Social Media: Instagram Account Growth Tips

Successfully utilising your businesses social media channels is one of the most important ways to obtain audience growth. Having an engaged audience allows you to interact in a direct and immediate way with current and potential customers. But in order to make the most of your businesses social media channels, you need to build a following, and this isn’t always easy to do – especially for newer businesses.

Here’s some strategies for growing your Instagram account

There are many different ways to grow your business Instagram account, but realistically, what you want to be focused on is getting on the “Explore” page. This page offers users a feed of posts from accounts they don’t follow (yet!) but what the instagram algorithm believe to be similar to those they already interact with.

The posts that feature on this holy grail page for a given user is determined by the Instagram algorithm which is centred around who you follow and accounts that are similar to who you follow. So, appearing on this page is an amazing way to reach new engaged followers and grow your account.

In order to get on the “Explore” page, there are a tonne of strategies you can use.

You need to be using features such as hashtags, which will help the algorithm to identify the type of content you are posting and to display your posts to those with related interests.

Secondly, an important but easily overlooked approach is to use alt text on your photos with keywords that are related to them. Alt-text is simply means a verbal description of the image in your post, which improves accessibility for the visually impaired and also improves the SEO of those posts. Essentially, including alt text makes your posts more likely to appear higher up in the Instagram algorithm.

Finally, you need to make use of the new features that Instagram brings out, as they really like to push these and encourage people to make use of them. At the moment, for instance, they’re really pushing Reels, which were introduced back in August 2020. These are 15-second videos that can be composed of a variety of clips, effects, and audio… A clear attempt to bring back younger users who have opted for Tik Tok.

What is more, the platform is constantly changing, so it’s important to keep up with the latest developments. For instance, this month Instagram announced that it’s planning to become more of an eCommerce platform. (Amazing for B2C brands)

As a result of this, it’s once again changing its algorithm to prioritise shop features. So, product tagging in your pictures will help you automatically grow your reach, alongside using those eCommerce features that the platform has readily available!

When is the best time to post?

Growing your account is not just about what you post, it’s about when you post, too!

The best time to post on the platform will completely depend on your niche. For example, basic data (our way of saying take it with a grain of salt) suggests that the best times to post for the following are:

• A technology company: Wednesday at 6am.

• B2C: Wednesday at 3pm.

• Educational organisations: Friday at 10am.

• A healthcare company: Tuesday at 8am.

• A not-for-profit organisation: Tuesday at 1pm.

So, the best time to post really depends on your niche and your field.

More importantly, it also depends on when your audience is most active. You can go into your Instagram Insights and see when your audience is most likely to be online, and you want to be posting right in the middle of that time zone. So, if they’re most likely to be online between 6pm and 9pm, post at 7 or 8 and you’re more likely to catch their attention.

Experimenting with different content types

Of course, the fundamental means for growing your Instagram page is posting engaging content. But this is easier said than done! To find out what works best for your audience, it can be helpful to experiment with different types of content. You might be surprised what works.

As mentioned before, Instagram really encourages you to use its new features, so when you’re experimenting with new content types, think about ways you can utilise these features for your business. For instance, can you make a reel that uses trending music, perhaps a pop song that’s relevant to your industry?

You could also use it to post things such as infographics, facts, figures, in a fun and experimental way using different designs, different colours, and different hashtags. Also, test out varying styles of caption and see what tone of voice fits your audience best and what they’re most likely to engage with.

But in reality, just have fun with it! Most Instagram users just want to be entertained, and it’s important to remember that. No one logs into Instagram hoping to see an advertisement.

What makes for a great Instagram page?

The basis of consistent and sustainable growth for your Instagram account is simply focusing on making a great page, which is very easy to say.

But what does that mean in practice?

A successful Instagram account is so much more than just the way it looks. A great Instagram page is about the effort that you put in to communicate with your following. That is to say, a great Instagram account communicates effectively with its audience, whether it’s through the visuals, through the copy, or the content.

It also has a way of drawing you in. Again, this can be through the design of the posts, if Instagram has a theme to it, or whether it’s just really informational, and it gets across your brand message directly.

Interested in growing your Instagram account? Check out Honest London Social Media Agency.