Instagram is the social network of the moment. It has been around for several years but its explosion has been throughout 2015, stealing a lot of public and prominence from Twitter. Even Facebook, although to a lesser extent (maybe Zuckerberg saw it coming and that’s why he bought it?). And it has unseated Pinterest as a network dedicated to photography.
Do not think that this application is only for individuals. Companies are also present, journalists with professional profiles, websites and blogs, photographers, establishments or brands. Photographs of all kinds that, in the most strategic sense, serve to gain the public’s attention, attract new clients and reach all kinds of audiences.
It appeals to the public because it is a really simple and intuitive social network directly designed for mobiles. In fact, there is no point of comparison if you access it from a computer, since you cannot upload photos and several of its options disappear. In addition, it is very visual, which is a great thing because it does not make you think (although it sounds bad, it is true) and it is perceived as a hobby, a distraction. The “instagramers” relax inside, so they become more likely to receive your message, to “listen” to what you want to tell them. That’s why it’s such a good tool to promote your brand.
How to succeed on Instagram?
Arriving and succeeding is impossible, but not without hard work. So the first commandment is very clear: be consistent. And obviously, to post beautiful, attractive, different and well cared photographs. After all, this is a very visual network and the image is the most important thing. In addition to these two pillars, you should also:
- Be generous giving Me Gusta. It should not be for all the publications that you see, but those photographs with real value and care deserve it, as well as those posted by people who are also your followers and give you their likes.
- Lose the fear of commenting! It is true that Instagram is not a social network to talk, but to see and be seen, but comments also have that effect. Think that your comment will always be seen by people who are not your followers but are followers of the profile where you leave your words. Therefore, it can help you to gain a new follower.
- Use hashtags. Again, don’t overuse them, but use them. You will see profiles whose photos do not have a description but a cloud of hashtags listing every little element that appears in the snapshot. Don’t do it. It is better to use those related to the subject of your photo and some general ones such as the popular #picoftheday. You can also put keywords (yes, as in SEO tags) and thus “position yourself” within the social network.
- Filters only when it’s really necessary. There was a time when not a single photo on Instagram was “au natural”. That trend has already changed and now #nofilters photos are much more valued. But that doesn’t mean it’s forbidden to use them. If one really enhances the image more, use it.
- Be regular. Don’t post a photo once a month because no one will remember you. The ideal amount to gain and retain followers is one post every day. As at the beginning it is very difficult to follow this rhythm, set yourself a schedule and stick to it. For example, start with 2 a week and work your way up. Be careful because Instagram is addictive and as the number of likes on your photos and followers increases, you will want to post more.
- But don’t lose the spontaneity! The grace of any social network lies in it. If one day you have already published and you take a picture you want to share, go ahead.
- Have a well updated user profile. Whether you use Instagram on a personal level or for your brand or company, it must be well cared for and provide information that the user may need. Name, profile picture, a contact address, your location and a brief description.
- Balanced numbers. By this we mean a basic rule taken from Twitter: do not follow more people than follow you. In the case of personal accounts there is no problem if this is not followed, but it gives a very bad image when it is a brand. Why? Because it seems that you follow anyone, without making a selection and to achieve a follow back (that is, to follow so that they follow you). At the beginning it is normal to follow more people since nobody knows you and it is the only way to advertise yourself, but after a few months, think about it.
In addition, for some months now it has been displaying advertising to its users. The interesting thing about how Instagram has inserted it is that it is not intrusive or annoying as it follows the same format as the publications of any other profile and appears randomly between publications, without annoying pop-ups, or windows that do not close or with a larger size. Only the word Advertisement in the top right of the post (which are usually videos) indicates that it is an advertisement. Therefore, this is yet another reason to include Instagram in your social media strategy, either trying to gain popularity organically or investing in advertising to reach further. To hire it you have to visit the Facebook for Business page, and use the ad creation tool, Power Editor or the Facebook Ads API.
How to control the results?
There are different tools to analyze Instagram results, because this social network does not offer its own statistics. Some examples are:
- Iconosquare provides data on engagement, its evolution, analyzes your followers, number of new followers or those you lose.
- Metricool, with which you can get metrics of social networks and your blog (all for free), but in the case of Instagram it is also very complete as it gives you a balance of followers, the most successful content and data about your followers.
- InstafollowInstafollow, an app only for Android that shows very visual statistics on your mobile with data referring to the number of followers and Likes in its free version, while with its paid version you can see the engagement or activity of your followers.
- Simply Measured, a professional tool that provides the same type of data as the previous ones but with very elaborate graphics, in addition to giving you the option of exporting all the information to an Excel or Power Point presentation.
- If you’re interested in measuring the impact of your hashtags, use #tagboarda page as simple as it is intuitive in which, by typing the word in question, it brings up all the publications on all the social networks (remember to filter by the one you want).
- For its part, Union Metrics allows you to know many useful things such as what is the best time for your publications, what your competitors and your followers are doing or what has worked best for you. It is paid but so complete that it is worth it.
Soon we will show you some tools and apps to boost your Instagram presence even more. In the meantime, don’t be afraid to try different posting times, look for profiles similar to yours to see what they do and grow little by little. You will see how this social network is very grateful and you will soon gain followers.
