Instagram – the most widely used social media today that can help you promote your brand and build a broader audience.
Posting unique images, videos, and ads that your followers will love is just one part of the journey to success.
Using the right captions and hashtags can be quite useful in getting your startup out there on Instagram. Careful attention to details and quality is also essential.
If you want to grow your startup on Instagram and stand out from the rest, here are a few tactics you can use:
Table of Contents
1. Post Fun and Creative Content
Let’s face it – there is no substitute for unique, engaging, and creative content.
It is simple – if your content is great, the followers are going to like, share, and comment on your posts.
People today appreciate vivid colors and clear photos, and Instagram is all about the visuals. Give your followers something to talk about.
Instead of posting your products and promoting them, you can create stories and attract people to check out your store and see what your brand has to offer.
Airbnb is definitely worth mentioning. They do a great job of creating stories on Instagram. They promote traveling and want people to discover beautiful cities by staying with locals.
On Instagram, they post shots of the lives of the hosts from around the world.
2. Post Regularly
Consistent posting is key to growing your outreach on Instagram; at least this is what was concluded from a 2017 study conducted by Tailwind (visual marketing tool).
According to this study, over 100.00 Instagram posts were analyzed for three months. The study discovered that social media handles who posted regularly saw a steady increase in engagement rate. The follower growth rates also increased.
It is a good idea to post at least once every day on your feed. If you are too busy to do this, we have the perfect solution – postsked.com
Postsked is a social media scheduling tool for busy business owners. By using this tool, you can schedule posts, organize your photos, and repost other content.
You can try postsked.com for free!
3. Try Videos, Stories, and Live Videos
When it first started, Instagram was a photo-sharing platform. Today, it has grown beyond just images.
With features like Stories, videos, and live videos, startups can now create different types of content to communicate with their fans, engage with customers, and grow their following.
Here are a few reasons why you should try posting new content types:
- When you go live online on Instagram, you will appear at the top of the Stories feed
- The average engagement for videos is escalating faster than the average engagement for photos
- More than 400 million users check Instagram Stories every day
- More than 50% of businesses believe that Instagram stories have been effective as a part of their overall social media strategy.
4. Use the Right Hashtags
We all know the purpose of a hashtag – to reach out to people who aren’t following you, attract their attention, and make them your fans.
If you want to get noticed by the right people, it is crucial to use the right hashtags.
For example, you are creating content related to hotels. You shouldn’t just use #hotels because that is too broad and everyone uses the exact same hashtags. Instead, try to be more specific, for example, #besthotels, #hotelstay, #hotelspa, and etc.
The Four Seasons Hotel uses their name as a hashtag + specific hashtags like #WakeUpWithFS, #Marrakech, #FourSeasons, and etc.
Specifically for upcoming events, try to use variations and combinations of the same word. Find hashtags that are currently trending, and everyone is searching for posts (images and videos) related to them.
Before using a hashtag, don’t forget to check the search volume. If the hashtag you want to use goes into the millions, you are risking getting lost in the whirl of posts. Analyze which hashtags are giving more engagement and try to use those hashtags more often.
Instagram allows you to use up to 30 hashtags in one post; however, it is advisable to use less than 10 hashtags. As a matter of fact, SproutSocial discovered that Instagram posts with 9 hashtags are most popular and got the highest engagement rate.
5. Simplify the Buying Process
Online purchasers today want to complete the buying process with just a few clicks on their phone. If you make the buying process as simple as possible for your potential buyers, you can expect a higher engagement rate and more sales.
Startups that are focused on improving health and customer’s lifestyle are becoming more and more popular on Instagram. From healthy food to indoor equipment, some of the most successful brands are growing thanks to this strategy.
Peloton, for example, collaborates with leading apparel brands.
Startups have a tough journey, and as one, you should never feel or work alone. Using every opportunity to collaborate with your competitors or associates can improve your mood and boost your results by expanding the user base and the number of people interested in your product.
6. Organize Contests
In order to grow your startup on Instagram, try organizing contests, and giving out freebies.
Users engage more with a brand online when they are getting free stuff. Let’s face it – it is a great motivation.
When it comes to your contest ideas, you can get as creative as you want.
For example, you could ask followers to repost an image that you have posted previously. Or you can ask your fans to mention your Instagram handle in the caption to boost visibility.
Earthpix used one such strategy to get more people hooked on to their feed. They attracted users to their profile and encouraged them to like their content and share it with their friends.
Those who shared the photo could get a chance to win a trip to Fiji, free of charge. The post got a great response. There were over 10.000 comments.
A final word about growing your startup on Instagram
Instagram is a great place for startups to promote their brands. However, setting up a business account and posting images is not enough.
If you want to grow your startup on Instagram and expand your user base, you need to have a strategy in place.
Posting creative content, using the right hashtags, organizing contests for your followers can help you get more visibility and increase engagement.
By keeping up the good work, results will come in no time.
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Awesome tips to grow an Instagram page. I personally focus more on my blog, with social media algorithm is very hard to reach your audience.