You may think you know everything there is about having a strong Instagram game. However, there’s a good chance that you’re missing a couple of things. Let us enlighten you, and show you what it’s like to really do well with your Instagram.
Promote Elsewhere
If you’ve got other social media platforms, as most people do, why not utilize them to boost your engagement on Instagram? They’re all connected anyway. Facebook and Instagram are owned by the same company, which means that all their features make it easy to share things across both platforms.
The more social media accounts you use to promote your Instagram, the bigger the exposure will be. Remember, to get the engagement back you need to put some out there in the universe, first. Use those other social media accounts to your advantage.
Make Your Username Easy
Unfortunately, usernames are getting more difficult to pick – it’s just the name of the game (pun intended). The fact that most of the good ones are gone means that you’ve got to get super creative these days – but don’t overthink it, either.
When someone is searching in your industry, you want them to comes across your page. How can you make this happen? By making your username as relevant to your brand as possible. This way, potential clients who are looking for the exact product or service you sell are way more likely to stumble across you.
Make it too complicated, and your username will miss its mark.
Choose a Quality Profile Pic
This may seem like a little bit of common sense, but we all know that common sense goes a long way these days. Having a good quality profile pic that, like your username, is also closely related to your brand and what you sell will give you a much better chance of people in your niche finding you.
Good options that we recommend when it comes to running a business Instagram profile is having your profile pic be the logo or name of your brand. Remember, this is the first thing that potential customers are going to see in relation to your business, so it better be convincing enough for them to click through.
Keep Your Bio Simple
We all know how frustrating it can be knowing that you’ve only got a minimal amount of characters to work within your bio. However, this Instagram curse can also be a blessing in disguise. It means that you’ve got an excellent opportunity to be short, concise and to the point.
Nobody on Instagram is sitting around, looking for mini-novels to read. They’re scrolling quickly and need to have the information presented in a manner that grabs their attention. Just explain what it is your business does, what you offer and how they can contact you.
Avoid Hard Sells
While cold-calling may have been the way of the past, it’s certainly not where advertising is headed in the future. In fact, the rise of Facebook ads has led the marketing industry to come very ‘soft.’ What this means is that by the time the customer sees the ad, they’re almost convinced they’re going to buy whatever it is they’re being sold.
For this reason, you don’t want to be pushy with your promotion. Nobody is on Instagram to follow an account that is ramming a product down their throat. Instead, they want to be shown where to go to find exactly what they’re looking for – and with the right audience, that’s you.
Outsource Your Engagement
If you’re struggling with engagement and can’t seem to get people liking and commenting on your posts, try outsourcing. Outsourcing to third-party companies is a great way to get the professionals onto it, leaving you to worry about other aspects of your business.
Find a company that will go easy on the price, but be good with their promises and ensure that your page gets the engagement boost it needs.
Caption Your Posts Well
There are a few things to remember when captioning your posts. Let’s run through them.
Firstly, you want each caption to express your personality. Are you funny and laidback, or formal and polite? However, you want to convey yourself, do it with your caption.
Secondly, give your audience a reason to like and comment on the post. You can do this by using a call-to-action. This is when you ask them a question and encourage them to leave their answer in the comments below.
Lastly, if you’re promoting a product with one of your posts, remember to say ‘link in bio.’ It will direct them to where they can buy the product.
Do your hashtag research – and it’s all about finding that perfect balance. While there are some great, popular hashtags out there, one disadvantage to them is that they are too popular. This means that your post will be lost in a sea that’s too big for you to be noticed.
Try researching the hashtags that you use by typing them into the search bar and seeing how many posts align with them. If they’re too big, don’t use them. If they’re too small, avoid them. It’s all about that perfect balance.
Conclusion
With more and more people jumping on the Instagram train, increasing your engagement and standing out in the crowd is getting more difficult.
Fortunately, however, there are a number of strategies you can employ to avoid being drowned out completely. It’s all about using a little bit of common sense, coupled with some good old-fashioned consistency and hard work.
Before you know it, you’ll be showing other people how to make sure their Instagram game is strong, too.
