With Instagram on the rise, many businesses don’t want to be left out so they jump on the bandwagon. Rightly so, because it’s a fabulous tool to connect with your audience. It is said that Instagram has the highest engagement out of all the social media networks.
But being on it, doesn’t mean that you will have success. To be successful on social media, and Instagram in particular there are a few things you must do (among others). I’ve listed 3 of the absolute musts of Instagram below.
1. Share photos that align with your brand
It’s quite challenging to post photos on Instagram if you’re a service based brand or one that doesn’t have pretty products to take pictures of, but you can still be successful on Instagram by sharing images that align with your brand. One way to do this is to use ‘repost’ an app that integrates with Instagram so that you can share images of others that fit in with your brand. I sometimes do this because I really like an image and want to be able to credit the original poster. The picture above is by love star, and no they don’t sell puppies in flowers, but what they do sell is pretty heart shaped colourful vases (amongst other things) so sharing images that align with their brand and resonate with their audience is a no brainer. It’s important to know your audience and know what they like so that you increase the likelihood of engaging with them.
2. Show you (be human)
People buy from people, so inject a little bit of you into your photos. Take the occasional selfie, show what’s going on in your office or post a picture of your cat (or dog, like I do). Adding ‘you’ really helps with building trust and people buy from those they trust. Go have fun!
2. Follow back
I’m not sure about you, but when I see big brands with thousands of followers but they don’t follow many others back it just screams that they’re only interested in broadcasting their message, and not in engaging. On social media it can’t be all me, me, me. I’m not saying that you should follow ALL your followers back, but at least make an effort to follow those who regularly interact with you. More importantly, follow the ones that are your ideal client.
