When it comes to Instagram the most important metric you need to focus on is your followers. But you don't want to have just any kind of follower, anyone can buy a bot and get over a million followers if they're willing to pay the price.
No what you want are engaged followers. They're the people who follow your feed because they genuinely like the content that you're offering. But building an engaged following can be a difficult task.
When it comes to growing an engaged following on Instagram nothing beats having your posts shared by social influencers, especially celebrities. Getting a shoutout from a high-profile celebrity means that their authority rubs off on you, their fans will automatically become more receptive to your message. Which means more followers, more engagement and more sales.
But first you have to create content that people notice and can't resist sharing. Here are five tips on how to create Instagram posts so good that even celebrities share them.
1. Keep your images simple
Pictures speak a thousand words, and a well-crafted image with a clear message is more likely to be shared than something that's aesthetically convoluted and messy. Keep your message simple by keeping your image simple.
Something like a text over a picture might seem too ordinary or mundane, but a straightforward message can be understood by everyone and has mass appeal. This is exactly the kind of widespread resonance that influencers and celebs are looking to post. Think pop music, not experimental art rock.
The best thing about keeping things simple is you don't have to be a professional graphic designer in order to create a visually striking image. There are a bunch of apps out there that allow you to create your own visually striking images using just your phone! We recommend using tools like WordSwag and Typorama.
Both are very similar in that you're able to upload a backdrop picture of your choosing, create a custom quote to overlay the image, and you're only one swipe or click away from different font styles.
I like to download royalty-free images from sites like Pixabay if I want to find more dynamic background images. All I have to do is save and upload them into Dropbox or Google Drive to have the ability to create and upload quality, original pictures at any time.
2. Branding
While this one might seem very obvious, it's actually quite surprising how many people neglect to do this or don't get it right.
Make sure that you watermark each and every one of the images you post on Instagram or you risk people stealing and repurposing your content.
Here's an example of when rapper LL Cool J shared one of Foundr's posts, but as you can see, someone had cut off our watermark and replaced it with theirs! Thankfully, our loyal followers were able to spot the similarity and made sure to say so in the comments.
It's relatively easy to brand your images with your logo using free apps like EzyWatermark or Canva. Otherwise the aforementioned apps like WordSwag and Typrorama also have native functions where you can add your logo to an image.
However, remember that your brand is much more than just a single logo design. Everything from your chosen color palette to your choice of font reflects your brand.
Every piece of content you produce should possess your signature style so that audiences are immediately able to recognize your brand, even without the logo.
3. Focus on basic emotions
When it comes to creating shareable content you have to keep in mind what emotion it is you're targeting.
Recent research suggests that we're only capable of feeling four basic emotions: happy, sad, afraid/surprised, and angry/disgusted. It's all about creating content that targets one of these emotions, depending on what it is you want to achieve.
Images that evoke happiness are more likely to be shared; sadness and fear generate empathy, brand loyalty and engagement; and anger is more likely to generate all of the above, especially if the subject matter is controversial.
Marketing is all about eliciting one of these four emotions from your audience.
There's a reason motivational images are shared often, especially by celebrities and athletes. The more inspired and happy a person feels from any piece of content, the more likely they are to share it with others. If you can evoke a chosen emotion in a celebrity, they're going to be eager to do so with their followers.
Subject matter isn't the only emotionally resonant component of your posts. Be sure to take advantage of the science behind how color affects emotions to give your content a boost toward achieving the desired result.
You can always refer to the famous Plutchik's Wheel of Emotion as a handy guide to how different colors can affect different emotions.
4. Use the right hashtags
Hashtags are vitally important to furthering the reach and exposure of all of your posts.
Hashtags allow you to get your content in front of your desired audience and keep your account up to date with the current trends. They're often a primary way people find new accounts.
Make sure that you're maxing out Instagram's limit of 30 hashtags per post, especially if you're a smaller account. Every hashtag you use drastically increases the likelihood of your content getting likes and shares.
Streamline the posting process by taking some time to do serious hashtag research in advance.
Find out what hashtags your target audience really responds to. There are plenty of free hashtag analytics programs out there that can give you real time results as to what's trending and why.
Also be sure to check out what hashtags the celebrities you want to represent your brand are using and browsing. Get on their radar by using the same hashtags they are.
Also make sure to post your hashtags into the comment section and not the caption of the image, because otherwise it just screams spam. Posting the hashtags into your own comment section will achieve the same effect and it'll keep your image looking uncluttered.
5. Share for share
The first thing most marketers forget when it comes to social media marketing is the social aspect of it all. Get out there and communicate with people!
Share for share is the content economy that drives Instagram. It's when you approach another influencer and negotiate a deal where you'll share their posts in exchange for them sharing yours.
What you don't want to do is ignore similar accounts in your space, because influencer marketing is a collaborative game. By sharing each other's content you get the chance to expose your brand and message to an engaged following and vice versa, making it a win-win situation for all involved.
It also means that other influencers are able to, as long as you've remembered to brand your images, take notice of your content as well.
Most Instagram users use a free messaging service known as Kik in order to communicate with one another.
Don't be afraid to reach out to other similar accounts and collaborate. As long as you're providing something of equal or greater value, most people are more than willing to do a mutually beneficial share for share. As your account grows, you can engage with more popular personalities and social media celebs.
It could even lead to a more significant relationship and you might even be meeting your next business partner!
Wrapping up
Instagram is one of the leading social media platforms in the world, with more than 400 million active users worldwide. So it really is no surprise that more and more businesses are scrambling to gain a foothold here.
Having your content noticed and shared by top influencers and celebrities is a surefire way to gain massive exposure to your brand and drive traffic to your business. Take advantage of that influence by making sure you're creating content that deserves to be seen.