Everyone loves a good social media hack. They save us time and usually show us some interesting things we didn’t know were possible.
Whether you’re a business using the social network or an individual using Instagram, these 15 hacks you can do to ‘up’ your game in the space.
Get notifications when your favorite people post. Leave witty comments early on to have better chances of being responded. Getting responses and high number of Likes is a good way for your account to be spotted.
Tag photos of other accounts in similar space. People do still go through tagged photos of a public figure – this is your chance to be discovered too. Have their permission first, of course.
Look at the posts and comments the people you are following. Like and comment on their comments to start conversations. This is a great idea to be spotted by them.
When you write caption, make sure the first line that appears on the post attracts people to read more. It’s not only about storytelling – but it’s about the ability of being able to pull people to your account through captivating caption is just as important.
Search hashtags which are trending and include them in your caption. You can just Google ‘trending hashtags Instagram’ to find countless websites that offer this service for free.
Design your posts that best represent you or your business. Don’t forget to always include your website url on each post. This helps drive traffic to your website.
Don’t go overboard with your editing of photos. Be genuine and relatable to people.
Insert line breaks into your bio and captions
Add links to your business on bio – it helps to drive traffic to your account.
Create Groups in your DM and invite people in similar space to participate. Talk to them first before inviting. Give yourself a good impression.
Tell people what you do in the first line of your bio link.
Reaching 10K followers, post more Stories that link to your website. Be creative in your approach. Do not oversell.
Exchange shoutouts with another social media account(s). Tell them that you will promote his/her account on feed or Stories for similar return.
Post more videos with subtitles and don’t forget to include your website url in the videos.
Post long videos on IGTV to provide information for people who are interested to know more about you. Add subtitles too.
Something different I have for you guys this time. I’ve finally compiled 20 strategies to grow your Instagram followers in form of list. Here it goes:
Promote your own hashtag(s) on your other social profiles, on your website, business cards and your email blast.
Get creative with your hashtags. Be relatable. Be memorable.
Pay attention to relevant and trending hashtags. Join these conversations to get in front of more people.
Use your bio link to drive traffic to your newest or most popular content.
Write descriptive captions. Storytelling will help generate engagement and potentially more sharing.
Have conversations with top influencers in your space and become one of their favorite people or brands.
Don’t want a tagged photo of you or your brand on your profile? Edit Tags to hide images from your profile.
Change settings if you do not want to be tagged by embarrassing photos.
Develop your own unique, recognizable visual style. Make sure people know your brand the moment they see your posts.
Visit the Places tab to see what’s happening locally – your neighborhood, a city you’re targeting in ads, or an event in a certain location.
Use a call to action to tell people what you want them to do with your posts. Be creative to get people share your content.
Post videos on your feed with subtitles. This enables your audience to watch the videos without fearing of loud or annoying sounds.
Post multiple clips on Instagram Stories & add locations near your business to attract people from outside your city.
Create two accounts for your business; Account 1 promotes your product, Account 2 displays behind the scenes. Each account support one another to extend your reach in market.
Add polls on your Instagram Stories; ask them what they’d like to see next, or what do they think about latest post – the opportunities to open up conversations are endless!
Create Q&A session on your Instagram Stories! Let your fans get to know you more by answering questions about you (the owner) and the business. These sessions can seriously catapult your engagement.
If you travel frequently (even domestic destinations), make full use of Instagram Location each time your post on feed, or your Stories. This allows your business to extend its reach in the market.
Request a shoutout for a shoutout to important figures in the industry. Don’t approach the big players yet if your account is small. It won’t make sense for them to exchange shoutouts with a small Instagram account.
Create 3 Highlights that best describe what you or your business does; I’d recommend to create ‘Website’, ‘Testimony’ & ‘Behind the Scene’ Highlights. These can help translate your business somewhat relatable to people – which is a big plus for your business.
Link your Instagram account with other social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter etc.
Small businesses with great products often fail due to its inability to get themselves in front of the mass market.
Despite of the successes of multiple social media platforms, traditional marketing mediums remain to be outside the budget limits of most small businesses.
In today’s article, I’ll share with you top ten ways to market your business with a small budget.
1. Advertisements
There are a number of websites now that offer free advertisements if you wish to sell product/service such as Mudah.my, Carousell and more.
You can even post advertisement on Facebook Groups which is specifically built for the purpose.
If you’re willing to spend a little bit of money, you can always go for Facebook Ads as it also posts your ad on Instagram – which means you are able to extend your market reach further.
Although, keep in mind that it is important to target your market specifically – or you’ll risk having only traffic to your business but without much sale.
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2. Press Releases
Press releases can be expensive depending on which medium you approach. It goes without saying, the larger the news, the more expensive it becomes.
However, if you’re able to attract enough attention from public, most news medium are more likely to come over and have a look at what the big deal is.
Release a statement that you’re organizing a charity event or that you’re helping homeless people to build their homes. Organize events, followed by invitations to news media to cover the stories. It’s a cheap form of publicity.
3. Sponsorship
Sponsorship is not as easy you’d think. Quite a number of entrepreneurs often mistaken that it’s always best to sponsor any events that attract the most customers. While these kind of events can be very expensive, it is also attracting people who are not in your targeted market.
If you’ve followed me long enough, you’ll know it’s always best to avoid or reduce reliance on the ‘numbers’ game – where the more is better. This is expensive and is kind of a gamble.
Personally, I feel it is best to narrow down the number of consumers by categorizing them into who would need and benefit the most from your product/service. Whilst the market has been minimized to smaller number of consumers, the chances of getting sales return is promising.
For example, if you are selling affordable designer handbags – sponsor a group of fashion influencers who attract women looking for international branded designs but with cheaper price tag. If you sell athletic watches – a group of fitness enthusiasts/celebrity fitness trainers. You get the idea.
Play with numbers where you can afford to lose in case things go south.
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4. Media Stunts/Guerrilla Marketing
Media stunts are effective in creating buzz.
Remember when Richard Branson drove a tank through the city?
Or do you remember when Elon Musk launch his Tesla to space?
While small businesses can’t compete at the level of those billionaires, there’s nothing you can’t do with a little bit of ingenuity and creativity.
For a small business, start looking around your neighboring area for things that you feel need to be addressed.
Provide a solution and stamp your brands all over it to create awareness of your company.
Don’t forget to invite news reporters too.
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5. Make more use of your business cards
Your business cards are a form of investment – so use it wisely.
It’s not a matter of simply distributing those cards among your family and friends, it’s about creating the need for them to ask for your business cards.
For example, back when I ran Mirsky Mode, I often meet up with my lady friends to catch up on things where I always bring up the ‘handbag’ conversation. We’ll talk about the design, brand and the expensive price tag of the bag. Once we get to the price, talk your way into how your company offers designer handbags for an affordable price. They would immediately ask for a card or even check out your online store on the spot!
This can also be applied to other industries too.
The important thing to do is to make sure the person you intend on distributing the business card is a part of your targeted market – or you’ll risk of wasting away that card.
Then, create a need for them to find out more about your business
6. Join a local networking group
A business that does not connect often fails.
Your company needs to be connected with people to gain their support.
By becoming emotionally connected with people, you are adding value to the relationship. Build on it and when the time is right, people will start visiting you to see what your business has to offer.
I’ve often made new friends from online meetup sites such as Meetup and AirBnB activities.
If you visit the local public library or town hall, there will be notice boards on local events or gathering too.
Pay a visit to one of them and start building relationship with people.
7. Use self-employed sales agents
This is a cheap alternative selling method.
Self-employed sales agents do not take large commissions from you since they do not have to pay any sales agency fees.
They are also highly motivated and very good at working independently.
This is great for you since you do not need to spend too much time on training/teaching them the ropes as they can get the things done on their own.
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8. Leaflet drops
The key of a successful leaflet drop is to pick the right market to distribute to.
Leaflet drops is a numbers’ game. Traditionally, the more you distribute, the higher chances of getting sales. This costs money.
Instead, narrow down your market. Target those who you feel the most likely to be interested in your product/service.
Pay more attention to the design of the leaflet. Be more emotionally connected with the consumers on the issues of what your business offers to resolve. Selling part comes later.
I’m not a huge fan of traditional leaflet drops but since I know a few businesses that successfully gain results from it, I’d share with you nonetheless – but with caution as it could costs much money and time which small businesses can’t afford.
9. Give talks to other businesses
I’ve given talks on investment once and learned few things from it.
First, you gain new connection who are in similar fields or interest. This is a no-brainer.
Just be sure to leave your contact or company’s contact details so they can find out more about your business.
Secondly, during Q&A session, I’ve managed to understand what troubles or issues people are experiencing in the field respectively.
The sessions gave me direct insight and I’ve learned numerous issues which my company can help resolve. A win-win.
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10. Write for your favorite e-magazines/blogs or create your own newsletter
Contributing articles is a must for bloggers and even writers nowadays.
Reasons are that you will extend your market reach to the blogs you’re contributing to. Don’t forget to leave links back to your blog (with permission, of course). If readers enjoy your writing, they will know where to look to find you.
Being a writer, I’m very fond of this idea. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always enjoyed writing fiction and as I grew older – business topics. So, why not use this to advantage in growing business?
11. Collaborate With Social Media Influencers
In this digital age where social media thrives able to flood your business with traffic/consumers, you’d best take full advantage of it. Plus, it’s cost varies from low-to-zero.
Influencers’ endorsements are definitely cheap compared to celebrities’. They can help influence their followers with a click of several buttons and your business will be on the ‘maps!’
While some agree to promote your business on reasonable fees, there are also those who simply accept your product/service as payment. It all comes down to negotiation and their popularity rating. Rest assured, they will cost you a lot less than celebrities.
This milestone signals the importance of businesses to have a presence on the platform.
However, this number also attracts large number of businesses onto the platform making competition highly saturated.
So, how do you grow your Instagram account in a saturated market? Here are the 3 fundamental principles of making it big on Instagram:
Leave at least three comments
Being an entrepreneur, having the best offense is the best defense. It sounds corny – but very true.
If your business is new to Instagram, it’s essential that you make the first move. Don’t wait – your business does not have the luxury.
Start by browsing through the photos of people you follow in the industry. Select 3 photos and leave intriguing comments.
Stop leaving generic comments like “Awesome pic!” and instead, say something that warrants the user to reply your comment. Make yourself stand out than the rest.
Having the engagement gives you some notoriety that will put you on people’s radars.
With the right comment, there is a good probability people could return good gesture; by returning Likes and Follow.
Don’t stop there. Continue engaging these people by sending DMs. Extend to offer exchange ‘shoutouts’ on your Stories too.
By agreeing to exchange ‘shoutouts’, you will be able to tap into another user’s audience to expand your market reach that will help your account to grow.
Remember! Always do what it takes to maintain continuous engagement with these people e.g. comment on their latest posts, do collaborations if necessary and so on.
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Post at least once per day
I’ll be honest with you, I read through numerous amount of debates about how often you should post.
Profiles with large followings post 3 or more times daily.
On the other hand, profiles between 10k-100k followers post 1 time per day.
The study, performed by Quinty, concluded that you need to at least post once per day. The more, the better – obviously.
Consequently, it’s best your account has a steady flow of content.
So, don’t leave a gap between days without a post as research has proven that brands which post often tend to have larger followings.
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Post at the optimal time
With the help of Instagram Insight, you probably already know the best time and day to post update on your account.
Instagram announced that they would be replacing the chronological feed with an algorithm that gives more priority to posts with higher engagement, which means the more likes and comments your post receives, the more people will see your post!
So, what can we learn from these updates by Instagram?
For each post you upload that gets a lot of Likes and Comments, this helps Instagram to determine that it’s a quality content which helps move your post to the top of your followers’ feeds.
Also, pay attention to “On average, people miss 70 percent of their feeds.”
This is a clear indication that you need to figure out the best time to post.
There are a number of factors in figuring this out; such as where majority of your audience is located, when they’re most active and so on – which you can find these details using Insight itself.
Having said that, there are a number of studies that found the optimal posting times.
Referring to a study by Mavrck, they have found that “…midnight, 3pm and 4pm were the most popular times to upload posts.”
They have also found that “Thursday, Friday and Wednesday were the most popular days too.”
The study also found that posting between 6 a.m. and 12 p.m. during off hours could potentially help gain exposure since users are still browsing their feeds.
The reason I’m sharing you this is to help you see the thinking behind the study findings.
You can use these logic to determine your own optimal time to post updates since different audience behaves differently.
I’d recommend conducting your own experiments to figure the best time and days using Google Spreadsheet.
Start posting based on the information available from Instagram Insight; take notes of the number of Likes and Comments for the day and time you posted. Do this for a week.
The second week, try posting on different time for each day. Do this for a couple of weeks.
Once you feel you have done sufficient experiments, start comparing the data you have. You’ll begin to see a trend of which days and time your audience are mostly active.
This is what you need to determine the optimal time of postings for your audience.
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Use 11+ hashtags
It’s a no-brainer that adding hashtags to your posts allow you to increase interactions with people.
Questions is; how much hashtags are considered good?
While some recommend to add one or two hashtags, others argue that you should use as many as 30 each post.
However, I went through an interesting study from TrackMaven that suggests 11+ hashtags on each Instagram posts give the highest interactions.
While the study does not guarantee you’ll gain 25,000 followers, adding 11+ hashtags to each post definitely give the edge to reach more people for engagement and account growth.
My Final Two Cent
Growing accounts on Instagram can be a very challenging task with its constant algorithm changes, shadow-bans and the existence of bot followers.
However, if you continue to add value to your audience and remain patient as you grow it, people will start paying attention to you.
Remember, creating awareness takes time.
Once you channel reaches beyond that point, you’ll start reaping the rewards.
Despite the presence of Twitter and Instagram, Facebook still plays important role for businesses.
Although a number of experts have forecasted the demise of Facebook, a survey has shown that it’s user base is still increasing by 8 people per second.
In fact, it also boasts a total 22% of worldwide mobile internet advertising revenue– making the social media giant one of the sought after platform for businesses.
Having said that, below are the methods which you can use to create effective Facebook ads:
In 2003, Harvard Business Review wrote how loyal customers are much more profitable than other customers. The article reported loyal customers are prone to buying from you more often, they cost less to serve and most important of all, they provide the highest quality of feedback.
Whilst all these are good, small businesses still struggle to obtain the creme’ de’ la creme of their customers. Here, we take a look at five effective ways to build your customers’ loyalty:
