6 ways to promote your brand on Instagram

Instagram isn’t just for uploading the occasional selfie and photos of food, lots and lots of food. If you’re wanting to connect with a younger audience, Instagram is one of the best ways to do it. The app, which has over 400 million active users every month, can be the perfect platform for you to tell a visual story of your brand. Here are six ways to make the most out of Instagram for your brand.

1. Build a community 
If you want to succeed, you need a build a community that like what you stand for and will be loyal to your brand. By creating a community, with a good hashtag, you can leverage it across all of your businesses’ social media platforms. When building a community, take everything into consideration, from your audience to even the time of the year. L’Oreal Paris  did a winter-themed campaign last year by joining in with the hashtag #blizzardof2015. They simply took photos of their products in the snow and it worked. After all, what’s more romantic than white fluffy snow? The brand saw an opportunity and managed to sell much more of the products photographed.

2. Promote your page
If you want to build a following on your Instagram, it’s necessary that you promote it and let your clients and customers know that you’re on it. If your business is already doing well on Facebook and Twitter, it’s worth connecting your Instagram to those pages too, so people can see you’re on Instagram and actively using it. Alternatively, add your social media accounts to your website and email signatures. Mix it up by tweeting that you’re on Instagram and a link to your page. Do what you can to get your business page out there and you will gain followers in no time.

3. Connect with followers 
When posting on your business Instagram, think about your target consumers. Sounds simple, but you will not gain their following and their loyalty if you don’t post photos that they actually want to see. If your target audience is middle-aged men, then post about cars, sport and luxury goods. On the other hand, if your audience is young women, you should consider posting motivational quotes, social media tips and beauty and style hacks. If you’re struggling, ask those in your target frame and ask them what they would like to see! Check out what the likes of Career Girl Daily and GQ post on their pages. They manage to get their services out there as well as mixing it up with other posts their audience will also like.

4. Use all Instagram tools
If you want to look like an Instagram page worth following, make sure you get to grips with all the tools that Instagram has to offer. Subscribe to Instagram for Business to stay ahead of the game and try using different filters and edit photos differently. Tag people in your photos as well as adding your location. By using all the tools, the app has to offer, you will look like you understand Instagram, which looks more attractive than a page that clearly doesn’t get what they’re doing on there.

5. Consider advertising 
If you have a decent budget for your social media pages, it’s worth looking into advertising on Instagram and getting sponsored posts. Anyone can create advertisements on Instagram. Sponsored posts will appear on the feed of your target audience and can give your page and your company that extra push. Check out the guidelines and policies about promoting your business on Instagram here. Instagram now have business tools too where companies can track their views and progress, so you can see what is working and worthwhile doing again.

6. Partner up with others
Another way of promoting your brand on Instagram is by partnering up with other brands and causes. For example, if you want to support a charity who also have an impressive following on their social media, ask if you can work with them on an event. By partnering up with them, their followers will come across you and vice versa. Samsung worked alongside The Prince’s Trust at their #StandTallCampaign and by posting photos and selfies with those at the event generated almost 690,000 impressions, bringing more people to both Instagram accounts and making people more aware of each brand.

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