It’s no secret that Instagram is a great tool for your business - with over 300 million users, this social media platform is one of the most popular in the world. But how exactly do you gain Instagram followers for your business? Well, we’re glad you asked!
You see, there are many ways to attract followers to your Instagram business page, but we’re going to narrow it down to the top 10 for you here:
After creating your Instagram business profile, then you’re going to want to start working on the content. First thing’s first - your bio. Your bio should include important information about your business while still being intriguing to potential followers. You should always include a link in your profile. Links can go directly to your website, but can be changed whenever you need them to. You may consider changing your link from time to time when you have certain sales that you want to promote, giveaways, and more.
Of course, you want people to recognize your brand. Isn’t that the whole point of social media marketing? The best way to do this is to be consistent with your branding. If you don’t already have brand colors selected from your logo and/or existing website, then you’re going to want to come up with a list of hex codes. Once you do that, you should be consistent with using those colors in your posts. Instagram followers are visual people and consistency with your brand colors, fonts, logos, and more, will make you stand out from your competition.
If you want to stay in the loop with who your Instagram followers are, then you should regularly take a look at your Instagram insights. You insights dashboard will show you important information about your followers such as the location, age, gender, most active hours, and more. Familiarizing yourself with these insights is a fantastic way to craft content in order to target potential followers and to keep your current followers.
We think it’s safe to assume that social media users are more likely to follow a business or page that is consistent about interacting with their followers. That’s why it’s important to always respond to comments and messages as much as possible. We know that it’s impossible to answer every single comment left by Instagram followers, but you’ll want to make a point to respond to several per post and to answer as many (if not all) of the direct messages in your inbox. This will help you retain current customers and let potential customers and followers know that you care about your fanbase.
When you create your Instagram business profile, it’s important to let your followers know you’re active. The best way to do that is to post often to your account, about one to three times per day. Posting frequently is the best way to increase engagement, which will also increase your chances of gaining more Instagram followers.
When you create posts, you’ll also want to use relevant hashtags. Of course, you can always use a hashtag with your company or business name, but you’ll also want to research other industry relevant hashtags that are trending.
Posting ads on Instagram is a great way to reach new followers. However, it’s always best to set an ad budget beforehand. Once you have a determined budget, then you can dive deep into the ads feature of this popular social media platform. Businesses have the choice of posting a static ad or a carousel ad that features multiple photos of your products or services. Be sure that your ads are engaging in order to appeal to potential customers in your target demographic.
While you definitely want to focus on your main Instagram feed, you should also be thinking about ways that you can use Instagram Stories. Instagram Stories is a lot like Snapchat Stories and Facebook Stories, where it’s more of a slideshow format that disappears after 24 hours (though there are ways to save them to the highlights on your profile). Stories are growing in popularity among Instagram followers and is a good tool for content that may not be as polished as the photos and videos you share on your main page. Stories can include polls, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, giveaway information, links to external content, and more.
Over the past few years, live video has become a key tool for businesses on social media. The cool thing about live videos is that your Instagram followers receive a notification that your business account is live. Going live on Instagram is a fantastic way to host Q&A sessions, showcase new products, give general information about your company, and interact with your audience. Though live videos appear in the same space as Instagram Stories, your followers will be able to tell the difference due to the pink ring that appears around them.
Also, if you have long-format videos that you want to share that you can’t fit into the 1 minute limit on your regular feed, then you may want to consider IGTV. IGTV is what it sounds like - Instagram TV. Here, businesses can post full episodes of podcasts, commercials, informational videos, and more. Have fun and be creative while catching the attention of followers!
As the saying goes - everyone loves free stuff! Okay; so that may not be an actual saying, but, really, who doesn’t love free stuff? Giveaways are an amazing tool for keeping your current audience engaged, and for gaining new Instagram followers. Giveaways often encourage people to follow a page as well as like and share a specific post in order to be entered. This will help you boost engagement as well as get your business on the radar of more potential customers!
We’ve already talked about how often you should post to Instagram, but what exactly should you be posting? Well, that’s up to you. But we recommend that you use this platform to showcase your products in unique ways. You don’t want to scare off your Instagram followers by making it seem like every single post is an ad to get people to buy your products; but instead you may want to hire a social media specialist with photography skills to take interesting photos and videos of your products to gain attention and increase engagement.
You may also consider reaching out to influencers and working out a deal for them to wear or use your product on their feed to reach even more potential followers and customers!
We know we just dropped a lot of knowledge on you, and that can be quite intimidating. But if you find that you still need help with your Instagram marketing after reading this, then be sure to contact us here at Greyphin. We’ll be more than happy to help you grow your business through our social media management services so you don’t have to do all the hard work yourself!