At HUG/17 I had the pleasure of listening to (and learning from) the Queen of Instagram Queen herself, Jenn Herman. She touched on key Instagram strategies for every company to emplay - no matter how developed their account may be. And lucky for you I was taking notes.
If you are going to run an ad on Instagram, the associated image or video better be a “thumb stopper” on your potential leads feed. Because your ad is reaching a new target audience, that may be unaware of what your company does, offer them freebies, downloads or value-added options. Lastly, keep in mind that your clientele is different on Facebook and Instagram so tailor your ads accordingly. I repeat - don't just use the same ad across every platform.
Be careful not to fall for those advertisements guaranteeing new followers. These are not valuable followers and will (negatively) skew your engagement rates. Instead, focus on a good hashtag strategy.
Jenn suggests using 10-20 hashtags per post. Yes that sounds like a lot, but if you want to get more eyeballs on your content, this is the best way to do it. When deciding on hashtags use this guide:
4-5 Popular Hashtags (millions of posts)
5-6 Moderately Popular Hashtags (100s of thousands of posts)
2-5 Niche Specific (what you want people to find you ranking for)
1-3 Branded
When trying to find hashtags, you can use tagboard or hashtagify. If you aren't finding hashtags relevant to your business, start typing in the search bar on Instagram to find variations of the word you want to hashtag to gauge how popular the related hashtags are.
By using multiple hashtags, having good captions and CTA's, you are increasing your chances of becoming a Top Post, which is how your new audience will find you!
Your bio should not only have your brand name, but include your keywords and industries. It is equally as important to show your personality in the description. For example, using emojis if you have a playful brand. This is the first thing people will read if they see an ad and go to your profile.
Also incorporate a customized link to the content you are currently promoting. This link shouldn't be your homepage (boring!), unless you are in between promotions.
If you are stuck trying to figure out what tools to use to help you manage your Instagram account, Jenn gave us “The Holy Grail” of options.
Hootsuite
Agorapulse
Instagram Business Profile
Squarelovin
Iconosquare
Social Rank
Geofeedia
Locowise
Bit.ly
We want to thank Jenn for sharing her Insta #wisdom with us and for visiting our photo booth at HUG/17.
Is your company active on Instagram? Let us know if you found these tips useful we 'd love to hear about it below :)