How to Promote Your Instagram Page for Greater Brand Awareness
Social media is a huge component to any marketing strategy. In other words you need social media in order for your business to survive in today’s digital world. If you’re struggling with how to promote your Instagram page we have 17 tips and tricks to help you get started!
Set goals
Surely, you have a business plan for your business. You also have a marketing plan for your marketing tactics. And you should have a social media strategy along with attainable goals for your Instagram (as well as any other social media platforms).
Your goals are something you need to define before you get started.
There are several questions you will need to ask yourself.
- What are your follower goals for the month?
- Think long term as well, what are your yearly goals?
- What is your target engagement?
If you’re unsure of what your answers should be to these questions, then talk to adigital marketing agency. They can give you a better idea of what you can expect with regards to follower growth and engagement.
Username
Choose an appropriate username that is simple, searchable and easy to read. If your username spells something else, you can capitalize the first letter of each word, use punctuation or pick something else.
If your desired username isn’t available, try mixing up the words or using punctuation to separate them.
It’s important to be consistent. If your Instagram name doesn’t match your business name, you should strongly consider changing it. It should also match your username on other social media platforms to keep your branding easily recognizable across multiple channels.
Choosing a clear username can help your followers and potential customers remember who you are. And they will associate your Instagram with your brand.
Create a Bio
This is where you will need to include a short description, location, website, and any other information you feel is important for your followers. The catch is you only get 150 characters to get your point across.
Airbnb has a great bio that gives a short description of the company. They encourage people to share their stories and have a link so that people can book their trips.
Some other components you might want to include are links to your online store, events, recipes or blog posts. You can post multiple links with link tree or other websites that direct people to a list of different links.
If you want to spice up your bio you can use emojis to add some color as well as keep within your character limit.
Hashtags
Believe it or not hashtags are vital to your business’s survival on Instagram. Hashtags allow other users to find your page and posts. And in turn can help grow your follower base.
Hashtags pull up categories with the latest posts. For example if you search the hashtag #dogs you will be able to scroll through every post where people have used that hashtag from newest to oldest.
Here are some quick tips on how to promote your Instagram page with hashtags.
- Get creative by making your own hashtag and getting your followers to use it!
- Use relevant hashtags. Instagram uses hashtags for categorizing their content. You don’t have to hashtag everything and you don’t need 30 hashtags on each post. Just what is most relevant.
For example if you are a restaurant posting on Instagram, you would want to use local food hashtags. If your post is about eggs, then hashtagging the word ‘eggs’ is not going to be helpful and your post will get lost in the 10,000,000+ posts.
But if you want to know how to promote your Instagram page better on Instagram, then use a more locally known hashtag like #atlrestaurant if you own a restaurant in Atlanta. Then the people following your posts are more likely to dine and engage with you.
Use the hashtags of food influencers in your community. They’re already popular. They’re local. And they can benefit your Instagram.
- Use what’s trending as well as what’s not. If you only use the most popular hashtags, this won’t increase your discoverability. Use a combination of popular hashtags and niche ones.
- Most importantly, do your research. Hashtag research isn’t a joke. It’s serious business and when done correctly can help you gain followers and boost your brand recognition.
Work with Influencers
Every industry has influencers that have tremendous followings. If you’re wondering how to promote your Instagram page this is the way to go!
Influencers have power over their followers and often encourage them to try new products or services. Often you can find influencers who have your target demographic as followers.
The most important thing they have is expertise and reach. These people will be able to reach potential clients and help you convince them to buy your products or services.
Get the attention of an influencer in your industry by tagging them or reaching out to them through direct messaging. Build up your relationship and then see if you can work together in a way that benefits both of you.
This is an influencer that worked with the clothing company H&M. By having this fashion blogger with a massive following post on her own Instagram page, the company received more exposure and followers.
If you want to utilize influencers to boost your brand recognition and gain followers find someone who is prominent in your industry and don’t be afraid to reach out to them.
Boost Posts & Advertising
This is a no brainer. Social media advertising is the cheapest way to advertise. For that reason you should be boosting posts and creating ads for your business Instagram.
Boosting a post means that you have already posted a photo and want to pay for it to gain more reach outside of your followers. This is typically content that is not directly selling anything.
An advertisement is different in that it is set up to advertise a product and reach a large audience.
With both of these tactics you will be able to see stats like reach, engagement and more.
If you are looking to gain more followers and reach more people this is how to promote your Instagram page to do just that!
Tag your location
Always, always, always tag your location when you post on Instagram. Tag your store’s location, tag the location of an event you participated in or even tag the city you are located in.
Tagging your location will increase your discoverability. People search by location in Instagram to find businesses near them. You want your posts to show up here especially if you are a local business.
You can add a location any and every time you post! Simply click “add location” before you post. A list will come up of recent or current locations. Choose your state, city or actual address!
Tag other People
Tagging other people in your posts can get their attention. If you use another brand in your post or happen to use content from your users, tag them!
Your post will then appear on their profile under their tagged photos. When other people look through them, your brand will appear.
This is just a small thing you can do to increase your reach on Instagram and promote your page.
Small things add up and can really make a difference in follower growth, reach and brand recognition so don’t skip out on them!
Focus on Brand Recognition
The point of social media platforms like Instagram is to build your brand. Don’t just focus all of your efforts on getting more followers. How do you want your brand to be perceived?
Here’s how you can promote your Instagram page with a focus on brand recognition.
- Show your brand style through the photos that you post. Photos and captions can show your followers what you stand for as a company.
- Have a strong and consistent presence. Post at least once a week. Although we recommend posting several times each week.
- Don’t put your social media on the back burner. This creates relationships with followers which can turn them into lifelong brand ambassadors and loyal customers!
Remember, if you produce quality content then the rest should follow!
How to Promote Your Instagram Page on Other Platforms
Cross promoting your Instagram is one of these easiest ways to gain followers. You can promote it on other social media sites like Facebook.
For example, if you have more followers on Facebook than you do on Instagram, encouraging your Facebook fans to follow you can result in tremendous follower growth!
In addition to cross promotion on social media you should have your social media icons displayed on your website so that they are easily accessible.
Pro Tip: Display your social icons on the top and bottom of every page so they can’t be missed.
If you have an email marketing strategy (which you should!) send an email all about social media with content like “Follow us on social media for a special discount!”
If your subscribers don’t follow your social media accounts yet, this is a sure way to encourage them to give you a follow.
Run a contest
Instagram contests are essential to promoting your page and gaining followers.
With an Instagram contest you can make the entry whatever you want! We recommend asking people to follow your page, getting them to like a photo and tagging a friend in order to be entered.
Tips on how to promote your Instagram page with a contest:
- Choose a great photo! High quality photos get the most engagement.
- Make your contest guidelines clear. Fully explain what your contest is but make it easily scannable.
- Show the prize or tell people what they’re going to win! With Instagram’s multi-photo feature you can easily add in a photo or two of what you are giving away.
- Give your followers a timeline. When does the contest close and when will the winner be announced? People like to be updated especially if there is a prize at stake.
Post about the winner and say congrats! This way people will trust that you actually selected a winner and that they have been rewarded their prize.
This small boutique used an Instagram giveaway to boost their followers and gain some recognition. They are asking their followers to tag 5 of their friends and share the photo on their personal pages.
If you want to run a contest for your business, start small with asking people to like your post, a tag one or two friends.
You can even expand to work with other brands which will give you exposure to their followers as well.
Have an Instagram Theme
A theme is typically a color pallet or a style of photo that your Instagram reflects. It shows that your posts are consistent and makes your account aesthetically pleasing.
You should also be consistent with the type of content that you post. You want to post photos and content that will get traffic to your page and keep your followers coming back.
People go to Bon Appetite’s Instagram because they know that they will get great photos and good recipes every single time. If they were to stray from this theme, it might confuse their followers.
Stay on trend
If there’s a viral trend or challenge, do it! Don’t be afraid to jump on the train.
The ALS Ice bucket challenge was huge across social media. It helped raise money and awareness for Lou Gehrig’s disease and tons of people participated.
The basis of the challenge was to dump a bucket of ice cold water on participants heads and then call out several friends to do the challenge as well.
If your business participated you would probably see all kinds of positive ROI. This gives back to a charity and helps to do some good in the world.
It also shows what type of brand you are and what causes you believe in. You are helping to spread the word and reaching your followers in hopes that they also participate in the challenge.
Utilize Stories & Highlights
Don’t be scared to use the Instagram story feature. This is a great way to show your followers what you are doing on a daily basis.
Instagram stories can help retain followers by keeping them engaged. You are able to feature your followers stories if they tag you. Probably one of the coolest things you can do is to save your Instagram stories as highlights.
Highlights allow you to keep your stories displayed on your profile forever. You can create a highlight from any previous stories because they are all saved in your Instagram archive or create a completely new one.
You are probably wondering how to promote your Instagram page with stories and highlights.
The purpose of an Instagram story is to engage your audience and keep them coming back to your page for updates.
Consider doing a story that is the same every week. You can compile all of these into one highlight so that new followers can watch your previous stories!
Highlights are also a great way to share important information. If you are an ecommerce store, you can use a highlight to promote new arrivals or give sneak peeks of upcoming products.
Engage with Your Followers
When people comment on your posts, ask questions or direct message your brand’s Instagram account, you need to engage with them. This means following people back, responding to comments, replying to messages, follow your supporters back and reposting their content.
Liking a follower’s posts can have a domino effect. Their followers may see that you liked one of their photos which can lead to them checking out your Instagram and you gaining a follower.
Interacting with your followers can make your brand come across as more than a brand. Your followers will start to get a sense of your personality.
Reply to every comment that you can especially if you are a small business even if it is just a simple thank you!
User Generated Content
Use the content that your followers produce. A lot of user generated content is high quality. Repost it on your Instagram page!
This is great for you because it saves you time, can get you more followers and boost your brand.
Tips on how to promote your Instagram page with user generated content:
- Select only the best content. Chances are your followers will want to create content for your brand if you encourage them to but don’t feel pressured to use every piece of content that they create.
- Use a repost app to save you even more time when using user generated content. This will allow you to easily regram and give credit to your followers.
- Tell your followers that you like to repost their content and give them a hashtag to use like Eater LA.
Keep Followers Updated
Updates keep people engaged with your content and keep them coming back. Not only do you want to gain new followers but you want to retain the ones you already have.
Post about new products to get followers excited or if a sold out product is back let them know. Whatever the case, always be transparent. This is the number one way to earn the trust of your followers. This helps you build a community of people who love your brand.
Now you know how to promote your Instagram page while retaining followers and getting the brand recognition that you deserve. Have any more ideas? Let us know in the comments section.