How to make the most of your Instagram

How to make the most of your Instagram

So lets start at the beginning.

Instagram for those of us who know little if not anything about it was launched in 2010.  It is an online mobile photo-sharing, video-sharing, and social networking service that enables you to take pictures and videos, and share them either publicly or privately on the app, as well as through other social networking platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, etc.  (Facebook bought Instagram in 2012 for a whopping $1 billion!).

So what is an Algorithm?  For a computer to do anything you have to write a computer program.  To write a program, you have to tell the computer exactly what you want it to do, step by step.  The computer then "executes" the  program, following each step mechanically.  When you tell the computer what to do, you also get to choose how its going to do it.  Hence, Algorithm.  The algorithm is the basic technique used to get the job done.  (Hope you are still with me!).

So why use Instagram?  Used correctly, Instagram can be a highly-targeted, visual advertising channel for your business.  Like any social network, there are right ways to use it, wrong ways to use it, and clever ways to use it.  The most successful strategy overall is to be authentic and social.  Businesses can use this platform as away to showcase their product and services in a rich, visual context.

On March 16, Instagram posted plans that they would be moving away from showing posts in strict reverse chronological order, and instead boost those based on the "likelihood you'll be interested in the content, your relationship with the person posting, and the timeliness of the post".  So all posts are still there, just in a different order!

If this new set up has your worried or concerned, here a a few helpful tips (I hope!).

How to increase your visibility:

Become ACTIVE - engage with your social media followers more.  If they like your photos, you like their photos.  If they comment on your photos, you need to reply to them and thank them.  Build a relationship with them so that they continue to like you and continue to follow you.  The more likes you get the more likely they will see your photos in their news feed.  

REVIEW your most successful posts and then replicate them!  Be strategic about what you post, look at your most popular posts, review the similarities between them and then create a similar content. This will help you to create a strategy that will enable you to withstand this change in algorithm and keep the followers engaged.  YES.

Take advantage of your CAPTION - Say something like "I love this book / product", what do you think"?   This gives them an opportunity to comment on your photo.  The more comments, likes, the more activity on your photos will translate to their feed.  Instagram will then see that hey this person likes your photos and they will then see your posts in their feed more often.  Or should you have a website:- "I love this book / product", what do you think"? click the link in our profile to see full details.  This gets people off the platform and on to your website.

#HASHTAGS - You can have up to 30 #hashtags.  My suggestion to you is to add 1 to 2 #hashtags in your caption, add them into your sentence for example "Out driving in my new #audiA3convertable, enjoying #splendidsun" (I wish).  This gets your message across to followers, but its not going to be lost in a whole bunch of #hashtags.  Make sure the #hashtags you use relate to your business. your location and industry. 

Incorporate TRENDING topics in your posts, i.e. Waterford Hurlers!! 

Use short VIDEOS, record a company promotional day, a behind the scenes video, a summer barbecue, the Christmas party (maybe not!).  Keep them short and remember when you post them to add as many relevant hashtags as you can to spread the reach of your video.

Introducing Video on Instagram from Instagram on Vimeo.

Make sure your Instagram page is PUBLIC.  If its not Public, no ones is going to see it.

My message to you is - your creativity and knowledge can drive success no matter.