How to promote your Instagram smarter
More often than I would like, I make a decision (at least that’s what I tell myself) to open the Instagram app on my phone for 5 minutes, and then — boom! — it’s already past midnight and I’ve just wasted hours on… what is it, exactly?
Instagram can be compared to an endless stream of pictures, videos, and words that just keeps going on and on. It’s like a force of nature, with addition-inducing algorithms instead of natural laws ruling everything. The competition between brands and bloggers for users’ attention seems as high as Everest. And yet, it doesn’t mean that efforts to make your Instagram page stand out from the rest of the crowd will be in vain.
There could be many reasons to think about your Instagram strategy: you may want to generate more traffic for your website or promote your business; you may also want to get some popularity and engagement on your personal page. In any case, you’ll have to put in some work to see the results.
Let’s see what can be done to promote an IG page besides advertising.
Build a cohesive and consistent image
Sometimes I come across IG pages that make me feel like I’m looking at some expensive cutting-edge magazine, not just at a social media account. It’s all about some overarching idea — a coherent and distinct visual aesthetic, ideals, and values that can be traced in every post, a certain voice and style that set the tone for the whole page.
As the saying goes, ‘everything sells’. Nothing, perhaps, sells more right now than a personal brand, i.e. the image that you present to others on social media.
Think of how you want your Instagram page to be perceived by your audience. Maybe your page will be a bit like Anna Wintour — giving a high-end aesthetic, hard-to-approach vibe that makes it feel like a privilege to even follow it. Or it could be something more like a best friend — always there for you & ready to share a piece of advice, a recent selfie, or just chat.
Whichever online ‘personality’ you will choose is up to you. Just make sure to stay consistent and be unique in your own way.
Work on your page appearance
The way your page looks can either help you build a desirable image, or make it harder to do so. Its visual appearance is often responsible for the first impression people have — a bit like a website’s landing page. Of course, creative freedom is important and all that, but you can make some rules to let it flow (and break them sometimes, too).
You can make your posts look like many parts of a single whole, and that’s why it’s important to approach the design of your page and feed seriously. Your page’s feed can be cohesive, unique, and eye-catching at the same time.
Think about the sequence in which you post visuals, the color palette or filters that you use, etc. Align your aesthetics with your values and goals. You can make your IG page feel like an experience in itself, not just a regular social media account.
Remember about the two important elements that tie everything together: your profile heading and page navigation.
Your profile heading should include some information about you. i.e. who you are and what you do, links to your other social media accounts or a website, etc. If it’s an IG account of a business, there should be some brief description of its USP (unique selling proposition), goals & purpose, location, and so on.
When it comes to your page in general, it should be easily navigable. People should be able to find all of the information they might need (prices, services, FAQs, guides, etc.) without having to scroll through all of your posts or watch all of your stories.
Stay on a schedule
Your content may be great, but if you post it at the wrong time there’s a high chance that your audience might miss it. It’s a bit like prime-time on TV: the programs that run during these “special” hours get the spotlight, leaving the rest in obscurity.
The same is true for Instagram: what gets posted at times when user activity is peaking will get noticed by far more people than if it was posted during the ‘dead hours’.
According to several sources, the best time for IG posting seems to be on the weekdays versus the weekends, mid-week being the time when IG users are most active. And here’s what the optimal posting hours seem to be like for different days:
- 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Mondays (makes sense: I often log on Insta at that time to cope with a typical Monday morning);
- 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays;
- starting mid-week, we can start posting a bit later, from 11 a.m. and up on Thursdays and even from 2 p.m. and later on Fridays;
- Saturdays and Sundays show a significant drop in user activity, but it doesn’t mean that Instagram will be completely abandoned — there’s a bit of engagement here and there.
As you can see, you’ll be probably better off choosing a couple of weekdays for posting. The rules have their exceptions, however, and are also made for breaking. So if you really want to post something on a Sunday morning, nobody can stop you.
Also, be mindful of how frequently you post. Don’t fatigue your followers with too-frequent posting while trying to get them hooked on your content. I know, we’ve all heard that we should post frequently to stay relevant on the ‘gram. It doesn’t mean that you should bombard your audience with never-ending stories and photos, though: giving too much and too often can make people feel like they can’t keep up with your pace.
So, deliver to your audience on a consistent basis, but also let them catch a break and take their time to savor your (without a doubt) high-quality content before offering something new.
Become a part of the community
You can’t expect people to give your page a time of the day just like that unless you’re already famous. Unfortunately, you’re not Beyonce (or whoever you consider to be an A-level celeb), so you’ll have to work to get at least some exposure on IG.
Fortunately, there is a more or less organic way to achieve this — engaging with communities built around certain brands or online personalities that seem interesting to you or are related to what you do. You can become a part of one of these communities by leaving comments under posts of other users (whether they may be regular people, celebrities, or brands).
While doing that, avoid shameless self-promotion, and don’t be too corny. Instead, engage in earnest conversations and share your honest opinions or reactions, but be respectful and appropriate, though.
Obviously, this won’t make people instantly flock to your account to hit the “follow” button. But it can be a great way of introducing yourself or the brand you represent, and give others a reason to open your profile to at least take a look.
Build a community of your own
Besides engaging with already existing communities, you can also start one yourself (just don’t make a cult out of it…).
One of the best ways to do this seems to be sharing user-generated content — the content created by your followers or customers that features your brand or a product. Besides being a vehicle for increasing brand awareness and getting some other business-related benefits, it’s also great for letting your followers know that you’re genuinely interested in their content.
You can come up with some original hashtags that your followers can use to tag their posts, and then pick the best-tagged posts to share on your page. GoPro’s Instagram page serves as one of the best examples of how to leverage UGC — their feed is full of content originally posted by their followers.
Starting challenges and competitions can also be a part of community-building. It’s all about gamification right now, and giving your audience some incentives for participating in your events or campaigns and rewarding them for it can work like magic for making your engagement rates go up.
Collaborating with others is also a great way to foster a sense of community.
Don’t think that only collaborations with some big accounts are worth it: the main benefit lies in collaborating with people whose content is relevant and interesting for your audience as well, and whose values align with your own.
You can find some micro-celebrities who have authority on something that your followers want to know more about and team up with them.
Communities are what social media is (or should be) about, and having an active community of your own can do wonders for you or your brand. It’s not merely popularity — it’s also a sense of belonging and being connected with those who think alike.
So don’t forget to interact with your followers regularly: reply to their comments, ask for their opinions, or start conversations.
Create an Instagram shop if you own an E-com brand
If you run an Instagram account for a brand, you can make the whole shopping experience more smooth for your followers. Just set up an IG shop for your page and create posts that will let your audience see what you can offer by adding shopping tags on products.
It can be way more convenient for your customers than seeing a product they want to buy on IG and then having to go to your website to find it.
Create and post engaging content
If you want to thrive on IG, make your posts as engaging and entertaining as they can be.
First, always have your audience in mind: you’re posting for your followers, not for the Instagram algorithms. To make your content memorable and enjoyable, conduct some research first. Learn what your followers are interested in and what they want to see when they open the app and your page in particular.
Second, make content that provides some form of value for your audience. The golden recipe for content creation seems to be “information + aesthetic value + entertainment value”.
However, no two posts are created equal. Some of your posts will be more informative, some more aesthetic, etc. The proportion of these qualities will change, but what should remain constant is the quality of your posts.
- If you want to share a piece of information with your followers, make sure it is relevant and accurate.
- If it’s just a beautiful shot, integrate it with your other posts so that it becomes an organic part of the whole.
- If it’s just a piece of content that’s made to entertain (a reel, for example), do it in a way that feels appropriate and true to both your and your audience’s tastes.
Also, consider following this famous rule originally made for writing: show, don’t just tell, and vice versa — tell, don’t just show.
- Add suitable and eye-catching images that enhance your text posts without being a distraction,
- Or, add captions to your visual posts: hashtags, descriptions, comments, or questions. If you choose to add a longer caption, put the most important or intriguing sentences at the start so that your followers will definitely click on more… And if you want your visuals to be in the spotlight, keep your captions short and concise or add a hashtag. There are various kinds of hashtags you can use: branded, location, industry, community, or descriptive. Don’t go overboard with them and make sure to choose only the relevant ones.
- Choose high-quality creative photos that put you or your products in the spotlight: being unique in your own way and also raising the bar in terms of visual quality and originality can distinguish you from the rest;
- Post real-life pictures: they feel more sincere and authentic, and make you or your brand seem more ‘real’ (this can be a part of your image-building strategy).
There’s another crucial rule to follow: don’t go too commercial. Being overly promotional, especially when it involves something that doesn’t fit the image you’ve built, can seriously ruin the vibe and lead to unfollows. So keep 60–80% of your content promotion-free and packed with value, and choose the right time and post to advertise something or someone.
Now let’s move on from how’s to what’s of posting. I’ve talked about the best content formats to use in my previous post, but I think it’s worth taking a look at the top performers on Instagram in particular.
Reels
They truly are the favorites of Instagram algorithms. Just look at the reach they can bring you: while posts and stories will be shown primarily to your existing audience, much more people will be able to see your reels. You can have just a few thousand followers, but your reels might have a number of views 5 times higher. If one of your reels ‘pops’, it might increase the likelihood of other reels sliding into users’ feeds.
You can even start a visual conversation with your followers by prompting them to respond to your reel with their own. It’s way more engaging than just replying in the comments and makes you seem more authentic and down-to-earth.
Carousels
More is better, and grouping several photos inside one post helps you deliver your message more effectively or put your products in the limelight. The act of swiping left to see more is already addictive on its own, and also adds to the intrigue: what’s next? Leverage this to attract and retain the attention of your followers.
Long videos
Our attention spans are definitely not the same as before, but it doesn’t mean that long videos are out. You can make video tutorials, Q&A sessions, film behind-the-scenes videos, or even go live. This type of content may not be for everyone, but it’s a fact that its engagement rates are much higher — just make it interesting, and people will tune in.
Stories
The best thing about IG stories is that there’s a lot of space for creative freedom and tons of options to choose from. That’s what makes it such a versatile content format. You can use stories to promote a product, show a glimpse of your or your team’s everyday life, share some news or information, announce an event, engage with your followers, share their content, and a lot more.
Sometimes I feel like going back to middle school when collecting stickers and answering my classmates’ quizzes was all the rage. Thankfully, I don’t need a time machine for that — all thanks to IG creators who add cool stickers and quizzes to their stories.
You can do it too — just find some good stickers to add a sparkle to your stories. There are cool stickers, funny stickers, cute stickers, and even the geotag and time countdown ones. Choose the ones you like, just make sure they fit in just right.
Also, use stickers to engage with your audience: you can ask your followers a question, and let them ask you in return.
And finally, don’t forget to pin your best or most recent posts to the top of your page. For example, see how Allure magazine does it:
Takeaway
There is certainly no universal recipe for an Instagram promotion that will work 100% of the time: it’s can be a game of hit-or-miss, and sometimes what worked for a blogger you like won’t work for you. But the point is in trying and experimenting and also not caring that much about the “popularity” metrics.
So make the whole process interesting for yourself: create something cool, play with different formats, and build a relationship with your audience. Let Instagram posting become a creative exercise and bring you joy instead of being a tedious task.
And what, in your experience, has helped you the most to gain popularity/publicity on Instagram?
