Instagram is one of the most well-known and used social media networks. With more than 500 million active users using the platform daily, the red-and-yellow camera icon is a necessity for our mobile telephones. With an Instagram profile, you will be able to create your own feed, as well as follow pages in which you are interested in. Through Instagram, many people create a brand to promote to other users. For users who have a profile for marketing reasons, advertising posts for growing activity on their feeds may be a hard task. Anxious to unveil the strategies for developing your network of followers?
Take a look at ten steps for making an interesting Instagram profile.
1. Identify your interests
Most Instagram users, if not all, think the most important step to creating an Instagram account is gaining followers. Even before creating a profile, people envision themselves with a certain number of followers and likes. However, what people don’t visualize is the content they want to upload. Think about what you like; politics, fashion, sports, travel, and so on. Then, think about how to create an account that reflects your passion and check profiles of users you would like to mimic. After, draft some posts to begin your profile (draft, not upload). As you define your interests with your followers, you narrow down the type of photos you will be taking and sharing.
2. Identify your target audience
Based on the content you want to post, identify a particular audience you want to reach. The promotion of your profile to other users who share the same field of interest causes a snowball effect: As more people follow you, more users will share and recommend your content. For example, travel bloggers share their most extravagant photos with their followers, who consequently share them with their friends. Followers might suggest your content to people who might be uninterested in your passion but enjoy your profile and end up following. The combination of targeting a specific audience you want to share your content with and the manners of presenting your content could increase activity in your feed.
3. Make your feed as colorful as possible
Instagram’s variation of filters and color styles makes a huge difference in a profile. The first thing people notice once clicking on your profile is the organization, life and color of the content. Posting small photos to form a big photo is an excellent way to grab a viewer’s attention. Do not focus solely on the content you post, but also the ways of delivering it. For instance, consider uploading stories with background music or pictures with vivid colors and eye-catching effects. Let your creativity do the work for you.
4. Interact with your audience
Let’s be honest, the activity on your feed will not increase exponentially from one day to another. If your profile does not have the expected number of followers or likes, do not demoralize yourself! Rapidly increase activity on your Instagram feed by interacting with your followers. For instance, some influencers and bloggers upload polls. In these polls, they ask followers for their suggestions and if they are curious about seeing something different on their profiles. “Social media is a two-way street, and if your audience is consistently leaving comments or sending messages that go unacknowledged, they’re unlikely to feel valued enough to continue engaging,” said Melanie Deziel, a marketing advisor and founder of StoryFuel.co, an organization that teaches marketers and publishers how to tell better brand stories. One of the most effective ways of gaining attention is making live videos and randomly inviting followers to join.
5. “Highlight” your posts and stories
Located below the “Follow” and “Message” buttons, this function allows the user to collect their stories and label them according to the topic. For example, cat posts under the name “Cats” or a kitty emoji. This is not only useful for your audience, but for you as well. Highlights sum up your interests, personality and passions. Love to travel? Highlight your photos from each country you’ve been to. Consider yourself a foodie? Highlight pics of elaborate meals from your favorite restaurant. Users who have never visited your account will have an idea of what your feed is about.
6. Be a time-wise poster
The activity on your feed will not magically happen. Creating a catchy Instagram profile takes time. With that being said, do not rush to upload everything in one day. This tactic will backfire because you will undoubtedly run out of content and your followers will not receive novel ideas from you. Remember that patience is the key to many doors. “People believe that the best time is on the weekends, but this is not entirely true,” said Miguel Casique, a Venezuelan podcast host. “Personally, my podcasts have the most activity during weekdays, especially on Mondays and Wednesdays.” All in all, develop multiple schedules, one for your posts and pictures, and another one for hosting live videos with your audience.
7. Follow the examples of famous people
All of the best influences, bloggers, and famous personalities have a background story of how they became successful. From Addison Rae’s (@addisoneasterling) TikTok videos to Daniel James’s (@danflyingsolo) wonderful travel photography, each user gained more followers by doing what they liked the most and shared it with the world. By looking at the profiles of influencers or other well-known individuals, you grasp the idea of how to gain more followers and increase activity on your feed by sharing content with users within your niche. If they can do it, why can’t you?
8. Have a solid bio
Besides “highlighting” stories, having an Instagram biography is crucial not only for you and your followers, but for users who visit your feed for the first time. “The bio is particularly useful for two reasons. First, the words in the bio are what help you come up in user searches on Instagram. In which case, you want to make sure that the relevant keywords that describe you, your business, your products and your location are featured there,” Deziel said. “Second, the bio is the first thing a user will look at to decide if your account is something they’d be interested in following.” The most popular bios include names, universities, workplaces, and a catchy quote or something that draws another user’s attention. In short, imagine your Instagram bio as a resume, where other users develop their first impressions about you.
9. Specify your profile’s goals
Although this correlates with the first step of this article, identifying your interests is not the same as specifying the reasons for your feed’s posts and videos. You may know your area of expertise, but do your followers know? What is your profile’s objective? From informing about issues of public awareness to posting memes, your profile will be more likely to draw more attention if you specify your feed’s goals and make it visible to others. By doing so, I don’t mean to put “This profile is for __.” Rather, use keywords such as “journalist” or “business advisor.”
10. Link Instagram with other social media profiles
Instagram may be one of the most used social media platforms, but it is not the only one. Linking your profile with your Facebook or Twitter account, for example, allows users from other networks to see your posts and ideas. Since most people have more than one social media account, the likelihood of them visiting your profile will be greater. However, consider the activity you have in your other social media profiles. “It does not make sense to share your other pages if you barely log in to them. But if you are using them it is very important to let people know about it and have everything connected,” Casique said. With this being said, choose wisely which profiles you want to connect to your Instagram. This way, the likelihood that users from other platforms visiting your profile will be greater.
