The number-one question retailers ask about social media is, “How do I build an Instagram following from nothing?”
Before you start filling up your feed with cat pictures or classic quotes, you need to define your brand voice on Instagram. Images need to align with your brand and must therefore promote the brand’s values.
One way to start an Instagram journey is to summarise your brand’s essence in a single word or adjective.
Are you promoting beauty, confidence or luxury? Narrow in on the consumer experience that is key to your brand identity.
The better you become at curating content that matches your brand and identifies with your target audience, the faster your ideal customers will connect with your business.
Build that following
Once you’re ready to post, it’s extremely important to involve your brand in the right kinds of user conversations.
This is where hashtags come into play. Users follow hashtags to view content that pertains to their interests.
When you use hashtags, Instagram automatically lists your post in those search results. For example, mark a custom piece with the hashtags #jewellerydesign and #bespokejewellery to appear in searches for those categories.
Likewise, mark your posts as #melbournejeweller, #adelaidejeweller or #perthjeweller to appear in searches that are made based on location.
Be aware that some conversations are very loud, with hundreds of users adding content to a topic every hour. These are the hashtags with higher competition and more volume. They may be highly relevant but it’s harder to be seen. Try and use different hashtags to increase engagement.
One very useful, but underused Instagram strategy is @mentions. This is when one user tags another user to draw their attention to a post, and hopefully engage with it.
There are several different ways to go about using this tool, but the best way for rapid growth is to craft content that prompts followers to @mention their friends in the comments, where they interact.
Another effective strategy is to create a ‘tribe’ on Instagram. This is a group of users who are all trying to appeal to the same demographic. Agree to share each other’s content to organically help each other increase reach.
While building your tribe, use @mention in your description to build rapport with other accounts. Remember, social media is a great tool to build connections and engage with people. Like every social platform, consistency is key. Similar to Pinterest, it’s important to post regularly but avoid posting too much.
The best tools for the job
There are so many Instagram tools that can provide in-depth insights into analytics and keywords that social-media managers can find the breadth of choice overwhelming. The best place to start right now is actually on Instagram.
The platform recently opened new business insights under its business-page tools.
Designed to help users create better ads, this tool unlocks useful analytics about your Instagram account.
To build a list of relevant keywords, try using Tailwind’s Hashtag Finder. This tool will allow you to type in a few hashtags and will recommend related hashtags. They are organised by:
Niche: unique, typically branded hashtags
Competitive: the really popular hashtags like “love”
Better: hashtags that are used, but not as common as the favourites
Best: commonly used but not particularly overused hashtags
Once you find a great mix of hashtags, you can save them to a list to use again.
For help creating spectacularly captivating content, explore Canva and Adobe Spark. Both platforms give you pre-formatted templates for each social platform as well as templates to start creating.
Soldsie helps turn a profile link into a virtual storefront. Now you can do what you’ve been craving by turning your photos into a sales funnel. Soldsie has two different options and it is the first one that transforms your profile link into a buyable photo gallery.
Used effectively, a well-managed Instagram account could be the key to creating stronger relationship with customers. In the digital arena, effective social-media use can be the difference between delivering a personal touch to potential buyers or generic mass-marketing messages.
More reading:
Crunch the numbers: understand your social media data - part 2