Successful on Instagram
10 tips for a successful Instagram account
How does success on Instagram define itself anyway? By sheer number of followers, likes, size of reach, interaction or conversion rate? Of course, everyone must answer this for themselves. In the long term, for example, it is certainly more useful to have 1,000 followers who interact with me than 100,000 followers from whom I only get a Like now and then. So you should always ask yourself in advance what you actually want. Do I primarily want a large number of followers or would I rather have a well thought out audience of followers who interact with me or my brand?
Content is King
Content is King! Post good pictures regularly. At best, at least three posts a week. This point is by far the most important. A profile with few pictures or videos, irregular updates and not meaningful or uninteresting content will hardly anyone want to follow. Put yourself in your target group’s shoes and find out which content is optimal.
Build your community
Find your fans! The point here is that building a loyal community will always bring in more than having X-thousand random followers. Engage with your followers and find out what makes them tick and why they follow you. Comment and like posts from your target audience!
Find your own style
This point is often underestimated. If you don’t want to have the millionth interchangeable Intsagram profile, you should think about this point more carefully. What is the theme of your account? You can assume that there is already a porfile for most topics. Therefore, one can say in the meantime: the more specific the better. For example, instead of opening an account for the topic “Dogs”, you could also open an account with the topic “Golden Retriever Puppies”. Here, your future followers would pretty much know what to expect. Now you should think about what image style your profile should have. Colorful or rather black and white? Minimalist or cozy? From now on, your picture language should at best always be consistent, so that your recognition value increases and your profile appears harmonious.
Get inspired
You can usually assume that there are already similar profiles for your field, topic, brand or even private account. That’s okay, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. On the contrary, get inspired and search for the appropriate hashtags and blogs. Look at how these profiles interact with their followers. What and how often do they post? What visual language is used? Which hashtags are used?
Post high quality content
This point can be very time consuming, but it’s even more important: put effort into creating your photos. Whether with smartphone or SLR camera is less decisive here, it’s more about the result. There are numerous helpful videos on YouTube on this point in particular.
Use hashtags wisely
New followers usually become aware of your posts via hashtag searches. Therefore, you should think carefully about the terms you want to use to label your post. Here it also depends more on the quality and not the quantity. There are many helpful tools on hashtag research here.
Pay attention to the timing of your post
Find out when is the best time to post. Generally, most people are online in the evening between 6 and 9 p.m. Of course, this does not apply across the board and varies depending on the topic. For business profiles, you can even see when your followers are online in settings. Use this tool!
Use other profiles
More and more often, big accounts offer that you can upload pictures in their profiles. Find out who the big players are in your niche and just write to them. Initiative is also required here.
Take part in challenges
Instagram, for example, creates weekly challenges itself. I’m sure there’s a challenge for your niche, too. In any case, participation in it leads to more attention for your profile and can not hurt.
Call to Action
This may sound like old hat by now, but it works. We’ve received feedback from numerous customers that posts with a call-to-action – a request for a specific action – leads to more interaction. What should your followers do as after viewing the post? Comment? Donate? Shopping? Write it under your posts. Examples: “What are your experiences with XY?”, “Comment now to enter the sweepstakes” or “Go to the website here”.
