Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms in the world, with over 1,600,000 active Australian users and over 500 million active users globally. What’s more, Instagram delivers approximately 60 per cent more engagement than Facebook, and around 120 times more engagement than Twitter. Yet, somehow this incredibly popular image-sharing platform still gets overlooked in online marketing plans.
The following five tips for building your brand on Instagram is bought to you by a Social Media Marketing Melbourne based specialist, and will help you build a compelling presence for your brand on this platform.
- Use High-Quality Imagery
People scroll through Instagram quicker than most other platforms, only stopping to engage with content that really captures their attention. As such, you need to ensure that the images you are sharing stop your target audience in their tracks, and elicits an emotion within them. ‘Quality’ in this regard, can mean a number of things depending on what the goal is – for example, if you’re a luxury furniture brand promoting your latest collection, then it’s recommended that you use professional camera equipment to capture the unique design elements in detail, and to remain consistent with the ‘luxury’ brand message. On the other hand, smartphone images with interesting composition and subject matter are also highly effective in capturing the attention of your audience. For example, @visitmelbourne exclusively publishes User Generated Content (UGC) shot on a multitude of devices, including smartphones, in order to display Melbourne’s attractions in a unique and interesting way. UGC is also a fantastic means of earning audience trust and increasing industry authority, as consumers tend to be more interested in hearing the voice of their peers rather than crafty one-liners created by marketing experts.
- Encourage Audience Engagement
With the sheer number of people in the world actively using Instagram on a regular basis, there’s an unimaginable potential for audience engagement. Engagement on Instagram refers to followers sharing your (unique, high-quality) content, tagging their peers in the comments section, clicking on your Call to Actions (CTA’s), or simply liking a post. This can be achieved through:
- Holding contests: It’s a universal truth that people love free-stuff. Front the cost of giving away your business’s product or service by running a contest that requires entrants to like, comment, ‘tag a friend’, or hashtag (or all of the above) for a “chance to win”. As an added bonus, this is also a great way of sourcing UGC for your account.
- Asking questions: Not only does asking your audience questions significantly increase the likelihood of engagement, its also a terrific tactic in finding out more about your followers; their interests, and opinions of your brand. By asking the right questions in your posts’ captions, your account can become the creative hub of conversation, thus attracting more followers (and increasing conversions). If you’re a local burger restaurant posting a photo of your latest addition to the menu, ask people questions such as: “what’s your favourite burger”, or “where’s your favourite burger spot in Melbourne?” and so on.
- Make clever use of hashtags: Hashtags are a brilliant way of increasing your exposure and engaging your audience on Instagram. However, overuse hashtags will only pollute your content, so ensure you’re making use of trending hashtags that are clear, specific and relevant to your brand.
- Collaborative Partnerships:
Collaborative partnerships are a tried and true way of building your following. To begin with, create a list of influencers within your industry that have popular Instagram accounts that reach your target audience, then partner with them for what’s called “shout outs”. Shout-outs occur when an account calls for its followers to follow another account, thus helping them get more publicity for their brand.
There are two types of shout-outs on Instagram, including:
- Image shout-outs, i.e. when someone tags your business’s page in one of their photos.
- Caption shout-outs, which is when someone gives a shout-out to another account within the text caption. The accompanying image in these instances, usually showcase the business’s products or services.
Instagram has significant potential for businesses that operate in almost any industry, and, with the right guidance, you can achieve a tremendous increase in brand awareness, reach, and ultimately, sales. Newpath WEB is a leading Social Media Marketing Melbourne based agency, providing original content for your social media portfolio that’s that’s strategically devised to appeal to your target consumer. For details call us on 1300 761 806.
