9 Tips To Build Your Brand On Instagram
21 March 2021
September 2017. We launched the Instagram account for our social media brand - Cycling Pulse. Within a year the account hit 100,000 followers.
No existing audience. No bot farms, no fake followers.
Cycling Pulse is about light-hearted cycling news and entertainment.
The account grew because we understood the type of content that cyclists find relatable, we jumped on topical or trending news in the sport and worked to a regular and consistent posting schedule.
We’ve been successfully managing cycling brands’ social media accounts for some time now. Every brand is different. Each has its own story to tell.
Our guide on marketing to cyclists includes our recommendations on having a brand-building social media strategy. But what about the specifics of Instagram? Here’s some recommendations.
1. Write meaningful captions
Meaningful doesn’t mean long. It means that someone has taken the time to write something that actually has value and sounds like a human has written it.
2. Use high quality imagery
Your Instagram account is an extension of your brand. If you don’t have access to suitable quality imagery then invest in some. It needn’t be prohibitively expensive but it will elevate your brand.
Used smartly, one product shoot in a studio capturing several different looks can keep your Instagram account looking fresh for 6 months.
Avoid using free-to-use stock image sites with pro kits from 15 years ago.
3. Give people a reason to follow you
Ask yourself: why would someone decide to follow our account? This isn’t always easy or clear in the case of a brand account but we can look to personal accounts for inspiration.
One example is Rev. Chris Lee, a vicar from London. His account was growing slowly until September 2019. At that point he started posting ‘60 second sermons’ as videos on his account. Within weeks his account was growing at 10,000 new followers a month. Today he has 175,00 followers.
Chris became known as the ‘#60SecondSermon’ guy. He’s the guy you would tell your friends to follow “because he posts these 60 second sermons”.
Ask yourself: what could be our ‘60 second sermon’?
4. Use Stories to tell stories
15-second interactive videos or images are a fantastic way to engage people with your message. The experience of a full screen vertical video is now the medium of choice for content consumption (thanks, TikTok) on a mobile phone.
Use Stories to communicate messages at a deeper level than the feed.
Endless shares of tagged posts aren’t engaging.
‘The History of Bicycle Helmets’: a series of Stories we created for HEXR
5. Don’t advertise to your followers
People don’t follow your account to be advertised to. They follow you because it means something to them.
6. Don’t use the same hashtags over and over
It’s tempting to copy and paste the same long list hashtags on every post. It’s a shortcut. It saves time. Don’t do it.
Instagram has long been cracking down on repetitive content or comments. It actually goes against their community guidelines. Instagram will penalise your account for using the same hashtags over and over. It looks spammy too.
Use three or four hashtags for each post that are relevant to your brand and the post.
7. Use ambassadors
If you have brand ambassadors use them and their content to tell interesting stories on your account.
Properly managed, as well as giving your brand credibility and trust among their own audience, ambassadors are a rich source of content for you and your brand.
8. Don’t try and be something you’re not
I’ll say it again: your Instagram account is an extension of your brand. It should reflect the things you stand for.
Don’t jump on trending topics if they’re not aligned with your values. Memes are irreverent and fun but should brands be posting them? Probably not.
9. Engage with posts your brand is tagged in
When your brand is tagged in a post by another user, that post will invariably attract a handful of likes and comments.
Engage with the post. Like it, and leave a comment that adds a little value. It’s a simple gesture but it reveals a human side to your brand. After all there’s a real person behind every interaction on Instagram (well, most of the time…).
Oliver Attinger is managing director at Freeride.
Get in touch.
Need some help building your brand on Instagram? Drop an email to oliver@wearefreeride.com or call us on +44 (0) 203 488 4493.