The Best Ways to Attract and Nurture Targeted Instagram Followers
If done correctly, Instagram offers a highly targeted, visually stimulating advertising funnel for your brand. With over 500 million monthly and active users, it’s not surprising that attracting and nurturing is a top priority for businesses using the social site. That said, like any other social network, there’s a right and wrong way to use it. If you’re new to Instagram or just want to improve your results, you’ll find the following information valuable.
The Best Ways to Attract and Nurture Targeted Instagram Followers.
Have a Clear, Concise Instagram Strategy in Place
Having a well thought out Instagram strategy in place that helps you clearly define the goals that you want to achieve will help you better target new followers that are relevant to your business. Here are three factors for building a sound Instagram strategy.
Research your competitors, the ones that are successful, determining what a realistic following looks like for companies in your industry or niche.
Figure out what type of content they use and which ones get the most attention.
Determine how often your competitors post and how they are engaging with your ideal target audience.
High Quality, Relevant Content
Yes, this is a no-brainer but you’d be surprised by how often this crucial factor seems to be ignored. If you post without putting any thought into it, your engagement rate is going to be dismal and you’ll continue to struggle to increase targeted Instagram followers. If you post low quality, boring photos, you’re not giving your target audience a reason to follow you. It’s also important to remember that, even if your content is great, if it’s not focused on your target audience, it’s not going to lead to higher engagement. Bottom line, the content you post needs to be well thought out, useful, high quality and relevant.
Use Targeted Hashtags
The ultimate goal for businesses using Instagram is to engage their current audience as well as grow their following. Posting new, intriguing, and engaging photos will satisfy the first requirement, however, to grow targeted Instagram followers it’s extremely important to use hashtags. Hashtagging your Instagram photos makes it easy for consumers find your photos when they search for the specific terms you used in your hashtags.
Consistently Post
While there’s no magic number for how frequently you should post to Instagram, a recent report from Simply Measured documented that 75% of the top brands post at least once a week (others claim that you should post everyday but that’s not always realistic). Bear in mind the objective is to make sure your photos show up in your follower’s feeds so that they can interact with them and the more often the better. When your followers interact with your posts, they become visible to their followers, leading to an increase in targeted Instagram followers. So, don’t leave your current or potential followers hanging by inconsistently posting.
Figure Out the Best Time to Post
Use the insight into your target audience that you determined during your research to help identify the best time (s) to post on Instagram. One of the most effective ways to determine the best time to post is by assessing how well your photos perform at various times of day. If you notice that your photos get more likes, comments and following when you post them in the morning, than those posted during the afternoon or evening hours, adjust your posting schedule accordingly.
Creative Engagement
Think “out of the box” as you work on building targeted Instagram followers. Try strategies that include asking questions, hold contests, etc., basically, use the same marketing tactics you would on other social networks.
If you don’t feel like you’re getting the amount of targeted Instagram followers you expected with all the effort you’ve put into it, start regularly reviewing your metrics and analytics (you should be doing this anyway). Doing so will help you identify areas that need improvement and adjust from there.