Maximize Your Instagram Handle With These Ten Tips

More and more brands are getting on Instagram and it’s time we all up our game. No matter how big or small your brand is, Instagram is an excellent platform for your company. Recently we talked about ways to share some love and build your followers but at the core you need to make sure your Instagram handle is up to scratch! See some of our tips below to maximize your Instagram business handle.

Michael Kors’ Instagram profile

Optimize your Bio. Your bio not only clearly states who you are to someone having a look but it can also help drive leads or new users. When creating your bio, consider keywords that associate with your brand and constantly update the link in your bio to coincide with your posts.

HootSuite Editorial Content Template

Plan ahead. Create an editorial calendar (duh) that allows you to plan out your posts in advance alongside any other marketing or social media activations happening. Also consider any potential trending topics or holidays (think national ice cream month or Labor Day).  Our friends at Hootsuite have shared a great template to get you started on a full editorial calendar for all platforms.

 

Don’t over post

Establish a posting pattern but don’t over post. With your editorial calendar make sure you keep up to date with a posting pattern so that you give your users something to expect. On the other side, never upload an entire album and in fact with a small follower base it’s best to space out posts as to not annoy your audience. Photos on Instagram with accurate tagging will actually have a much longer lifespan so you don’t need to post as much as on, say Twitter.

Trending Hashtags via Instagram

Take advantage of trending hashtags. Instagram’s new Explore feature allows you to easily find posts related to trending hashtags such as #LoveWins, #CanadaDay and #FullMoon.If any trending tags are relevant to your brand, include them in timely posts to aid discovery.In addition, updating the hashtags you use based on what other users are using will allow you to stay in front of your potential audience.

#MontanaMoment on Instagram

Create your own hashtag to engage. Creating, using, promoting, and monitoring your own hashtag has some great benefits across all platforms. Encouraging users to use the hashtag will allow you to easily search out and engage your users. In addition, you can feature user generated content and amplify your efforts.

Camera Awesome

Shoot your photos square. If you are using a phone camera, choose a square option if you can so that you know what your image would look like within Instagram from the start. If that’s not an option, try using one of many apps to help you maximize your phone photos (try Camera Awesome).

Canva

Make your graphics share-worthy. Sometimes it’s not enough to just post an image but pairing images with captions is an effective way to engage your audience. Using a tool such as Canva can help you add any branding, hashtags or inspiring quotes to your images for stunning and shareable images.

Michael Kors Behind The Scenes

Tell a story. Using Instagram shouldn’t be salesy or too much of your brand but instead should tell your brand story. Sharing behind the scenes images, company shots or other exclusive photos to your Instagram creates a compelling reason for users to follow and engage with you.

Take and share high quality images. As an image-based social platform, content is high-interest by design. Make sure your photos are the best quality you can, even using a phone there are some basic techniques you should be sure you are using (no selfies). Give some of these techniques a try to make sure you are creating the best photos possible.

Measure, analyze and adjust. No strategy is complete without understanding what’s working and adjusting accordingly. Trying a variety of post types, times of days and hashtags will help you in the beginning to get a feel for how your audience responds. Once you get a good understanding you can adjust your strategy and incorporate it into your plan. We use Iconosquare to see how we are doing along with Keyhole.co to check our hashtags constantly.

So now that you know how to build your handle and grow your following, it’s time to get creative. Push your boundaries, have some fun and see how well you can grow your brand. We’d love to see your best examples!

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Social Media Stats To Share With Your Boss

So what should you be sharing with your boss? As we all know there are so many stats to review and analyze on a day to day basis within our social media platforms. However most of our bosses and supervisors don’t necessarily need to see all the nitty gritty. So we’ve put together the top 5 stats you should be sharing with your boss on a regular basis.

  1. Total Growth: The top number everyone wants to see is your total numbers so always pull together how many likes you have on Facebook, followers on Twitter or Instagram and so on. This number is important but it’s also important to share how you’ve gotten here. In most instances you won’t hit a million followers over night so understanding how well your numbers are increasing over time and organic vs paid.
  2. Increase in Engagement: Engagement is incredibly important but if you constantly get great engagement the number will no longer mean much to your boss. It’s important to take a look at the growth of your engagement and also the tone. If you are getting great engagement but month over month it is increasing and providing a much more positive tone then it can tell your boss a lot more about your efforts than simply staying the same.
  3. “Top” Posts (content, type, time, etc): Pull out the top posts since your last report along with providing what type of posts made up the “top”. Was there a specific type of content (photos, links, etc) or was there a topic that sparked a lot more conversation?
  4. Recent Promotions Results: If you had any special promotions since the last time you provided information to your boss it’s important to call this out. Let them know the top line numbers from the promotion and any top line learnings.
  5. Ad Spend: This is where your social roi really comes in. Not only are you looking at your total ad spend and the results generated from each platform but this is a great way to see what your ROI was for the ads and your social media efforts overall. Take the opportunity to walk through your boss on this one.

We know there are many many more stats and everyone’s team may be focusing on different things but overall these are important to any supervisor. Any social media stats we missed that your team likes to see?

 

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