Become Instagram Famous

– hands-free feature which allowed to press Record once instead of holding it to record videos;

– more than one text addition to the Stories;

– for iPhone users a Stories gallery was introduced which allowed to see all Stories from their followers over the past 24 hours;

– disappearing photos and video function;

– rewind feature;

Finally, augmented reality face filters were introduced akin of Snapchat face filters, which allowed to create even more unique photos and selfies.

Why Instagram is such a big platform for advertisement and why every business should go public and start advertising on Instagram

A lot of people associate Instagram with the audience of pesky teenagers who share tedious selfies with each other and nothing else. But for more experienced entrepreneurs Instagram is the platform with endless opportunities in business promotion which helps marketing their products and services by exposing them via their business accounts.

Here are some arguments indicating that Instagram is already the biggest advertising platform out there and why all types of businesses need to pay close attention to it:

– ever growing popularity of the app with more than 54 million photos uploaded daily, more than 8600 liked posts each second and thousands of comments left;

– enhanced user engagement with enormous amounts of people interacting with each other and brands of any size. In comparison to Facebook, Instagram engagement is 15 times higher;

– Various means of presenting your content as well as huge content consumption ratio. For people it is easier to look at the pictures than reading text ads;

– Instagram’s accessibility allows to get access to it at any times and any place. With business life tempo of today, the platform suits perfectly for any enterprisers.

Reasons why you need Business Profile to conduct business on Instagram:

– Interactive contacts – you can call and mail to other business profiles in just one click;

– Targeting offerings under your posts which makes using your profile easier;

– Business accounts are specifically suited for the salesmen and people of commerce who pursue the goal of promoting their product rather than people like bloggers who may have 1000 followers but who do not actually sell anything.

Today, Instagram is one of the best ways for visual advertising of your content. This platform has a set of features designed specifically for that purpose and is constantly developed and introduces new features. The key elements of success for any business that decided to start Instagram promotion is to create interesting, diverse and unique content, analyze the results of publishing that content and use fair methods of getting more followers.

Instagram for Business, an A-Z guide

Setting up a new account and adding content

When starting your Instagram business account, the easiest and fastest step is creating a new profile. To do that, you will need to use an official iOS, Android or Windows Phone application. Instagram is an app-based social network and it is inadvisable to buy a preset Instagram account as such accounts tend to get blocked soon. It is crucial to set up a new account only via official app.

The essential part of every Instagram profile is bio section. This is the information which users see upon visiting your page. For every business account the bio must be very thorough and informative.

First, you need to create a username for your profile – it is better to use the name of a brand which you represent, and if you do not represent any brands, think of something captive and recognizable. Try not to use symbols in your username i.e. periods, commas or underscores. Limit your options to a short name that will either indicate your business name or the direction of your enterprise.

Second, choose your avatar carefully. You will probably have to develop a unique logo for your profile. Do not use images from the Internet as they may contain small details and artifacts which worsen the image quality when viewing the page on a computer or phone. One way is to contact a logo designer to develop a logo for your business, in that case the cost varies from 2000 to 4000 rubles ($35-$70). The other way is creating your own logo using Photoshop.

Third, think of a good full name for your profile. This is the first thing other users will see when you follow them. It is better to not duplicate the information from your username in your full name, avoid repeating same words several times. Determine the most precise wording that can describe your business: this is what you put in your account’s full name.

Finally, write a thoughtful and informative description of your profile in Bio field. Here you explain what your business is about. This includes: your field of work (goods and services which you provide to your clients), your address (where you can meet your clients in person for further arrangements), your contacts (your mobile number in international format and company-representative e-mail addresses; this information is useful for when a company does not have a street address; avoid using emotes or Emoji when specifying mobile numbers as they may not be visible for users with outdated gadgets) and finally your company’s website (should be short and memorable and shouldn’t transfer to any third-party resources). If your enterprise does not have a website, connect your business or personal profiles in other social networks i.e. VK or Facebook via “Linked Accounts” section. Use Emoji and emotes in your bio if you wish but do not overuse them. A good idea would be to format your bio in another messenger to have a better look at it and only then put it in your Instagram profile.

The content of your profile

At this point, Instagram is already oversaturated with business accounts where almost every business entity has its own profile. Even small businesses have their own Instagram accounts, especially those in DIY and beauty industries. But good account promotion is not the sole ingredient to success. The key to prosperity for a business account on Instagram now is the quality of its content – that is your photos and videos.

Your photos and videos is what will make your business profile unique and distinguishable from others. Lots of things can be captured and published on your profile – the product that you sell, user reviews and even your clients themselves. Nowadays, there is no need for hiring a photographer to make good content: you can create outstanding photography with good cameras on modern smartphones. Pay attention to your lighting and framing – with those elements in mind your content surely will be of highest quality.

For each customer there must be a personal connection to your product, which is why you always have to use models to show what you sell. Make sure your model is presented on photos in full body shot. It is better to not use photos taken from third-parties especially without their consent as you may get reported and your account will be suspended for violating Terms of Use.

Do not forget about publishing glimpses of your behind-the-scenes as well. Showing your workplace from the inside, posting photos of your clients and how you interact with them and creating a couple of production videos will keep your followers engaged and as a result will attract them to your product. It is as interesting for your customers to see you from the inside as it is to see you from the outside.

You can reach to your customers and ask them to share their experience with your product. If they publish a photo of them with your product on their profiles, you can repost it to your business account. That way you can attract new customers and spread the word about your venture.

There are three time periods when it is generally better to publish your new content:

First is a period from 7 to 10 AM. People wake up and get on their Instagram to see what is new. Good time to post some photos of your product and tell people about it.

Second period lasts from 12 PM to 2 PM. This is generally a “break-time’ for those who work and study which results in high activity on Instagram. Now it is the time to post some of your behind-the-scenes material or customer reviews – posting about your product is not as needed, people are not too keen to go shopping on their lunch break.

Finally, a third period lasts from 9 PM to 12 AM. People come from work, get their housework done and leisurely browse Instagram afterwards. This could a good moment to share another photo or video about your product.

Before you get started

Signing up to Instagram is not too hard. What is harder is maintaining your page and keep it safe. Here are some security steps that will help your profile to stay safe and not get blocked.

Firstly, make sure you used a working e-mail address and can confirm it after completing the signing up process. You ought to do it as soon as you finished your registration.

Secondly, verify your account with your phone number. Go to “Options – “Two-Factor Authentication’, tap “Require Security Code’ and enter your mobile phone number. Shortly afterwards you will receive a security code by SMS which you will need to enter and tap “Next’.

Finally, connect your Facebook account to your Instagram profile. You can do it in “Linked Accounts’ section in “Settings’. After that you will be able to use your Facebook login and password to log in to your Instagram account. These steps will help you when you promote your profile and here is why: every account’s activity is being monitored by Instagram. If your activity is too high, the account may be considered as spam account and as a result will be suspended. By connecting your e-mail, mobile phone and Facebook profile you will make sure to protect your account from being blocked and can carry on with posting.

Social influence

The social influence can be explained with this obvious on first sight but in reality quite effective idea which is “you have more followers the more followers you have’. It works like this: a large amount of followers, likes and comments attracts more attention from other users which, in return, generates more followers, likes and comments.

Same idea applies to business accounts; having a good amount of quality content, satisfied customers and positive feedback on your account will draw more users and potential clients to your product. Obviously, potential customers trust popular and trendy ventures more than small business pages with modest amount of followers and mild activity.

This is why at an early stage it is not bad to utilize various means to help you grow, such as using Instagram bots for followers. Sure it is not much of a fair way of promotion but soon you will be able to replace them with real followers. Additionally, you may buy Instagram likes at a ratio of 200 likes per 1000 bot followers. Finally, a lot of services these days can provide you with user reviews and comments from real people. With all these things considered, your social proof will grow and you will gain more and more trust from real users.

Setting up your business promotion

One way to spread the word about your business on Instagram is via Instalex service. Instalex provides means to optimize your business account promotion on the basis of full confidentiality. Instead of giving your login and password to third parties you log in through encrypted webpage with SSL protocol built into it. Another feature that distinguishes Instalex from other Instagram promotion services is that it is a cloud-based system. You will be able to operate online through browser instead of installing additional software. Before you start working with Instalex take a minute to setup the preferences to improve your experience.

Instalex allows to help and enhance your promotion process. One way to do that is setting up Instalex to interact exclusively with accounts that are part of your target audience. To find such accounts, this service offers several major filters:

– Photo age filter;

– Geolocation filter;

– Hashtag filter;

– Gender filter

and 70 more additional filters.

Service also includes various supplemental filters with which you can control the pace of your promotion, find target audience of your business competitors, create databases of your user base via Target Hunter and Cerebro. Each filter comes along with interactive tips which illustrate the features and peculiarities of working with more specific filters.

In addition, in order to facilitate the users experience, Instalex offers a myriad of instructions in both text- and video format. You can find those materials on Instalex website or Instalex YouTube page. You can contact tech support through your personal profile page: tech support works 24/7 and will help you with your questions in no time. You can contact tech support by typing your questions in chat which is located in the bottom right corner of your profile.

Starting your business promotion

Before you start your promotion it is good to add any content to your business profile. An already established profile supplied with content will attract people better. It is better to have around 40 to 50 posts already published before you begin.

First of all, you need to complete a registration process at Instalex official website. Each new user has three trial days to get acquainted with the website functions: that includes trying out the site services, from free options to fee-for-service. Each user will be able to purchase the full version of promotion package after the trial ends. A monthly cost for a single account promotion is 799 rubles ($14), each user can promote an unlimited amount of profiles. Each additional account and service feature is paid separately.

The service works 24/7. It is possible to setup the activity period for your promotion. Instalex can work automatically and is able to produce on average 600 likes, 100 comments and provide 500 bot followers in one day (24 hours). As a result, Instalex interacts with more than 1000 accounts per day; add Direct bulk messaging and it provides even more additional followers to that number.

A preset limit for each Instagram profile on how many people it can follow is 7500. Instalex monitors your business account and how many profiles it has followed at each period. When the amount of followed accounts almost reaches 7500, Instalex automatically starts unfollowing those users who either did not follow your account back or did not visit the page at all. The conversion ratio which compares the amount of followers to the overall activity on the account is also important – for business account a good percentage indicative of successful profile promotion is from 5% to 7.5%.

Working with the clients

When working with your customers one thing is important to keep in mind: they will not wait long until you respond and answer all their questions. Answer any private messages or comments from your potential clients as soon as possible. Merely several hours without any answer and your client will turn to your competitor. Your clients are not here to know the specifics of your product or to be a qualified expert in your business specialty. Answer all their questions accurately and in calm manner, even if they are obvious to you. You have to respect and cherish your customers, even if they end up not buying anything they must feel like they are your favorite customers. Use Direct to ask for a mobile number to stay in touch or discuss the business in another messenger as Direct is not exactly suit for prolonged discussions: it has character limit and does not always notify you about new messages.

Your number one task in communicating with people is to convert them from your follower to your client. Speak clearly and stay professional, answer all the questions and be eloquent when they are indecisive as to whether they need to buy something or not. Do not be too persuasive, however: nobody likes intrusiveness and aggression. Keep the dialogue balanced, do not prolong it or cut short, do not put too much pressure on your customer and make them become interested in your product.

Your first sales

Before you start selling, remember the golden rule: “you have more followers the more followers you have’. Your business’s large following makes it more appealing to other Instagram users. The amount of followers is the amount of the product you initially will be able to sell.

Work on your sales script. Think of the way the dialogue should go for you to end up with a client. Having a prepared welcome message and a set of answers for most frequent questions will help you save time instead of spending it on typing out your message. Do not cut ties with your customers after the deal is finished: message them about your brand new product, give them bonuses for purchase, get them involved in giveaways, all in all, make them come to you again. All these thing will help you build loyal and fruitful relationships with your clients.

Advertisement through public pages and paid endorsement

Another effective method of promotion is buying ads on other profiles, which makes your account much more exposed when it is presented on various places. When ordering ads on another Instagram page pay attention to the comments people leave under the posts. If they are related to that post and written in your target language you may consider contacting this page for further cooperation.

First of all, you need to find an appropriate advertising account to publish your ads on. There are numerous Instagram promotion platforms which can offer you a list of specific advertising profiles to order an ad. Prepare and send a welcome letter to a profile of you choose that will contain your offer to conclude the ad contract. Specify the cost of arrangement (in case it is not listed already) and the time it will be published (best time for publishing is in the evening when there is a considerable activity among users of the platform overall). Send an ad itself and the ad text for description to the profile representative. Payment for cooperation is usually carried out in before publishing as a prepayment and should be specified for each case. Afterwards the profile will publish your advertisement.

Ordering ads from bloggers and other social media influencers usually does not differ from ordering elsewhere. One thing to point out is that it is usually much costlier – from 3 to 5 times more expensive compared to ordering from advertising accounts. The coverage from blogger pages, however, is substantially higher than from advertising pages, therefore your ad will reach more people.

Finally, a relatively new way of advertising on Instagram is official advertising by Instagram itself. Your ads will be published by the platform in other users’ feed. It is vastly more expensive to order your ads that way, for the most part only large companies can afford it. According to statistics, mass following remains not only the most effective way of promotion on Instagram but also the most popular – more than 50% of business owners use it to promote their business accounts. Various SMM services allow to order mass following for your promotion.

Choosing your theme

Your profile type and your monetizing method

Before you become a public account and start monetization of your Instagram page, you have to decide on your theme and your profile type. Your further steps and endeavors will differ depending on that choice. Besides, raising your follower count or getting your account popular is one thing; when it comes to monetization methods, it gets harder. Unfortunately, but without careful thinking it may easily turn out the best way to get any profit out of your account is to sell it.

How to choose a theme for your profile

Why is it important and what factors may affect your choice?

For each sector there is a certain target audience which you will have to work with. In some cases, you can easily identify the target audience: the audience for “Instagram mums’ is, obviously, parents or future parents. In other cases, it is possible but much harder to define a certain audience.

This is why deciding on how are you going to monetize your profile now is essential: afterwards you can determine your theme and how exactly are you going to make profit out of it. From there on out you may choose your strategy and a theme for your public profile.

Not all audiences have paying capacity and that is a fact. As an entrepreneur, you will have to choose a sector that would attract users who are willing to spend their money. Sounds easy, but in reality there are complications.

For example, there are certain themes that at first glance seem to be profitable, but in reality they are not: such themes we may call “theme traps’. Good example is men & style Instagram accounts: at first sight, the followers must be really interested in fashion and therefore would be more willing to spend money to buy various accessories and other things. When you dig deeper, however, you will realize that most of the followers usually are young men who are here to look and leave likes on nice pictures, not to spend any money.

Not every popular sector is profitable either. Pet Instagram accounts, for example, are immensely popular with their frequent updates and quality content. But when you think about it, exactly what kind of audience on such accounts would be interested in your ads and your business? If you cannot with certainty define your target audience, there may be problems with further monetization of your profile.

When deciding on your public profile theme, there are three major principles you would want to consider:

You must confidently define your target audience: your account must be fit thematically for certain clients. When an entrepreneur gets asked to “define his target audience” he must do so without any hesitation. That means cute animals, movies, interesting facts or world mysteries are not good themes for your profile because these themes do not have a defined target audience.

Know your audience’s paying capacity. You need to not only understand your audience but also know how you can turn that into profit.

Remember that you need to easily attract followers. Your audience has to be profitable but also extensible: i.e. choosing house purchasers as your target audience is a good idea but maintaining and expanding that audience might be extremely difficult.

Another good advice is to act on contrary: first you decide on what type of account you want to be, then you choose your monetization strategy and then define your target audience. Sometimes this method is more effective than other means. With these recommendations you will find your account type and can easily monetize it later.

Personal blogs on Instagram and their peculiarities

It is getting more and more popular these days to become a blogger, maintain interest of your followers and through that fulfilling your monetization goals. Not everybody knows what a blog is, however. A blog is a webpage which functions as a personal diary for its owner. He expresses his ideas and feelings about what is happening to him, shares his content and does all that via webpages or social networks. With each text post on Instagram a blogger attaches a video or photo related to that post. Usually bloggers keep their posts related to a certain theme such as sport, childcare or what they do professionally.

What distinguishes blogs from personal profiles

An interesting theme that resonates with large audiences. Unlike personal profiles, there is always a theme that you can follow through blog posts. Personal pages have a theme too, usually they tell about a person’s life and what surrounds it, but the audience for them is quite limited.