Instagram is gaining popularity by the day.
And as long as that short-lived update (that people hated) a couple weeks ago remains as some weird social experiment, that won't be changing anytime soon.
How do you stand out? Emma Knightley at the Digital Marketing Institute put together a post that included eight ways to separate yourself from the competition.
We're going to go over three of them today and touch on how your business can put these practices into use and reap the benefits.
1. Use Instagram Stories
When you post, your photo may end up getting lost in the sea of others posts. It's not uncommon for people to follow hundreds, or even thousands, of accounts.
Hit for a higher average by posting to your story as well. You can also maximize content by using your story feed, as not everything you take a photo of is really worthy of being posted to your feed.
You can also use your story for fun ideas like 'A Day In The Life' at your business or showing some behind-the-scenes footage of what goes on at your business.
2. Look At Your Competition
Is someone in your vertical already excelling at Instagram?
Check out their page! There's no shame in taking aspects of what is already working for someone and putting your own twist on it.
Maybe they are posting at a certain time of day, maybe they are using niche hashtags to drive their content or maybe they are simply posting a genre of content that you haven't considered.
If it's working, find out why and use that to your advantage.
3. Be Interactive
You should be checking your Instagram accounts at least a couple times per day.
Especially if you are posting to your story. It's commonplace for users to leave comments or emojis on stories, which you'll want to see sooner rather than later. It's always good practice to reach back out to them in one form or another.
You'll also want to see who is re-sharing your content, you may be able to spot trends. And you definitely want to reply to comments left under your photos. It makes users feel good to know that the brand they are interacting with sees them and chooses to interact back.
These are a few good steps to getting started, or optimizing, your Instagram strategy. If you'd like to discuss Social Media Marketing with us, consultation are always free!