In today’s fast-paced, technological world, the business of marking and advertising has evolved to more of an art than a skill. You’ve got to finesse your strategies so that you’re not being an overt, in-your-face kind of advertisement, but you still want to get all the great qualities of your product across to the consumer. One of the best ways to this is to harness that technological world via social media.
Instagram, in particular, has become a wildly popular platform for marketing and increasing the audience for a business. Once you have an account in place, you can promote and feature the services and products your company offers. However, once you’ve hit a plateau in terms of expanding your audience, what can you do next?
Here are just a few strategies to help you gain a larger following for your Instagram marking campaign:
• Make the most of your comments. Try to find 10 or 20 different accounts who have a similar audience to you. You can keep a memo of their names on your phone to refer back to if needed. Then, hit them first. Leave genuine comments on their recent posts, but nothing brand new. The goal is to be the last person to comment on the picture so that your name and comment remain in view when users are scrolling through their feed. Remember to be genuine. Your comments should just be a simple “nice pic” or “cool.” Try to mention something that’ll spark the interest of your potential audience, and don’t be afraid to drop a few emojis.
• Add to your story. One of the latest features of Instagram is the “Story.” In that, you can add images that last about a day, creating something interesting can help land you on the Instagram Explore page. There, your content will be exposed to an even larger audience, hopefully gaining you more likes and followers. The key to getting onto the Explore page is to become focused. Your story should include images and videos that are relevant to your business, and the more targeted you make your content, the more likely it is that you’ll get featured.
• Feature videos on your Instagram. This social media platform isn’t just for pictures. You can create interesting, engaging videos that will make your followers want to like and comment. When this happens, Instagram will notice that your content is highly engaging and that people are interested in what you’re offering. If your posts are consistently high-quality, they’ll be shown to more users, since they’ll appear higher in search and browse results. Videos are just plain more engaging than a static photo. They catch the attention of the audience and make them more likely to interact with your post. Don’t miss this opportunity to engage your followers.
• Hold a contest. You can offer just about anything for a prize: money or store credit, products, vacations… there’s no real limit to the opportunity. But, how does this help you expand your audience? It’s all about the entry. In order to enter the contest, your followers just need to tag people in the comments. It can be just one, or it can be a specified amount, like three or four. By the end of the contest, you’ll likely have more followers based on the larger number of people viewing your post.nstag
• Become the Hashtag King. Hashtags are great ways to expand your audience because they’ll lead potential followers to your posts. Don’t be afraid to do a little research to find out what hashtags your audience uses most, or ones that your competitors prefer. Then, each time you post, you can add those tags to your content, making them more relevant to those who’ll be most likely to follow you. You might also get creative and generate your own hashtag. It can be a version of your business name, slogan, or goal. Plus, it’s a great way to have all your posts show up in a single search. Add that hashtag to promotional materials, such as things you hand out in person or posts on other social media, to spread the word.
Instagram isn’t just for selfies and quick snapshots of your lunch. It’s a real marketing tool that, if used the right way, can expand the audience and grow the potential for your business.
