Tips And Tricks For Beginner Instagrammers

If you’ve recently joined the Instagram community, or have had an account for a while but seem unable to develop a consistent follower base, you may be getting frustrated and wondering where you’re going wrong. Don’t give up just yet though, we’ve got 10 easy tips you can follow to help your account take off. For this article, we’ll use some companies as an example.

• Setup Your Account in the Right Manner

Upon setting up your Instagram profile, one of the first steps is registering as either a business or personal account. Determining exactly what purpose your account serves, will make it easier to create a brand strategy. If you decide to register as a business account, you will be able to choose from various categories such as Artist, Home & Garden, or even Just For Fun. It is imperative for you to choose the option that you choose the best identify with it so that those who stumble across your account know exactly what you have to offer them. With a business account, you can buy promotions for specific posts and view audience insights/interactions. If you want to drive traffic to a certain page that you are trying to rank for on Google, you can place this link in your bio. For example, if you are a real estate company promoting your listing service, you would place that link in your bio instead of your homepage, or with any other business account you can do the same.

• Post at the Best Times

On a business account, you can view results beyond the likes and comments on your posts. These insights include the number of people your post reached, the visits to your profile after seeing it, and how users found your account. Another feature is the ability to see when your posts received the most attention. Use this to your advantage by planning your post times accordingly.

• Focus on Your Content

Users tend to follow people that they already know, or accounts that appeal to them aesthetically. Unless you are a celebrity or well-known with thousands of adoring fans that support your every move, you have to really pick a consistent style. It’s recommended that you sit down and decide exactly how you want your account to prioritize.

No matter what you dedicate your account to, making sure the content stays consistent is crucial when it comes to growth. Pick a gradient and keep it consistent by taking the time to create a strategy. If all of your posts are random, you’re likely to lose followers quickly, or never gain any to begin with. Go beyond posting content directly related to your product or service.

A real estate company may choose to upload content beyond pictures of houses. They may have posts with tips for home renovation, the cities where they are present, or special features from their site.

• Focus on a Theme

Going along with the idea of solidifying your content, selecting a specific theme can help appeal to those who have similar interests as you. Themes can be classified as anything from the color scheme of your photos, the specific cropping of pictures, or even just the type of filter.  Decide on a message you want to express, as well. In the case of a real estate agency, they should determine if they want to be perceived as luxurious and elite or if they prefer to be seen as a friendly and local agency.

These factors may initially seem to be tedious and detail intensive, but as time goes on, they will become natural, and even almost necessary. Your feed will definitely be much more appealing to anybody who comes across it.

• Keep The Audience Engaged

In order for your page to fully establish itself, you must remain consistent with your posting. With that being said, you must also refrain from going overboard, as you may end up spamming feeds, so much so that people begin to unfollow you. Posting 1-2 times a day will allow people to remember your account, as well as boost the chances of receiving greater amounts of profile clicks and shares. Once you start posting less though, people will begin to forget about your account, resulting in unfollows. It’s like if you can engage the audience then you can also build a business.

• Use Relevant Hashtags

It’s no doubt that hashtags lead the way to a greater audience. Careful, though, using too many can cause your account to appear to as spam. It’s best to use between 4-10 tags per post. Additionally, they should be chosen according to your overall content, as well as to the specific image being posted. If your image depicts a house, you would definitely not want to use a hashtag like the “sandwich”. When you use irrelevant hashtags, your account is more susceptible to receiving spam bot follows. These follow will initially bring your follower count up but will cause your overall activity to dwindle, seeing as the accounts will never actually interact with your posts.

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• Interact With Your Followers

Just as nobody likes a celebrity who has their head in the clouds, nobody likes an account who believes themselves to be too good to respond and give thanks to their followers. It’s imperative to interact with your followers in some way, whether it be by reacting to their comments, responding to a few direct messages, or even following some people back here and there. Make sure you are mostly interacting with accounts in your niche or target market and post relevant comments beyond emojis.

• Don’t Be Dishonest

All across the internet, ads pop up promoting follow and like boosts for very low prices. These offers may seem very tempting, but if you look at the mechanics behind them, you’ll see that they end up hurting your account’s activity in the long run. When you purchase these faux likes and follows, you’re paying for spambots in reality. These aren’t real people that have the potential to gain interest in your content, nor are they able to produce authentic comments on your photos. If you are offering a service or product, these bots will definitely not convert into customers.

Eventually, when you’re tired of paying for your activity, the number of likes on your posts may begin to change. When this happens, your follower count, number of previous likes, and the current number of likes will no longer match up. Any true professional or beginner’s Instagrammer will know this is due to purchased followers, and will likely unfollow you. And most probably you should focus on getting real Instagram followers. They may even report your account as spam. 

• Stay Current With the Trends

Various trends emerge on Instagram every now and then. They can be theme trends, posting topics, or even simply color scheme styles. Keeping in touch with said trends will target younger audiences, who make up a majority of Instagram’s population, as well as highlight your consistent and relatable content. Consider also keeping up with trends outside of the Instagram world and bringing them to your account. You may have a shot at being the first trendsetter!

• Follow Relevant Accounts

Following relevant accounts not only allows further insight into your community but also allows you to interact with people that may potentially help your account grow. Mutuals, or people that follow one another, oftentimes shout each other out using @ mentions. Users are likely to follow other accounts similar to the ones that they already do. Additionally, following accounts similar to yours fills your feed with alike content, these posts may even inspire your own. Think of what service additional related services or products users might need with yours. For instance, a real estate agent should consider the following a home renovation or interior design accounts.

Using What You Know

Once you begin using the tips listed above, it may take anywhere from 2 weeks to a few months to truly see any results. It may be frustrating at first, but after a while, it will begin to pay off, as your account will begin to reach its desired audience. With that being said, make sure you use Instagram appropriately and safely. With over 800 million accounts floating around on, you’re likely to run into some characters that intend to hack or discredit you and your work. For more information on this matter, you can read Instagram’s Community Guidelines.