How to create an all-star Instagram account?

Can you believe this? Instagram has already crossed 1 Billion monthly active users. It’s fast catching up with other social networks and the Facebook-owned platform will soon become the most engaging social network for Millenials. There are a few reasons behind this astounding popularity of Instagram. Its intriguing interface is smartly designed to keep users glued to it. Instagram focuses on visually classy content and hence, user experience continues to remain extraordinary. 

If you are an Instagram user, an attractive Instagram profile is MUST HAVE for engaging with your followers and acquiring new ones. Here are a few tips to create an ‘all-star’ Instagram profile! Don’t miss out on these points – create an attractive profile & grow your Instagram followers.

Don’t miss out on below features on your profile:

Profile picture

The profile picture is the most important feature on your profile. The world will see your profile picture first, and they will build their first impression about you from your profile picture. And hence, the picture should be clear, visually appealing, and unique. For brands, it’s okay to use your logo as a profile picture, but consider changing/tweaking your logo occasionally. For ex. Give your logo Christmas makeover during Christmas. For individuals, it’s a good idea to use face close-up as a profile picture.

Profile Bio

Your bio is the second thing people will look when they land on your profile page (first is the picture!). Your bio should tell most about you. Highlight key facts about your profile, interests, and also about what content you will be posting. You can also add hashtags & mention other accounts on your bio. For example, you can tag your organization, your favorite hashtags, and your colleagues on your bio – so that viewers will be able to relate with your content easily.

Link

Link is probably the most under-utilized feature on your profile. Since Instagram doesn’t allow any hyperlinks within content feeds, link in bio is the only place where you can redirect people to your website. You must add a link to your website if you want to drive traffic. It’s a good idea to post a teaser about your video or blog on Instagram, and asking people to click on ‘link in bio’ to drive traffic. It’s way more engaging and fruitful than creating a post with lengthy descriptions. You may want to try bit.ly or similar tracking tools to gauge the performance of your link.

Stories

Stories are a very interesting feature and one of my favorites. How fascinating is the idea of creating content which will expire in 24 hours!! Well, that’s one of the reasons why stories clicked very well with Millenials. For an all-star Instagram profile, you must consistently create stories. More stories will give you more visibility and hence, more followers! Plus, stories provide multiple features to engage with your audience. Try features such as Poll, Q&A, Like meter, Location tagging, hashtag tagging, live stories to consistently remain on top of your audiences’ Instagram feed.

You can save your stories in the form of ‘highlight’ on your profile. Highlighted stories remain on your profile forever and it’s a wonderful feature to tell your audience more about your content. Check below examples of how smartly Stories are used to describe a profile.

Post frequency

We often get this question from many users – How many times should I post in a day? While there is no clear answer, I must tell you – the more you post, the higher your visibility. I would recommend posting at least once or twice a day. Frequent posts will give your profile more visibility. Don’t miss out on tagging people in your posts and using the right hashtags in your posts.

Engage with others

Is it okay to just post and wait for people to like your posts? Well, no. People will engage with those who engage with them. You must engage with an account that inspires you. Consistently like, comment, and tag users in your content domain. It will increase your visibility and build credibility for your profile.

Follow others

Genuinely follow people who inspire you. Follow people who have interests in your content areas. You can also consider the following people who interact with your posts. We have also seen that following people from your competitor will give you more visibility in your relevant audience. Don’t hesitate in following others who post good content. I recommend the following four parameters in choosing whom to follow:

1. Followers of similar accounts
2. Followers of your chosen Hashtags
3. Users from specific Location
4. Suggested users 

Frequency – follow 20-30 users per hour. I know it’s a bit aggressive but do this consistently for a few weeks and see results. You may also try this Instagram marketing agency for the above task.

Follow hashtags

Follow hashtags that interest you – it will help you discover the best content in your favorite content areas. This will open a whole new world of possibilities for your content sphere. 

Tag users in your posts

Tag users who are most likely to engage with your posts. You can even tag your partner brands, friends, your avid followers as well as users who have engaged with you in the past. 

If you follow these suggestions rigorously, nothing can stop you from becoming an Instagram star!