Did you know that social media since its inception in 1996 has managed to make 3.96 billion sweethearts in the last 25 years?
Website Oberlo says more than 13% of people worldwide use Instagram and 90% of these people follow different brands. It is easy to understand why Instagram is considered as a targeted visual marketing channel for any business regardless of its size. It can provide an excellent opportunity for you to grow your business online by building a loyal audience base.
Instagram has recently opened up its photo feed for advertisers along with a “Shop Now” button. It is now one of the most popular social media apps that are dominating the consumer marketing space. If you are considering a buildup of online presence using Instagram, make an effort to build an audience base and promote your business with élan.
Top Three Ways To Build An Instagram Following In 2021
Well, more than 500 million people log in to Instagram every day. But like all other social media platforms, there are appropriate ways in which you can design your Instagram business page to increase the number of followers.
There are different ways to enhance the number of followers, the ethical and the unethical way, the right way, the wrong way, and of course the clever way. Going the ethical yet clever way, there are some tips and tricks that can help you in garnering more followers for your Instagram business page.
Here are the top three things that you need to keep in mind if you are interested in knowing how to build an Instagram following:
1. Use hashtags wisely
Engage your present Instagram followers regularly with the correct hashtags. Post new and interesting photos about your latest products and services regularly but do not forget to use the right hashtags on them. Hashtagging is like putting keywords on your photos. They will help people find your photos easily when they are searching for a particular business with relevant hashtags.
If you want to earn new followers, some very popular hashtags are most commonly used on Instagram. Start using those and get discovered by like-minded new people.
Which hashtags should you use? Some of the most common yet popular Instagram hashtags are #love, # instagood, #fashion, # followme, #instadaily, #repost etc.
If you think none of these hashtags are appropriate for your business page, you are probably correct.
Using hashtags is important. But you must know what hashtags will work for your business. Not all of them are of much relevance to you. Instagram allows 10 hashtags for a story and up to 30 hashtags for a photo post. So use as many as you find relevant to reach out to maximum people worldwide.
Do your research and find hashtags that describe your brand or your products. If you do not know where to start, there are several free online tools available that can make your work easier. Use these tools like Websta for finding popular and relevant hashtags. Start building up a list of keywords as you go. Conduct your online hashtag research every few months since the popularity of these hashtags keeps changing frequently.
Start using an Instagram scheduling tool that will save the caption templates for your business that you can use later for storing the hashtag groups. Doing your research and organizing and saving them can save you a considerable amount of time and effort down the road. It will also help you in increasing your customer engagement and garner new followers in the long run.
2. Post Visually Appealing Content Consistently
Being consistent with what you do is important for successful marketing. It is a mantra that marketers swear by. As a business brand, you have to keep your online presence active to attract more followers. Being active online will also boost your engagement rates with your page followers.
But how active is appropriate? Well, maintaining a regular consistency of two to three posts a day will keep your Instafeed stay relevant and fresh in the minds of your followers. You must also follow a specific timeline for posting content on Instagram. You can research and identify when your page followers are more active on any given day and schedule your posts accordingly. This will ensure that your posts are always appearing at the top of your followers’ feed and keep you fresh in their minds.
Being visually active is the key to becoming popular on Instagram. Design branding guidelines for your business page keeping in mind the visual aesthetics that align with your brand. Not everything will work for your brand, but some specific things will definitely work. Be mindful of the color palette that you choose for your brand. Choose a style that is distinctive from your brand. These small things when used appropriately on your Instagram business page, will go a long way in making a mark in people’s minds.
Here Are Some Strategies That You Can Follow To Keep Your Users Engaged With Your Brand:
A. Engage your followers with behind the scene photos and content
Those photos will make your followers feel connected to your brand. If you fall short of content ideas, there are several blogs and posts available all over the web specifically for Instagram, from where you can get inspiration. Create valuable content that is worthy of share and they will popularize your brand to new users too.
B. Keep A Check On Your Posting Time
Different companies use different strategies about the Instagram content posting time frame. While there are companies that post around 30 content per day, there are also organizations that post 5-6 content a day. Both are equally popular on Instagram. So it can be safely said that there is no magic behind the volume of the posts on Instagram.
C. Edit Your Posts Religiously To Maintain Uniformity
Instagram is mostly a visually driven platform. Use this feature to highlight your brand exposure. Post candid shots as your content and increase the brightness. The look and feel of all your Instagram posts should match with the identity of your brand and positively appeal to your followers.
D. Interact With Your Followers
Post response to their comments, seek feedback, answer any queries that they might have. Respond to feedback received on your posts and make your brand visible. Constantly look for ways to engage with your followers. Involve your followers in different events and engagements. Encourage them to share photos with your brand and product. When you re-share their posts, they will do it for you too. You can cleverly use user-generated content that will not only help you in building a deeper connection with your followers but also reduce your marketing costs significantly.
E. Build A Strong Community
You can do this by simply interacting with others and sharing your thoughts. Encourage interactions and it will enhance your brand’s engagement rates. No prize for guessing that it will increase your organic followers quickly and consistently.
3. Highlight Your Brand Identity
Instagram stories are an excellent way of doing business online. Instagram stories are one of the key marketing strategies that you can use for your online business. The life of a story is only for 24 hours and you can make the most of these hours by keeping it real and raw. It’s a great opportunity to connect with your followers, interact with them, and build meaningful valuable relationships.
How To Build A Good Instagram Story?
Here are the key strategies you need to keep in mind while designing an Instagram story.
- Have a good message about your brand within the content that adds value to the viewers.
- Use a collage of multiple short scenes to convey your message via the Instagram story.
- Give valuable information with source links to authenticate your content.
- Weave the story with engaging facts and fun elements. It is a great way to captivate the audience.
- Use attractive captions with the story. Longer captions are a powerful enhancer as they build deeper emotional bonds with the targeted audience.
- Use wise call to action points in the story mentioning why followers should swipe to know more.
- Align your business with the aesthetics of your brand.
- Create a highlight album with all your Instagram stories so that they remain saved within your business page.
- Create a customized cover for each of these stories and add on to your bio on the profile page.
These strategies on your part will give your followers more information about your products, brand, and business and why they should follow you for more such posts.
Conclusion
Building a business brand on Instagram isn’t as simple as getting friends to like a bunch of photos. But there is nothing that you cannot achieve with the right kind of effort and strategy for your business. Get inspired by your competitors’ Instagram feed and create your digital marketing strategy that will bring more followers to your page.
Your Instagram journey will be long but a beautiful one. It can only evolve and grow over time. Forge deeper connections with your followers and maximize your business potential and you will never have to look back again.
