Instagram has over one billion worldwide users every month. It is quite clear that it is the leading social media platform. But, with so many users, it’s easy to get lost amongst the crowd. And that’s something we definitely want to avoid when it comes to our business or social media.

Let’s touch on just some of the ways we can get the most out of the platform to benefit our Instagram presence.

1. Utilise Business Tools: if you haven’t switched over to a business profile, you’re missing out on so much. You can see insights telling you exactly who your audience is, website clicks, interactions and more. You’ll also open doors to advertising opportunities, one click direction options, url and tag links, direct call features and more.
2. Encourage Interaction: By encouraging your followers to interact with you by commenting or liking your posts, you are more likely to appear on their news feeds, which is fantastic when it comes to algorithm changes. Instagram is currently changing their algorithm, so stay ahead of the game by making sure your audience are constantly interacting with you, to ensure your content is always appearing in front of them. Ask them questions, feedback, or to like a post if they agree with what you’re saying or simply if they like what they see.
3. Stories: Whilst the posts on your feed are being seen by less, there’s an opportunity to jump back in front of users by uploading unlimited posts to your story. When you post a story, you appear on the story highlights reel at the top of the home page with a multi-coloured ring around your profile picture. Every time you post, you’ll jump to the front (for people who engage with you the most). If you have specific people who constantly view your stories, you’ll appear as one of the first in the reel if you have new stories to be seen.
4. Story Highlights: Further to posting to your story, utilise the highlight option to create mini photo albums below your bio – be creative and customise them, even with custom cover photos of icons or text (We can help you design these too). When users visit your page they can quickly access what they are looking for without having to scroll through your entire feed. Have a look at our Instagram page (Link) to see what we mean by different highlight albums and how you can use them.
5. Multiple photo posts/carousel posts: Upload a photo to your feed and select multiple images for users to swipe to see more, like a photo album. This is great for uploading several similar images in the one post, rather than uploading several posts and flooding your feed with similar images.
6. Keep Photo’s consistent: A good tip for standing out is keeping your type of photo’s consistent – this means taking a photo of your product on the same (or similar) background every time so people instantly recognise your images. If you are going to use an Instagram filter on your images, ensure that you use the same one for each image, to help keep your images looking consistent.
7. Post quality & consistent content: Don’t post for the sake of posting. Post content that actually represents your business or brand. I read an article recently that said your feed should be 30% your work/product/advertising and 70% inspiration – personally, in my opinion, I’m not sure if I agree with that. I say just post content that is relevant and good quality images (see point 6). If you’re producing good quality content and work and it’s classified as your work/product/advertising, it should be inspiration to your audience anyway!
8. Tag: Tag brands, friends, customers and more in the ‘Tag People’ option to appear in the tagged photo’s section of that brand or persons page. This makes you visible to people looking at tagged photos and will encourage people to find you.
9. Hashtag: Some people are afraid to use hashtags but when done correctly they can be effective. Don’t be too broad, but don’t be too specific either. Try hash tagging what you think people will search for, as so many people are now using Instagram to find suppliers. Also incorporate location based hashtags, for example #makeupartist #sydneymakeupartist
10. Instagram Shop: If you have an online store, utilise all of the content tips above to create amazing content and register for an Instagram shopping account. It enables you to add direct links to product photos on Instagram to drive direct sales to your website. 
11. IGTV, Live and Reels: Upload longer format videos to your platform to communicate a message or introduce a new product or service, Go Live to connect live with your audience and use Reels to create more video content for your audience. Video has a higher engagement rate than photo's. 

When used correctly, social media and in particular Instagram can be one of the best marketing platforms. We have many clients who use Instagram as their primary marketing tool and are constantly booked out for projects and services solely by utilising the platform to it’s full potential.