The Best Answering Service

Questions? Call Us! (866) 655-6000

Blog

26thApr2017

Instagram for Business Tips: 3 Hacks to Get More Followers on Instagram

Instagram for Business Tips: 3 Hacks to Get More Followers on Instagram

Why is Instagram an effective way to market your product or service?

  • • 60% of people say they discover new products on Instagram.
  • • 75% of Instagrammers take action after being inspired by a post.
  • • 80% of Instagrammers follow a business on Instagram.
  • • 400 Million people worldwide use Instagram every day.

Read on to learn the top 3 Instagram for business tips to help you grow your brand using social media marketing. 

Our Top 3 Instagram Tips for Growing Your Business

1.) Hashtags Are the New Keywords

If you’ve rolled your eyes to using hashtags in the past, it’s time to revisit this social media marketing feature. Think of hashtags like keywords; they help your business get found by consumers searching for your products and services. Just like you would place keywords in your content to get your website found on Google Search, using hashtags will get your profiles found on social media.     

If you see hashtags as a teenager’s slang tool, think again. It’s your businesses way to organize and label your campaigns, products, services and announcements. Since all major social media sites accept the # on their platforms, you can utilize hashtags universally and get maximum reach for your posts. 

Here are some quick tips for using hashtags in your social media marketing:

  • • Instagram makes it easier than ever to choose a hashtag for your post. Type the # sign and then start typing out a word. Instagram pulls up all the related hashtags currently in use for your posting subject. Scroll through the hashtags that are out there to find a perfect description for your photo or video post.
  • • Small business Instagram accounts that don’t have too much of a following should stay clear of extremely popular hashtags. If Instagram tells you that 15 million Instagrammers have used that hashtag, chances are, you’re not going to get much exposure from using it in your post; keep searching for a better one.  
  • • Just because you have a newfound love for hashtags, don’t go overboard. Keep it simple with no more than 10 hashtags in a post. If you really want to try and come up for dozens of hashtags, take a play from the top Instagram influencers, place a comment on the post filled with the extra hashtags.  

2.) Play the “Like” Game

Treat Instagram like a game and spend your time on the app “Liking” and “Commenting” on other Instagrammer photos. If you “Like” someone’s photo or video, chances are, they’ll check out your profile and reciprocate the “Like” love. Some serious Instagrammers openly admit to liking 3 of your photos for only 1 like on any of their photos. 

A good place to start the “Liking” game is clicking on the hashtags you placed in your post. Instagram takes real-time activity into account when choosing who will see your post in their newsfeed. If your recent photo post gets a lot of activity and engagement in the first 15 minutes, you’ll show up higher in newsfeed on may get to the top posts for the particular hashtag (aka keyword) you’re using.

A less organic and targeted approach is jumping on the #F4F and #L4L bandwagons. This technique won’t get you in front of your target audience but it will give your profile a popularity boost.   

As such, one of our Instagram for Business Tips is to become familiar with these common activity-generating terms:

  • • #F4F = Follow for Follow

Instagramers that use this tag agree to follow your profile if you follow them.  

  • • #L4L = Like for Like

This hashtag is reserved for Instagrammers who want a lot of “Likes” from random sources that use the hashtag.

  • • #R4R = Row for Row

Anyone that uses this tag agrees to like a whole row of your photos if you like a row of their photos.

  • • #InstaLike = Instagram Like or Instant Like | #InstaFollow = Instant Follow

Same idea as a #Like4Like and #Follow4Follow hashtags; you like their photo or follow their profile and they’ll instantly reciprocate.

  • • #TFLers = Tags for Likers

Instagrammers that use this hashtag will tag you in their photo if you like it.

3. Shopping on Instagram Through Influencers 

The primary goal for most businesses looking for more followers on Instagram is to have their products reach more people. Work with influencers that have a similar target audience and have them tag your business Instagram profile when they post a photo of your product.   

If you don’t have the budget to spend on giving away products or paying an influencer to post, make your main business profile an influencer for all of your products.

According to Instagram, some businesses can start providing consumers an easier way to interact with the products their most interested in. With the new feature, Shopping on Instagram, businesses will give their Instagrammers the ability to tap on a photo and discover:

• Details and Specs of the Product;
• The Product Price; and,
• Where to Buy the Product.

These tag and link options are going to be a game changer… for some. Shopping on Instagram is an exclusive feature that is being rolled out to just a select few U.S. retailers and businesses. Click here to see who is eligible to sign up as an early adopter.   

In the meantime, small businesses can “cheat” this feature with a little time, organization and ingenuity.

• Create an Instagram business page for each of your products.

Use the profile description to provide product details and include a link in your bio that takes the Instagrammer to a landing page where they can buy the product.

• Tag product pages on your main business Instagram profile.

When you post a photo or video on your main page, tag the corresponding product(s) page(s) in the image. Now, when a consumer taps on your photo, they can learn about all of the feature products. 

Get inspiration from this mock video from JacksThreads and come up with different hacks that are custom to your business’s needs.

Start using our Instagram for business tips and watch your business begin to grow! 

We hope you’ve learned from these Instagram for business tips and they lead to you building your own Instagram hacks to get more followers. #GoodLuck

 ******

Did you learn from this article and want to read more? Check out this article next:

Social Media Marketing for Small Business: 10 Ways to Increase Your Market Reach

Share this story!
business adviceBusiness answering servicebusiness instagraminstagraminstagram for businessinstagram hacksoutsourcingsocial media marketingsocial media tips