“The Secret To Building A Loyal Instagram Following”

By Eric Ridenour

Instagram marketing can be a source of frustration for many people. After a week of working full time on Instagram, what do we have? 8 followers. And 3 of them are not even in the same country as you. Great. You have the passion, you have the brand, you have the desire, but you can’t get anywhere if you do not know how. Instagram works, you just gotta know how to use it.

DO NOT
Copy other brands
Taking things that inspire you from other peoples accounts you admire makes sense. What does not make sense is copying people, reusing the same jokes, repurposing a meme and photoshopping your logo over someone else’s, those do not work. When people see it, they know it is not yours. Be original.

Hashtag abuse
Random hashtags get you shadowbanned and frustrate users. If you just keep using random top hashtags that are not relevant to your post, then people will report the photo, and that can drop your views to absolute zero. You do not want that. Using a couple of top hashtags is fine when relevant, but you want your hashtags to clearly compliment the image. Tagging other large business names can also get you in trouble. Kim Kardashian is suing a company for tagging her too often and she may win,

Quality Above Quantity
Stop Instagramming everything. Too many brands think the more you post the more you are seen. While this is true, if you are not posting content people want to see, they will unfollow you so you end up doing more harm than good.

Being Negative
No negativity. People do not wish to be frustrated or annoyed. You can get away with negative emotions when played right, people do not want to be sad. Sad posts perform worse than happy posts. Positive posts get shared more often than negative posts.
DO

Use Stories
Stories are the future. After a bit of a slow start, Instagram stories are now wildly popular with users, businesses and influencers alike. What started as a little known Snapchat feature has now become one of the most popular features of Facebook and Instagram alike.

Engagement

One of the overall easiest and best things you can do is simply comment on other posts and respond to those who comment on yours. Even a couple of fire emojis is better than nothing. Engaging with others will get people to look at your page and follow you if they like what they see. Engaging with your fans gets them excited to converse with you and gets people talking about you and sharing.

Optimize Everything
Make sure your profile is completely filled out. Use a professional profile photo and caption, a link in the bio and keep pushing to get that blue verified badge. Everything about your page needs to be professional, don’t save anything for later.

Remember your goal, your goal is to get your fans interested. They do not owe you a following, you owe them entertainment. What you need most is to have your Instagram fans become your biggest cheerleaders off of Instagram. If people tell their friends, you are the ultimate prize of engagement, people promoting you off of social media.