My Instagram Strategy - 30k+ Followers and Counting - Advice?
Hey guys,
This is just a post about the Instagram strategy I've been using to grow my pages recently. Some of my pages link to my e-commerce site, and I've found that I'm driving a fair amount of traffic to my site via Instagram. The rest of my pages I'm building up in the hope of monetising them in the future.
Please give me any tips you have, if you have Instagram experience. This strategy has been working really well for me so far.
1 – Provide Great Content
The first stage is pretty obvious. If you’re going to build a genuine fan base, you need to create something that is both interesting and engaging.
Planning is essential to help identify exactly which groups of people you are trying to engage, and which subjects you will focus on. In addition, creating a consistent feed, with each photo complimenting the other, boosts the general feel of your page and makes it clear exactly what your page is about.
2 – Target a Niche
Niche hashtags are one of the best places to start, especially with new pages. By finding a hashtag with a lower post volume, you are much more likely to be noticed. Over time, you may even be featured on the “Top Posts” sections, which draws huge amounts of attention to your page.
3 – Create Your Own Hashtag
Once you start to gain a small following, its a great idea to create your own hashtag. Then, in at least a few of your posts, encourage your fan base to use this hashtag too. For example, if you run a baking page called Boo_Bakes, start getting your followers to use #boobakes when they upload baking photos. Often, if the photos are high quality, you can then re-post this content on your own page with a link to the poster, which makes your page look super legit (as you clearly have fans) and provides free and easy content. But be careful to only do this for high quality posts.
4 – Share Content
When your following starts to pick up, it is a great idea to start messaging some of your followers, and other pages similar to yours, to ask if you can repost one of their photos. Not only does this provide easy content, it also allows you to start building connections with other users. More often than not, they will be willing to share one of your photos and link to your page.
Whilst Instagram is competitive, there are more than enough followers to go around, so helping out a similar page to yours is never a bad idea, especially if it gives your own page a boost!
5 – Engage!
Finally, and most importantly, engage with other users! Engage with your current followers by commenting on their photos and replying to their comments on your photos. Engage with potential followers by liking their photos (which is much easier and less likely to get you in trouble with Instagram than spam commenting / following). Engage with other big pages by tagging them in your photos and private messaging them.
Social media is exactly that – social. The only way to grow organically is to take part in the community which ultimately draws attention to your page. There are a few automation tools which make this a hell of a lot easier, but my favourite so far has been SocialGrow. Disclaimer: I work at SocialGrow! What I love about what we have created is that it mimics human behaviour - sifting through content and finding stuff to engage just as a human would. We have coded the algorithm to follow human engagement patterns. It just feels a lot safer and more simple to use than some other alternatives on the market, which have a lot of options but can be dangerous (in terms of bans etc) if you don't know what you're doing.
What are other people's experiences with Instagram? Have you guys tried automation and how has it worked for you? Has anyone here built a page purely for the potential to monetise it?
This is just a post about the Instagram strategy I've been using to grow my pages recently. Some of my pages link to my e-commerce site, and I've found that I'm driving a fair amount of traffic to my site via Instagram. The rest of my pages I'm building up in the hope of monetising them in the future.
Please give me any tips you have, if you have Instagram experience. This strategy has been working really well for me so far.
1 – Provide Great Content
The first stage is pretty obvious. If you’re going to build a genuine fan base, you need to create something that is both interesting and engaging.
Planning is essential to help identify exactly which groups of people you are trying to engage, and which subjects you will focus on. In addition, creating a consistent feed, with each photo complimenting the other, boosts the general feel of your page and makes it clear exactly what your page is about.
2 – Target a Niche
Niche hashtags are one of the best places to start, especially with new pages. By finding a hashtag with a lower post volume, you are much more likely to be noticed. Over time, you may even be featured on the “Top Posts” sections, which draws huge amounts of attention to your page.
3 – Create Your Own Hashtag
Once you start to gain a small following, its a great idea to create your own hashtag. Then, in at least a few of your posts, encourage your fan base to use this hashtag too. For example, if you run a baking page called Boo_Bakes, start getting your followers to use #boobakes when they upload baking photos. Often, if the photos are high quality, you can then re-post this content on your own page with a link to the poster, which makes your page look super legit (as you clearly have fans) and provides free and easy content. But be careful to only do this for high quality posts.
4 – Share Content
When your following starts to pick up, it is a great idea to start messaging some of your followers, and other pages similar to yours, to ask if you can repost one of their photos. Not only does this provide easy content, it also allows you to start building connections with other users. More often than not, they will be willing to share one of your photos and link to your page.
Whilst Instagram is competitive, there are more than enough followers to go around, so helping out a similar page to yours is never a bad idea, especially if it gives your own page a boost!
5 – Engage!
Finally, and most importantly, engage with other users! Engage with your current followers by commenting on their photos and replying to their comments on your photos. Engage with potential followers by liking their photos (which is much easier and less likely to get you in trouble with Instagram than spam commenting / following). Engage with other big pages by tagging them in your photos and private messaging them.
Social media is exactly that – social. The only way to grow organically is to take part in the community which ultimately draws attention to your page. There are a few automation tools which make this a hell of a lot easier, but my favourite so far has been SocialGrow. Disclaimer: I work at SocialGrow! What I love about what we have created is that it mimics human behaviour - sifting through content and finding stuff to engage just as a human would. We have coded the algorithm to follow human engagement patterns. It just feels a lot safer and more simple to use than some other alternatives on the market, which have a lot of options but can be dangerous (in terms of bans etc) if you don't know what you're doing.
What are other people's experiences with Instagram? Have you guys tried automation and how has it worked for you? Has anyone here built a page purely for the potential to monetise it?
Rocco B.
Fun To Be Social