If you’re a business or creator looking to grow your brand on Instagram, you’ve probably realised by now that it’s a lot easier said than done. Maintaining audience engagement, following trends and keeping up with ever-changing algorithms can be exhausting, and it’s easy to waste a lot of time aimlessly scrolling and refreshing the app to see whether your posts have got any more likes… but that’s not productive at all! So to make sure your daily Instagram binge is actually going to help to improve your engagement and grow your account, I’ve put together a handy checklist of several things you can do every day to make sure you’re showing up on the platform in the best way possible.
- Check your notifications and respond to ALL of them
Responding to someone that took time out of their day to comment on your post will make them more likely to want to interact with your content in the future, and will help to build a connection between the two of you. Even a simple “thank you so much!” can go a long way.
- Respond to all your DMs (and check your filtered inbox!)
Just like responding to comments, reading and replying to people who have sent you private messages will help to build a stronger relationship between you and your audience. And don’t forget to check your message requests too! DMs from those who follow you, but you don’t follow back, can easily end up getting missed, so make sure you check these messages from time to time.
- Post at least one Instagram story!
Even if you’re not posting on your feed or Reels every day, it’s important to show up in your stories to stay visible and give your audience a way to keep up to date with what you or your brand is up to.
Some top tips for posting Instagram stories:
- If you feel comfortable and if it works for your brand, show your face as this creates a more human connection between you and your followers.
- Use polls and question stickers. These give your audience a fast, fun and easy way to interact with your story, boosting its chances of being seen by more people. Polls in particular are great for helping to improve your story views – but make it something that everyone can join in with!
- If your story features you or someone else talking, use the auto-captions feature. A lot of people scroll through their feeds and stories with the volume down, so this will help target those people too.
- Like and comment on five posts in your feed
Interacting with your community is so important. Instead of just aimlessly scrolling through your feed, take the time to pick a few posts that stand out to you and comment something meaningful. These people are then more likely to come and check out YOUR stuff which will help boost your chances of your posts being seen by them in the future – win-win!
5. Comment on 20 posts in your niche
This may sound like a lot, but if you have ten or fifteen minutes to spare it’s a great way to be seen by those who aren’t (yet!) following you.
To find accounts to interact with, you can:
- Search for recent photos under relevant hashtags (for example, a pet food brand could search for posts hashtagged with #dogowner)
- Find big accounts within your niche and comment on their followers’ photos
- See who is commenting on the posts of bigger accounts in your niche and engage with their content
6. Finally, check your analytics!
This will only take a couple of minutes a day but is vital to see what type of content is working, what your followers are engaging with most, when they’re most active and how your account is growing. This information is useful as it can help you work out what to post in the future and the best times to do it.
I hope this has been helpful! Remember, you don’t need to be spending hours on Instagram every day, but if you follow these guidelines daily then even just half an hour each morning can really help to transform your account.
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