7 tips for a rocking Instagram profile

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Whoever came across admiring accounts on the celebrity Instagram and saw that huge amount of users, and then wondered how he could make it happen in his personal or professional profile? One might think that this kind of outreach is only possible for celebrities because the number of fans they have clocks in the thousands or even millions but, with the right strategy, you too can have a quite successful profile and grow your Instagram account.

Without further ado, here are seven truly useful tips that will result in a more appealing Instagram profile, leading to improved results for a company.

Clearly define the target audience

The most successful Instagram profiles are either the ones from famous people the ones that have a well defined audience. So, and unless your company is famous worldwide, define a target audience and stick with it. This will help bringing and maintaining the target you want for your company, leading to increased outreach and sales. After this, it is important to not abandon the audience – here, answering comments and questions is key to winning new followers and maintaining the ones you already have.

Go for good photos only

There is no need to take pictures with professional cameras or exaggerated production, but also avoid poor quality photos at all costs, because they are a true visitor repellent. With the photographing capabilities they have nowadays, smartphones are a good bet for when budget is low.

Regardless of the camera you go for, be sure to take some basic photography rules into account, in order to ensure that what you publish on Instagram has, at least, some level of quality.

No “I follow you if you follow me”

Asking for followers is frowned upon among network users, and will be viewed as “neediness” by your visitors, also passing a message of fragility. Despite this, getting a good way to boost the visibility of your profile is to engage with big profiles, such as celebrities or big brands.

Take advantage of Instagram Stories

Many are questioning the purpose of Instagram Stories and whether this can actually be used as a tool to further develop the outreach of their business. The truth is that, if explored the right way, Stories can be an important tool to increase a brand’s exposure and engagement.

One thing that can be done is taking advantage of the 24-hour life time of each Story you post. You can be creative and have limited free shipping or discount coupon codes, for anyone who sees the story. The powerful thing about it is that it allows your fans to get in on the action, which makes interaction more fun and natural. In addition, and because Instagram Stories is practically live, it will allow you to develop a much deeper relationship with your audience.

Adopt user-generated content

Instagram users create content all the time, and using this content to your advantage is a great option to generate more interaction and increase the engagement of the posts on your brand’s profile. A company that uses user-generated content has many chances of being considered friendly and open, which is quite useful to increase the numbers.

Be interesting

Instagram users are much younger than users of Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and other platforms. In order for your company to succeed in Instagram it needs to present itself in an exciting, interesting and fun way. One tip is to advertise fun activities that happen in your company, interspersing those with more formal publications. For stores, whether clothing or any other category, it is worth inviting your followers to share photos using your products. These interactions build trust and enhance reputation, while also delivering positive and free publicity.

Be creative and authentic

Create short videos of your company’s daily life, gather testimonials from your customers, post the aforementioned customer photos using your products, tell the story of your brand through photos that show the essence of your business, post photos of your team in fun times, and so on – all these actions will help connecting people to your business.

Use photos of your product/service and compositions of other elements for your posts, improvise additional props and creatively expose your product/services by taking photos of interesting and new angles.

Diogo Costa

24 y/o, born and living in Portugal. Majored in Biology, but tech and computers were always a passion. Wrote for sites like Windows.Appstorm and MakeTechEasier.