How to Get More Likes on Instagram: 20 Ideas, Strategies & Tips
Instagram Audit - Amazon S3 · Instagram Audit The Tools and Tactics to Increase Your Likes and...
Transcript of Instagram Audit - Amazon S3 · Instagram Audit The Tools and Tactics to Increase Your Likes and...
Instagram AuditThe Tools and Tactics to Increase
Your Likes and Followers
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Adding a photo to a post increases engagement, and
the rise of apps like Snapchat, Pinterest and Instagram
shows that visual content is here to stay. When you
aren’t a photographer, graphic designer or even slightly
creative, posting to these channels can become difficult.
But who can resist jumping on these platforms, when
Instagram alone boasts 300 million active users?
Increasing your Instagram following can result in more
sales, more website traffic, and a more engaged online
community for your brand, blog or business. In order to
be successful on Instagram you need to master 3 things:
posting, engagement and optimization.
We created this guide just for you, our users who may still
be trying to figure out social media as you go along. The
following list of tips and tools will help you create a solid
long-term strategy for Instagram. We will break down
what you should be doing each day, week and month to
grow your following and convert your audience.
Visual content is king.
Checklist
Immediately
Daily
Weekly
Update your user profile infor to reflect of your brand.
Identify or create an opt-in product.
Provide the landing page link in your profile.
Describe your brand in 3-5 words
Delete all photos that don’t fit this description.
Remove any photos posted with the regram app.
Nail down a “look” for your photos.
Check your account for any new followers or mentions.
Review the Trending Tags to see if any apply for your brand.
Post one photo with an engaged caption and appropriate hashtags.
Like and comment on 5-10 pictures.
Repost one fan photo.
Review your metrics to identify best performing content.
Plan content for the following week.
Profile andPhotos
The most important and overlooked tool on
Instagram is the profile itself. Your instagram
page is viewed in two ways: individually and
collectively as a feed. Those who are already
following you, see your feed one-by-one as
you publish, but those that are discovering
you for the 1st time are looking at your entire
feed. What kind of impression does your grid
make? Are the first 9 images telling a story?
Are they cohesive?
These photos and your profile biography
should capture their attention, communicate
your brand personality and entice them to
follow. Do a quick audit for you profile and
remove any pictures that aren’t on brand or
high-quality. “On brand” doesn’t mean that
every single picture needs to be taken from the
same angle or have the same filter. What you
want to do is evoke a feeling. When you look at
Kirk Kara’s feed, what do you feel? How do you
want users to feel when they visit your page?
A descriptive biography and appealing photos
are the difference between a one-time profile
view and a new follower. Although there is
no formula to calculate this, each instagram
follower represents potential revenue for
your business or opportunities for your brand.
Keeping this in mind, your website link should
drive them to a landing page where you can
collect their information and have them enter
your marketing funnel. An opt-in product is a
great way to build your email list, but it also
helps you to build rapport with your audience.
Melissa from The Nectar Collective nails
this. The biography tells me exact how she
adds value and drives me to her e-course,
while her profile has a clear color palette
and feels exciting.
If you are in retail or ecommerce, consider
offering a coupon. As an agency, coach or
consultant, provide a guide or white paper
providing solutions for one of your ideal
customer’s pain points. Opt-in products come
in many forms, but at the very basic, it should
be valuable information that website visitors
would be willing to provide their name and
email for. Once you have identified an opt-
in product, you can focus on creating better
photos.
Kaye McCoy’s profile is a great example
of what to aim for when you clean up
your profile and take pictures. Notice the
similarity in the lighting and the colors. All
images capture something different, but it
still feels cohesive. Remember, instagram is
about portraying a lifestyle and letting your
audience get to know, love and trust you.
instagram.com/kirkkara
instagram.com/cookayemonster
instagram.com/thenectarcollective
Posing and Posting
Instagram is a very visual platform, so in
order for you to gain any kind of following
you need to take better pictures. If your
profile and individual images aren’t
appealing to the eye, you can forget about
people following you. Taking great pictures
not only increases your amount of followers,
but it boosts your credibility too.
I am by no means an Instagram expert,
but these photography rules are the ones
that every photographer I’ve spoken to has
mentioned. It really just requires practice and
patience. One of the social media managers
I chatted with mentioned that she takes up
to 50 shots of a particular image at a time,
trying out all angles and lighting possibilities.
Here is what you should consider when
shooting your next photo.
Rule of Thirds
You know that grid that Instagram provides?
It is there for a reason. Placement of your
subject is important. You don’t have to center
your subject in every photo. The rule of
thirds suggests placing objects toward the
outer thirds or bottom thirds of a photo to
add depth and provide a different look.
White Space
Your feed is going to need some breathing
room. If all of your pictures are close up
with little empty space, your profile can look
crowded and busy. Balance between close-
up shots and wide open spaces. Remember,
less is more.
Lighting Source
Always seek the light. Selfies, product shots
and everything in general looks better with
bright natural lightning. Flash can wash
your subject out or make your photo look
too produced. Instead, plan to take pictures
near your window or outside where you can
capitalize on natural light.
instagram.com/ceos_downbeat
instagram.com/muradosmann
Consistent Edits
Consistency goes far on Instagram. Whether
the angles of your shots are the same or
you use only one kind of filter, the similarities
in the photos help to tie them together.
Committing to one angle like Murad does in
his #FollowMeTo project may be difficult, but
he does keep all of his photos very bright
and saturated. Find the editing style that
works for you and commit to that one look.
Captions
Instagram is as much about the photo as it
is about the caption. Use this space to tell
a story. Because formatting directly in the
app can get somewhat difficult, type out
your captions in your phone’s notetaking
application and simply copy and paste it
over. Looking for clients? Use the captions
to share tips about your expertise. Selling a
product? Take us behind the scenes.
Tools
VSCOCam
Forget about your phone’s
camera and never open it
again after reading this post.
VSCOCam is the best camera
replacement app and gives you more control
over your shooting and photos. You can
manually control what to focus on and get
the right lighting for your photo.
Snapseed
Now when we talk editing, I
have to mention Snapseed. I
found this app earlier this year,
and it has been my go-to for
those photos that need a little extra umph.
What I love most about this app is the ability
to edit only portions of a photo. Selective
editing allows you to brighten backgrounds,
boost saturation and draw attention to one
part of the photo over another.
Afterlight
Afterlight is another popular
editing app for Instagram. It
has over 60 adjustment tools
and filters that allow you to
transform your photos. This will most likely
be your go-to app, and Snapseed will only
be used for special edits, but both useful
nonetheless.
Wordswag
Monday Motivation is huge on
Instagram, and I have been
using Wordswag to create
quote graphics for a while. If
your brand guidelines are forgiving, you
can use this tool to create wordmark text
overlays on any kind of background. The
app is preloaded with various solid color and
patterned backgrounds, but you are also
able to search for free stock photos right
within the app.
Canva
You don’t have to be a graphic
designer to make awesome
posts. Canva is a step up
from Wordswag. The platform
has images properly sized for all of your
social media channels, so you don’t have to
worry about pixels and placement for pins,
instagram posts, facebook posts or twitter
banners. Available for iPad and desktop,
you can create tons of images with the pre-
created template and the built in gallery of
stock photography, icons and illustrations.
I have moved away from using Indesign
recently, and have focused more on using
Canva since it cuts my graphic creation time
in half. It is a great tool if you are a DIY social
media manager that wears many hats.
Engagement
Engagement, engagement, engagement.
You don’t have to be a social media expert
to hear this buzzword constantly mentioned.
Connecting and building relationships with
people online is the only way to build a
viable presence on the social web.
If you are stagnant in follower growth, create
a schedule to cross promote on other brand
channels like Twitter, Pinterest and your
email list. If they have connected with you on
another channel already or they have opted
to receive emails from you, they are likely
to be engaged enough with your brand to
follow you on Instagram.
Engagement Tip: Each day, go through and
like 5 - 10 photos in your feed and leave
relevant, personable comments.
Susan Petersen, CEO of Freshly Picked,
mentioned that this was her tactic to grow her
Instagram into the hundreds of thousands.
Leaving comments and liking photos allows
other users to discover and connect with
you, as well as humanizing your brand’s
account. This is only successful if you are
engaging with the right people. Identify the
hashtags in your niche and the followers of
influencers in your space. This way, you can
be sure to target the people are already
interested in what you are offering. Speaking
of hashtags, use Instagram’s new Explore
feature to identify any Trending Tags that
may be useful and relevant for your brand.
Engagement Tip: Encourage user-
generated content.
Promoting and encouraging user generated
content (UGC) is a simple way to build
a stronger user community, increase
your following and promote your hashtag.
According to Nielsen, 43% of consumers
are more likely to purchase a product after
learning about it on social media, and
Instagram is a common distribution channel
for user-generated content. Incorporate fan
photos into your feed as well to add in some
social proof. Be mindful not to use a repost
app since it adds an unsightly banner on
your photos.
Optimization + Metrics
In order to stop your account from getting
stagnant, you should be consistently
evaluating and updating your Instagram
strategy. What content is performing well by
consistently getting likes and comments?
Do you notice any trends? Use a tool like
Iconosquare to track these metrics and
inform what content your audience responds
well to. It also goes a step further to tell
you the times that your audience is most
engaged, so that you can post when they
will be more likely to interact with you.
$ SumAll Audience Boost
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Relax EngageConnect
Kick back. We’ll find your
customers, follow them and
get them to follow you back.
With your new overlapping
audience, you can reach
your customers easier.
Add your Instagram account
and import your email list in
CSV format to SumAll.
C Boost has an average 16-25% follow back rate.
C Brings you followers with genuine interest who are more likely to buy.
C Brings you living, breathing people who are not bots or fake accounts.
C You’re paying us to find your users vs. of paying people to ‘like’ you.
$1
100 New Followers
$99/month cap
400 New Followers
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1600 New Followers
$399/month cap
$.50 $.25
If we don't bring you new followers, we'll give you a full refund.
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E N T R E P R E N E U R G R O W T H B O O S T
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