Credit: Erin Robertson
More than 500 million accounts are active on Instagram every single day and a majority of accounts are used by people under 35 years of age. These days, there are 8 million business accounts operating on Instagram and 80 percent of Instagram users follow business accounts, so if you don’t have an account or aren’t posting regularly, you’re missing out on a golden opportunity to offer value, expose your products and attract your ideal client or customer. What’s more, Instagram has the highest engagement and conversion rate of any social media network (sorry, but not sorry Snapchat).
Bottom line: having a large Instagram following is one of the best ways to establish your brand or influencer page as an authority in your chosen arena. But the thing is many brands do not know how to grow their following efficiently and effectively. Also, as an influencer with a large following your ability to attract brand sponsorships and partnerships as well as media opportunities greatly increases, which means more money in your pocket passively.
Melanin Majority has seen massive growth on Instagram in a short amount of time and have reached nearly 50,000 real, targeted followers. Success is best when shared, so here’s five tips that can help you attract your tribe on the most popular social media platform around.
Post High Quality Images
Instagram is all about shareable and eye-catching images, more so than captions (because let’s face it people are getting lazy about reading…information overload anyone?), so make sure you’re posting them. Don’t be afraid to share behind-the-scenes of your brand or repost funny memes. Perhaps create a theme or niche for the images you’ll post. For example, on Melanin Majority’s Instagram we post and feature beautiful images of Black travelers from around the world. Have fun with it!
Use Instagram Stories
Instagram stories has exploded in popularity with more than 400 million daily users. On Melanin Majority’s Instagram stories, we post behind-the-scene images of what Stephen and I are up to or when we travel, inspirational quotes, memes, songs we’re listening to on SoundCloud (btw, check out our SoundCloud for dope vibes). Do go live (on stories or IG TV…you can post up to an hour of video now) and let people know what you’re up to or offer any insights or lessons you’ve learned along the way. IG stories is a great way to get interactive with your audience so play with filters, add gifs or invite folks to ask you questions or answer polls you’ve set up. Besides, boomerang gifs are so much fun to make!
Use Relevant Industry Hashtags & Geo-Tag A Location
Research hashtags that are already being used in your chosen niche. For example, on our Instagram we use #BlackTravel #MelaninTravel #TravelNoire often to help get eyes on our posts and engagement. Also don’t be afraid to create a unique hashtag that you can invite your followers to use too (i.e. #BlackLoveTravels), which helps build community and creates content from your audience that you can repost and share to other social media networks like Facebook. Using at least one hashtag, can boost a post’s engagement by 12 percent. Keep your captions looking clean by posting your captions (you can use up to 30 of them) in the first comment. Tagging a location can also boost a post’s engagement.
Be Social & Engage
No one likes a wallflower at a party, so why be one on a social media network as popular as Instagram? Part of the fun of being on a social media network is the opportunity to meet new people on the other side of the world and get a glimpse into their way of life. Find similar accounts by hitting the down arrow button that appears next to the follow button (you have to follow someone first and then suggested users will appear) and engage by liking and commenting on their posts or slide in their DMs (but be sure to be clear, concise and polite when asking for information, a favor or partnership opportunity…no one likes to have their time wasted). Offer genuine compliments and respond to ones or comments you receive. Follow and you may get followed back. Energy is currency, it flows when shared.
When reposting, always credit the artist or account you’re featuring by @ their account and tagging them on your post. No one likes having their ish stolen, so don’t be that person. If you don’t know who to credit, ask your followers if they know and invite them to tag the creator for you.
Create A Contest Or Offer A Giveaway
People love FREE STUFF! One of the easiest ways to increase engagement and attract new followers is hosting a contest or offering a giveaway (consider partnering with other brands or influencers for this). Give your audience a clear call-to-action to qualify them for the contest or giveaway, for example, ask them to like/ repost the image, comment, follow you and your potential influencer/ brand partner(s) and tag family and friends who would like to get in on the action.
Okay, so all of this may sound like a lot, but don’t be intimidated. These five tips will give you the jumpstart you need to grow your Instagram following. If you tried all these steps and would still like help accelerating your business or influencer account’s growth on Instagram, reach out to us.
Here at Melanin Majority, we have learned through trial and error how to help Black influencers & Black-owned brands succeed on Instagram by targeting their ideal customers/followers and engaging with them so they will become loyal customers and brand ambassadors. All 49K of our followers are real and we promise real results. If you’d like to learn more or get started with our Melanin Marketing Instagram Growth Service, click here.
Happy Instagramming! Peace.
Start growing your Instagram with us by clicking here. Like this? Please comment & share! Head over to our Contribute page to share your travel story.
(Source: JumperMedia)
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