How To Push Your Instagram To The Next Level

As more users turn to Instagram to promote their brand, it becomes harder to stand out. Whether you’re trying to reach your thousandth follower or become Instafamous, Captiv8 has you covered with tips and tricks to push your Instagram game to the next level.

How to Hashtag

Hashtags are vital to growing your Instagram following. They work like keywords to get you seen by new or unique users. Hashtags like #MotivationMonday or #tbt are used and checked regularly.

Staying on top of trending hashtags will help you relate to your audience. Through using social media analytic platforms such as Captiv8 Insights, you have the ability to see which hashtags have the most reach and what will be the most effective for your brand.

Although, be careful with the amount of hashtags you use. While filling your entire caption with hashtags will get you seen, it could also be a wasted caption potential. Use that valuable space to engage your audience and keep your hashtags in a separate comment. These hashtags will still reach your followers without detracting from your messaging.

If you already have a substantial following, then you can create your own hashtag and use it often. Ask your followers to use it so you can follow their content. The learn more, check out our top 3 tips to maximize your posts with hashtags.

Make the Most Out of Your Captions

Your Instagram captions can make a world of difference with how engaged your followers are with you. The more engaging your content, the more people will likely follow and share your account. And while your images may be what catches their eye, it’ll be the captions that’ll keep them coming back.

Your captions should be descriptive and interesting. Let your (or your brand’s) personality shine through. Use emojis, humor, or inspirational quotes. Be creative. Your captions should add something to the images that you share.  

The easiest way to engage with your followers is to just ask them. Create a call to action – ask your follower a question or for their opinion after a post. Once you get the comments rolling in, reply and keep the conversations going.

Capitalize On New Features And Create A Narrative

It’s no secret that Instagram has revolutionized how we view content’. With their recent updates and additional features, you can do more just share photos and videos on Instagram. From lifestyle creators to brands, marketers and influencers around the world are utilizing Instagram Live, Instagram Stories, and most recently Instagram Carousel to attract and engage their audience. These new publishing tools offer an extensive range of new opportunities to build your follower count, engage your audience, and generate buzz.

Take charge and create a narrative. Show your audience the personal side of you through Instagram Stories. With Instagram Live, take your followers behind the scenes. Went to a recent party or road trip and can’t decide on what photo to post? Use Instagram Carousel and create a custom slideshow of your adventures. These new publishing tools offer an extensive range of new opportunities. Not only will they showcase your brand, they will boost  your engagement rates and enhance your authenticity.

Run a Contest

Use giveaways to incentivize engagement with your followers. Run a contest or a campaign for just them. Create rules to follow, share, or tag a friend to enter. Create a hashtag for your contest. If you’re using our social media data software, you will be able to create a tracker for your hashtag and contest. Tracking the hashtag will show you the users competing in the contest, engagement levels and how it’s growing.

Whatever you’re giving away, it should still be related to you or your brand. You don’t want to gain followers interested in something unrelated –  that’s only a short-term solution. If your content doesn’t match your brand then those followers won’t stay for long.

Engage with Your Audience

If you’re looking for more engagements, then it’s time to make the first move. Start engaging with more than just your followers. Social media is about connecting and building community, so commenting, tagging, or otherwise engaging with other related Instagram accounts are only going to help you.

This makes collaborations important. Collaborations will allow you to reach a new network of followers who you might have missed initially. Reach out and connect with us, we can help you find a partner that will match your needs.  

Know What Works

But none of these tips won’t mean anything if you don’t know what works for you. Understanding your followers and understanding what already works for you will help you create the most effective strategy for your brand. If you track your growth and analyze the data, you will begin to notice patterns and trends. This will help you replicate positive results and avoid negative reaction.

Captiv8’s comprehensive analytics tool can help you find out what time of day you get the most engagements, which hashtags receive the most love, and what type of content gets the most engagements. You can even check out related accounts to understand what works for them.

Once you know what your community wants, you’ll be able to reach them better – and start to see those numbers grow faster than ever.