Every now and then, a new social app pops up promising to make a boom, only to disappear in a couple of months, make a top 10 list, at best. Even though some serious attempts have been made to dethrone it, Instagram is still holding the first spot when it comes to, well, everything social.

As a business, influencer, or aspiring expert in any industry, you’re probably aware that your best bet is using Instagram to get your name and company out there.

Yet, to make it in this super-competitive digital space, you have to master the Insta game truly. Here’s how to achieve it in 5 simple steps.

Develop a growth mindset

To get the most out of Instagram for business or a personal brand, your every action must be growth-oriented.

This means developing a strategic plan that defines every aspect of your Instagram behavior. From content and posting schedule to communication and bio, every single facet must lure in new followers and help to grow your audience. Flock Social has a useful guide on getting more followers quickly – you can check out the post right here.

Capitalize on your branded hashtags

Hashtags are the most effective way to promote your brand on Instagram without being overly-promotional.

The Instagram crowd would unfollow a brand that mostly posts promotional content. Your audience follows you for the specific value your content can offer to them, and spammy, sales content has no room here. Luckily, you can intrigue, entertain, and teach your followers with your content, and still add some branded messaging with branded hashtags.

Catchy, creative, and trendy word-play branded hashtags are the most successful. Still, don’t forget to do thorough research before deciding to run your branded hashtags campaign, as they might already be connected to something negative or some other phenomena you don’t want to be a part of.

Direct your audience with appropriate CTA

Behind every successful business on Instagram, there’s a strategically written caption for every post.

Once you inspire and amaze your followers with your beautiful photos and great words, be sure to drive them further down your marketing funnel by a strong call-to-action.

Whether it’s to like, comment, or click the link in your bio, be sure your audience is clear on the next step and how to do it.

Engage in a meaningful way

Whether you’re an Instagram veteran, or a complete newbie, engaging with others is a must.

This includes both your devoted followers and some future ones.

• Look for user-generated content, ask the author for permission, and post it with your caption. This way, you’re showing appreciation and interest in what your audience is doing.
• Shoutout your collaborators, partner brands, or individual artists whose work you find fantastic.
• Never leave any comments or questions unanswered. This is one of the primary reasons people decide to unfollow a brand on Instagram. Remember to sound natural and add a conversational tone. Robotic answers can actually do your brand image more harm than good.

Leverage influencers

Influencer partnerships and collaborations are really that special something that can take your Instagram game to another level.

There has never been a more cost-effective way to reach your ideal audience and turn them to devoted customers in a matter of hours.

Influencer marketing works simply because there’s that trust effect produced by seeing a regular, relatable person using the product or service to solve a problem many of us are dealing with.

These modern-day brand ambassadors have helped small brands make huge names for themselves by incorporating certain products into their carefully-curated Insta lifestyles.

The best part – you don’t even have to go for the big influencer names. Depending on your brand type, you can collaborate with niche-appropriate micro-influencers with a smaller but active audience.

Image by StockSnap from Pixabay