Instagram

 by Emma Cameron

How To Gain More Followers On Instagram

Instagram is quickly becoming the biggest social media network for businesses and content creators. Instagram opens up a huge playing field for any businesses looking to gain exposure and interact with their target audiences online. Many businesses do not utilize all of the great resources that Instagram has that can get them a lot of followers. Gaining more followers requires a little more than just uploading content, check out some great things you can do to gain more followers on Instagram.

 

Stick To A Niche Segment:
In order to be successful on Instagram, you will need to stick to one or two specific niche segments. It is best to find a niche market that you are passionate and knowledgable about, so that it makes it easy for you to come up with creative and consistent content easily.

 

Post Engaging And Creative Content Continuously:
People follow accounts because they want content – and a lot of it. If you are looking to attract a large audience on Instagram you are going to have to post consistent, high-quality content nonstop. It is easy to get lost in the land of Instagram, so make sure you are posting around two to three times a day so that followers can get use to your post and familiarize themselves with your username.

 

Use Captivating Captions:
Captions can be just as important as the content you are putting out. Figure out first if your audience enjoys long or short captions. For an example, if your Instagram page specializes in makeup, your audience will most likely want a long caption that includes the products that appear in your post. Once you have figure out what your followers want in their captions, you must remain consistent with it.
Instagram captions should include four things: they should be motivating; captivating; inspiring; and should give viewers an experience while reading it. This will really draw users in and keep them wanting more from your page.

 

Use Hashtags…And Lots Of Them:
Using hashtags on a post is one of the best ways to attract like-minded individuals to your page. When you are using hashtags for your post you want to be using the right ones that relate to your content posted, as well as your Instagram page. Studies have found that the optimal number of hashtags on Instagram is 11. The more hashtags you load onto your post, the more likely you are to get likes, comments, and new followers. So #YourHeartOut.

 

Interact With Users:
Communicate and engage with the community around you by following, liking, and commenting on other users post. Instagram isn’t just about posting your own content, it is also about exploring the content of others and the different communities around you. Create personal bonds and relationships with your followers by responding to comments they have left on your post. This will allow you to create personal bonds with your followers, and make you seem more attractive to them and others who stumble across your page.

If you are just starting on Instagram, comment and interact on big content creators pages. People are more likely to click on your page if they see you commenting and interacting with the same people they follow.

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 by Basim Mirza

Increase Instagram Followers [Video]

Instagram is a new mammoth that adds to a business’ brand, increase instagram followers and you’re well on your way to attracting qualified leads and connecting with prospects. Check out the video below to learn more on the steps you can take to increase instagram followers.

How do I grow my increase instagram followers and get great engagement?

 

 

One of the great things you can do is just be yourself, be personal. Forget about your business when it comes to Instagram. Instagram is a place where you need to connect with people on a personal level. Now, at some point you can tie your business in and let people know what you do, but that is not what its about. You want to create visual experiences for people that get them to reciprocate. If they feel personally connected to you in someway, they are going to show some love and that is really the key. What worked for me is that I went out there and I started making sure that I got pictures with every celebrity that I knew, and that worked for me – not saying that to toot my own horn or anything like that, that I hangout with celebrities. But you know, maybe that might work for you, go out there, get to know some influencers, get to know people that other people know – they can recognize their face. You would be surprised what that does. I took a picture with Jenny McCarthy and that did so much for me. So what I am saying is find something that works for you, it could be something really visual. If you run a spa company you may actually have lots of really beautiful images that you could take of like stones and aesthetics. But you could do some really cool stuff that get people to say “hey that looks so cool, that looks so nice!”. That is what you want, and the beautiful about Instagram is that people reciprocate, so when people like your stuff and when they start commenting, do the same thing for them. Show the love back and when you start to do that, you are going to start building that community around you as well.

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 by Emma Cameron

How the Advertising Feature on Instagram Works

Have you ever scrolled through your Instagram feed, and were surprised to see an advertisement from your favourite brand? Have you ever wondered how these advertisements matched your interest or hobbies so well? Well in 2014, Instagram introduced the advertisement feature that allows brands to sponsor ads to their target consumer(s). These ads pop up on the targeted users feed, regardless of if the user is following the brand or not. Brands can pick from three ad formats – photo, video, and carousel ads.

Instagram uses Facebook’s demographic data to present the correct ads to the appropriate demographic. For an example, you would never want a 40 year old male who is interested in sports seeing an ad for beauty products targeted at teens. This is important to ensure that relevant content is being shared with the right audience.

Instagram first tested the advertising feature by selecting specific brands – Taco Bell, Mercedes-Benz, and Chobani were some of the earliest adopters! After a successful run over the course of a few months, the ad feature is now available to businesses big or small! Though the advertising feature appeared to be working successfully, Instagram did fine that they needed to give users the opportunity to mute these sponsored ads. Advertisements are always labeled as sponsored and users have the ability to hide ads if they are not pleased with the disruption on their feed – giving the user control over what they see. Instagram has found this to be successful, and consumers are responding well to this control.

Many brands who have used the advertising feature on Instagram have been more than pleased with the return they have gotten on these ads. Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream ad campaign reached an estimated 9.8 million people just in the United States in only eight days – impressive! Mercedes-Benz used Instagram to launch its compact SUV called the “GLA” in collaboration with Facebook last fall and saw an increase of 580 percent to their site! Happn has been using the advertising feature for a month now, and has reached an estimated 3 million users in London, Paris, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Paulo. The app has seen a conversion rate of 84 percent in terms of app downloads as well as registered users – incredible!

There are over 400 million Instagram users worldwide, and over 70 million photos and videos uploaded everyday – making Instagram the perfect untapped app for advertising and branding! If executed properly, Instagram advertisements can open up a new market and even a new target consumer to businesses!

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 by Emma Cameron

How GoPro Empowers Their Customers

gopro

Social media is an amazing new marketing outlet that allows consumers to keep connected and engaged with their favourite brands. Social media not only allows brands to specifically advertise to their demographics, but it is also allows consumers to advertise and promote their favourite brands products and services as well.

GoPro has been doing a success job of empowering their users, while using their content to promote their brand. GoPro allows everyday people the ability to shoot HD footage and capture out of this world photographs on their miniature cameras – no matter what their past experience consists of. Not only are their products successful, but their presence on Instagram is as well. GoPro currently has 7 million followers, and averages about 300,000 “likes” per post. Their following is continuously growing, and so is their social media campaign. The company came up with the campaign “Photo of the Day”, where users upload their HD photographs to their own Instagram accounts, tagging GoPro in these photos. Everyday, GoPro picks a photo to be featured on their own Instagram account and tags the user in the re-uploaded photo. GoPro is not just stopping at photos, they are also promoting users to create extreme videos that they repost on their Youtube page.

gopro photo

This campaign has been extremely successful, and has been going on for years now. This allows GoPro to empower their users and promote their work, while at the same time be able to share these photos and use them as advertising tools. Creating a sort of win-win for both the user and the brand. This is just one of the many brands who are embracing social media, and really allowing consumers to take the reigns on advertising through these platforms.

As more and more brands move towards social media marketing, this tactic will become increasingly popular. Consumers love it and so do brands!

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 by Emma Cameron

How To Use Hashtags Effectively

Hashtags are an important part of our social media and tech culture today. So important that in 2010 the Oxford Dictionary added the word, and the board game Scrabble added it to their dictionary. Though most people in the world have heard of hashtags, or have seen them live in action, many still do not know to how to use them effectively. Hashtags are simple to use and can really drive traffic and engagement to your post or content – making them an important tool to know inside out.

 

Choosing The Right One:

It is not effective to just pick any word or phrase and proceed to use it as a hashtag. You should research which ones are already in use and in what context they are being used. For an example, if you come up with a hashtag that fits your brand perfectly, you need to make sure that other brands or individuals are not using that same one in a completely different way. This can cause confusion and a loss opportunity for your brand, and it could pick up some unwanted attention.

 

Pick The Right Social Media Platform:

Different social media platforms yield different returns for your content.

Twitter:

Twitter is the originator of the hashtag, and continues to still be the powerhouse. Tons of research has been done to track the effectiveness of the use of them on Twitter. According to one study, tweets with one or two hashtags can double the chances of engagement. However, if you exceed two per tweet, the chances of engagement actually drops by 17%. Staying within two per tweet limit is crucial. It is also important to note how “engagement” is defined in research. The engagement that is activated by hashtags can include different types of interactions; 22% of engagement comes from replies to brand’s tweets; 78% are retweets; And 92% are link clicks. Depending on the use of them in a tweet, it can either increase or decrease this amount of engagement

Facebook:

Facebook introduced hashtags to their site in 2013, which was a late start for the social media powerhouse. Though Facebook currently ranks the highest for the most used platform in the world, their engagement using hashtags is one of the worst. Studies have shown that Facebook posts with hashtags actually have less engagement than those without. Furthermore, studies have found that Facebook and Twitter are similar in the sense that overuse can also decrease the amount of engagement and interaction. It is more beneficial to keep hashtags down to one or two per post on Facebook in order to receive interaction back.

Instagram:

Instagram is the complete opposite to Twitter and Facebook when it comes to hashtags. Other social media sites diminish your return on engagement with the more hashtags you use per post. Instagram views this in a different light, and the more hashtags that are used the more noticed, liked, shared, and commented your post will get. Post that exceed 11 or more hashtags, are the post that bring in the highest number of interactions. Hashtags can be your best bet for growing a fast following on Instagram.

 

Timing is Everything:

As with most things in life, everything always comes down to timing. The same can be said with using hashtags on social media sites. There are many different online tools that can help you set up and schedule times to post content to your social media sites. This helps with getting content out during times of high usage, and on significant dates (e.g. holidays, campaign launches, etc). This can really help with getting your hashtag out there, and bringing in traffic.

 

Hashtags are a huge part of our social media sites today. Hashtags allow brands to reach more followers, give followers the opportunity to engage and interact with their favourite brand. It is one of the greatest inventions and one of the best things for online marketing.

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