Over 1 billion people use Instagram every month with over than 500 million of them using it every day. It’s a place where engagement is high, followers are loyal and so if you adopt the right strategy it can be a great platform to generate real leads for your business. That’s why, if your brand hasn’t got to grips with Instagram yet, it should.
Here are 5 hacks that can be used alongside a decent content strategy, will help you supercharge your engagement, and can be deployed in under 15 minutes. What’s not to like?
1. Convert to an Instagram for business account
When you use Instagram for business, you’ll gain access to a range of profile features not available to personal accounts. By adding your contact information fans will be able to connect with you directly, and Instagram can create buttons directly from your profile that act as a call to action (call, email, get directions etc)
2. Tweak your bio
You only have 150 characters to spell out why your target audience should follow you. Simple spacing and line breaks will make it easy to read and you should include hashtags and emojis. Use the first line to articulate what you do, on the second give people a reason to follow and on the third line explain why click your website link. Your bio link should send your follower to the best page to connect, this can be a blog or your contact page.
3. Get to grips with hashtags
Choose hashtags that you think are relevant and will interest your target audience and use the same ones alongside every post. Although you can use up to 30, don’t waste your time. Use 10 hashtags plus your brand name. Research has shown that using a smaller number of hashtags actually leads to better engagement. Look for the hashtags that have between 50,000 – 400,000 posts rather than those with millions. Finally, don’t add them to your post, instead add them as a first comment after your update is live.
4. Piggy-back off your competitors
Identify competitors who have established a good Instagram presence and follow their followers in the expectation that they’ll follow you back. You can follow approximately 50 accounts every 2 hours to a maximum of 200 per day. Do this daily, and you’ll soon see an increase in relevant followers.
5. Create an automatic direct message
Instagram direct messages get high open and click through rates. Use an online tool to create and send an automatic DM when people follow your account. Be sure to personalise this message and consider using a special offer, voucher code or a link to some useful or exclusive content. You can send up to 100 DM’s per day.
There you go, 5 quick hacks to improve your business’s Instagram engagement in less time that it takes to boil a kettle!
If you’d like to discuss more ways to improve how your accountancy firm utilises social media marketing to reach more customers, get in touch at hello@rapportdigital.com