As we’ve highlighted in our previous articles, investing in your owned/earned and paid media mix is crucial for your brand. Maintaining your social media organically, while reaching a lot of new audiences is crucial to show your identity and dynamism. 

Today, consumers are looking for authenticity and honesty. So it is important to highlight the opinions of your consumers, behind the scenes of your business, and most importantly the honesty about your brand and products. That’s why we like to give you the tips & tricks that will take your Instagram to the next level. 

1. Appeal to your ideal customer via your bio 

Your bio is the first thing your ideal followers/customers will see next to the feed. Here it is very important that this immediately makes a good impression as this is seen as kind of a business card. Your bio makes it clear who you are and what you do. It is also possible to place a link that leads to your website. You can also use an app to share more links in your bio, like Linktree or Linkpop. 

Make sure your bio appeals directly to your visitors. Short and simple is the way to go. Emoji’s can certainly be used depending on what you like to use in captions and how your brand is positioned. 

What are things you can include in your bio? 

• Your name 
• Who you are
• What you do
• Address 
• Opening hours 
• CTA/ USP’S
• Any hashtags 

Couple of examples from our clients: 

Next to that it’s recommended to add highlights underneath your bio so that your followers can see more about your brand. Below are some fun highlights to give your Instagram a bit more life. 

• Team 
• Products
• Work trips 
• Behind the scenes 
• Your orders
• Press 
• Shoots 
• You (share your followers their stories where you were tagged in.)
• …

2. Hashtags

Are hashtags worth it or not? The question keeps coming up and the answer is still YES!

Hashtags are words used as SEO, so definitely not extinct yet! The important thing is that you make a mix of popular, medium, and unique hashtags. For example, hashtags you created yourself. The higher the popularity the faster your post goes down on this hashtag’s feed. The more unique, the longer your post will be visible, but will be found less often. So it’s important to find the perfect mix. 

In addition, it is also important to adjust hashtags according to the post that is put online. 

If there is a dress in the picture, it is best not to use hashtags with the words pants, socks, shoes,…. in it. So especially choose hashtags that really reflect to your business (niche). On stories max 1 hashtag and on feed around 3-4 very strong ones and alternate them per post.

Hashtags may also definitely be used in stories to reach more people. 

TIP! Follow the hashtags you use or like a lot and engage with the posts under these hashtags. 

3. Communicate with your followers

A point that is fairly obvious but often not done enough. How can you best communicate with your followers? 

• Use story stickers and ask questions to your followers. A way to find out a little more about what exactly your followers want and are looking for. Who they are exactly and what they value most.
• Question sticker
  
  
  • What do you guys want to see more of on our page?
  • What products would you like to see? 
  • Q&A 
  • Ask for reviews → You can share them afterward in next stories
  • …
• Poll sticker
  
  
  • This or that 
  • …
• Quiz sticker
  
  

• Quiz about your company
• Quiz about your products
• Quiz about your employees
• …

• Link sticker
  
  
  • CTA 
  • Direct your followers to a specific page 
  • …
• Emotion sticker
  
  
  • How are your followers feeling today? 
  • How do your followers feel about a particular product?
  • …
• Countdown sticker
  
  
  • New collection
  • New year, new products
  • …
• Product sticker
  
  
  • Lead your followers directly to your shop/product

• Do you get a specific question in your DMs? Communicate this in your story and share the answer with everyone. This way you come across as authentic and give your followers an answer they may have been waiting for. 
• Respond to followers who respond to your photos. ( Obviously 😊) But it is not always done. Always try to respond with more than 3 words and as little as possible with just emojis. This way your engagement goes up and that’s super important!

4. Shoppable feed 

People don’t like to take too many steps to get to their final destination. So why not make it as easy as possible for your followers? Let them click through to the product shown in your photo in 1 click. That way, followers will convert faster because they won’t have to go looking for the product again. 

5. Collaborations

Growing on your own is not so easy. Together you reach much more. So take advantage of each other’s reach and work together with influencers, content creators, ambassadors or even other brands… Today, Instagram users are not only looking for a product, but also how to use/style/… these products.

That’s why collaborating with Influencers/ content creators is definitely interesting. They have the target audience you want to reach and the niche your business is under. Find someone who is heavily involved in your company’s industry and partner with them. They will create content for your business in a way that the influencer’s followers are used to. This will come across as authentic and you will reach a certain audience immediately. 

You can also agree with the influencer to do a “collaborated post.” This way the post will end up on both accounts and you will start getting more likes/comments. 

Do you prefer not to collaborate with influencers? Then you still have your loyal customers who can also be known as ambassadors. How can you make the most of this? Give your customers a reason to put your product online. Make use of a certain hashtag they should use when posting about your brand/product. Link a giveaway to this to convince the customer to post something. This way, friends/followers of that customer will start seeing your brand, and your company’s name will become known to more people. 

6. Use video to educate consumers

Today’s consumer is drawn in by content that answers his/her questions. And what better way than to explain everything through a short/educational video? The hype is real! 

So how do you make a good educational video? 

• CTA/ hook in the first 3 seconds of your video (this way you immediately get the viewer’s attention). E.g. Discount code at the end of the video
• Work in steps e.g. 3 ways to style our jeans, 5 reasons why you should apply sunscreen,… 
• Keep it short and to the point
• Have fun! Followers still like to see a real face with real emotions. 
• End with a CTA: shop now, discover more, …

TIP! Reuse this content for other social media channels! TikTok, Pinterest, Youtube, … Don’t work harder, work smarter 😉

Questions about organic growth or wondering how we can help you? Don’t hesitate to send The Dotters an email.