When I was growing up, it was cool to be a doctor. Now days, the job of choice for young folks (god I sound old)? Influencer.
So, now that one has decided to pursue a career shaping the opinion of others with social media posts, I thought I would give some guidance on how to maximise instagram to drive your dreams of being paid to go on holiday in the Maldives (or is that just my dream?).
Use the right hashtags on your posts
Seems basic right? Wrong. Many people either don’t use tags at all, or use ones that are too broad or too niche. On Instagram, every hashtag you use has the potential to open that post—and thus your profile—up to a whole new audience. Give your hashtag game some thought: Don’t be too broad (i.e., #dog) but don’t be too niche (i.e., #labradoodlesofpottspoint). Don’t go overboard using hundreds of hashtags either - studies say that posts with 9 hashtags get the most engagement. The old adage works here - quality over quantity.
Use hashtags in your Stories and bio, too
Stories don’t directly earn Instagram ‘likes’, which seems to be the highly sought after vanity metric people are chasing (of course, after more followers) and neither does using hashtags in your bio, but using them strategically in both of these places is a way to expand your reach to new audience who are looking to find pages related to those tags. Hot tip: If you think hashtags in stories are ugly, like I do, you can hide the hashtags in your stories by placing them off side of screen or behind other stickers etc
Tag people and brands, when relevant
You get what you give, and that goes for attention, too. If its products you genuinely use, clothes you wear, then tag away! Share the love and again, you’ll appear in the tagged section of these feeds. Pro tip: Dont be spammy and incessantly tag a modelling agency and allllll their competitors over and over again in chance of getting scouted…. (it doesnt work)
Geotag your location
More than just a humblebrag about your excellent taste in cafes or cool abstract art galleryies, geotagging your location is a way for more people to find your profile and hopefully like your content. If people like the venues you like, and check the geotag, you’ll show up in the content display. Win.
Post consistently
It might seem obvious, but posting regularly and consistently is such an important part of building your instagram follower and engagement. There isnt a ‘perfect’ number - the old adage of ‘you must post twice a day’ is dead, but what you do want to do is have your audience hear from you in a pattern that feels regular and systematic. You don’t want to annoy your followers but spamming them with content that isnt interesting, engaging or relevant, but neither do you want to make them feel ghosted. There’s so many scheduling tools that allow you to set up content in advance if you’re worried about forgetting. Find a rhythm that works for you and your audience, and then stick to it.
Post when your followers are looking
Instagram doesn’t show posts chronologically, but its algorithm does favour “recency.” Which means that if you want to get in front of eyeballs, it’s important for you to know when your audience is actually looking at the app. Your own analytics section of instagram will give you some guidance as to peak times in terms of day of week and time of day.
Don’t post and ghost
Instagram, like any social media platform, is designed to foster communication and relationships between users. If you post and then leave the platform, without replying to comments or questions, engaging with your audience, or engaging with other peoples content, your content wont receive good engagement and instagram’s algorithm wont value your posts or present them to as many eyeballs. So invest in your audience. Remember, its a mutually beneficial relationship!
Now, go enjoy your new found status as social media superstar. You’re welcome.