Gaining traction on social media is a constant struggle for most businesses. There are a million moving parts to keep track of, stay on top of, and be aware of. New algorithm? Check. New features? Gotcha. New Platform? God, no! Instagram may not be a new platform, but in the past year or two it has become the darling of the social media marketing crowd – and it has been throwing quite a few people for a loop.
If you’ve taken the time to learn how Instagram works and still feel like success is eluding you, don’t get too discouraged. This app is as fun and engaging as it comes, the possibilities are endless, you just need a few tips and tricks to help you create some Insta magic!
Quality
Since its inception, Instagram has been about quality visual storytelling. Quality because you are only supposed to be posting one picture at a time; remember that the platform only implemented the albums feature in the past year. When you are posting on the app, try to upload mainly high quality and interesting to look at images. If you have a great picture on your camera just load it into your computer and email it to yourself to get it on your phone.
Like all good things in life, there are exceptions to this rule. For instance, if your audience is already well acquainted with your product or your strategy is storytelling for brand awareness, having photos that are too polished can actually hurt your growth and engagement.
Personality
Instagram is the best platform to show off your brand personality. If you don’t have the coolest service or product offering, post behind the scenes images about your company, your city (if you have a local brand) or your long-time staff. The 80/20 rule seems to run the world, try applying it to your Instagram strategy by posting mostly about your company but pepper it with fun and engaging photos of your community.
Keep in mind, just because you are not always posting about your business, doesn’t mean your post should be off brand. Give the post a gut check, if you are posting with a reason and authentically then the audience will likely respond. 
Use the Features
Over the past year or two Instagram has released some pretty awesome features. Use the stories feature to share a fun or informative video that will disappear in 24 hours and take advantage of Instagram albums as a way to showcase multiple products at once. Use the boomerang app to take capture a quick action as a ‘living photo’ a.k.a a two-second video. Answer questions or show off products using Instagram live, or just post a video because a video is worth a thousand pictures (that’s how that saying goes, right?) The best brands that are using social media right now are all taking advantage of the platform’s great features too!
Not Text Heavy
As a general rule, we stay away from posting event flyers or anything all that text heavy. Sure, an occasional on brand meme is alright, but the more text there is on an image, the less people want to engage with it – although there are some exceptions to this rule as well. If you have a quick hit of information that people are really going to want to know you can post it, but don’t expect people to engage with it. A good example of this is a one or two day change to your business hours.
Get Involved!
Think of using this app like you’re building a community. It doesn’t happen in a silo, so when people engage with you and your brand, engage back! Find company relevant people or businesses to follow, like their photos, comment on their videos, and send them a message if you have something relevant to say.
If insta engagement is still eluding you, don’t worry, we can help! Give us a call, shoot us an email, or send up a smoke signal, you can have a chat and a coffee with our social team to get a feel for how we can help your Instagram take off!