Hi, I’m Hollie!
I’m passionate about Instagram marketing. Focusing on gaining real engagement and a healthy following.
Getting Instagram right for your business can mean the difference between a bunch of “I like this content. Follow me back” spam comments and real, engaged comments and leads from your target audience.
My own business, The Honest Platter, was grown solely by using Instagram, and to this day continues to gain more than 80% of its website visits and orders from this channel alone!
Today, I want to share my top five tips to help you up your gram-game. I’ve also included a few examples from my personal experience with The Honest Platter.
#1. Be Yourself
Instagram is the ideal way to connect with your audience and to give them a behind-the-scenes-sneak-peek into the real everyday life of your business. It is perfect for putting a face to your brand and allowing your followers to connect and relate to you.
#2. Hashtag! Hashtag! Hashtag!
You get 30 of these helpful little fellas per post, and they are your best way of being discovered on Instagram. Using them correctly is vital for follower growth.
- Hashtagify.me is a great tool for helping you find broad hashtags that will suit your brand.
- The computer genius behind Instagram is smart enough to know if the copy and hashtags you have used relate to the image they are posted with. So keep them on brand and in theme to keep the almighty algorithm happy.
- Post hashtags in the first comment of your image rather than on the photo description. This keeps your description clean and easy to read.
- Hashtags are time sensitive. They are linked to the time the photo is posted rather than the hashtags themselves. So ensure they’re prepped and ready to go to ensure maximum visibility at the top of hashtag searches.
- Use location hashtags such as #mountmaunganui #stkilda or #nottinghill to target locals within that area.
#3. Schedule AND Post on the Fly
Using scheduling tools can help you plan how your feed will feel and look in advance. This will free up your time and help you create a cohesive feed. My two favourites scheduling tools are schedugram and hootsuite. As well as scheduled posts, it is important to post content as and when it is happening. This will help to ensure your content is fresh, relevant and relatable.
#4. Timing Matters
With 1.2 million Instagram users in New Zealand, it is crazy to think that you’ve got to get the timing just right to get the most out of your post. The app Prime is a fantastic tool to use. It breaks down each day of the week with the times that most of your followers and audience are active to help you get the best organic engagement.
#5. Be Found with Geotags
Like hashtags, geotags can help people find you organically. Tagging smaller locations (suburbs rather than cities) will make it easier to rank in the top posts for that location and help you not get lost amongst the masses.
Instagram is fast becoming the social channel of choice for many Kiwi’s and is a really fun and engaging way to connect with past, present and future customers. To ensure you’re ahead of the game, meet with us to discuss your social presence and how we can help!
