Instagram is a handy platform for increasing your social media following. It can also be instrumental in improving your social media marketing.

The photo-sharing app is important for different kinds of businesses trying to build their brand. Visual content on social media is becoming increasingly more important for reaching out to audiences. A highly visual platform, Instagram is therefore an ideal choice for many businesses.

Your Instagram strategy should reflect your marketing plans for social media. Ask yourself how will you increase traffic to your website and brand awareness? Try to maintain a regular posting schedule, but be careful not to overwhelm your followers with too many posts each day. Aim to post at least once a day, and at a time of day your audience will be active.

You will be able to find out what works best by trial and error. Take a look at what type of posts your followers react to and at what time of day gets the best engagement. It’s also worth looking at what your competitors are doing on social media. Are they getting good engagement? If so try to work out the reasons behind their success.

If you’re finding it difficult to keep track of what you’re posting and when why not create a content calendar?  This will make it easier to manage your social media posts and plan in advance. Keep in mind that Instagram is a mobile-based site, so tailor your content to this format.

Return the favour! If you’ve been followed don’t be afraid to follow back. Offer your community recognition with engagement and communication.

Try to choose a filter that you will use throughout your page – this will help your followers to recognise your posts when scrolling down their feed. Although Instagram is a visual platform, there will also be non-visual elements that you need to consider such as your captions and hashtags. Find a hashtag (or several) that symbolise your brand – these will offer some exposure for your brand’s account.

Hashtags for businesses

Hash tags can increase the success of your posts. One way to gain more followers on your account is using Instagram’s general hashtags that are used by millions every day. Examples of these are #photooftheday, #instadaily, #igers, #instacool, #loveit and #picoftheday. Although these might not always directly relate to your post, they will get your post out there on the explore page.

Another technique to consider is using trending hash tags. A trending hashtag is one that is popular across the network at a particular time. These constantly change depending on what is happening. Seen a trend that relates to your business? Use it! This will get your post across to a much bigger audience, with your post being seen by anyone following the trended hashtag.

Happy Instagramming!