5 Top Brand Building Strategies On Instagram

Here’s an astounding statistic, more than 500 million people log onto Instagram DAILY! You have short video content, visual content, and Instagram stories that people just can’t seem to get enough of. If you’re looking for a social media platform to build your brand and truly engage with your prospective customers, Instagram is probably your best choice. But there is a lot of competition out there so how do you get yourself noticed and build a brand on Instagram? By using the scientifically derived tips mentioned in this blog. Here are 9 amazing tips to help you build a brand on Instagram.

5 Pro Tips To Build Brand Awareness On Instagram

1. Separate Your Personal And Business Account
Unless you are a celebrity or social influencer you have no business being on your brands Instagram page. You have to set up a separate business account for your brand. Your business Instagram account should focus on your audience which will be vastly different than the audience for your personal photos.

You are after all trying to sell your product, aren’t you? So the focus of your business account on Instagram should be solely on your products or services.

Here are some tips on How To Set Up The Best Instagram Business Account
 i. Goal Setting
What do you hope to achieve from your Instagram account will best decide how you should set it up. Your account should always contain a link to your website to help drive traffic to it. If you are looking for engagement from your audience find out what they’re looking for and post relevant pictures or videos.

  ii. Include A Bio
A bio is an important bit of information for your consumers. Within a few words, your prospective customers should get a snapshot of what your brand is about, what your page is about and who you are as a brand. Customers often follow brands simply based on their bio so make sure its epic.

iii. Target Audience
It’s also essential to know who you’re building your account for. Finding the right target audience can be tricky but if you’ve been in business long enough you do have a rough idea of who buys your products and what they’re looking for from a marketing standpoint. Always remember the content you are posting is for them.

 iv. Competitor Analysis
Very often it’s your very own competitors that will give you the best ideas. It’s not always that they’re doing something better than you, in fact, you could even profit from their mistakes. See what they’re doing right and improve on it. See what they’ve gotten terribly wrong and avoid those pitfalls.

 v. Plan
Don’t have a haphazard posting schedule. Be consistent. Not only with what you post, but when you post. The best way to keep your audience hooked to your content is to get them addicted to it. Having a regular posting schedule is the best way to make this happen. If for some reason you’re not going to be able to post as per your schedule let your audience know. They’ll feel as though they’re a part of the process.

vi. Be Consistent
Not only do you have to be consistent in your posting schedule, but you also have to stay consistent when it comes to your design, style, and theme elements. Your persona on all social media platforms should remain consistent so as to be more welcoming to the customer.

2. Post-Pretty Pictures
Duh! But to get into a little bit more detail about this point think about your product. Not all products have the photographic appeal. You have to be extremely creative when it comes to selling your products. Fashion products are easy, but what about something like a UPS or a power generator? By being innovative in your product visuals you may be able to attract the attention of those customers not even actively looking to buy your product.

One thing you should definitely not do on your branded Instagram account is to try and hard sell to your customers. Remember that 90% of information processed is visual. If your customers just see you peddling your products without really giving them anything extra they’re not going to be following your page for long.

Focus on first providing something interesting for your prospective customers to look at and then focus on your product sales. If you’re creative enough you’ll find exciting ways to merge the two together so it seems like a seamless process.

Also, note that Instagram uses square frames for its photos. They’re usually in the 612×612 pixel range. To make your photos look professional and to make it seem like a lot of effort has gone into every little detail of every picture you post on Instagram you have to pay attention to the small details.

3. Be Discovered More Often
The major problem with Instagram is the competition you have to face not just from local brands, but your competitors all over the world. Here are some strategies to get more people to notice your brand, posts, and pictures:

 i. #Hashtags
Instagram feeds are not chronological. They use their own algorithm to show users pictures they feel are most relevant. What helps keep you relevant is to use the right hashtags in your posts. At least use 1 hashtags in all your post but not more than 5. You wouldn’t want your post to feel too salesy.

Another strategy is to use branded hashtags. This isn’t as easy as you might think. Companies have been marketing for decades to build brands but lately new start-ups have found it easier to brand their products by just using the right hashtags.

Do proper keyword research, be bold and fun, and keep it short.

ii. Use Influencers
While this shifts into the territory of affiliate marketing using Instagram influencers or ambassadors does go a long way in making your product more visible to a larger audience. You have to pick influencers who are connected to your industry. Don’t pick random people just because they have a high follower count. There needs to be a symbiotic relationship between the two.

iii. Share Customer Photos
People love their 15 minutes of fame. When you share a photo from one of your prospective customer (assuming they’re talking about your brand and in a good light) they’ll be bound to talk about it more. This will convince other people to start sharing photos with your brands and using your hashtags. If it works well this causes an avalanche effect with your brand almost blowing overnight.

It’s the best form of word of mouth marketing you can get online.

4. Spice Up Your Engagement
Compared to other social media platforms Instagram users tend to be a lot more vocal. The engagement rate is higher than that of Twitter as well as Facebook. Use these tips to Improve engagement on Instagram.

i. Write Stellar Captions
Everyone loves to give their opinion. Inviting people to share theirs is a sure fire way of getting some engagement on your brand account. Witty captions with puns, questions, sarcasm, also seem to get a lot of traction online. If you can write a caption that makes the user double take on the image there is nothing like it. “Spot The Error” is a caption that usually gets people’s attention.

ii. Use Contests
Nothing gets crowds excited like the chance of winning a contest. If you’re not seeing the right kind of followers then maybe get started with a contest and make sure to keep them coming. It keeps users hooked on the page and actively participating. However, if you don’t have enough followers then maybe a contest isn’t such a good idea. However, if you do, this is how to set up a perfect contest to build your brand on Instagram.

Make sure to have the terms and conditions clear while setting up the contest so as to not anger your fans.

Have an attractive prize which you know people would have to win. Post pictures of the prizes with your products. Double win for you.

Before picking the winner to try and build anticipation in your customers. Announce the winners publicly and make it grand.

iii. Respond To Comments
There is nothing better than a good comeback. If you’re able to get the crowd on your side through humor and fun with your witty retorts they’re sure to go viral and add value to your brand visibility.

5. Measure Success, Improvise and Innovate
The Instagram brand account provides you with a lot of data to analyze. Use the data wisely to find the right fans for your products. You also have the best times to post which garners the maximum number of views and engagement. If you feel like posting is eating into too much of your time get smart about it and use third party tools to help you schedule your posts.

See if you’ve met the goals you had set for your Instagram account. If you have, then figure out ways on how to improve on the statistics. If you’ve been unable to meet your goals find methods of improving your posts, captions, or strategies.