Social media has moved far beyond simply sharing photos and videos with friends and family. Almost all social media networks are now the hub for digital marketing, which makes up roughly 44.5% of all global advertising these days.
Why?
Social networks like Instagram can help brands, businesses, creators, influencers, and more connect with their target audience, create communities, boost conversion rates, and build a reputable brand image that people want to stand behind.
The first thing you need to do, though, is to promote your Instagram account in order to gain the necessary follower base for a thriving Instagram presence. When you promote your Instagram, you put yourself in front of your target audience to get new followers and expand the potential for lead generation and more clients.
Instagram holds a lot of power; with over 1 billion monthly active users, there’s no question as to why it’s maintained its reputation as a huge opportunity for marketing to this day. That said, there’s still 1 billion people on there, so the competition is fierce.
Even though it can be tough to make an impression, there are plenty of people who are undoubtedly making it work. Almost half of all Instagram users visit at least one business profile every day, so there’s plenty of room for you to be one of them.
In this article, our goal is to help you boost your understanding of the best ways to promote your Instagram account and develop a viable Instagram strategy that is geared towards growth.
Nothing is an accident on social media; even though the pros make it look easy, you have to be intentional with everything you do on Instagram, and we’re going to tell you exactly how to do that through your strategizing, content, paid Instagram promotions, and more.
Let’s go!
Instagram Promotions
As we get going on this journey, we want to discuss a key difference that is noted in this article. Instagram promotions are different from Instagram promotion strategies. Instagram offers users the opportunity to promote their content, which is basically similar to Instagram ads.
Instagram promotions get your published content out to more users so that you can build your following and get more engagement on your content.
Instagram promotion strategies are different— these are the different tactics you can adopt to get your content seen by more people through your own means. Most of the methods used are content strategies that you can use to boost your reach and engagement.
They may cost you a bit of time and money or maybe just as simple as making a few edits on your content or Instagram profile. Regardless, you should be adopting these practices in order to better your chances of growing your Instagram followers.
We will discuss mostly Instagram promotion strategy in this article but will also include a section on Instagram promotion as well.
When you pay for Instagram promotion, they are pretty much the same as in-feed content or regular story content; the only difference you will notice is that underneath the username, it will say sponsored. You can also add a call to action that makes your post clickable or offers swipe up in a story (some users).
If you want to create an Instagram promotion, it’s an extremely simple process. Keep in mind this is only available if you have a business or creator account, which are professional account categories. A personal account won’t have this capability.
To promote your Instagram content, follow these steps:
- Visit your IG profile and tap on the post you want to promote
- Click Promote
- Follow the steps to choose your objective and target audience
- Select your budget and promotion duration
- Add your payment information
- Preview your promotion before creating it by hitting preview promotion, which appears below the estimated reach. It’s the first option on the list before creating promotion
- Submit the promotion (to be approved by IG)
- Continue to check up on your promotion and view Instagram analytics and how your promotion is performing
It’s a streamlined process and Instagram will walk you through it each step of the way. The most important thing you want to do is choose a very valuable and engaging piece of content that has an awesome caption and will hook in users who view it.
Also, when you create your objective, there are three possible options:
- More profile visits
- More website visits
- More messages
Each one will offer you different options. If you choose more profile visits or more messages, it will take you directly to identify your target audience.
Alternatively, if you select more website visits, you’ll be prompted to enter a URL as well as choose your call to action button, including:
- Learn more
- Shop now
- Watch more
- Contact us
- Book now
- Sign up
When you are taken to the place to choose your audience, you can select automatic targeting, which will target people like your followers, or you can create your own which will allow you to choose demographic info as well as locations and up to 10 different interests.
You can be in complete control of your Instagram promotion, making it extremely valuable and worth putting some thought into. After all, you’re forking out the investment, right?
Your budget is up to you, but you have to spend at least $1/day to activate the promotion.
After your Instagram promotion has gone live, you can check up on the analytics and see how it’s performing. You don’t have to wait until it’s finished to do this, but there’s not much you can do once it’s already live.
The key things you want to check out are the profile visits, follows, and website clicks (if applicable) you’ve gained.
Instagram promotions are truly valuable in the sense that they get your content out to people who aren’t following you and can hook you more followers, website views, or messages from people in your target audience.
The most important thing is that your content is creative and captivating so that users are likely to engage with it.
Using Instagram promotions is advisable now and then, but it’s definitely not the only thing you should be doing if you want more Instagram followers and engagement. Now we’re going to outline 15 additional Instagram promotion strategies that you can use to boost your presence and gain a reputation for yourself in your niche.
Let’s do it!
1. Optimize Your Profile so it’s Ready for Promotion
The first thing you should turn your attention to is your Instagram profile. Without a strong overall profile, no matter how much promoting you do, you won’t be successful in your efforts to get more Instagram followers.
Here are the most important steps you must take to ensure your profile is viewer-ready:
- Use a business or creator profile. Both are considered professional accounts. It depends on your niche and purpose; if you have a brand or business that sells products and/or services, go with business. If you are an influencer, content creator, artist, musician, etc., go with a creator account. You will gain access to Instagram insights (analytics), have the chance to add additional contact info and call to action buttons to your profile, create ads and promotions, as well as the swipe-up feature in stories (more on that later).
- Make your Instagram easily searchable. This means that your username should be accessible and that you should use keywords that help followers and viewers to find your profile when they need it. Make it memorable and something that can be found in a search by any user. Keep it connected to your business or brand as well. It should clearly describe your account.
- Ensure your profile picture is optimized to represent your brand or business; if you have a logo, design something so that it looks great. It’s the first chance your audience gets to see a visual about who you are and what your profile is all about. If you have multiple social channels, try to keep a consistent image across all of them so users can easily identify you.
- The headline on your profile should be concise and direct. Use your name, a short description of what you do, or anything else you find relevant to your brand. If you’re a writer, use Content Writer, Word Wielder, for example. You can be creative and let your personality shine, but make sure it gives users relevant information about your headline. If your name isn’t included in your IG handle and you want to include it, simply keep your headline as your name. This is likely beneficial for influencers or those who rely on their persona and it isn’t included in their username. If your name is part of your username, don’t bother including it in your headline and use something more relevant.
- Add a link in your bio. If you have any outside links that people should be visiting, this is the place to put them— Instagram only allows a clickable link in a user’s bio. What’s more, they only allow one link; if you have only one, that works. If you need to list multiple links, take advantage of a directory builder such as linkin.bio or linktr.ee. You can then build a seamless directory with all of your links visible. You’ll be provided with one link that will then send users to you directly. Ensure all of your links are easily identifiable so people know what to click on when they land on the directory.
- Hashtags are permissible in your Instagram bio, so include any relevant hashtags for users to find you or tag when they post something relevant to your brand. Both @hm and @lorealparis are great examples; they list their branded hashtag and let users know that if they tag that hashtag in their content, they could be featured. Not only does it help you get seen by more users, it also helps you to gather user-generated content in one spot for easy posting later. When people visit that hashtag feed, they’ll see all the cool content users have created on your behalf and you can feature it as you choose. You can also use a hashtag that’s not branded, but make sure it’s specific to your niche and not just taking up space. It’s valuable if it helps your profile appear in user searches for hashtags.
- You can set up any relevant call to action buttons for your profile if you have a professional account. You can add buttons such as message, contact, get tickets, book a reservation, or other actions. It’s a simple way to get users to take an action that they were probably visiting your profile for in the first place.
2. Create Excellent Content
People often wonder why their Instagram isn’t bringing in the amount of followers that they’d like and sometimes complain because they aren’t seeing results. More often than not, it’s because of content.
Your content strategy for Instagram must be on point. Remember when we mentioned that you should always be intentional on Instagram? Nothing is an accident, and that goes for your content.
Top influencers and creators make everything look so easy and so spontaneous, but the reality is that they planned it down to the periods in their captions. You have to think big picture with your content strategy if you want it to catch hold.
You should also base your content on what your audience wants to see. Consistently analyzing your content performance and understanding your target audience will help you to create content that generates more engagement and interest in your brand.
Some of the different content formats you can use include:
- Long-form videos via IGTV
- Short-form videos via feed, stories, or reels
- Funny posts
- Behind the scenes (BTS)
- Informational posts
- Quote graphics
- Product spotlights
- Tips and tricks
These are only a few common content types, but the sky is truly the limit here. The more varied and purposeful your content is, the better it will perform on Instagram. You’ll keep your followers on your toes and they’ll always keep an eye out for what cool thing you’re creating next.
That said, you should still take a close look at what types of content get the highest level of reach and engagement and incorporate that frequently. Choose your top 3 and keep that as your go-to content formats.
Instagram stories should also be a key element to your content strategy. Instagram stories is one of the most important types of content on the platform and if you are inactive on stories, your audience will likely think you’re disengaged and not available.
You can also use engagement features in stories such as polls, questions, and ratings to get your followers interacting with your content. Another popular way to use IG stories is to tease a new post and get users to tap and view the content in your feed.
Instagram stories are, like in-feed content, displayed to users based on the Instagram algorithm, so the more frequently they view and interact with your stories, the more priority Instagram will give in displaying your new stories to them.
In terms of feed post frequency, you can decide, but you should aim to post something once a day. If you can’t get to once a day, maybe aim for at least 3 times a week. If your profile is new, it’s vital that you keep up with your posts because even a day or two of silence can lead to a lack of interest.
Also aim to have an active Instagram story up every day.
3. Use an Instagram Growth Service to Promote Your Profile
Now that you’ve ironed out a top-notch Instagram content strategy, you’re ready to get your content out to more people in your target audience. An organic Instagram growth service is the best way to do that so you don’t have to use your valuable time interacting with users on Instagram.
An organic Instagram growth service will engage with users in your target audience and help you to get more followers free of bots and fakes. They do this through interactions such as likes, story views, follow/unfollow, as well as comments.
Growthoid will do all of that legwork for you, giving you the chance to use your time in a meaningful way. You’ll get a dedicated account manager that will use your specific targeting options to find the right followers for you and grab their attention through interactions and notifications.
You can use specific targeting instructions such as similar accounts you want to scrape followers from, locations, age, gender, and more. For instance, if you’re a fashion brand and want to gain more clients, you might want to target accounts like SHEIN and Fashion Nova. Their followers would likely be interested in your content as well.
After you send over your targets, your Growthoid account manager will get to work and interact with relevant users. The good thing is that your account is completely safe because there are no bots or fake followers involved and you won’t surpass your daily account engagement limit.
Growthoid essentially does what you would do on your own time to get more Instagram followers, except now you can delegate that work to our team of experts and keep working on your content creation, hashtag strategy, captioning, and more.
4. Create a Targeted Instagram Hashtag Strategy
Hashtags were first used on Twitter in 2007 and have since spread to all social networks to help categorize content and make it discoverable by users who are interested in viewing it. Using hashtags on Instagram is the easiest way to get your content seen by people searching the app for content just like yours.
They also help you to build authority in your niche. If you consistently use the same hashtag(s), each piece of your content will appear in the hashtag feed, giving it a stronger reputation with frequent and valuable posts.
There are different types of hashtags you can use, which are:
- Industry hashtags: as the name suggests, these are hashtags that are important or frequently used in your industry by members of the community. They may or may not be connected directly to a brand but are used in general by people in that industry.
- Competitor hashtags: if you take a look at the hashtags your competitors use, they may or may not be ones you can adopt. When your competitors use a branded hashtag directly related to your business, it could be a ballsy strategy to tag your own posts using their branded hashtags so that your content appears in their feed.
- Niche hashtags: niche hashtags are more targeted directly to your content type and are going to get more views amongst people who are interested in that type of content. This could include a tag like #BeautyTipsLosAngeles or #LosAngelesPhotographers.
If you’re not sure how to get the hashtags that are best for your account, consider using an Instagram hashtag tool like Task Ant. Task Ant can help you identify the best-performing hashtags that are relevant to your content, getting your posts under the eyes of your target audience.
You’ll then be able to categorize them into sets and copy them for easy posting, saving you time and ensuring that you have a solid strategy that is free of guesswork. Task Ant makes your hashtag strategy as effective as it can be.
You can use up to 30 hashtags per post; while experts agree that using roughly 7-11 hashtags per post is advisable for best results, you can use all 30 if you wish. Spread them out within your caption, at the end of your caption, and even in the first comment.
The goal here is that your hashtags look relevant and targeted, not random— this causes your account to look spammy and as if you’re desperate to get people to see it. Instagram can also see when you’re using completely irrelevant hashtags and may minimize the reach your content gets.
One thing you should remember is that if the hashtag is widely overused, such as #igers or #picoftheday, you’re not likely to get seen because of so many posts constantly refreshing the hashtag feed. It’s basically a wasted tag and it’s also too general.
Stick to niche, industry, competitor, or branded hashtags for best results.
5. Paid Instagram Promotions
Instagram ads and paid Instagram promotions are obviously an excellent way to reach new users. If you have the budget for it, definitely use it as a strategic and effective way to get your content in front of more people. We discussed earlier how you can use sponsored posts, but if you want to take it one step further, you can use Instagram ads.
The first thing you should do when you use Instagram ads is to make sure you have a connected Facebook business page so that you’ll be able to create your ads. It may seem contradictory, but Instagram ads are created via the Facebook ad manager.
Instagram and Facebook are highly integrated, so it’s worth your while to not only set up a Facebook page for Instagram ads but also for publicity and cross-promotion in general.
Instagram ads help you to get your content out to new potential followers; it can also help to re-target your existing followers and lead them to take a specific action that the ad promotes. This can include downloading an app, visiting a website, making a purchase, and more.
Your goal for your Instagram ad must be clear from the very beginning. You should identify your goal as trying to increase:
- Likes
- Conversion
- Followers
- Video views
- Messages
- Profile visits
- And more
You can set your goal to be whatever you want, but it’s likely to be categorized into one of the three options that Instagram ad goals offer you— Awareness, Consideration, and Conversion.
You’ll also be able to customize your audience based on demographics or on a list that you already have. Consider your goal when choosing your target audience.
To get your ad going, there are a few things you also need to consider:
- Instagram ad budget (roughly $0.70-$0.80 per click up to almost $1.50 per click)
- How long your ad promo will run
- Where to display ads: in your stories, in feeds, with carousel format, videos, or collections
All of this will be done from within the Facebook ad manager and once you’ve determined all of this, you can submit your ad for approval and it will run based on your chosen elements.
6. Tag Brands You Promote or Work With
Your Instagram content doesn’t have to revolve solely around your products and/or services. You can also feature other brands or businesses that you actually love, that help you create your products/services, or that inspire you in any way.
This is relevant content, and it’s even better if when posting content like this, you tag the brand or business that you’re featuring. Instagram is all about networking, and tagging other users gets their attention and also provides them with UGC.
If you tag a brand when you feature them in your content in some way, they may be inclined to repost your content, getting you more exposure and seen by their audience as well. This is especially true for Instagram stories.
Don’t spam your feed with content featuring others, but if there’s a relevant mention in your content, take advantage of it! Everything you do on Instagram should be purposeful, always remember that. Little things like a simple mention can go a long way in terms of Instagram promotion.
7. Partner with Reputable Influencers
There are so many influencers on Instagram these days; you may even be one yourself! Whether or not you’re an influencer, you can partner with those who have a strong following in your niche to get more visibility for your content.
If you’re an influencer, look for like-minded influencers in your niche that have followers you’re targeting; you can both then do collaborations or work together to feature each other through interviews, stories, Q&A lives, and more.
If you’re not an influencer, you can still take advantage of influencers in your niche to get your content out to more people in your audience. This generates social proof for your brand and shows that you are recommendable.
Influencers have a lot of pull with their audience and that’s why they take great care in which brands they choose to work with. If you think an influencer would be a good fit for your brand, contact them or send them over some freebies.
Some influencers only work with brands they actually love and use, so if you send them over some products they might consider featuring you if they enjoy it. They also have to uphold their image and make sure their content aligns with their mission and values, so that’s why it’s important to only communicate with influencers that represent a similar energy as you.
8. Use Location Tags
Location tags are also a very important part of your Instagram strategy. You can use location tags on your in-feed posts and the location will appear underneath the username on your post. If your brand or business has a physical location, you can tag it in all of your posts so that users can easily find your location.
What’s great about location tags is that when users post about your business, they can also tag the location and it creates another location feed with all posts uploaded at that location, giving you even more authority if you have a physical location. Users check this out to see what’s going on at your location.
Even if you don’t have a physical location, you can use location tags. You can create your own or use a general location tag so that your content gets put into that location feed and people can discover your content that way as well. The more visibility, the better.
In addition, you can use location tags in Instagram stories. If you use a location tag such as “Los Angeles, CA,” Your story has a chance to be featured in the official location feed, getting your story seen by anyone viewing that primary location story feed.
9. Cross-Promote Your Instagram
Cross-promotion could be considered the most important Instagram promotion strategy. While you’ll need to make sure your content is on point, the more you can get your Instagram content out for the world to see, the better.
Not only that, having a solid presence across multiple social networks speaks volumes about your dedication, commitment, and professionalism. Users look to their favorite social network when inquiring about a brand, so when you show up on many of them, you’ll be seen as more reputable.
Here’s a quick overview of cross-promotion strategies for your Instagram and three of the most popular social networks: YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok.
Cross-Promotion for Instagram Through Emails
If you use any type of email marketing or newsletters, you need to combine your Instagram promotion within your email marketing strategy.
You’ll be able to reach email subscribers and give them the chance to connect with you and check you out on Instagram.
1. Make Instagram Part of Your Email Campaigns
Give your audience a reason to view your Instagram via your email campaign. This will prompt them to take action and check out your Instagram profile.
Include graphics and a call-to-action that motivates users to click and check out your Instagram profile for exclusive content or more information. Keep everything branded and interactive so that your users are more likely to click and follow the flow.
2. Insert a Clickable Instagram Icon in Your Email Signature
In order to avoid being repetitive, you can give users the option to check out your social media via clickable links at the bottom of your email.
You could also create a type of tool bar that includes your social handles so that they’re easily viewable and accessible as soon as your viewers check out your email.
The best thing you can do is find an email marketing platform that helps you to create email campaigns that include your social media buttons, including Moosend, Constant Contact, Mailchimp, and others.
Having accessible social media buttons help users to know that they have additional resources to contact you, get their questions answered, view more information, and more.
Cross-Promotion on YouTube
With 2 billion monthly active users on Instagram, who wouldn’t want to cross-promote Instagram on YouTube?
YouTube and Instagram have a largely connected history as that is how most Instagram influencers were able to get started. Using both platforms will help you to get more viewers for your Instagram profile and if you’re building and promoting a YouTube channel, you can do that via Instagram as well.
1. Add a Link in Your Video Description
When you create your YouTube video description, write all of the most vital information, and then at the end, you can put a Follow Us for More! section that includes all of your outside websites and links. They’ll be clickable, so it’s an effective way to funnel traffic to your IG or other networks.
2. Mention Your IG Account in Your Videos
You can directly promote your Instagram through your YouTube video content. Mention your Instagram either at the end or the beginning of your videos so that your viewers know how to reach you for more.
Also include the link in your description, but when you directly tell your users where to reach you, they’ll be more likely to remember that and keep you in mind.
Cross-Promotion for Instagram on Facebook
Instagram and Facebook are already very integrated, so there’s no reason why you wouldn’t want to take advantage of the integration. You can use Facebook ads to help gain more reach for your brand and when you use cross-promotion, it’s likely that you’ll gain even more traction for both profiles at the same time.
1. Include an Instagram Account Link in the “About Us” Tab
While you can include your Instagram link in your posts, the best place to put it is somewhere that it can be easily accessed at any moment— this is the About Us tab.
Users know that they can find any relevant information or links via the About Us tab, so you should definitely include your link there so that your followers can find out info about your brand at the same time as gaining access directly to your Instagram.
2. Share Your Posts on Facebook and Create an Instagram Tab
Instagram offers an easy way to post your IG content directly to Facebook when you post something. Whenever you post something new, you can then immediately cross-promote it to your Facebook and other social networks.
You can also do that with your Instagram stories; when you post an IG story it can also be shared to Facebook, making it even more likely that users have access to your Instagram account.
Instagram Cross-Promotion on TikTok
TikTok is another big powerhouse platform that you should be using to cross-promote your Instagram. There are two main ways you can utilize Instagram and TikTok for cross-promotion.
1. Mention Your IG in Your TikTok Bio
If you have a big presence on TikTok, you’ll likely want to funnel your visitors over to your Instagram, and a great way to do that is to use a camera or photo emoji and then put your Instagram handle.
It’ll look something like this:
2. Post Content on Both Platforms
Another popular way to cross-promote is to post your TikTok content to Instagram and vice versa. Instagram now has a TikTok-esque feature called Instagram reels where you can create content just like you do on TikTok.
Posting your TikTok content on Instagram can get you more views and you can also mention your Instagram in your TikTok content.
10. Host a Giveaway or Contest for Instagram Promotion
Contests and giveaways give you a grand opportunity to gain a lot of followers and engagement in a concentrated period of time. You can set your desired actions as a way for followers to enter your giveaway, including:
- Tagging friends
- Follow your account
- Sharing the post with friends
- Liking the post
- Posting to their story
You can choose two to three of these and offer sharing or posting as a bonus entry so that your giveaway gains traction. Use targeted hashtags to get your content into hashtag feeds that are likely to be seen by people who don’t follow you, promoting your posts even more.
The great thing about doing this is that your followers already care about your brand and trust you; when they share with their friends or tag them, it’s more likely that their friends will buy-in because they were recommended.
If you want to amp up your results even further, you can offer a dual giveaway: give a prize to the follower that commented and give a prize to the friend that they tagged, as long as both accounts are following your profile.
You should use giveaways sparingly; you won’t be able to use them every other day, but maybe once or twice a month you can run a giveaway to get more attention on your account. You can also check out Instagram loop giveaways if you want to participate in a larger chain of promotion.
11. Use Instagram Stories Daily
Instagram stories are a key content format for Instagram and if you’re not active on them regularly, you may lose out on valuable viewers, profile views, and promotion. In fact, some of your followers are likely to be more active on Instagram stories than profile feeds, so you have to use Instagram stories strategically.
Instagram stories are also shown based on how often your viewers interact with your stories, so if you have frequently posted content, they’ll view it, and it will continue to appear at the front of their IG story feed.
As one of the most popular types of content on Instagram, you may even want to focus a great deal of your energy on Instagram stories. They’re personal, accessible, quick, and a great way to get your followers to interact through stickers like polls and questions.
You can also do market research by directly asking questions to your followers so that you know what kind of content they want, what they like or don’t like about your products/services, and more. Take those questions and convert them into an IGTV Q and A video, or go live to answer them.
If you’re looking for an effective Instagram content strategy, posting roughly 3-4 times per week in your feed and daily on Instagram stories can be a great place to start.
Instagram stories also humanize your brand because they’re often more personal, more relatable, and use videos. You can feature behind the scenes, employees or people who work with your brand, how-tos, reviews, daily updates, product launches, teasers for new posts in your feed, and so much more.
Using a tool like Canva can also help you to find pre-created templates for IG stories that boost your brand’s aesthetic and professional appeal.
12. Use the Swipe-Up Feature
If you have over 10k followers and a professional account, you’ll also have access to the swipe-up feature in your Instagram stories, allowing you to put a URL into your Instagram story. If you don’t have 10k yet, you can use the swipe-up feature to link to your IGTV videos.
This feature was built for users to funnel traffic directly from their Instagram stories to an external website without leaving the Instagram app, such as a blog, e-store, and more. This is one of the only other places to put a clickable link on Instagram, the other two being via DM or in your bio.
Because the swipe-up features keep users directly in the Instagram app, it’s a very effective way to get more traffic to pertinent websites if you have the feature. If you don’t have the feature, don’t worry— you can still do a couple things to compensate until you get the feature.
You can encourage your followers to send you a DM for more information in your Instagram story; if they do, then engage them in conversation and send them the direct link in DMs.
Alternatively, you can pay for an Instagram ad, which will allow you to add the swipe-up feature even if you don’t meet the 10k follower requirement.
13. Create IGTV Videos and Series
Instagram TV, commonly known as IGTV, is a powerful feature that allows you to post Instagram video content that exceeds the normal 1 minute time cap that in-feed posts have. IGTV is a great way to expand your Instagram content and make it even more engaging and diverse.
You’re also able to create series through IGTV, which allows you to generate consistent interest in your profile. Maybe every week you have a special Q & A series, or you offer an interview weekly with a collab partner or an expert— the possibilities are endless.
This is the kind of planning and execution you should be aiming for when working on your Instagram content strategy. It’s not enough to just post random content now and then. You should have something well-developed and thoughtful so that you are professional and engaging on your Instagram account.
IGTV can also be posted to your regular IG feed as well as via Instagram stories using the swipe-up link to direct viewers to view the complete video. Don’t miss out on the IGTV feature to take your content to the next level and gain even more Instagram promotion.
14. Incorporate User-Generated Content (UGC) and Reposts
UGC is extremely well-received on Instagram and can help you to build bonds with your followers and also inspire others to create content that is related to your brand in some way. You’ll have a much more engaged audience and more trust within your community when you take advantage of UGC.
There are a few ways you can acquire UGC:
- Hashtags: one of the most effective ways to get UCG is through hashtags. If you create a branded hashtag and indicate that your followers can be featured by using it, you’ll always have a go-to bank of UGC that you can feature now and then. This will help you to create excitement around your content and having people create stuff for you with the hopes of being featured.
- Individual accounts: You can find content through other people’s Instagram, just make sure that when you find something you want to use, you ask permission or give credit to the original poster. Use the Repost app to make things easier and also to include the original caption from the OP if you desire.
- Stories: you can also use Instagram stories to encourage your followers to post UGC. Tell them to post and tag you, and always feature content from other users in your story when they tag you. Because stories are so much shorter, you can feature more UGC in your stories than in your post.
If you want to share a large quantity of UGC in your feed, use gallery (carousel) posts to post up to 10 pieces of UGC in one post. Doing this weekly or every few days helps to generate interest in people sharing content related to your brand.
15. Post Consistently
Our last tip is one that should be easy to maintain if you have a solid content creation strategy— post consistently. If you aren’t present on Instagram, it’s almost impossible to create a reputable, strong, trustworthy presence on the platform.
What you consider to be consistent is your decision, but make sure you stick to your own schedule. If you post 3 times a week, always hit 3 posts, and keep your IG stories up as well as your IGTV series or reels. If you want to post every day to your feed, go for it! What you set as consistent for your profile is what your followers will come to expect.
One thing you can do is create your content all at once; select a day each week that works for you and shoot everything you planned out and then schedule it so that you’re ready to go with captions. Using a planning tool to help you keep everything organized is very valuable.
Here are some of our favorite Instagram planning tools:
- Later: Later offers you a powerful visual schedule planner for your Instagram posts and also gives you an editor, caption creator, linkin.bio support, and more. Their in-feed preview is a great way to make sure your content stays consistent in terms of aesthetic. They have a free plan for smaller enterprises and paid ones for those that have a higher demand.
- Preview: You can drag and drop your posts and then view them in calendar mode so that you see what is on deck and keep your Instagram content ready to go.
- Plann: Plann offers a direct integration with Canva so that you can create graphics from within the editor. You’ll be able to see your content on a calendar as well as preview it in-feed for best results.
There are plenty of other tools out there, but these three are excellent when it comes to the user experience and ease of use.
Final Thoughts on Instagram Promotion
These are some of the best ways that you can generate interest in your Instagram account and make good use of a well-rounded content strategy. The goal is to focus first on your content and then use the tips above to get your content out there consistently and seen by more people in your target audience.
If you want an extra boost, you can use paid Instagram ads or sponsored posts to reach more people, but ensure that when you use these paid options, you put forth your best content so that users are impressed by what you have to offer.
Even with paid options for Instagram promotion, if your content is no good, people aren’t going to be into it. The same goes for when you use an organic Instagram growth service— you’ve always got to serve up the best content possible! Content is key on Instagram and everything you do should have purpose and intention.
