Having a well-planned social media strategy is an important part of building your personal brand online. Leveraging each network to its fullest potential is also important for visibility and word-of-mouth marketing.
Instagram is one of the best networks today that builds a larger audience and following online, which makes this a must-engage tool for brands. Posting relevant images and videos that your audience will love is just one part of the success formula.
Utilizing the right hashtags and captions can be very effective in getting your brand noticed on Instagram, and this involves careful attention to quality and the right message. Here are several ways your posts can help your business stand out from the rest:
1. Ensure your audience can find you – In order to attract your existing fans and followers on your other social networks and website it is important to match your branding on Instagram. This begins with the username, which should be the same as or be as close as possible to what you have on your other online properties. The description should also be quickly recognizable along with a direct link to your website.
2. Create a mix of visual content – There are thousands of images and videos being posted each second on Instagram, and it is important to create professional photos and short videos that meet the needs of your audience as well as entertain them. This is an opportunity to share tips, ideas, funny stories, inspiration, and announcements. If your brand has a new article, video, or infographic published you can showcase parts of these with links and hashtags in the comments section.
3. Actively engage with posts and comments – Once your personal brand gets a few posts going on Instagram start the building process by liking and commenting on your user’s profiles and influencers in your niche. Pay attention to their responses on your posts, and use sharing apps to repost their images or videos for more engagement. Start following others in your market as well, and follow back those who can be a benefit to your brand. Your current Facebook network is a great place to start and easy to do right inside the Instagram settings section.
4. Use tagging to encourage growth and interactions – Social media is all about conversation, and your brand can ‘tag’ users in its comments or invite others to tag their friends and followers. Asking questions of your audience and sharing customer feedback is also a good way to give back to your community and encourage them to be active with your business. As this process builds you will find that your network is growing, and that more users are sharing your content.
Use Instagram as a tool to bring more visibility to your personal brand as well as a place where people can be directed to your website and other social networks. Make a plan to be active throughout the day, with about 5 – 10 image or video posts per week. There are many tools and apps available to help you create and schedule your content, most of which are free to use. This is one of the best social networks where your brand can show a more personal side and build loyal fans as a result.
