Many brands and small businesses are dropping the ball when it comes to consistent interaction with their audience on Instagram.  Paying genuine attention to what people are sharing in their community, keeping up with new followers, engaging with posts, responding to comments, etc.

While it may be easy to let slip, staying in touch with your ‘social’ community is an absolute must.  It is also important to remember that your profile’s ranking is ultimately determined by Instagram’s algorithm.  The matrix behind who sees what, where, and for how long. With results weighing heavily on the amount you engage with other users and social accounts, especially those with larger followings themselves.

 

The Next Frontier

 

Some of the more popular and social savvy brands are calling commenting the new frontier in Instagram’s evolution as a platform.  What used to be a simple thread of emojis and acknowledgements is now an essential piece of any engagement amplification strategy.  With the power and influence you can gain each day through having a strong Instagram presence, one of the best moves a brand can make is to have comment consistency with their audience.

Commenting helps businesses organically connect with more of their target audience and boost their exposure by engaging with relevant content.  It gives brands personality and shows users that there’s actually someone behind the phone taking the time to read and respond to their messages.  It’s all about genuine interaction. With an increase in auto-comment bots and spammy comments appearing across the platform, users are quickly turned off to anything that comes across as generic or impersonal.

 

Clever Cross Promotion

 

If you’ve spent a fair amount of time on social media there’s a good chance you’re familiar with  cross promotion or have at least heard the concept mentioned at some point. Cross promotion involves using several of your social networks to promote content from another platform, in this case Instagram.  

There are several reasons why it’s a good idea to include cross promotion in your Instagram growth strategy.  Three of the most prominent being:

• Growing your following: Gaining more post exposure across several other social platforms means more engagement with the original content and translates to more followers on your Instagram page.
• Improving your image: It’s likely that your photos on Instagram are some of your highest quality visual content.  With that being the case, letting those photos represent your brand across multiple platforms does a great service to your overall image.
• Lowering the cost of content: Creating and/or paying for new social media content is costly.  Cross promoting allows you to repeat some of the same content which means lower expenses while still delivering the same high quality in your posts.
  

Cross promoting can also mean partnering with another user or brand that compliments what you’re doing.  You and those you partner with can promote each other’s posts or choose to work together on a promotional campaign.  Your true social network is the result of your following across multiple social media platforms. By cross promoting between channels you can send followers to and from your Instagram account and grow in a quickly, more substantial way.

 

 

Mastering the Art of Instagram Collaboration

 

Collaboration is a fundamental aspect of making the transition from having an Instagram account as a hobby, to turning that account into a job or even a career.  Similarly to when you tag users or repost UGC from other accounts, collaborating with bloggers and brand influencers on Instagram significantly amplifies your exposure.  

A lot of businesses shy away from the opportunity to collaborate on Instagram because they aren’t sure exactly where to start.  Don’t let a little uncertainty or fear keep you from the loads of benefits offered by this powerful, effective, and fun strategy.  There are a number of ways you can partner with other brands and influencers to accelerate your growth. Some of those ways include taking over one another’s Instagram account, boosting each other’s posts, starting challenges and running contests together, and working together on sponsorships.

When finding influencers and bloggers you’d like to collaborate with it’s important to make sure your personalities and styles are similar enough to properly represent your brand.  It is also recommended that you choose collaborators whose follower count is no more than 10,000 above your own. Doing so often ensures that the collaboration is more realistic, comfortable, and effective

 

Design a Dynamic Strategy and Accelerate Your Growth With Social Sensei

 

Social Sensei drives targeted traffic to your account to increase your followers and engagement organically. Gain followers that actually care about what you post and make more sales, gain influence, and increase brand exposure to a wider audience. Start your 5 day free trial of Social Sensei today and experience it for yourself.

 

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