Are You Using Instagram?

I’m not sure when I opened my Instagram account. I’ve managed to post a few photos and motivational quotes. I am very much a novice on Instagram so I finally decided to check it out and attending a webinar to get some training.

The webinar I attended taught some strategies you can use to build your followers and some apps you can use to help automate the process. In this post, I’m going to share with you some of things I learned and what I have implemented to build my brand and followers.

I’m going to be referring to 2 app’s in this post that I am using on my laptop. I find it easier to set everything up on my laptop vs my cell phone.

www.later.com
www.all-hashtags.com

Before we get started here are a few facts about Instagram and why you might want to consider using Instagram for marketing and gaining exposure for your brand.

Another statistic showed that about 35% make $75,000.00 per year, so there’s some buying power.

Media Source https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/state-of-social-media-demographics

Best times to post on Instagram:

According to a blog post on Later.com “In a recent poll by Later, a free Instagram scheduler, over 50% of social media managers said that evenings from 7-9pm was the best time to post on Instagram.”

Here are some other tips the study provided:

• Post more during off-work hours instead of during the day
• Weekends can be hit-or-miss
• Save the important posts for weekdays.
• Avoid 3pm, but don’t be afraid to experiment.

Obviously, this is dependent on your particular audience. Good news is there are tools available to help you measure your results.

How often should I post?

Media Source https://blog.tailwindapp.com/how-often-should-i-post-to-instagram-at-least-once-per-day/

So, there is a HUGE increase in “Likes” for accounts that are posting 7+ times per week. There are other factors that come into play that we will discuss on future posts and webinars.

What should I post on my Instagram account?

My personal approach is the same as any other social media platform. If you follow the 3E rule you will attract followers.

The 3E’s:

• Educate
• Empower
• Entertain

You only want to promote your business or events every 3^rd or 4^th post depending on your posting frequency.

My Instagram account – Starting Point

My Instagram account is very average account with not a lot of followers, so this should be a good gage of how well the strategies work. I am going to be posting again in a couple of weeks to share my results.

This is the starting point on 08/06/2017. As you can see I have 1050 followers and am following 2388. My “Cool Factor” is not very good Lol.

The first thing I did was add an app called later.com. This app allows you to schedule all your posts. It does not auto post, Instagram does not allow for auto posting. Later.com will send a notification to your phone with the scheduled post for you to push to your Instagram account. You will also be able to make any edits needed before you send.

Here is a screen copy of my free later.com account:

As you can see I am scheduling future posts (about 1 per day).

You also can preview all your posts (mobile phone view) including future post and rearrange them as desired.

You can upload your media library from your Google Drive account or Dropbox. Once the images are added you click and drag the image to the day you want it post then schedule the time.

Measuring your results?

Later.com provides analytics to determine how well your posts are doing. You’ll be able to see what type of posts do the best and what time is the best time for your audience.

Another tool I am using is:

www.all-hashtags.com

With this tool, you can put in a word and it will give you a list of relevant hash tags that you can choose from to use in your post. Instagram will allow you out up to 30 hashtags per post, but you should probably use half of that amount or less a little less.

I’ll be updating my results in a couple of weeks and will also talk about how you can add a link to your Instagram posts.

If you decide to IMPLEMENT this simple strategy please comment below and be sure to share your results.

Don’t forget to follow me @mbustamonte

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