So you want to be an Instagram influencer but don’t know where to begin?
Are you publishing high-quality content, but you're not attracting followers?
Not to worry! Here are a few top tips on how to become a successful influencer.
Get an Instagram Account - Business Style!
Instagram offers a free business account to help promote your company.
This also unlocks 'insights' that enable you to dig deeper into your follower's demographic, locations, audience activity times, profile traffic, and website usage.
With this info to hand, you're better positioned to adapt your content to meet your followers' needs.
Write an Eye-Catching Bio
You may only have 150 characters to work with, but this little gem has a massive bearing on whether people find and follow your account.
You need a well-written, personable bio to communicate who you are, what you stand for and how you relate to your followers.
Top Tip: Include keywords in your bio that target particular audiences. People looking for niche-specific accounts are way more likely to find and follow your account when your bio is optimized for the words and phrases they're searching for.
Get Followers
Okay, so now for the tricky bit: How do you start building your Instagram following?
- First off, get all your friends to follow you and share your account with their friends. This helps to get the word out there about your brand and is a great place to start.
- Create and schedule your Instagram posts in advance. You don't want to let the ball drop where publishing content is concerned.
- Use hashtags your target audience are searching for. This is hands down the easiest way of attracting relevant followers to your Instagram account.
- Get networking. Do some research and see who the key players are in your industry. Then make sure you follow them and that you've modified your notifications, so that you're informed whenever they publish a post. That way, you can like, comment, and interact with their content regularly. You want to start building relationships with influencers - who knows, maybe you'll be able to collaborate in the future? Needless to say, this could work wonders for upping your followers.
- Start promoting your Instagram account on all your online platforms - socials, websites, email blasts, etc.
- Adjust your Instagram settings so that any potentially embarrassing or offensive photos you're tagged in won't appear on your account without your approval. You want to keep your Instagram on-brand and professional. The last thing you want is to offend your audience, this is the quickest way to lose followers!
- Start writing descriptive captions. To get a feel for what we're talking about, head to National Geographic's Instagram profile. Compelling storytelling takes time and skill, but it's incredibly effective for generating user engagement and boosting social sharing.
In short: No work? No reward!
To learn more, get in touch with us today.
This blog was produced in collaboration with Remote Software Developer facilitation of Remote Resource.