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8 ways to reinvigorate your company’s Instagram

Instagram

Romain Ouzeau, CEO of Instagram analytics and management platform Iconosquare, explains how companies can make sure they are getting the most out of their Instagram account.

Is your business’ Instagram lagging in likes? Failing to attract followers? Do you feel like your once vibrant feed is now lacking in life?

It’s easy to get stuck in a rut when it comes to Instagram. You find a formula that works and appears initially to be great at engaging your consumers. But then, slowly, the likes start to drop away, and it’s harder and harder to convert followers to customers.

Don’t despair! It’s easy to inject a bit of life into a flagging Instagram account.

Here are eight ways to combat dullness and engage your users once more:

1. Convert to a business profile

This may sound obvious, but if you’re a business, it makes sense that your Instagram account is a business profile. If you haven’t already done this, you can convert your account under your settings in the Instagram app.

One key benefit of the business profile is the addition of the big blue ‘contact’ button. By pressing this, your customers and prospective customers can find your contact details and street address so that they can contact you directly.

Another great perk of a business profile is the access it gives you to Instagram Insights – a small selection of post analytics which provide an at-a-glance look at how your latest posts have been performing.

2. Remove unwanted followers

Perhaps the issue is not that your posts aren’t getting enough attention, but that they aren’t getting the right kind of attention. According to an Iconosquare study, at least 40% of the comments businesses receive could be fake. If you spot less than authentic comments like “Great post (thumbs up)” or “Beautiful <3” on posts that aren’t relevant, it’s worth culling the bots.

The bad news is there isn’t an algorithm for preventing automated accounts from spamming. You have to manually rid your account of spammers by making a note of handles posting inauthentic comments, then going to your followers list and block the unwanted accounts.

3. Create a theme

Instagram profiles are highly visual spaces, so it makes sense to try and harmonise your posts so that they are visually appealing when placed together. Fashion Instagrammers are particularly adept at this, so look to them for inspiration.

For example, accounts like Stella Maria Baer or Happily Grey have strong visual themes which make their profiles more interesting to spend time on. Depending on your product or service, developing a strong visual theme could really drive strong engagement with your Instagram content.

4. Clean out old posts

If you want to maintain a consistent brand image, it’s important to remove posts that are no longer relevant to your business or are not of adequate quality to keep on your feed.

Everyone looks back at their old posts and regrets their decision to post that image where the messaging wasn’t quite right – but never fear. It couldn’t be easier to destroy all evidence by just hitting the delete button, and your users won’t suspect a thing.

5. Carousel

Carousel posts, also known as albums and slideshows, are the latest format to appear on the Instagram scene. These allow you to include up to 10 photos and videos in a single Instagram post. Carousels are a great way of displaying a number of your products in one post. Have a look at Clayton and Crume’s effective carousel post that they use to show off their products.

As an added bonus, there’s even some evidence that the Instagram algorithm could boost the visibility of carousel posts.

6. Boomerang

One of the easiest ways to make your Instagram feed more visually appealing is to shake up the way you present your content. This means experimenting with Boomerang.

The common misconception about Boomerang posts is that it’s frivolous and unprofessional. But, used correctly, they can really spruce up your feed. The Body Shop is a great source of inspiration here: they make absolutely fantastic use of Boomerangs to create lively posts that grab people’s attention.

7. Mix up sizes and shapes

Originally, Instagram was all about the square. It wasn’t possible to upload a photo or video to Instagram unless it was cropped into the square format.

In the present day, we’re no longer married to the square. It’s still a popular option, but now landscape and portrait rectangular posts are authorised on the platform, it’s easy to mix up your formatting by uploading different shapes and sizes of posts.

Another stylish way of playing around with formatting is by framing your post in white borders, allowing you to transform your photo into any shape.

8. Go Live

Instagram Live was introduced almost a year ago, but brands have been slow to pick up on this functionality. Because it requires consistent engagement from users, rather than mindless scrolling through the news feed, brands have assumed that consumers will be less willing to engage.

But it’s precisely because of its disruptive quality that Instagram Live can be extremely beneficial for brands. When you go live, Instagram automatically sends a push notification to your entire audience and pushes you to the front of the Stories lineup. Utilising Instagram live not only means adding more variety to your content presentation but also pulls in more and more pairs of eyes.

As you can see, there are loads of ways you can inject a bit of style into any Instagram account. The Instagram algorithm rewards accounts that take advantage of all the platform’s functions, so don’t be shy. The key is to keep an open mind, keep track of the latest tools and features that are available, and remember to have fun!

For more social media advice, head to the marketing section of UKTN.

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