Uncategorized Become an Instagram superstar! September 2, 20164 minutes Mira Kahn Instagram is a great social network to build a strong brand, interact with your customers and – last but not at least – to gain new customers. Follow these easy tricks to step up the game and make your brand an Instagram superstar! 1) This is basic, but so many still fail at this: use great pictures! Instagram is all about inspiration and aspiration. So to succeed you need to use great pictures that inspire your followers. Think about the profiles you like. I am pretty sure they all use pictures that inspire you in your daily life in some way, right? How? You don’t need a fancy camera if you have a smartphone. Use your phone together with some great apps and start shooting. Remember to think about the lightning and how and with what you position your main object. To find your style it might be good to make a mood board. Instagram tip: use beautiful images 2) Make smart friends. Yes, you can and should have Instagram brand friends. Together you will be stronger! Find brands that match your brand profile. It is crucial that your friends are on brand – meaning that they have the same or similar values and image as your brand. If not, you will weaken your own brand image. How do you get friends? First, follow their profile. Comment and like some posts to make them aware of you. Don´t become a creepy stalker. Be natural and use time to build the relationship as you would do with every other new relationship. When it feels right, reach out and ask if you can do something together? Maybe a shoutout, a cross give-away, a competition or other activities. Remember to think about what they want so that you don´t just suggest something that is good for you. The key is a win win situation! Instagram tip: make smart-friends 3) It is so sooo important to analyse your work on Instagram and it is so sooo easy to forget. To do this I recommend Iconsquare. It’s an easy, inexpensive tool that gives you a great overview. You can try it for free and upgrade if you want more features. For instance, you can easily see when your followers are active on Instagram to better time when you should publish your post. You can see who are the most active etc. It is great! Analyse your work on Instagram frequently and you will soon get a grip on what your followers like and not. What they like is important, especially after Instagram changed their algorithm so that popular posts gets a better reach and vice a versa. 4) Make a plan and a strategy. Imagine that you are a small shoe brand. How many posts should be about your product, how many should be about the people that work with the product? How many should be from behind the scenes? And how many should be about price and offerings? You get the point right? What you fill your profile with depends on your brand strategy and how you want your customers to see your brand. It is the sum of what you post that counts. And therefore the balance between the different types of posts that is important. Instagram is still not the best platform for conversion so don´t be too pushy about sales. Inspire people, get them to like your brand and they will buy. Instagram tip: be real, and be true to your brand 5) Last but not least, get to know your followers. See who they are through Instagram or Iconsquare. Which hashtags do they use, which other profiles do they follow? Talk with them. Answer them if they ask or comment. Everybody likes to be seen. Also in the digital world. Instagram is a great platform to build relationship with your fans. Use it for what it is worth. Now, get out there and become an Instagram superstar!!