Right now, Instagram is big for the right businesses.
It can seem daunting to get started on social media, especially a platform that has such beautiful and well-thought out feeds.
Top 4 tips for getting started on Instagram
1 Create great content
This one might seem like a bit of a no-brainer, but let’s start with it anyway. Now, Instagram is clearly a very visual platform and people love to wile away the hours, scrolling through their feed. Chances are they are following a lot of people and brands so those feeds will be big. You have to create content that will stop them scrolling past you and stop and look.
Create engaging images and videos but make sure they are right for your business and on brand. Think about how you want your feed to look and do some planning before posting. There are tools that can help you do this but even good old Excel will get you there. Look around at competitors and feeds that you like and take some inspiration.
Don’t forget about Instagram Stories either. If you are keeping your feed on brand then you can have a little fun in Instagram Stories. Instagram are putting a lot of focus on stories and they are proving popular and getting more and more traction.
2 Be Consistent
Consistency is about two things really.
Firstly, you need to be consistent with your brand, including your tone of voice. People will be following you for a reason and if you keep swapping and changing your tone then they will soon be confused and may unfollow you.
The second thing you need to be consistent with is your posting schedule. When you start on Instagram you can be a little over enthusiastic and can post 5 times a day for a week and then other things get in the way and you don’t post anything for a couple of weeks. Over-posting will annoy people and and they may decide you are clogging up their feed so will say bye-bye. If you are under-posting then people will soon forget about you.
3 Engage and interact
Imagine that you are at a party. You get chatting to someone and all they do is talk about themselves. They keep going on and going on, not even drawing breath. You can’t cant get a word in and they clearly have absolutely no interest in anything you have say. You try asking a question but they just ignore you.
No one wants to be like that in real life and social media is no different. It’s called social media for a reason – it’s about being social. Make sure that you ask questions and opinions – people love to give their opinion. If people ask you questions, then make sure you answer them, promptly. Build up interaction and start conversations.
Comment in their Instagram feeds and ask them questions. Show that you are interested. Build relationships.
4 Test, learn, test
So, you’re creating great content, being consistent and engaging with your audience, that’s it right? Time to stick with the formula. Well, no. There are always new businesses and new technologies out there and you may get over-taken if you just keep doing what you know. and feel comfortable with.
It’s always good to try out some new things. Try a different style of photo or a simple video. Then pop into your Instagram analytics and see how it performs against your usual posts. If it works well then try more of the same.
Instagram Stories are a really good way to try out some different things and it won’t affect your beautifully cultivated main feed. You can have fun there with stickers, polls and video. Just try it – your audience may love it!
Are you ready to get started?
I’ve created an infographic to remind you about my 4 top tips for getting started on Instagram. You can download it here.
If you are a business, make sure that you set up a business account because that will give you access to Instagram Analytics and Instagram Ads.
Plumb.Digital can help you get started so just give me a call and we’ll get you up and running!