What are hashtags for?

Initially, hashtags were created to allow social media users to easily find posts under a certain topic. Do you like cats? Check out all the posts under the hashtag #cats or #catsofinstagram. As Instagram continued to promote hashtags, it also allowed its users to follow certain hashtags and keep up with the topics they care about.

Tip: Check out accounts that are similar to yours and see what tags they’re using. If they are successful, get inspired!

Do hashtags really work?

In this day and age, relevant hashtags can open you up to a whole world of followers and potential customers. When used correctly, hashtags can enable the right people to find and engage with your content. The key is using the right ones. For instance, if you are in the soap-making business, using #buildabear won’t get you far.

Tip: What about your business appeals to your audience the most? Hashtag #ecofriendly or #vegan to highlight this feature of your brand and attract an audience that cares about the planet.

Instagram vs TikTok

Hashtags have proven to be very successful on Instagram. People actually conduct hashtag searches and even follow them! Not all platforms are the same. TikTok, the platform best known for its young audience and trendy dances, does not work the same way. Because of the way the algorithm is set up, the app does not promote your content based on popular ones. Adding #fyp to your video’s description does not guarantee millions of views. Your video will get its chance regardless of the tags you use.

Tip: Use popular tags on Instagram, but don’t bother with them on TikTok. Instead, post consistently. For more personalized social media advice, request a Social Media Audit!

The post The Power of Hashtags appeared first on iSocialPR.

Instagram continues to add features for its users, making it hard to keep up. Here are some features you can master and use to draw attention to your profile and engage with your followers.

Reels

Reels are Instagram’s version of TikToks. Most Reels you see are recycled TikToks and very few actually originated on Instagram. The reason many users choose to stay on Instagram instead of migrating to TikTok is habit. You can use it to your advantage and speak to your audience through these short videos.

Reels follow the structure of TikTok, meaning they rely on trends. Spend some time every day browsing through Reels to figure out what’s trending this week and what trends you can hop on. The purpose of Reels is to attract attention with fun, 15-second videos rather than share important information. Have fun with it!

Boomerangs

While Reels are a relatively new invention, boomerangs gained popularity a few years ago. This feature allows you to create short video loops. Years later, boomerangs are not only meant for jumping videos or clinking glasses with your friends. You can use these short captivating videos to showcase your products and/or services.

If you want to take it a step further, you can download the Boomerang from Instagram app and create professional boomerangs. This format is especially appealing to millennials. You will rarely see boomerangs as actual posts; they work better with Stories!

Going live

In the age of instant gratification, people want everything now. It all started with Instagram posts. You can make a video and post it immediately, though most people take some time to edit and come up with a witty caption. Stories managed to get closer to real time videos, though they only show a short fragment of your day. With the opportunity to go live on Instagram, you can finally interact with your followers in real time.

Going live can be challenging, as it requires a constant stream of entertainment for a certain amount of time. You have to be quick on your feet and be able to react to comments in seconds. We recommend you to go live when you have a specific topic in mind. You can also use this feature for direct interaction with your followers, like a Q&A session. Be sure to never start your live unprepared!

IGTV

What is IGTV and how is it different from Reels and Stories? There is a clear distinction between Reels and IGTV. Reels focus on shorter videos that are made for entertainment purposes. IGTV, on the other hand, favors longer videos. If you’re going to use Reels to attract your viewers’ attention, you can then use IGTV to talk about your product and offer value to the viewers.

Since IGTV provides a longer viewing experience, it makes sense to invest a bit more into the video and create a high-quality product. You have to catch the attention of the viewer and keep it throughout the whole video, so make sure it’s worth it!

Highlights

We all know Stories; they are little pictures and videos you post that can only be viewed for 24 hours after posting. Sometimes throwing these pieces of multimedia away after a day is a real shame. That’s why Instagram created Highlights! You can add any story you’ve ever posted to Highlights and keep it there forever (or until you feel like deleting it from your Highlights).

Your Highlights will be visible in a line above your posts. You can create different Highlights based on themes, events, dates, or any other criteria. Add as many as 100 photos or videos to one Highlight. Use Highlights for Stories that deserve to be viewed again and again. For instance, you can create a Highlight for an event that you organized or a new product that you’ve been advertising. Make a separate Highlight for all the customer reviews you’ve reposted.

To make your Highlight reel look more organized, choose a cover image for each Highlight. You can do that by selecting the Highlight, clicking on the three dots in the bottom right corner, and selecting Edit Highlight. If you click on Edit Cover, you can choose an image from the Highlight to be on the cover, or go to your phone’s gallery and choose an image from there. If you want to take it a step further and stay consistent with your brand, keep all the Highlight covers in the same design and/or color scheme.

Have you been getting full use out of these Instagram features? If not, you are missing out! Your audience would love to be entertained and simple pictures are not cutting it anymore. Have a look at our services and contact us today if you would like to add these elements to your toolbox!

The post Instagram and Its Many Tricks and Gadgets appeared first on iSocialPR.

Social Media is Time Consuming 

If you are not a natural social media marketer, someone who is instinctively able to create the kind of aesthetically appealing content that breaks through the noise of the internet and garners appreciation, then you will have to employ someone to manage your social media pages for you and generate content that is likely to be successful. 

Rule Changes Are Out of Your Control 

Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram often change their rules and update their algorithms in ways that can unexpectedly undermine even the most well-planned social media advertising campaign. People have had their Facebook ad accounts shut down by the platform, often without an explanation for how their account may have violated Facebook’s terms and conditions. Imagine that you’ve invested a ton of money in a new Facebook ad campaign, and in boosting your Facebook page, only to have your account taken away from you for a couple of weeks while you struggle to get it back. Eventually, Facebook finds that it was wrongfully suspended, and they return it to you. But in the time you didn’t have access to your account, you could have lost a big slice of profit in sales as well as seeing your ad campaign completely derailed! 

The Solution is Hybrid Marketing 

By using other forms of marketing, such as email newsletters, Google Ads, and interviews with newspapers, blogs, and podcasts, you can make sure that your business is visible all over the internet, rather than just on social media. You can still suffer damage if something goes wrong with one of your social media accounts, but it will be less severe if other avenues of marketing can pick up the slack until you get the social media side of your business sorted out. 

So, why should you diversify your marketing strategy? Because it will help you reach a wider range of customers and prevent you from running into problems in the future. You should be working with different mediums in order to expand your reach and content. This will allow your marketing strategy to become better and stronger. 

The post Why You Should Diversify Your Marketing Strategy appeared first on iSocialPR.

Posting, posting, and more posting

It may seem obvious to keep posting content on the regular, however, there is a bit of a science to it. While it may seem like spamming your stuff is a great idea, you may want to back up a bit first. What do most people rely on? Consistency! That’s right, people love having something on the regular, so it’s not about spamming your posts, it’s about maintaining a consistent schedule to boost meaningful content. Try posting once every day to maintain that connection with your audience. 

Communication is a two-way street

Now that you’ve started a consistent posting schedule, what’s next? Well, we have a few suggestions. First and foremost we all want genuine engagement in our social media; Actively engaging your audience is the best way to do that. Ask them questions and use thought-provoking content to get your followers feeling like they are part of something. Most importantly continue the conversation in the comments.

Use Instagram features to your advantage

Stories are a great feature to use and can further enhance your follower’s experience. They will want to see you and hear what you have to say. People always value what feels genuine and who better to show them who you are than yourself!

Host a Giveaway!

This is a win-win for your popularity growing on Instagram, hosting a giveaway is a great way to garner more followers. By hosting a giveaway you’ll ask your followers to tag their friends, putting more eyes on your page!

Getting a social media audit

So you’ve followed all these tips and are still looking for more ways to attract interest? A social media audit can help you focus in on what you’re missing. You can end up missing something small that you haven’t thought of and having that second party reviewing your content will make all the difference. Many successful professionals pay someone else to review their products, why not join them?

Want more help? Contact us to get your free social media audit today and start getting more traffic tomorrow! Connect with your Instagram followers better by hiring iSocial PR, the best content and digital marketing agency!

The post How to Connect With Your Instagram Followers With These 5 Simple Tips appeared first on iSocialPR.

What You Should Post

One way to make sure your followers are seeing and actually paying attention to your story is by posting content consistently. This does not mean you need to post every hour of every day, but sticking to a schedule such as every Monday, Wednesday and Friday will allow your followers to know what to expect from you. You could also do a weekly series that fits within the context of your business such as tips for success in your industry. People enjoy learning new tips, tricks, and facts, so this will have your followers returning to your story each week to learn more. Other content that will engage your followers is posts about promotions you are having that are exclusively found on your story and posts giving viewers a behind-the-scenes look at your business, so they know what it is about.

Ways to Gain More Views

There are a lot of users posting to their stories daily, so people do not want to sit through 20 different posts on your Story alone when they are viewing so many others. Keeping your Stories short will make sure people don’t just skip over yours. Posting 10 stories at a time is a good way to make sure you say everything you want to while keeping your followers’ attention the whole time. A good way to make sure your followers see that you have posted to your story is to post all of your stories at once, so they appear and expire at the same time, then posting something about every 4 hours to keep your story at the front of the news feed. 

What Makes a Story Good

People are not going to sit through a boring Instagram story when they could just swipe to the next account’s story, so what makes an Instagram story a good one? Users enjoy watching an entertaining story arc. Your posts should connect and not just be random and unrelated to one another. The final post of the day could be a summary of everything you have posted throughout the day because everything will flow together. Your stories should also stand out from others, so users stop to look at yours if they are simply clicking through the stories in their feed. An easy way to do this is by making sure your followers can recognize that it is you posting such as by seeing your branding if you use a certain color scheme or font in every post. You should also add captions to your stories, because not everyone is watching stories with the volume up. Take the time to carefully pick different elements to add to your post such as stickers or colors to make your story look good.

Ways to Use Stories for Engagement

There are many different ways to get your audience to engage with you via Instagram stories. Instagram offers the option of creating polls, quizzes, or asking questions directly on your story.  Followers can respond to these by clicking on them in your story and you can easily respond to them. This and all of the tips above can allow you to connect with your audience and make your Instagram stories engaging for your audience. 

Need help creating engaging Instagram stories or other digital media? Contact iSocial PR, the best content and digital marketing agency in the Detroit Area. 

The post Back To Basics: Creating Engaging Instagram Stories appeared first on iSocialPR.

When you open the Instagram app, tap the camera icon in the top left corner.

To take a picture, tap the white circle at the bottom of the screen or hold it to record a video.

To post a photo or video that you already have in your camera roll, swipe up anywhere on your screen or tap the square gallery icon in the bottom left corner of the screen.

To the right of the square gallery icon, the lightning bolt icon allows you to turn flash on/off.

The arrows to the right of the white circle allow you to switch between the front and back facing cameras.

In the bottom right corner, the smiley face icon allows you to add filters to your photo or video. 

On the bottom of the screen, scroll left or right to choose what you want to post.

After you have taken/selected your photo or video, you can add text to your post by tapping the screen. You can also move this text around and change the color and font when you click on the text. 

Another option for what to put on your Instagram story is an Instagram post. To share an Instagram post on your story, click on the “sharing” button located below the photo and next to the comment button. Select the first option that says “Add post to your story”.

Once your post is finalized, you can add it to your story by selecting “Your Story” in the bottom left corner. 

Your story will appear in the top left corner of your home screen with a colorful ring around it and it will appear at the top of your followers’ screens. If your followers don’t see your posts among all of the others on their timeline, Instagram stories are a great way to let them know what you and your business are up to!

Need a content marketing agency? Contact iSocial PR today!

The post Back To Basics: How To Create An Instagram Story appeared first on iSocialPR.

Usage 

                Instagram uses recognition technology to calculate the post you engage with the most in order to provide more content on your timeline that caters to you. For example, if you frequently engage with posts about sports or dogs, you are more likely to see these post on your timeline first opposed to a more recent post. This is Instagram’s way of creating a better user experience. In order to ensure that you see the post that you want, intentionally seek out people you are interested and Instagram will follow. 

Hashtags

Hashtags are the best way to attract an organic audience. Hashtags can be annoying or seem a bit spammy if you used incorrectly. However, hashtags that are related to your industry, your company, or the city you are in can attract relevant eyeballs. Industry hashtags allow you to be apart of a community built with people like you who advocate for and love the industry that they are in.  Company hashtags allow people who are interested in your company to easily find you. Local hashtags allow people who are interested in products and services in your area to find you. Hashtags give your potential customers a direct link to your most recent post which will help you to initiate conversations and  build engagement 

Here are some examples:

Engagement & Frequency

The more you engage, the more engagement that you will get. The Instagram algorithm is slightly different when it comes to who views your most recent post. In order for more people to view your post, you have to engage with your followers and post consistently. For example, frequently liking, commenting, and engaging with your followers determines who sees your most recent post on someone else’s timeline. The more people who you engage with on Instagram, the more people will come back to your profile and engage with you. Posting often and consistently also strengthens engagement. If you show up every day at the same time, people begin to expect and trust that you will be there every time. This helps to build an authentic relationship with your followers. 

Just Be You            

             Just be real. All social media platforms reward people who are authentic and relatable.  Use it to the best of your ability and to your advantage to reach your marketing goals for your company. You are unique and the world wants to hear your unique perspective. Be natural and have fun!

Disclaimer: Instagram has never disclosed their algorithm. This article is based on the opinion of iSocialPR based on what works with our clients. 

The post Instagram’s Algorithm Demystified  appeared first on iSocialPR.

Click to find out how to create your page now!

If not, you should be! It’s long overdue, but Instagram has finally launched business pages, and those who master advertising on this platform now, will have the opportunity to build strong and lasting relationships with consumers long before competitors even get around to setting up a profile. That means more name recognition. brand awareness and product trials for your business among the most sought after 18-29 y/o demographic. “With over 300 million users, sharing over 60 million photos everyday”*, how can your company afford NOT to be there?

* Sprout Social – “Social Media Demographics to Inform a Better Segmentation Strategy”

Profile

How does it work? The Instagram business page connects to your Facebook page. The type of page that you have is listed under the name of your business. Next is your company’s description and website. The address of your company is listed as a clickable link that goes straight to your phone’s gps app. Another new feature is the contact button, that is to the right of your icon. When you click it, you are presented with three options: get directions, call or email.

Analytics

How can I measure ROI? The analytics section can be reached by clicking the bar chart next
 to the settings icon. The analytics include a week over week overview of impressions, reach and clicks to your website. It includes your top performing posts, and the amount of impressions they’ve received in the last 30 days.  The user patterns of your followers are broken down by the average times throughout the day that people are on Instagram. There is also a breakdown of your followers by top locations, age and gender.

Why should you be excited????

Analytics, analytics, analytics! Because of the new data, you can easily get information right on the app. This limits your use of other Instagram analytics programs like iconosquare (which is no longer free).

Want to convert your personal Instagram page to a business page? View the instructions here.

The post Business Pages For Instagram Has Arrived! appeared first on iSocialPR.