5 things to remember when building your brand on Instagram

With more than 600 million users a month, Instagram has gradually evolved to become a powerful networking engine. Whether your brand belongs to the food industry or the fashion trade, if you want your marketing strategy to be fool-proof, you need to have a solid marketing plan for Instagram as well. Your Instagram marketing is successful only if you're able to increase your following on a steady and consistent basis. After all, the more people that follow you on Instagram, the larger your audience is that you can potentially reach every time you post a new update.

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Here's a go-to guide to help you grow your brand on this platform:

Create content your followers will love

For Instagram, you need to create content that is not only true to your brand, but also which your followers will love to see. For example, if you are a fashion brand, your profile should be the perfect blend of wardrobe must-haves, season picks, celebrity spotting, and so much more. Once you figure out what your followers want to see, populate your account with quotes, images, and promotions that tie into your business.

Focus on engagement

A picture is worth a thousand words, and therefore you need to be sure your Instagram updates are saying the right ones. Get your followers to interact with your updates by posting their thoughts and opinions in the comments section. The more engagement you receive on your updates, the better visibility your brand receives on this photo-sharing platform.

Cross-promote Instagram posts

Cross-promotion is an easy way to add those people to your Instagram followers who already love your brand. When you invite your followers on Facebook and Twitter to follow you on Instagram as well, you increase your brand's visibility on this platform, as they are already interested in what you have to offer. Several people are present on a variety of platforms but active only on a few. When you put your update across different profiles, you increase the reach of your post manifold.

Don't spam your audience

There is a fine line between updating your followers and spamming them. You want to post often enough so your brand stays relevant, but you don't want to post so frequently that your existing followers end up un-following you. You need to test and see what works for your brand and what doesn't.

Use relevant hashtags

The use of relevant hashtags is extremely crucial. Interactive hashtags are a great way to create instant engagement. Think of hashtags as a 'search' tool that will help your users find the content they are looking for. Attaching hashtags allows your content to be found by people who don't already follow you.

Instagram has tremendous potential for business in almost any industry. If your marketing team uses Instagram strategically, their efforts can have a significant impact on your brand awareness, reach, and visibility.

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