Instagram tips – ViralWoot

It has been 3 years since the much-awaited feature ‘Instagram Direct’ was released for use. This handy feature, allows a user to share a picture, video, profile or location with an individual or a group of people (maximum 15). It is estimated that nearly 100 million people use this service every month, nearly a fifth of the number of total users per month.

This feature offers functionalities similar to those offered by Social Media newcomer Snapchat. The good news for marketers, though, is that it can ease life substantially by providing another platform to improve your outreach and disseminate information.

Ahead, I have presented some tips and tricks to help you employ Instagram Direct for your marketing jobs and needs. A few advantages of using Instagram Direct are

Improve customer service
Brand reputation management
Engage directly with customers
Cater to a niche audience

These points make the Instagram Direct feature a very attractive and effective tool for any marketer.

Let’s get into some more ways in which you, as a marketer, can use this feature to the best of its abilities.

Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner!

Ah! Who doesn’t love a contest! A chance to win and feature on a social channel in front of several people. Oh the adulation! It is basic human instinct and slight greed that makes a competition so attractive and popular. A marketer’s job is to give the customer what he wants, and adhering to that policy, contests should be held regularly.

One of the biggest advantages of holding a contest is the outreach and exposure your brand can get. Customers subconsciously remember the brand organizing the contest they enter, especially if they win. It is a win-win situation for both the marketers and the customers.

Word of mouth subsequently spreads the brand name even more and makes the advertising job of the brand or product much easier. Instagram Direct is the perfect medium for connecting with your customers, individually or in a group.

Let me give you an example of how you can connect with your customers and engage them in your contests using Instagram Direct. You can send an image of a product to a select few and ask the user to think of a tagline for that product. The best 10 taglines will get that product for free!

Alternatively, you can hold public contests, in which say, the first 10 commenters for a picture each day, will get entry into a lucky draw. If you are able to, ask customers to post pictures which include your product and special hashtags. The best pictures will be judged its owner will be awarded a prize. You can even use the photos further for a marketing campaign or just to show customer involvement on your Instagram page.

For Your Eyes Only

Customers love it when exclusive products are released. Limited edition products sell almost instantly and satiate the customer’s hunger for new products. Everyone wants something unique. This makes our work easier. Just make sure that when you release such products, you advertise them judiciously since over-advertisement decreases their appeal.

Instagram Direct is perfect for such purposes. You can use it to contact an individual or a small group of people, maximum of 15. Give users a sense of exclusivity and make them feel special. Sneak peeks to the latest product might be just the thing you might be missing.

Before launching the product in the market, send a sneak-peek to around 100 customers. These customers will feel valued and special. Word of mouth has been known to be the best form of spreading information and guarantees a high conversion rate. Organic recommendations lead to many more sales and brand reach, without the hard work.

Choose the users carefully and send them just a sneak peek, make sure that they will be interested to know more. Don’t mention too many details about the product, which can bore a user. Send an attractive image with a catchy tagline and a link to the product page. Your users will surely want to know more.

Word of mouth is probably the biggest weapon you have in your arsenal. Your product will spread like wildfire if you have targeted the right users. When sending a sneak peek always provide a link to the product page in case a user wants to know more.

Listen To Your Customers

The attribute provides a user-friendly dais for identifying your network on a personal level and creating conversations about the brand, owing to the comments that are visible to everyone included in the direct message. You can always take a list of users to choose between two products that are featured in a picture or as for their feedback on the product line.

When a customer gives feedback asked by you in an exclusive way, it provides him/her a sense of appreciation and a sense of value which is a priceless asset for any brand.

Going through user profiles can also be beneficial. Search for hashtags related to your products or brand and spot users who have bought a product recently. You can thank them or communicate with them directly using Instagram Direct. This will really make the user feel special, improving your reputation as a brand.

Treat Your Loyal Followers

The most important aspect of marketing is to make the customer feel loved and serviced. Your brand updates and offers must be presented to your customers and loyal followers first

A simple way of identifying the low hanging fruit, or spotting the followers who have supported you regularly, is by using the popular website simply measured.

This website offers great features related to the analytics of your social media accounts. It tells you about the followers who post your content, like your content or comment on your content regularly. It gives you a good idea of your most loyal followers and also provides additional information such as what time you should post your pictures and which location has the most active users.

Use these metrics to identify your die-hard followers and then communicate with them through Instagram Direct. Offer coupons and special offers to show your gratitude and thank the follower.

Small steps like these can be extremely beneficial in the future and ensure that your followers and fans feel loved and appreciated.

Check Out The Competition

A useful resource for understanding what your customers want is your competitor’s page. Browse through your competitor’s posts and search for users who are active and communicative. Also, judge the popularity of posts and determine what works.

Instagram Direct also allows you to send messages to users who are not following you. Try approaching new users via Instagram Direct and offer them an alternative to your competition.

More users, especially active ones, guarantee more engagement, activity and eventually sales.

Where You At?!

Location services on Instagram have totally changed the landscape. Sharing locations on Instagram is gaining more popularity day by day and has increased the effectiveness of posts.

A good example of how you can use locations to gather more interest and increase your exposure.

Images with locations receive more engagement than those without locations. This is because a person relates to a location more easily than he or she relates to a hashtag or a product.

Users can search for images close to their geographic location and can add locations to any image. Adding a location gives your image another dimension of appeal to involve your audience.

So adding locations to Direct messages can also be very effective and efficient in involving your audience.

Use the tips mentioned above to make full use of Instagram Direct. This feature has a lot of potential, especially for marketers, and if you’re not already using it, you could be missing out on possibly 100s of followers. Just make sure not to over-message and annoy your audience.

The biggest advantage of using Instagram Direct is that it allows you to communicate with an individual user and also allows you to connect with a group of users and start a discussion.

Get with the times and start using Instagram Direct.

Just imagine a wall of photos, like an art gallery, where each photo depicts an event in your life.

Each picture tells a different story, rekindles a unique memory and expresses a different feeling.

This, my friends, is the true essence of Instagram. A portfolio of your life for everyone to see and admire.

Some people have followers in the Millions on Instagram, but they’re usually celebrities or public figures.Don’t worry if you don’t have as many followers as them, there are plenty to go around.

Even though there is no shortage of followers and no limit for following people, you should seriously consider going the extra mile to increase your follower count. Here are a few tricks and tips that can help you get more followers.

Posting Times Are Important

Why do humans have set times or routines for their activities? Frankly, even I don’t know why, but what I do know is that once a routine is set, it is extremely difficult to break. Great for us!! Now we can find out exactly when our viewers are logging on to Instagram.

Gauge the activity time of your users, when they are active on Instagram.

Try this, post your pictures between 1-2 PM for a week, then from 8-9PM for a week, and finally between 11-12AM for a week. Record the number of followers and likes that you get from each time slot. Now you know which time slot is the most efficient for you.

The image above will give you a good idea of how this experiment helps. The most optimum pinning time for the user is from 1-2 PM.

The reason for this can be anything. Usually, people check their Instagram profiles after or before work. So if you’re posting your picture at 2PM in London, the posts will reach your North American audience at around 8AM which is before a person goes to work, and it will reach your Asian audience at around 8PM, which is after work ends. This time slot, 2PM, will definitely get you many more followers and likes than say 11AM.

Another tip for getting noticed on Instagram is to post the right content in moderation. Post too rarely and people will forget you even exist, whereas posting too frequently may annoy your followers and cause them to unfollow you.

The frequency of posts can be determined by comparing with your competitors and by observing the response they get.You should post at least once every week and not more than thrice a day.

Captivate Your Audience

Your captions are the only source of communication you have with your audience to promote your picture and your account. Make full use of them!

Hashtag Madness

Hashtags are the new way to share ideas and posts with other people. The attractive features of a hashtag are its simplicity, succinctness, and mass response. Many users don’t even add a description to their pictures anymore, only hashtags!

To make the most out of these little attention seekers, you have to choose the hashtags that are relevant to your content and popular in social media. ‘Trending’ hashtags can get you the best results possible since they are related to events that are still fresh in the minds of people.

A useful website for finding the right hashtags is hashtagify.

The keyword ‘rain’ is searched in the above image. The most popular hashtags are shown in the tab on the left.

Another tip for using Hashtags efficiently is to create your own. They should be catchy and should be generic so that your followers can use them and make then even more popular.

A few good examples are-

For a fashion site, use #whatareyouwearing or #styleislife

For a travel agency, use #wherehaveyoubeen or #scenicmemory

Question Your Audience

A response from your viewers can only be elicited when you ask them a question. Try to ask for their views, get them involved in your post and be vocal through your Instagram account. Make sure to reply to each user’s query or suggestion in a calm, cordial manner. If your activity on Instagram is high, your viewers will also check up on you more often. More viewers translate to more followers, and that’s the endgame.

Let People know who you are

The first thing a viewer looks at in your profile is your Bio. It is used to tell others a little about yourself- what you do and what interests you have. Mention all these in your profile bio and if you have a website add that too. It is extremely important to add your website so that people can visit it in just a click.

Make sure that the name you choose is simple and easily searchable. Try using the name of your business. If the name is already taken, mix it up along with your name. For example, @emilyskyefit is a very popular fitness model who has created a pretty simple name to remember and search for.

Another simple trick to make your profile look professional is by adding your website name under your Instagram username. Don’t know how to do it? It’s easy!

The first step is to go to your Facebook mobile app.Next click ‘CHECK IN’. Once you’re there, create a new location to check in. Type your domain name as the location. eg: viralwoot.com (you can’t use http://)

Once you’ve done that. Simply upload a photo, then click on ‘add location.’Over there, simply type your website and voila!

The above image shows how this trick is used effectively.

It’s very important to remain active on Instagram to get more followers. You have to be in the loop, following every trend and updating your posts according to them. If you own a business, you’ll probably have special discounts or offers throughout the year.

Well, Instagram is really useful in getting your offers out there. Just go to your account bio and add a special line like “Thanksgiving offer cyber Monday!”. You can also add a link for your viewers to visit.

An image showing the proper use of an account bio to sell an offer.

If you want to give your bio a professional look, you can use this special trick. Write all your

information in a word file, using decorations like bullets, emoticons etc. and copy this to your account bio. It gives your bio a nice feel and shows other users how creative you are.

The image above shows good formatting of the description using Microsoft Word.

Be a Social Butterfly

A wise person once said “You reap, what you sow!”. That’s the whole point of a social media platform. Start following other users and liking their posts. Show people that you’re active on Instagram and that you have an opinion! Talk and be inclusive. There is a reason why a social butterfly tends to succeed on social platforms.

Make sure you add your website link to your account so that users can view and visit it with just a click. Create a catchy description that will make the user want to click on your website. Something like “Last chance to grab this offer! Click here!” or “You won’t regret it. Click on the link below!”

Another interesting trick to attract followers to your page is by releasing some products only on Instagram. Give your viewers a sneak peek of the product on Facebook and Twitter and redirect them to Instagram.

The image above shows how SONY advertised some of their phones only on Instagram.

SO by now we’ve done all we could to improve our social standing. Time to take some help! Start visiting the profiles of your competitors. Check out the number of posts. Also, study the frequency with which they post and try to post with the same frequency. Study their descriptions and their content. Some competitors might even help you realize what you’ve been getting wrong all these days!

Catering to your Audience

At the end of the day, people read things that they find interesting. So no matter how good your content is, or how much time you spent in taking the perfect photograph, people will like and comment on your posts only if they find the description interesting. It’s simple to write a good description. Just think about what all you find interesting.

I, for one, am a big fan of stories. Stories about an idea or how a product is made are extremely appealing to me. Other things like customer testimonials or experiences of your employees just as attractive. Think of something unique and funny, which your audience won’t find anywhere else.

Many brands cater to only a few people who identify themselves. This works for brands whose products are luxurious and usually tailor made for each buyer. It might even work for you as it has for many handmade product manufacturers.

Try attracting a niche audience and sticking to that audience. Post at times that they find the most suitable (read above-Posting times are important).

The above image shows the Instagram account of a brand that caters to a very niche audience.

Additional Tips

By now you would have started getting a trickle of followers into your account. Furthermore these additional tips will help you gain an early and swift traction with Instagrammers and help you channelize your posts better.

The first way to get instant followers is by using sponsored posts. These posts will appear on the feed of many Instagram users and can help you get followers without much effort. Just make sure the content for these sponsored pins is interesting and click-worthy. Unfortunately, you do have to pay for these posts.

Use the tagsforlikes.com website to add popular hashtags to your posts quickly and efficiently. It gives you a block of hashtags for different situations that guarantees you many more likes. Just copy and paste the block into your post and watch the magic happen.

A very helpful tool to check out the most popular photos related to a hashtag is postplanner.com. Just enter a hashtag, handle or keyword to find the most popular posts on Pinterest and Instagram.

If you love the Instagram filters but don’t want to post your picture without previewing it first, there is a simple trick that I know you will love. The next time you’re posting a picture, put your phone on Airplane mode before you post it. This allows you to view a preview of the picture, without posting it.

Once you are happy with the appearance to go ahead and switch off airplane mode, then click ‘Share’.

Conclusion

To sum up the post, gaining more followers on Instagram is a simple but time-consuming process. Patience and moderation are the 2 keys to get a steady increase in your follower count. Be human on Instagram, avoid spamming your account and take proactive steps to ensure that your content is of a high standard. A good understanding of your audience and catering to their likes and dislikes should be your top priority.

Use the tools mentioned in this article and start communicating with other users and influencers.

The journey is long but the destination is totally worth it. So post away, my friends!