Name: Smart Cow Marketing
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Instagram is a social media platform where you can share photos and videos about your business to your audience. Photos and videos are quick to convey messages, and easily understood by everyone; as the famous saying goes: ‘A picture is worth a thousand words.’ Instagram allows you to like posts, so getting your audience to follow, engage and like your posts will increase brand awareness, giving your business the boost, it needs.

We’ve complied five top tips on how to increase your like ratings:

1. High quality photos/videos! The main purpose of Instagram is sharing photos and videos, so of course take time in choosing and editing what to post. Instagram has an edit option before you post. Make sure they are looking good and relevant to your business. Typing ‘photo editor’ into your Appstore will give you hundreds of editor app options.

2. Attention grabbing captions! Once the post entices people in, the next thing to look at is the caption. Make sure that it is clear and interesting to read, perhaps giving context to the photo/video, or directing your audience to the ‘bio’ for a link to your webpage.

3. Use the hashtag! Hashtags mean your posts can reach out to a wider audience. When using a hashtag ensure that they are to the point, relevant to your post and you’re not overusing them.

4. Have a theme! When someone clicks on your profile they will see a grid of all your posts. Making sure your grid looks organised and has a nice aesthetic is appealing to people, and says a lot about your business in the way of co-ordination.

5. Post consistently – without being overwhelming. There is nothing worse then a feed being bombarded with posts from the same company. It is all about striking a balance and posting enough so people recognise and can engage with the post, but not too much that they unfollow you.

Hootsuite*, where we gained our inspiration for this blog, has many other tips on how to increase your Instagram likes and ways to get your business noticed.

Social media agency Croydon

If you need help with your social media marketing, get in touch with Smart Cow today! A reliable digital marketing agency in Croydon, helping you would be a pleasure.

Whether your business is landscape gardening, a bakery or florist. You may even run an accountancy firm or provide an event co-ordination service. What do these, and all small businesses, have in common? You want to be seen. And, with the 2018 digital marketing trends indicating that being visual is vital, isn’t it time you explored Instagram for business?

Why you should use Instagram?

People tend to remember what they see than what they read or hear, and with a picture being worth more than a thousand words, it seems to make sense to have an Instagram profile for your business. Since September 2017, it has noted that the social media platform has around ‘800 million monthly active users*’– a huge audience you really don’t want to miss out on. A popular inbound marketing tool, Instagram allows customers to interact with content that is already tailored towards them.

How to use Instagram and maximise your social media page

I’m sure the question you’re asking is how can my small business get noticed in a sea of millions of users. Don’t worry, there are a few tricks that can help boost your posts and get your Instagram page off the ground.

#HASHTAG! This means you can reach out to more people on the platform. Furthermore, users can now follow specific hashtags they are interested in. What might you hashtag? For a smaller business, ideas for hashtags can include where your business is located or who you want to target. You’re also going to want to hashtag the focus point of your business. You can use up to 30 hashtags so don’t be shy.Here’s an example that Smart Cow might use on a post: #purley #southlondon #marketing #SEO #PPC #websitedevelopment #emailmarketing.

FOLLOW RELATED ACCOUNTS! Keep your account formal and professional and refrain from following everyone you come across. Make sure you follow similar companies/pages, and both current and potential clients. You can create another account for personal use!

PLAN! Make sure you come up with creative captions and useful hashtags. Also think about a theme or layout out for your page so that it looks aesthetically appealing. Perhaps a colour scheme, or a pattern of posts. Most importantly make sure you post frequently and keep it up to date.

USE A BUSINESS ACCOUNT! Instagram has recently introduced business accounts. It allows you to create photo and video ads with links to your website. You’ll be able to; tailor ads to reach the audience you want, have easy contact information for client’s, and access to analytics.

A few other things to do are:
• Use Insta stories
• Live videos
• Direct Message

Who are the top Instagram users?

Believe it or not but amongst all those A-List celebrities with millions of follows there are also Dogs reigning the world of Instagram. Marnie the Dog, has a huge following of 2.1 million and is also verified on Instagram, or there’s Doug The Pug verified with 3.3 million and is raking in money from his own line of merchandise!

Social media agency Croydon

If you want to keep up with the pets who rule Instagram, contact Smart Cow, we specialise in digital marketing including social media management. We can help elevate your platform to a high standard and give you a kick start.

Source: *www.statista.com