Instagram Hacks
Instagram…Love or hate it, you need it!
Recently, I have seen people talking about Instagram, growing their account, hashtags and engagement. This is really interesting to me. While I know a large following is great for brand reputation, reach and your ego, it doesn’t mean anything if the followers aren’t going to buy from you. As you might have seen in my post “The Number of Followers mean Nothing”.
So never buy followers!
That being said, we all want to build a large Instagram account. Even me!
I started my first Instagram account years ago for a blog I used to have. This was to mention my blog posts and to look at what people I liked were up to. It was perfect for me. While this account wasn’t to make sells, I quickly noticed the power of connecting with people and building your brand on the Instagram.
P.S: This blog no longer is running.
I personally have two Instagram accounts that I use today. Surrey I Love You and my personal one, DanielJBrough. Go follow them both, please.
My Suggestions for Instagram
Why
Understand that it takes time and effort to grow an Instagram account. Yes, there are hack and tools that you use, and yes you can buy thousands of followers, but they are not going to last. If you put time and effort into understanding your audience and testing what works, you will see results.
Give people a reason to connect with your page. There are millions of people on Instagram, so why should they look at you?
Something I have found that works, is chatting with other people on Instagram and giving them a reason to come to my page.
Hashtags
Hashtags are a great way to get your post seen by people who aren’t following you. It’s all about using hashtags where you want to be found, but not using the generic over-used ones. Such as #love and #like. So, how do you pick the best hashtags for you? This is where the work comes in, as there are no quick methods. A tip is to search similar accounts to yours, big, small and same size accounts, and see what hashtags they are using. Take a note, and check the size of the hashtags. See how much engagement (comments and likes) people are getting from the hashtag, to put them into the top 9 on the explore page. This is my second tip to hashtags, look at explore pages and see what people are doing to get into the top 9 posts.
Your goal is to get your post in the top 9 from on that hashtag. If you can do that, you should see a rise in your engagement and following, IF the hashtag is large enough.
You’re allowed to use 30 hashtags per post. Don’t be afraid to use them all. It’s giving you more chances to get be seen and to get into the top 9. I also like to put my hashtags in a first comment. That way the post doesn’t look messy or spam like.
As you have 30 hashtags to use, I like to vary the popularity of the hashtag. I have some hashtags that I SHOULD get into the top 9. Some that I am close to being in the top 9, a few that I have no chance of making it and location and personal hashtags.
Experiment with your hashtags to see which work best and then continually update them as your page grows.
Reply
It’s incredible how many pages I see that don’t reply to comments. I get it, if you’re getting thousands of comments it’s tough to reply to them all. But if you’re only getting 2, 10, 50 comments — REPLY!!
If someone takes the time to leave you a comment, let them know you appreciate it by responding. If you get question from someone, take the time answer. I know its time consuming, but if you want to build your page with real followers that care, reply.
Don’t get me wrong, you don’t have to write an essay, just acknowledge their comment and appreciate their attention.
Consistency
The Instagram algorithm decides who gets to see your photo. For each of your followers, they decide how important you are to them. If that person hasn’t engaged with you in a while they will think you’re no longer important to them. So, by not saying constant, you can see why your engagement will take a hit.
Post regularly, daily, multiple times per day. Get your content out there! I say this, but everyone is different. You might not be able to post 2–5 times per day. But whatever you decide, stay consistent and test it out.
Best time of day to post is… I can’t tell you that. Every account is different, look at your insights and see what’s working for you. My current timing is, before work, during lunch break, after work and 1030am and 330pm. The times of day most people are getting bored and looking at their Instagram.
Content
Content really is king on most social media platforms and Instagram is no different. Posting frequently with incredible content is tough! But wanting a large following, highly engaged Instagram is tough. If you want peoples attention, you need to give them a reason to stop in their tracks. High quality image or video that is engaging is vitally important.
Now I have said that, I want to say something that I believe is just as important as high quality content for Instagram. Just start!
Yes Instagram will reward you for having amazing content, but Instagram will hold you back if you are not even posting. I know a lot of people will disagree with me here, but don’t let your perfectionism hold you back from posting content. Put your work up, even if it’s not 100% and learn from it. Your way might be perfect for some people.
I could keep going on and on about Instagram and ways to grow your account, but I will stop there for now.
But before I close this off, I wanted to say, even with all these “Instagram Tips” the best thing you can do is JUST DO! So many people are being held back because they don’t understand Instagram or they don’t know what to put up, or nobody is looking at them. Just start and stop being held back from thinking you don’t know what to say or do.
I want to thank you for your time for reading this article. If you found it helpful, please share and press the clap button, once to ten times.
Let’s make an impact.
Dan
