7 Things Every Startup Needs for Instagram Success

Instagram has evolved into one of the most influential platforms for brand-building. The image-centric channel is a powerful tool for startups looking to put a face on their brand and make a name for themselves across the social media landscape.

Instagram allows brands to create a visual identity and helps them engage on a higher level than any other social media platform. Research has shown that brands on the innovative app enjoy a per-follower engagement rate of 4.21 percent — this means brand follower engagement on Instagram is 10, 54 and 84 times higher than Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter, respectively.

For startups, a strong Instagram presence can make all the difference. The following are seven things every startup needs for reliable Instagram success:

1) Setting Goals and Determining Strategy

As with any other marketing campaign, setting specific goals and creating a strategy to achieve those goals is paramount. Whether you’re looking to create your brand’s image, drive traffic to your website or increase sales, it’s important to set achievable, measurable goals before even creating an Instagram account for your brand.

Once you determine your goals, it’s key to create a strategy to achieve them. Create a content calendar and stick to imagery and themes that most directly illustrate your brand’s identity.

2) A Well-Crafted Bio

Short, sweet and actionable — a good Instagram bio should almost read like a descriptive tweet. Bios filled with too much information scare users away from the one spot where you can place a clickable link for your brand.

National Geographic’s bio gets it right — creative, but short with a simple call-to-action. The link is instantly recognizable and leads directly to useful content in the form of its blog.

3) Connect to Other Social Media Platforms

Instagram makes cross-posting both simple and automatic. By connecting your brand’s Instagram account to other social media accounts, you can share content simultaneously across some or all of your startup’s platforms.

Integrating your Instagram campaign with other channels increases your brand’s visibility, boosts engagement and helps you gain more followers.

4) Strategic Partnerships

Growing a following on Instagram can take time.

One way to speed up the process is to partner with other Instagram accounts through paid and unpaid shout-outs. Research popular Instagram accounts that reach your target market and reach out to form a mutually beneficial partnership.

*Paid Shout-Outs:

• Focus on accounts with a large number of followers and a high level of engagement.
• Ask for a call-to-action, i.e. ask their followers to follow you.

*Unpaid Shout-Outs:

• Focus on accounts with a similar number of followers.
• Usually a “share-for-share” arrangement.

While partnering with social influencers can help increase your number of followers, companies such as Kickstagram can help you take your account to the next level.

5) Variable, Compelling Content

Diversity is the spice of life, and your Instagram should contain plenty of spice.

While it is important to consistently deliver beautiful images with inventive captions, repetition can quickly become boring. Below, you can see how Outside Magazine’s Instagram account varies its posts to highlight a variety of “outside” images.

To kickstart your brand and gain followers, create content that is continually new and inspiring, interesting and exciting. Ultimately, your content should compel your followers to like, share and engage.

6) Relevant Hashtags

Hashtags can help boost visibility on Instagram and across social media platforms when used correctly. Using relevant, popular hashtags can help insert your brand into a current conversation or align your brand with a certain product, service or cause.

They also can help bring attention to your brand in search results, as searches will bring up images that are connected by similar hashtags.

Don’t go overboard, though. Quality is always better than quantity — limit yourself to a few hashtags per post.

7) Engage Your Community

It’s not enough to simply post impeccable images. Without a call-to-action, your Instagram posts will fall flat, failing to truly engage your followers.

Ask your followers to participate — pose a question, tell them to tag a friend, ask them to share their own images or request a reply. Incredibly basic, but it works and keeps your followers interested, engaged and part of your ever-expanding community.

Lucas Miller is the Founder of Echelon Copy. When not writing, tweeting or attempting to play pickup basketball, he’s working tirelessly to perfect what he claims is the “World’s Greatest Pompadour.” To get more tips on how to start your own freelance copywriting business, join his free newsletter.