more users:
Be Relevant and use plenty
You can add hashtags relevant to your niche or company to every post your firm makes on Instagram.
You must remember to use as many hashtags as possible as it will attract a higher number of viewers.
According to statistics, an average small account that uses more than 11 hashtags tends to receive an average of 77.6 interactions with other users.
Comment
Don’t just post. Try to spend a few minutes commenting on relevant posts of other Instagram users with the hashtag that you are targeting.
Using this method, your brand can easily get exposed to those users who already have an interest in that specific hashtag.
And it will automatically help you increase engagement and the number of your followers.
Be specific
You should always be as specific as possible whenever you are choosing hashtags. It helps your brand connect with users who share a similar state of mind on Instagram.
You will also have a better rate of converting them from a prospect to a customer.
Be observant
Always keep your eyes open when it comes to the posts of other people, especially the ones with more followers.
You need to pay attention to the hashtags that others are using on their photos or posts.
You never know when you can come across a popular and trendy hashtag that will help you engage more people.
Make the best use of hashtags
The hashtag is the best way to use and find people or brands with similar interests.
They help in building user engagement and improve visibility to users who search and connect with the accounts they love.
Using universal hashtags like “TBT” (Throw Back Thursday) or “TGIF” (Thank God It’s Friday) or “instapic” will get you the required attention from a new audience.
Being strategic in using Instagram hashtags actually helps the account to grow more and stretch large.
Just make sure that none of your hashtags fall under banned hashtags as it would make your story or post disappear.
If you are an ardent fan of using popular hashtags you might have noticed that only 9 hashtags appear as popular posts when you search for a hashtag.
The rest are spread below in thousands of posts.
If your hashtags make it to the top 9 list, it certainly will help to gain more followers for your Instagram account.
Conclusion and what else to look for
There are certain factors that make hashtags popular. For example, the amount of response you get from a hashtag.
How fast you receive responses and engagement from your followers for a specific post makes a big difference too.
Make sure that your hashtags blend with your story and that they are unique so they differ from the rest.
Author Bio
Nikhil Aggarwal is currently working as a Content Manager with SEO Experts India. He has a great passion for digital marketing. He helps small and medium-sized businesses improve their online presence and grow their revenue by formulating effective digital marketing strategies for them. Apart from Digital Marketing Services, he has a keen interest in Entrepreneurship, Online Reputation Management, pay-per-click marketing, Quality Link Building and Tech Consultancy, etc.
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