Top 9 Instagram Tips for Startups and Entrepreneurs
The tips below are tried and tested and will help you with your Instagram business accounts.
Cropping, sharpening, and brightening every post on the Instagram editor
You should take time to understand the editing tools and features on the app, especially the Crop, Brighten, and Sharpen features. These tools are going to be way better than preloaded filters and your gallery is going to look more consistent when it comes to composition and color scheme.
If you are intimidated by the in-application editing features, you should spend more time taking the photos. Investing time is going to help you take better photos.
Limiting the photo collage post you share a week (it depends on your posting frequency)
A tasteful collage is engaging and effective if one photo won’t do. There are applications such as PhotoGrid are going to help assemble custom collages that are ready for Instagram.
There are different schools of thought out there when it comes to the value of posting many shots compared to one tight, convenient collage, be careful not to get too carried away. You won’t do yourself any favors by having a cluttered Instagram feed.
Many accounts get many new followers through hashtags searches on the app, which is similar to Twitter. Instagram has limited hashtags to just 30, so it is important to take full advantage of them.
There are cases where it will, but you shouldn’t put all of them in the comments section because they are going to gain traction on the search for about 24 hours only.
If you want to maintain exposure, then you should consider separating your well-punctuated caption from the tags using emojis, three returns, and a period for each blank line which helps in holding the space.
Replying to comments with gratitude and using at least one hashtag that you haven’t recently used
When your account reaches a certain point, you will notice the post engagement shifting depending on the quality of the following. If you are interested in attracting followers who will keep commenting and reposting your content, then you need to make your account have the reputation of being both grateful and responsive.
When a person comments on your content, always respond to them in kind whether it is a question about the post or even a single emoji. This is going to help in giving the right impression and your post will also gain traction. Social Plus is a good place to buy Instagram comments.
If you want to maximize this interaction, then consider including a unique or hashtag at the end of your response. It is not good to keep repeating the same hashtags. You need to focus on finding terms that broaden your account’s exposure.
Go to your Instagram app and enter the keywords in the search field. Have a look at the nine most popular images for the hashtags you are interested in or you have used in your recent posts. If your image is not appearing, take a screenshot of the results then use that as inspiration when shooting and editing your content. You have to visually stand out in your hashtag search results in order to compete with the bigger accounts.
If the leading accounts in your industry are getting followers using tightly cropped images, then compare your account to theirs from a composition standpoint. If you notice the most popular accounts you follow post videos and GIFs regularly, then you should expand your content to include these forms of content.
If you are not posting posts with dozen hashtags, it can be mentally frustrating to have to post “in the moment”. This can be seen in students getting a pop quiz. Even if it is a total surprise for students, the ones who studied hard can expect to get higher scores on the fly.
You can choose to spend a lot of time coming up with 20 creative hashtags for your post before a deadline, or you can take your time beforehand and do the research. You should be studying the hashtags related to your brand. Check out the ones that are used the most and the ones that aren’t that popular. You will then mix both of them and you can expect great results. An Instagram post maker can also be utilized to make sure the content is something that will get people’s attention.
You can save the top 30 hashtags in an email draft or text then reference them any time you need them. You can update the list any time you notice a drop in comments or likes on your posts. Your post engagement should grow as your following grows.
While Twitter and Instagram depend heavily on hashtags when searching, Facebook users don’t have the patience for using hashtags because they don’t like them appearing on their personal feed. An Instagram post or Tweet can be composed entirely of hashtags and can turn out to be very engaging. Studies have shown posts on Facebook are more likely to get a comment or like when it has three or fewer hashtags.
This is why you should first share your content on Instagram first, and then choose to share posts from your IG account on Facebook. Delete most of the tags and keep just one to three industry terms that are unique and relevant.
If the account is focusing on a given product or subject, then consider breaking up the more consistent visual content with interesting shots of other people or personal posts.
There are some brands and entrepreneurs that feel hesitant when it comes to sharing office selfies or happy customers, but this is a powerful tool that can help your brand a lot. When your account is full of merchandized stock photos, product images, or screenshots, it makes your brand feel unapproachable and impersonal (this is the opposite of what you need from your social media efforts).
You don’t have to share the street view of your new home or a photo of a new baby, but consider business trip photos, staff birthday posts, and customer of the month entries. A relevant connection and a smiling face are going to help diversify the content on your account. It is going to help in attracting more followers.
Blocking and reporting robot accounts tagging you for “posting spam”
In the process of trying to gain followers, you are going to come across accounts that claim they can help you boost your following without having to pay anything. These spam accounts have become a nuisance for many accounts and will leave comments in the comment section.
The best way of dealing with these accounts is to identify and delete the accounts by reporting the accounts when they comment on your posts. When you see such comments, click on their avatar, click on report, then make sure you report the account and not the post as being spam. Make sure you also block the account.
With time, Instagram will use the reports from accounts to evolve its algorithm which will help with spam detection and account deletion. You can do your part by letting them know. When these accounts aren’t reported, they keep doing the same thing to other accounts.