Over half a million people share their photos, videos, and Stories on Instagram daily. The platform got so massively popular it’s no wonder so many bloggers seek to build their Instagram presence. The bad news it’s virtually impossible without a loyal, dedicated audience that doesn’t pop up out of thin air. The good news there are many useful Instagram blogger tips to help you build a quality following.
Best Instagram blog tips
1. Think of a great bio
Did you know that it only takes seconds for users to make their first impression of your profile? This means that making sure this first impression is a positive one is extremely important. That’s exactly why the bio section is there. Give it a great deal of consideration. Remember that the information you place there might largely affect how they act after opening your profile page. They might want to follow you, start viewing your content, and even actively engage in interacting with it.
What should an Instagram bio look like?
- It must include a short description of who you are and what you do.
- Its style and tone should match the overall style and mood of your blog.
- Add a call-to-action for your audience if you feel it’s necessary.
2. Add a link to your website or other social media profiles
There is only one active link you can add to your profile and it can only be placed in the bio section. Some users post links to their websites or landing pages. Others prefer to add links to other social media profiles to boost traffic. Still, others provide links to photo libraries, standalone blogs, or any other web pages that might be interesting to their target audience.
Tip: In the case of a brand, it is always advantageous to rely on several rather than one platform. You definitely need accounts on a different social media + your own blog. There is some advice on how to start a blog.
Constantly make sure that whatever link you post in your bio works and that it leads to relevant information.
3. Convert to a business account
This is by no means necessary if your blog is more of a hobby. However, if you plan to build a personal brand or monetize your profile any time in the future, getting a business account might be of great assistance. After all, it gives you access to important analytics and the option to promote your content on the platform. And that plays a crucial role in building a decent following.
4. Make sure you know why you are here
This might seem like a weird thing to say but you must know what your goals are even before you start a blog. So ask yourself this: what is it you want to achieve? Would you like to build a community of like-minded people? Do you want to offer your audience valuable information, educate them? Are you interested in sharing your lifestyle and ideas? Defining your goals will make it a great deal easier for you to find your target audience. And subsequently, attract more interested followers.
5. Make maximum use of captions
Yes, Instagram is all about stunning visuals. But it doesn’t mean that you should dismiss captions as unnecessary. Instagram captions are a great way of enhancing your content, showcase your unique style. Some Instagrammers use captions for microblogging, some write original descriptions for their visual content. Others try to motivate their audience to react by posting questions and calls to action.
Make sure that your captions always match the tone of your content.
6. Post consistently
You might have heard this a lot before but it’s probably because consistency is one of the key elements of a successful blog. Regular posting will let your audience know when to expect updates. Following a fixed schedule is a great way to increase your audience’s engagement which can’t be said about irregular posting once in a while.
Considering the specificities of the platform, posting once or twice a day would be optimal.
7. Analyze your content performance
How do you learn if you’ve chosen the right content strategy? How do you make sure that you’ve correctly defined your target audience? By monitoring and analyzing your posts’ performance. There are a few things you should pay special attention to:
- which posts got the most likes;
- what kind of content receives more comments;
- how the frequency of posted content affects your following’s engagement.
In case you own a business account, you have access to the basic profile analytics. However, if the in-depth analysis is what you prefer, it would make a lot of sense to use the instruments offered by trendHERO.
8. Always answer comments to your posts
By interacting with your audience, you build a powerful community. If someone spent the time to share their ideas and opinions with you, be sure to let them know these ideas and opinions matter. This kind of interaction significantly increases your audience’s loyalty and actually motivates them to recommend you to other users.
If you are serious about growing your audience, you have to remember that communication is very important. People love to see that there is a living human being behind the content they enjoy. Someone who is always willing to answer their comments and questions. Don’t ignore your DMs. The more you communicate with them, the more likes and comments you get. And this in its turn increases your content reach.
Also, post comments under the publications of other influencers. There’s a chance their followers would want to have a look at your profile.
9. Use hashtags
Hashtags are an exceptionally great tool for attracting new followers. After all, it’s hashtags that allow users to find specific kinds of content and accounts worth following. Research shows that posts that have over 10 hashtags generate more engagement.
To make sure that you use correct hashtags, monitor trending news and topics on the platform. This will increase your chance to see your content on the Explore page, which will make it visible to a wider audience. By the way, you can use your profile analytics to see how many people visited your profile after following a hashtag posted in your Story.
10. Try promoting your posts
Instagram has recently significantly optimized its advertising platform. As they say on IG’s official blog, people use Instagram to keep track of the things they like. This means that they won’t mind seeing ads that promote things they are genuinely interested in. The algorithm will show your content to people who potentially might find it interesting, which will make them follow you in the hope they’ll see more of it on your profile.
11. Run challenges and giveaways
Challenges, giveaways, and various contests are a great way to increase your audience engagement and find new fans. When done correctly, challenges and contests can offer multiple benefits:
- increase in your visibility on the platform;
- building a stronger community;
- audience growth and an increase in engagement.
12. Post topical content
Is there a holiday or a special event on the agenda that sparkles the interest of wide audiences? Don’t hesitate to join the discussion by creating topical content. It’s an amazing way to come into the spotlight without much effort.
This topical piece of content might go viral if thousands of users and mass media resources decide to share it. Just remember that topical content must be posted on the same day a newsworthy event emerged. What’s more, make sure that this event matches the theme and style of your blog.
13. Don’t disregard what Stories can offer
Instagram Stories is a great tool to make yourself known. While they don’t recommend posting more than two publications a day in your feed, you can easily post four and more short videos in Stories. This feature offers a more casual, entertaining, engaging kind of content that at the same time feels more relatable and more real.
14. Offer your audience the chance to take part in content creation
You don’t necessarily have to only use the content you personally generate. Give your audience the opportunity to have a hand in content creation. Inspire them and they will inspire you in return. Normally, user-generated content generates 4.5% more engagement than regular content.
Talk to your followers in the comments, ask them to share some interesting Stories (and don’t forget to ask them to tag you), follow hashtags, and mentions. Encourage them to share their impressions and opinions. This might help you to increase your audience by over 60%.
15. Collaborate with other bloggers
Talk to other bloggers who work in similar niches and have similar target audiences to organize a collab. This kind of cooperation might be hugely beneficial to all parties. For example, if you are a DIY furniture maker, you could do a collab with an interior designer. They could offer some tips on using your pieces in home interior and you could recommend their services to your followers.
And here’s a follow-up tip: share other users’ content with your audience. This way you’ll improve your reach and expand your following.
16. Use Highlights
Stories “live” for 24 hours. Highlights are always there until you remove them. They are right above your feed, perfectly visible, just asking to be viewed. So why don’t you use them to attract the attention of potential followers? Besides, if you have over 10. 000 followers, you can use Highlights to add links.
17. Share your followers’ ideas and opinions
As I mentioned above, personal communication works wonders. But don’t limit yourself to answering comments; share their thoughts and ideas in your Stories and publications. As soon as you get a notification about someone mentioning you, go there and let them know you appreciate their contribution. Share your followers’ Stories and add answers, captions, and words of gratitude. You can be sure they’ll love your attention.
18. Find the best times for posting
It’s not as hard as it may sound. You can do it by posting at different times and then checking your profile Insights to see when your audience is the most active. Use trendHero analysis for more information on your audience’s activity.
Some bloggers prefer to simply follow the schedules used by others. In my opinion, that’s not the best idea. Each user’s audience is unique and might be active at different times. If you find that using the hit or miss method isn’t effective enough, you can use this guide as a reference. That being said, keep in mind that your perfect posting time might be different.
After your testing is done, you can draw up a personal schedule that will offer a much wider reach than with random publications.
19. Announce an update in Stories
Half a million users use Instagram Stories every day. For the vast majority of platform users, a Story is the best way to start their content posting for the day. Do you plan to post some interesting content? Spoil it in a Story. Did you post an update? Let them know about it in a Story. There are a few ways to do that:
Share your post in Stories by using the Share button. This way your followers will see your update right away and watch it.
Take a screencap of your feed with the update you want to announce. Add GIFs and arrow emojis if you have to, this will make your Story more engaging.
20. Don’t forget about geotags
Posts that include geotags generate 78% more engagement than those that don’t use the feature. Make sure that you mark your location in all kinds of content you publish: regular posts, Stories, hashtags.
Speaking of hashtags, look for high-density hashtags including your location, and put them to use.
21. Use the Quick Reply feature
Other social media platforms might utilize Q&A sections but Instagram offers an insanely convenient feature of Quick Reply. This means that in case you have to often send similar answers to your DMs you don’t have to type the same thing over and over again.
To make a template, go to Settings, choose Business, and then Quick Replies. That’s it. Now you can answer all questions fast, which your followers will definitely appreciate.
22. Add a link to your account to your email signature
When it comes to boosting your audiences, all methods are worth trying, including those you can use off-platform. Did you ever stop to think about how many emails you receive and send every day? Why not use this opportunity to attract potential followers?
Add a link to your Instagram profile to your email signature, along with your other contacts and links to other social media profiles. It’s a subtle way to let others know about your blog without being pushy.
23. Embed IG feed on your website
Of course, this option means you must have a website to add the feed to. But if you do happen to have one, chances are not all your website visitors know about your blog. You can easily fix this by adding your Instagram feed to your site. You can do it by using a plugin that allows updating the feed as soon as your profile updates.
24. Start live streaming
Again, this is all about communication. The more you communicate with your followers, the more loyal they get. Instagram’s Live Video feature is one of the greatest ways to help you do that.
There’s really no limit to the reasons why you should start a Live Video. It might be sharing some special news, attending an event, or doing a Q&A session. There are a few simple Live Video rules worth remembering:
Create a new hashtag. Preferably, the one that includes the name of the event/occasion and date. Ask your followers to use the hashtag in their Stories. Don’t forget to share these Stories in your feed/Stories.
Add the best Live Video moments to Highlights. That’s how your followers will be able to view them even after the Live Video becomes unavailable for viewing.
Don’t forget to write a script and, if necessary, a list of questions you’d like to answer.
25. Use the Preview feature
There’s nothing horrible about making a mistake; we all make them from time to time. But you have to admit that it’s incredibly frustrating when your Story or a post don’t look the way you planned. Luckily, it’s easy to avoid by using the Preview feature. See how your visual content would look in your feed and in Stories, choose appropriate effects or add multiple images.
26. Make use of new features
Instagram adds new features, effects, AR filters on a regular basis. Use them as soon as they pop up on the platform to sparkle your followers’ interest and increase engagement.
For example, offer your audience to complete a survey, vote, or ask you any questions in Stories. Try to add new effects and filters to your publications. Creating an AR filter of your own would be even a better idea. The more people use it, the greater your reach gets.
27. Add GIFs and stickers to your content
People love dynamic content. Even if you add a static image to your Stories, add some GIFs and stickers to it. Thankfully, there’s a huge choice of both and you can easily find the ones you need by using the in-app search. Just don’t go overboard with them; no one will enjoy looking at seizure-inducing content.
28. Tag other bloggers in your publications
Don’t be afraid to tag other bloggers in your posts, especially those whose content is similar to yours. Followers often monitor tags of the groups and influencers they like. So by tagging them in your content, you’ll ensure the inflow of new followers.
It would be great if the profile owner notices and acknowledges your use of the tag. That’s a nice place to start a collaboration or at least make friends. Both are hugely beneficial for all parties involved.
29. Make your content accessible for the disabled
Unfortunately, not all Instagram users can read any text or watch videos. Make your content accessible for people with vision or hearing impairment. For this, you can use the Alt Text feature to add short descriptions to your videos and posts. The app will vocalize the text for the visually impaired and a follower will learn about your updates without assistance.
Conclusion
Your Instagram profile is so much more than just one of the ways to make yourself known to the world. It’s about communication with your followers, building your reputation, building a powerful community.
Learn as much as you can about Instagram and its features, old and new alike. Monitor trends, keep track of news, use all the features that make your content more fun.
Copyright © 2019-2023. All rights reserved.