There are two kinds of people on Instagram. Those who post pictures of their weekend trip or the smoothie they had for breakfast yesterday, for fun. Two, those who post these pictures, and earn brand sponsorships.
The difference is about how you brand yourself on Instagram. A majority of Gen-Zs and millennials - the two largest buying demographics in the world - spend their time on this social media platform. If you know their minds, you will know how to grow on Instagram.
Businesses, entrepreneurs, and influencers today need to develop strategies to increase followers on Instagram. However, that’s easier said than done. We believe a great promotion strategy is rooted in personal branding.
This is why we created a 10-step-process to help you understand how to brand yourself on Instagram the right way.
Do you know why you do what you do? If not, your followers won’t know either. Once you know the reasons for your business or your passion, it becomes easier to understand how to build your personal brand. Your brand represents your values and passions and what makes you unique in a sea of other businesses and influencers.
It’s impossible to portray a consistent brand if you don’t know what you are aiming for. When you clearly establish a brand, you can better understand who your target audience is and what content will engage them with your page.
Get Inspired By KhabyOne of the world’s biggest comedy content influencers, Khaby Lame, began producing his take on weird internet trends. Why? Because he found some of those Tiktok videos strange to understand. By the time he began posting on Instagram, he had figured out his why - ‘Because I find it weird’. With 80 million followers, he has collaborations with the world’s biggest brands and has worked with the likes of Jason Momoa and Robert Downey Junior. |
Once you have a brand identity, you can craft an Instagram profile page.
Start with your Instagram name. You want a name that’s clear, easy to pronounce, and not cluttered with excessive numbers. If it's memorable, you are more likely to gain followers quickly. Be strategic with the name—using popular phrases or slang will make it more likely to appear on the feeds of those who use the same language.
Next, choose a profile picture. This must also represent what you are all about. If you are a company, it may be a logo; if you are an influencer, a picture of your face may work better.
Your Instagram bio provides the perfect opportunity to demonstrate your brand identity. You can also infuse the bio text with personality to show followers your sense of humor or passion.
Get Inspired by Einstein BrosEinstein Bros Bagels keeps its bio simple, yet personal. This is how it reads - Your neighbourhood bagel shop. serving fresh-baked bagels and breakfast sandwiches! |
Your aesthetic is the style that makes your brand beautiful or interesting. Choose a cohesive color scheme and theme for the feed to establish a clear brand aesthetic. All the photos and videos you post will look different, of course, but they will all feel like they are part of the same family.
When you post, ensure the images check the common question boxes based on your aesthetic:
Do these images look like they belong in the same section of a magazine?
If you do this well, your content could become easily recognizable. Anyone could see a picture on their feed and immediately know it’s yours before even seeing the name.
You must be strategic with content to gain recognition, widespread attention, and to grow your Instagram followers. Start by creating a content calendar at least two weeks out. The calendar will become a guide to your daily posts. You will stay on track and never miss a day's post.
Always post a variety of content. Keep things interesting with different formats like photos, videos, and stories. Another effective way to stand out from the crowd is to post content that benefits your audience. Think of educational opportunities, tips, or deals that coincide with your brand.
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Your page will do better when you connect with others. Build an online community by engaging with followers and colleagues. You can do this by:
Responding to comments quickly and with respect
Collaborating with others in your niche
Using polls, questions, and quizzes to keep followers engaged and interested
Commenting on others’ posts and videos
Having giveaways and sharing coupon codes
Educating your followers or giving away free tips and tricks
These actions will make followers more interested in your content and brand, and increase your engagement on Instagram. They may seek out your content regularly instead of only seeing it if it comes across their feed.
Get Inspired by SpotifySpotify does this every year - analysis of its users’ taste in music. The music streaming platform gives its users three options of analytics posters via email - Instagram Post; Instagram Story, and Facebook Post. As a result, every end of year, millions of users post Spotify round-up stories on their Instagram accounts leading to deeper brand engagement, while giving out FOMO feelings to non-users. |
What you write underneath each post significantly impacts how many people see it. Hashtags are an excellent strategic tool for bringing attention to your content. The trick is doing research and learning which hashtags are most popular. Use tools like the Instagram Explore page to find what's trending so you can hop on the train. Try to avoid too many hashtags, though, or it could become annoying. Keeping hashtags to 10 or fewer is safer.
Don't post a hastily-produced caption. Take time to proofread, think about other ways to word the message, and focus on writing captions that captivate your followers.
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The Top Trending Instagram Hashtags:
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Stories and highlights are an excellent way to show followers your priorities and maintain their interest in the content. Create highlights on the homepage that represent different topics so followers can quickly find answers to their questions about you or your business.
You can post multiple stories daily, making them fun and exciting so your followers stay entertained and engaged in your daily messages.
The Instagram reels feature is another effective tool for entertaining and engaging followers. A reel provides time to explain concepts, demonstrating your expertise and knowledge. Using humor to make followers laugh encourages them to share with others and spread the net of your reach.
Create video content of 90 seconds or less
Pick a popular audio that’s trending on Instagram to go with your reel
Use reels for product reveals, how-to content, your take on a popular trend or for deals and discounts
Read our tips on best times to post reels on Instagram
Research is crucial to determining what's trending and what will result in the most likes. However, you don't have to do the heavy research alone. Instagram Insights, available to business or creator accounts, allows you to understand how your page and posts perform. Discover which posts got the most likes and analyze what made them so successful so you can replicate those results.
When you have a baseline and know what strategies work, you can experiment with new content formats and ideas to see if those bring in extra likes and followers.
Our last recommendation for building a brand on Instagram revolves around timing. There’s no single answer for what time of day you should post on Instagram, yet what you choose can profoundly affect your popularity and how much attention you get from followers.
The best way to find the appropriate posting time is to experiment! Try posting at different times of the day and see which posts receive the most views and likes. When you spot a pattern that connects time or day with audience interaction, stick to that time in the future to gain the most Instagram attention possible.
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Learning how to brand yourself can be challenging. When you put in the effort to craft high-quality content and strategically post to get the most views, you are sure to develop a following far quicker than you would otherwise. No matter what you do, stay true to your brand throughout your posts so you can always be proud of what you create.
When your Instagram page needs that extra popularity boost, we can help! Reach out to Superviral and see how we can provide extra followers and likes so your pages will be more likely to be found and followed.
