In these current times, it appears as though you need to have an established presence on social media in order to become an established and professional brand. This is especially true when it comes to your Instagram presence. There are numerous cases where Instagram stars created huge businesses that have made them millions of dollars, simply due to their popular Instagram presence. Instagram currently has 800 million users and you may be wondering, exactly how can you create a large and highly engaged following. As I continued to create books and even develop the influencers podcast, I faced this same problem.
In order to get the answers I needed, I checked out and tested many different Instagram bots. Unfortunately, this resulted in failure. So, I interviewed the Trill Media team as well as many other social media experts. I did this so I could understand the most important things that needed to be done to achieve Instagram success. Some of the things I discovered are as follows:
1. Research
In order to attain credibility and expertise, you need to figure out, exactly what is your niche.
Decide on one thing that you’re capable of doing a lot better than other people in your niche and look at all the of the accounts within your niche. Be sure to record the trends, content, hashtags etc. You should pay particular attention to the accounts that are gaining popularity extremely quickly with the best performance.
NB: Avoid confusing celebrity Instagram accounts for popular ones. This is due to the fact that real celebrities can say and post just about anything and fans will love it. Remember that they didn’t need to actually grow their Instagram audience since they had a pre-existing fan base.
2. Develop content that helps to solve issues and gives value
If you have content that is uninteresting and unhelpful then the majority of people simply won’t engage with it and your page. According to Trill Media’s Rachel Bell, you should ask two questions:
Does this help? For example, the Buzzfeed Tasty account helps people to figure out what they should cook by providing recipe videos that are a minute long. Another example is Clean Body Guide who provides inspiration with real persons as oppose to showing perfect bodies.
Does it spur emotion? For example, content that is based around travel actually creates a desire within people to visit new places and have new adventures.
Many people in the real world enjoy living through the Instagram accounts that they follow. Therefore, your Instagram account should show off a certain lifestyle and not just the product. So, if you have a business that sells hiking gear, then you should show off photos of people going on interesting nature adventures, hiking, engaged in fun outdoor activities etc.
3. Network
In order to create a community, it is definitely a great idea to reach out to other brands and influencers that are upcoming. All you need to do is message them and ask if they would like to exchange comments and likes. In most cases, they will agree and if they don’t, you should just move on to the next one.
You should message accounts that have a similar size to your own. These will be interested in connecting, especially if you have 1 million+ followers. You can buy real Instagram comments which will help you to grow your account quickly and effectively.
It is essential that you provide value. This means by engaging with their page before you even ask them anything. Be sure to pay attention to competitors in the same space. For example, if you have a cosmetic brand, then you can approach indirect competitors such as hair care brands.
4. Going viral and using trends
You should always be aware of the current trends and the amount of attention they are getting so you can use them. You can start by looking at the trending Instagram hashtags within your industry as well as in general. You should look at the types of posts that are getting a lot of attention, creating controversy etc so that you can use it for content on your page.
5. Consistency
Once you aren’t already a celebrity, you will have to consistent with your efforts to become successful. Generally speaking, you should aim to post a minimum of once every day. Even if this sounds like too much, you should do content planning at least one day for the week. Even though it isn’t possible to schedule future posts on Instagram, you can create reminders using Hootsuite and Buffer.
6. Test
Make sure to fully test a wide set of content. Then, pay attention to your engagement levels and in particular any spikes. This will show you the best performing type of content. You should look at what makes certain content perform well and pay attention to your engagement levels such as new followers, saves, comments, likes etc.
In order to grow a successful Instagram account, you need to do a lot more than post a couple of pictures. It will take a lot of work and energy to create a large Instagram following and become an influencer. However, once you do a lot of research, test various tactics, post excellent and highly engaging content and be consistent in your efforts, you will be successful.