Setting up new Instagram accounts can be exciting! It is often the kick-start of a brand-new project and the start of what seems like an endless list of possibilities that you are about to embark on!
But it can sometimes feel overwhelming; 'Where do I start? What are the best posts for me to get out there? How can I start growing an audience straight away?'
We have recently set up a number of Instagram accounts - we thought that it might be useful to share with your some of the key actions that we took in order to get the best start to your own pages!
1) Optimise Your Bio for Search
Some of these steps may seem obvious, but it will amaze you how often people want to get stuck straight in to posting the first idea that comes into their heads!
There's plenty of time for that - without an optimised bio people are going to find it really hard to discover your page anyway!
Take the time to:
. Add a Profile Picture
It goes without saying that this needs to be high quality. If your page is for your company then your logo would, in most cases, be the best image to use. However, if you are the face of the brand - front and centre of the business - you may want to use a photo of yourself instead.
. Add the Link to Your Website
This should be the next logical step that your profile visitors take to find out more about who you are, what you do and how you can help them. If you have a number of different links, use LinkTree, but make sure that these links are as relevant as possible - make the customer journey as easy as possible!
. Use Keywords
Instagram works as a search engine, just like Google. Think about the key words that people will be searching on for them to find someone in your industry.
. Add Your Location
Again, this will help improve your SEO. Sometimes finding businesses within the local area is the top priority for buyers - when searching for barbers, for example.
2) Start with a Grid Post
Now, this isn't an 'absolute must-do' but grid posts certainly have their positives! Not only can they look really cool, but they can be great at attracting attention in the newsfeeds. Why? First of all, you are creating multiple posts which is increasing the likelihood that your target audience will see it. Secondly, the multiple graphics that look (or should look) similar in their branding is going to get people thinking 'why have I seen this - it's different!'.
If you use your captions effectively enough you will avoid confusion and instead create interest (make sure you round it off nicely with a CTA asking your viewer to visit your profile to see what you've created!).
It might be a good idea to create a grid post that contains your company logo, slogan and perhaps some additional contact information at the bottom, such as your website, phone number and/or your email address.
3) Create a Pinned Post
Pinned posts are a great way to share evergreen content - content that holds its relevance beyond the time that it has been posted.
Share important information such as your company values, your mission statement, your biggest achievement. All of these things are going to be interesting and valuable for your profile visitors to know as quickly as possible and pinned posts are a great way of doing it.
4) Create Story Highlights
Similar to pinned posts, story highlights are a great way of communicating important information about your brand. However, the key benefit of story highlights is that they give you more flexibility where you can easily communicate a lot more information.
Some of our favourite stories that we like to display on profiles include: 'Meet the Team', 'About Us', 'Our Values', 'Quotes', industry stats, 'FAQs'.
5) Begin to Engage with Relevant Accounts
Engaging with relevant accounts will help get you noticed, particularly in the early stages. Your strategy should have identified who your best customers are. Try and find them through searching on keywords and locations, should that be relevant to you.
Liking and commenting on posts essentially works like a 'wave' 👋; just seeing the notification appear from an account that you don't know automatically triggers the question: 'who is this?'. And then, BOOM! Before you know it, they've clicked on your profile, seen that it looks professional (because you followed the previous steps 😉) and followed you!
Engagement also also represents an opportunity to create value and drive thought-leadership. Try and find people asking the questions that you know the answer and deliver free value that will help them. This will require a bit more time and effort but it will be worth it in the end!
6) Lean on Leaders in Your Industry *BONUS TIP*
Following on from the previous tip, this will make your engagement activity much easier and more likely to be much more effective!
Use the draw that the leaders have in your industry. They are called that for a reason: they know their stuff!
Because of this, they often have high following and high levels of engagement on their posts, all from many accounts that are relevant to you and your business. Use this as an opportunity; find a topic on their profile that you feel comfortable voicing your opinion on and search through the comments for relevant information. This might be through answer questions or simply acknowledging their opinion.
Remember: always be authentic! Lazy comments like "Nice post 👍" may have worked well in the past but people are too smart for that old trick these days - they will look straight through you and stay well clear!
We hope that you found this useful!
To find out more about how we can help take your business to the next level through social media marketing, get in touch via the contact form on our website.
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