After Facebook, Instagram is the next big thing. Its appeal is visual which is why everyone is flocking to it. It’s estimated that in 2020, around 75.3% of marketers including SPOPLI used this platform.
IG is the perfect little place to create any kind of image you want for your brand. But, because of so many competitors, securing that edge can be a little difficult. Don’t worry, though! With these tips, your brand profile will surely standout:
Table of Contents
1. Think about the overall image of your feed
The first thing people take away as soon as they land on your IG profile – is the initial impression. These first impressions depend on what kind of images you have curated. To that end, you need to be very specific about the kind of vibe you want to have.
Maybe you are a clothing brand that is big on pastels. In that case, your photos should reflect that pastel appeal. Or perhaps, you’re a gaming brand so a darker theme might work better for you.
Others are strict minimalists. And so, you will see a lot of whites in their photos. You need to be clear about your overall vibe and make sure your photographs reflect that. But, at the same time, your image and vibe should also match with that of your customers. Instagram is a highly community-driven platform. If there’s a mismatch between what your customers like and what you’re offering, it could be difficult to establish that sense of connection.
2. Get To Work On Your Profile
Literally, the only place on IG profile where you can place clickable links is – in your profile. More specifically, your bio space. Therefore, if you want to redirect your customers through to your website, make sure to place all the relevant links strategically and give a short and crisp description of what the links are for.
Another crucial component of an IG profile is the profile image. Remember that your profile image will show whenever you share an image or whenever users get notifications about you. The picture you pick should be suggestive of your brand and it should suggest an instant connection.
The next important thing in line when working on your profile is the bio space. You would want to go with something that instantly tells people who you are and what you do. If your bio is all over the place and unclear, you could drive away a lot of potential users. Additionally, make sure to place all the relevant links.
3. Post Interactive Stories
This is such an important part of being on Instagram. If you regularly use Instagram, you’ll know that people are more interested in the stories than they are in regular feed. Use this feature almost every day if possible, and be sure to make your stories interactive.
It’s easier today than ever since Instagram is rolling out new fonts, color schemes, filters, and other features practically every day. To make your stories engaging, you can use gifs, music, quirky color combinations, etc.
Other ways to put out engaging content on IG is to:
- Regularly conduct interesting polls and Q/As
- Add a countdown for upcoming events and product launches to create buzz
- Go live regularly from time to time to connect and chat with your audiences in real-time
4. Use Hashtags
Hashtags are big on Instagram. People are actively using them to search for different things. They also happen to be the only way through which people search for brands. Therefore, you must be vigilant and creative about picking all the right hashtags and be sure to supply them in a thoughtful manner with each of the photos that you post.
You will be surprised how by picking the right tags and hashtags, you can increase your number of links, comments, and overall engagement.
Another way to use hashtags is to create your own and encourage your followers to share them if they want to be featured on your page. In the end, it’s all about how creatively you can use them.
5. Make Video More Authentic
On any other platform, you would want to make your videos way too perfect and professional-looking. With Instagram, however, the story is a little different. Here, people want to see the human side of you. So, anything along the lines of behind the scenes or anything that resembles a more friendly, conversational, informal tone tends to do better.
It’s a good thing too. Because, instead of spending hours trying to perfect your videos, you can just be natural and authentic.
6. Post Regularly and Create a schedule
The only way to stay relevant on IG and to make sure your followers don’t lose interest in your brand is to put out content regularly. Posting on a week and then going AWOL will not do it. If you fail to post regularly, you may see a steep decline in user interest.
Next, you need to stick with a SCHEDULE. What do you mean by that? It means that you need to pick a frequency at which you want to publish the content. For some brands, the frequency is twice a day while others will post only once a week (as is the case with Nike). For other brands, it’s not uncommon to post even five times a day. There’s no hard and fast rule as to which frequency and what kind of schedule will work for you. Each brand has to decide this for themselves.
What’s important is once you’ve picked a schedule, STICK WITH IT because your customers come to expect that out of you.
Final Thoughts
Last but not the least, have fun! Instagram is a fun platform. Play around with it and get to know the creative feel of the space. The more creatively you use it, the more engagement you will score.
Author Bio:
Sunny Popli is the owner of SPOPLI Web Development & Services. He loves to learn and grow. His key interest areas are to learn and implement the latest & impactful ideas in the field of digital marketing.
