Instagram Growth Tips for Brands

Instagram is a wonderful option for every single business that tries to get more exposure. The highly visual social network can help your brand to gain more exposure and even more sales, when used properly.

The problem is that Instagram’s algorithm constantly changes. Brands looking to maximize engagement can easily end up having problems because of this. While the algorithm changes we saw in the recent months were not as impactful as what we saw with Facebook, it is still really important to double-check what you are doing now to see if you are using the best possible practices.

The Instagram growth tips below are especially important for brands looking for a higher online exposure. They will help you to reach more followers and get better results, regardless of what they are.

Optimize The Instagram Bio

Most businesses focus so much on captions and photographs that they end up forgetting the vital part of the profile, the bio. The Instagram bio is very important for everything you try to do with the platform. It can funnel the visitors to promotions, thus acting as an effective CTA, or can simply highlight something really important.

Regardless of what the business sells or the industry it operates in, the most important things to include in the Instagram bio are:

  • A branded hashtag so that sharing and tagging are encouraged.
  • A relevant bio link (Instagram-specific) that points to a promotion or the homepage.
  • A brief description or slogan. It needs to use the brand voice and actually highlight it.

As an extra tip, try to make the bio link as short as possible. Something like “https://munley.com/car-accident-lawyer” does not look great. Use URL shortener services to make these links shorter, which makes it more likely the viewer will click.

Do Not Neglect Instagram Stories

Your Instagram content strategy simply needs to include stories because these reach people who are already interested in your services, your followers. In fact, for numerous marketing campaigns, using stories should be seen as a priority.

You can also take full advantage of audience polls and Stories ads, if your budget allows it. Regular stories automatically boost engagement and keep your brand in front of the eyes of the followers. Also, they do not have to be perfect since nobody expects this. Bite-sized posts, selfies, and real-time snapshots are effective and can easily be created.

Increase Video Content Creation

Besides Instagram stories, you also have to think about videos. Producing videos is actually very important these days for literally all social networks you would use. Fortunately, there are countless Instagram apps you can use these days to edit videos and create high-quality video content in minutes, without much technical knowledge needed.

Keep in mind that Instagram relies on visual content so you need to create compelling content. There is nothing more effective these days than videos. They quickly make feeds more entertaining and put brands in a much better light.

Determine The Optimal Publishing Frequency

Timing your Instagram posts right is a huge part of maximizing your reach. You basically need to think about when you post and how often you do. Sticking to a schedule is not necessarily mandatory but there are specific optimal times that are going to be much better than others.

While trends do often change, you have to focus on more engagement. Most brands publish once per day, which is the norm. With such an approach, you get enough time to fine-tune posts and figure out when you have to publish.

Use CTAs In Captions

Instagram captions are a great opportunity for showing off creativity and encouraging engagement. Some examples of the things that can help to increase followers and fans are:

  • Ask questions
  • Use Instagram “tag-a-friend” posts
  • Encourage the viewers to share with regrams and hashtags
  • Encourage people to go to your Instagram bio to click the link there

Try to create playful captions since they highlight the personality of the brand and encourage desired actions. Simply put that little extra effort into the Instagram captions to increase engagement rate.

Properly Use Instagram Hashtags

Using hashtags is something that most businesses get wrong on Instagram. This is because they do not really understand them.

Hashtags are important because they make the Instagram post searchable. At the same time, hashtag shares are encouraged among the audience. In most cases, you need to use a combo of broad community tags and branded tags. Just make sure that you do not overuse the hashtags. Adding too many will always discourage the readers. Using fewer carefully chosen hashtags is simply more effective.

Creativity is very important on Instagram. Bold statements work great but you can also post occasional simple photographs.

Use Instagram To Engage With Other Accounts

A huge mistake so many brands make right now on Instagram is they talk and do not interact. It is a very good idea to reply to follower tags and questions. This is a wonderful customer service move and instantly increases engagement rate.

Remember that the way in which you talk to people is very important. Social listening counts and you have to monitor Instagram mentions. When you actively monitor mentions, you get to respond really fast, which helps a lot to increase engagement.

Actively Monitor Instagram Analytics

It is really important that you figure out the types of content that are performing really well for your brand. Also, you have to figure out where you have to improve in order to increase reach.

Instagram Analytics give you so much more information than you might initially think. They give you data about engagement rates, how hashtags perform, and so much more. Do not fly blindly when you use Instagram for your brand. Also, if your budget allows it, invest in a third-party service that would help you with better Instagram Analytics than what the platform offers at a native level.

To sum up, Instagram is all about being relatable and approachable. Use all the tools you have access to in order to find out what your audience expects from you. Then, do your best to deliver.