Bark’s top tips for building an Instagram presence

It’s easy to trip up on the road to a successful Instagram presence. If you stroll into Instagram expecting your customers to click the follow button straight away, you’re in for a big surprise. With over a billion active users, the social media giant should always be a key part of any brand’s marketing strategy. Here are a few of Bark’s top tips for building a presence on Instagram.

Influencer outreach

Whether you like them or not, influencers are the present and future of Instagram marketing. We’re not talking about your Kim Kardashians and Selena Gomezs here – unlocking the treasure chest of micro-influencers could give your brand a whole lot of gold. Sending product to a big list of micro-influencers rather than paying an account with a huge following is better in the long run for your brand. You’ll get more exposure overall, your costs will be much lower and you’ll manage to build long-lasting connections with the influencers.

Also, micro-influencers tend to have a deeper, more authentic relationship with their followers, meaning your brand will be getting in touch with people who listen. Build up a list of influencers, send out product and watch your impressions and follower count skyrocket.

Cross-promotion

No matter how big your following is on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, it’s vital that you spread the message about your brand’s Instagram account. While this might sound like common sense, it’s all too easy to forget to cross-promote for the first few months. Ensuring that your Instagram account is visible on the homepage of your site is also a great way of raising awareness. Placing a reel of live photos at the bottom of the homepage will encourage people who actually visit your site to engage with the account.

Competitions

Who doesn’t love free stuff? Competitions are the bread and butter of any successful Instagram presence, especially for a growing account. The right competition can generate some serious buzz around your brand, as well as helping to push your follower count up through the roof. The possibilities for contests are endless, but we’d recommend following a 1, 2, 3 rule structure. Keep the rules simple and easy to follow, but make sure to ask users to follow the account, tag a friend in the comments and post to their story for an extra vote. You’ll be surprised how much a massive increase in engagement can push your brand account forward.

Consistency

With any social platform, consistency is key. If you’re not posting every day on your account, the algorithm isn’t going to look favourably on you. The actual content of your posts needs to be consistent too. Whether it’s colour, font or style, all your posts need to have a link that ties them together. This thread running through your content will be beneficial for growing your audience, as well as creating your posts.

Growing an Instagram following isn’t easy, but with influencer outreach, scheduling and consistency, the road to a successful account becomes a lot less bumpy.

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