How a business can get more followers

Even before contacting a Community Manager to consider creating and feeding an Instagram account related to your professional activity, you need to know if it is interesting for you to have a community of “followers” on this network social.

While some web professionals say it’s more important to be on Instagram than on Twitter, it’s obvious that such simplifications will not be good for you. Indeed, these two strategic points can be complementary and, in some cases, you will be advised to have an account on these two major networks.

In general, the Twitter account is useful for companies that can share various content with their followers: links to articles or infographics , for example.

Instagram involves publishing only photographs or videos. Thus, if your activity allows you to take potentially viral shots, it is obvious that you need to create an Instagram account.

If you have physical shops, for example, it is possible to carry out geolocalized marketing operations for smartphone users, which can directly contribute to increasing your customer base.

In your communication strategy, if you care about your presence on this image-centric social network, you’ll be able to create new fans and ambassadors for your brand, a subtle way to improve your e-reputation. If you are looking to modernize your communication using storytelling , for example, your presence on this network will be easily profitable.

Instagram also remains a fun and original way to present your products and services or to play transparency by showing your teams at work.

5 mistakes to avoid on Instagram

• The most common mistake companies make on Instagram is neglecting the quality of content. Before setting up on the network, it is useful to look at potential competitors’ accounts – but also to look at other profiles, to get a feel for the atmosphere in the community. Quickly, you will understand that clichés must attract attention to meet the expected success. Post a simple image produced, for example, is insufficient: put the object in value, in an original context, unexpected or unusual. By scrupulously working on each image posted, you will significantly increase its impact.
• The badly chosen hashtags on Instagram. As a first step, the network limits the number of keywords used in the same post. Moreover, if it can be useful to put a dozen hashtags on the same photograph, it is imperative to choose them with a lot of attention: take words related to the content and bet on general themes, particularly present on the network. Before choosing the words to use, find out about the popular hashtags of the moment.
• If you forget to insert a link to your site in your Instagram biography, you miss an opportunity to really make yourself known – and the best strategy in the world will be ineffective for you. So, since this is the only place where you can add a link to your site, use the biography to make you want to know more about you: find some catchphrase thoughts specifically for this community.
• Like on Twitter or Facebook, you do not have to give up on a specific schedule on Instagram. Do not publish anything for a week and add, one day, 5 posts in a row is not a good strategy. To ensure a moderate, regular presence, use tools like Hootsuite to schedule mailings – and be there on holidays.
• If you create an account on Instagram, do not neglect the power of this social network. So, do not hesitate to ask the help of a Community Manager to achieve effective communication – and not to discredit you.

5 tips to gain followers on Instagram

• Save time regularly to track new accounts that may follow you back. This widespread practice is one of the best known for gaining followers .
• Leave your account in public mode to make other users want to follow you: contrary to what one might spontaneously believe, a private account does not want to follow you to find out what’s behind. The user quickly passes his way if he can not, in a few seconds, see your content.
• Find the right balance between promotional posts and posts with real added value. To give members of the community the desire to follow you and to keep your followers , we must measure the advertising messages promoting your products. Between them, tell stories about your business or evoke, in pictures, your values. From time to time, post pictures behind the scenes of your business: in a spirit of transparency and proximity to the public, you will develop stronger links with members of your community.
• Be patient and do not consider Instagram as a social network as instant as Facebook and Twitter. Users tend to post comments sometimes several days after publication – and generally respond more slowly than elsewhere. Thus, your number of followers will probably increase less quickly on Instagram than on Facebook, which does not prove that your strategy is bad.
• Respond to your comments, thank your followers, follow them back … In short, interact with your community! For your presence on Instagram to improve your reputation and increase the weight of your business, it is important that it be used to show you in a different light. Enjoy the wealth of photos and videos to enhance your sympathy capital and show the height of your creativity.

Instagram can, if it is well used, constitute a real lever to improve your SEO and your e-reputation. If you follow these tips and avoid the main mistakes, your presence on this social network will necessarily be profitable!