- Contest Factory
- April 9, 2018
Instagram Prospecting Know-how
Instagram has long been an incredibly popular social media platform for businesses, but several recent studies have revealed that it may be even more powerful than people first suspected. Not only do an estimated 71% of businesses heavily use Instagram, but it also has over 200 million monthly active users.
But Instagram is ultimately just a tool – the same as anything else. What the tool can do is less important than how you use that tool. Therefore, if you really want to attract better crowds via your business’s use of Instagram, you’re going to want to keep a few key points in mind.
- It’s All About Engagement
One of the best ways to really attract better crowds on Instagram can be summed up in one simple-yet-important word: gamification. Gamification marketing has always been an effective way to do everything from generating new leads to increasing loyalty, but it also allows you to engage with a much larger audience on your Instagram and other social channels than ever before. Instead of more traditional, standard campaigns, you can use your Instagram business page as a platform to launch an instant win game, a sweepstakes, or even some type of user-generated contest that puts consumer participation front and center.
Not only are you encouraging a much deeper and more meaningful level of interaction with your audience members, but you’re also subtly training them to keep checking your page on a frequent basis – after all, they don’t want to miss an opportunity to play a fun game or win an incredible prize that they just wouldn’t be able to anywhere else. Overall, you’re increasing not only someone’s willingness to interact with your brand on Instagram, but their motivation to do so. Additionally, with the right social contest software, even contest administration becomes effortless.
- Don’t Forget About the Visuals
One of the reasons why Instagram is such an effective social platform is because it’s heavily visual – and human beings are nothing if not visual learners. Therefore, one of the best ways to increase Instagram engagement and attract better crowds involves leaning into this fact as much as possible. Instagram is known to reward pages with beautiful, clean, and clear photography that appeals to the public’s appetite for vivid and magical imagery.
Whatever story you’re trying to tell with your Instagram marketing, make sure that you do so in a visual way whenever possible. Practice the old rule of “show, don’t tell.” Don’t be afraid to pull back on the words if a thoughtful image can get the same point across. Use elements like Instagram emojis to really embrace every opportunity to add visual flair to your page. Not only do people retain more information when it is presented in a visual way, but according to Hubspot, people spend far more time interacting with visual content than they do almost any other type of collateral you may be using.
- The Power of User-Generated Content
Finally, embrace opportunities for user-generated content that relates to your brand whenever possible. Allow your own users to contribute and tell their own stories about what your brand represents, what it means to them, and more. Not only will this spark discussions that increase the number of comments on your posts, it’s also a perfect chance to expand your reach beyond your own audience. If you partner with an influencer on an Instagram post, it’s going out not only to your business’ audience but to the influencer’s audience, too. It’s the perfect way to take something that is already quite powerful and really push it over the line towards exponential success.
