The best strategy and tips for growing your Instagram reach and engagement
I’m going to start this off with an assumption: that we all want more followers, more reach, and more engagement on Instagram. Because, well…why wouldn’t you? More followers and more engagement mean better results overall for your business – and perhaps, even more sales as a result.
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The ‘trick’ to creating a winning Instagram growth strategy is to, quite simply, actually create a strategy – and stick to it. Forget posting just for the sake of it. In this blog, I’m going to give you best tips that will help you improve your Instagram growth strategy: from how to use hashtags strategically for maximised results to what to post and to how to engage your followers, there’s everything you need to put together a growth strategy that on delivering, time and time again.
How to be more strategic with your hashtags
There’s no denying the impact that hashtags have on Instagram success. Use the right hashtags and you’re almost guaranteed to reach more people, get more engagement, and even more followers – provided, of course, that you also have a good image to post as well.
So, how do you use hashtags strategically in order to get the most out of them?
In research conducted by the Social Media Lab, they found that using hashtags with your posts can lead to an increase in likes of 70%, on average.
But, how do you choose the right hashtags? And how many should you be using?
Ideally, you should put together a spreadsheet with relevant hashtags that you’re likely to use:
- Think of what type of content you’re going to post: promotional posts featuring your business, product, or services, cute pets, delicious foods, photos of your team, and so on. Based on these categories, you can start putting together a list of related, relevant hashtags
- Research the hashtags: you can use Instagram for desktop to easily search for hashtags and see how many posts each one has. This will give you an idea of how popular the hashtags are – try to use a mix of very popular hashtags, as well as lesser-used hashtags so that your post can hopefully be part of the top 9 results for the hashtag:
- Make sure they are relevant: don’t use generic hashtags that have lots of posts, as the idea is to reach those people that are genuinely interested in your profile
Once your list is done, you’ll get to kill 2 birds with one stone: always have relevant hashtags at the ready and save time.
As for how many hashtags to use per post, that is debatable; the consensus seems to be around 5 to 15 hashtags per post, however, there are lots of different opinions and studies over what exact number of hashtags will get you the most engagement on Instagram.
Buffer, for example, claim that 11 hashtags is the way to go; the afore-mentioned Social Media Lab, have found that 8 hashtags gets them the most likes. I could go on and on – the best thing to do is keep your hashtag usage at about 10 per post, and experiment with different numbers yourself to see how it affects your results.
If you’re going to max out your Instagram hashtag allowance
Of course, you can always try for 30 hashtags per post, the maximum allowed on Instagram.
However, if you’re going to post that many hashtags, use Neil Patel’s advice and put the hashtags in your post’s comment, rather than its caption.
Otherwise, 30 hashtags at once can look a bit spam-y…
Create your daily content strategy
If you want to be a more efficient Instagrammer, save time and get better results, then spend some time putting together a daily content strategy:
- Decide how often you’re going to post: big brands post at least 5 times a day (2 images a day should do the trick!), while others advise even more: Neil Patel, for example, in the same guide mentioned how you should post 1-2 images/day, one live video/day, and 5 to 30 Instagram Stories. Consider your time and capabilities though – there’s no sense in stretching yourself too thin. Only take on as much as you can realistically handle, because consistency is key.
- Diversify your posts: don’t post the same things over and over again. Keep things fresh and interesting to get people to engage with you
By creating a daily schedule, you’ll know exactly when to post and what, you can make sure that you’re always posting new things, and ultimately, it will also save you time.
Here are a few ideas on what you can post on Instagram:
Candid shots of the team
Try taking photos from around the office, as well as from when you’re out and about with the team; for example, when on company retreats or team building exercises, team lunches, and so on.
Here’s Mobify showing off their team at the Google io7:
Or Agorapulse, showing off their team working at a beautiful location in France:
Or, even Smart Insights, hard at work with…with some cider for beer o’clock on a Friday.
Cute pets and lunch!
There’s nothing we like more on Instagram than food – except maybe for the Karsdashians and cute pets. Definitely in the top 3 though!
Your business doesn’t have to have anything to do with the food industry; anyone can take a photo of their lunch, lunch or dinner with the team, food you’re thinking about, and so on. Instagram is informal, so posting this kind of content won’t damage your brand, and in fact, will only help you attract more people’s attention.
Be honest with yourself: wouldn’t you rather look at some delicious looking cake, rather than a photo of a product being sold – any product really?
For example, Postplanner is sharing a pic of what they want to eat for brunch the next day…
As I mentioned earlier, pets are up there as one of the most liked and shared social media posts. The cuter, the better.
Once again, just like with food before, your business doesn’t have to have anything to do with pets to post the occasional overly cute dogs, cats, and any other cute animal you can think of.
Buffer, for example, use cute animals to make people go “aww” and to motivate them:
FedEx, too, have found a great way to promote their product using cute pets:
Show of your products and services
Don’t forget about your own business, either. There are plenty of ways that you can highlight your business and your products or services in a way that will still garner likes and comments.
If you’re selling a service, you can post photos and videos of your team getting ready – or in the process.
If you’re selling products, you’ve got even more options: photos and videos of the product being made or being used by someone, promotional pics, and so on.
FedEx, for example, share images of their vans at work:
Motivational/Inspirational updates:
People also love inspirational updates on Instagram (and social media in general, if we’re being honest). These are super easy to do, all you need is a good quote, and a tool like Canva to post it over a compelling image.
Like this motivational quote from WeWork, that generated thousands of likes:
The main thing to understand here is that you need to diversify your content: promotional, cute, fun, entertaining, motivational, and so on. And furthermore, that you need to be consistent; post new content regularly and try to change things up every day.
Tap into the value of UGC
User-generated content (UGC) is very big on Instagram; it’s a great way to get your fans and followers involved, get more engagement, and reward your customers and brand ambassadors.
One of the options is to start your very own UGC campaign, where you come up with a concept and hashtag and ask your followers to take pictures with the hashtag.
Aerie is a brand that does this beautifully; they claim never to photoshop their models and have started a campaign called #AerieReal. Their fans can take pictures of themselves using this hashtag (close to 90k photos at the moment) and Aerie posts the best on their profile – for example:
With over 14k likes, it’s safe to say the campaign is very successful.
But you don’t necessarily have to create a campaign to use UGC. You can also repost photos of your fans using your products/services, and other awesome content that you think would fit with your image.
Conclusion
This is what I love about Instagram for business. If you’ve got great pictures and videos, use the right hashtags, and you’re consistent, you can get very far and build a very successful business profile.
What are your top tips for using Instagram for business?
Download FREE Resource – 10 common social media marketing mistakes guide
Our actionable guide to avoiding common social media marketing mistakes to help you avoid the pitfalls that limit engagement with your target audience.
Access the 10 Common Social Media Marketing Mistakes