7 Steps to Success in Personal Branding on Instagram
Do you know what is one of the most powerful tools for personal branding? The answer is simple – Instagram. With over 1 billion active users, it offers you an opportunity to reach out to a broad audience and establish your brand. A stellar Instagram profile can build credibility and raise brand awareness.
A strong brand with an army of followers can’t pass unnoticed. However, you need to know how to get to that point. That is why anyone who wants to use Instagram for personal branding should follow these several steps.
1. Research your competition
Looking into your competitors’ profiles can reveal a lot of important information. Research the influencers and competitors in your niche using tools like Fan Page Robot.
You’ll get an understand of how people in your niche approach Instagram marketing. Also, you can check how often they post new content and how they keep the audience engaged.
Considering that you probably have a similar if not the same target audience, this information can be very useful.
Besides that, this little research can also help you to determine your approach. Make a comparison and find out what makes you different from the others.
Determining the point of difference is your best bet. Let’s say that you have an eCommerce store. If you are the only one who offers free shipping for any purchase, make sure to emphasize that in your posts.
2. Make all the relevant information accessible
Your audience should get the answers to the following questions from your profile:
- Who you are?
- What do you do?
- What you have to offer?
Include this information in your profile description to make it noticeable. Just bear in mind that you shouldn’t elaborate about your brand. Keep it short and simple.
If you want to build your personal brand you probably already have a website. Consider the website as your digital home. It means that you should always link it in your profile description.
By linking your website, you’ll allow the audience to get to know you better. You can’t expect that people will Google you and browse for your website. Make is noticeable and add a little call-to-action.
3. Have a vision
Before you get to actionable decisions, stop for a moment, and establish what you want. Have a clear vision of how you want to present your brand.
The Highlands Company emphasizes that having a vision is crucial for success. They explain the vision in the following way:
“A clear personal vision is an integration of your abilities, interests, personality, values, goals, skills/experience, family or origin, and stage of adult development.”
By knowing what you want, you’ll know where to direct your efforts.
Think about how you want the world to see you and you’ll get your brand vision.
4. Decide on your look
Every brand has its own unique look that helps them stand out. Find your style and keep it consistent.
If you already have predominant colors for your brand, incorporate them in your posts. Use a background that is in those colors.
Applying filters that give your pictures a similar tone will create a theme on your profile. This can help you achieve a more refined look.
Considering that Instagram focuses on visual content, it is very important that you carefully consider and pick your posts.
Depending on what you do, you can even create an interesting logo to make your brand more memorable.
5. Pre-plan your content
Besides being consistent with the aesthetics, you should also have consistent content. This applies to two things.
First, you should consistently add posts with a similar style and tone. Think about your approach. Do you want to be witty? Entertaining? Informative? Do you want to have a more professional or a more friendly approach?
These are the questions that should be resolved ahead. Once you decide on your style, stick to it.
Second, you should regularly upload. If you want to be relevant, you need to be consistent with your posts.
Every marketing blogger and expert emphasizes how important it is to keep the followers engaged with consistent posts.
Publishing post every other day, or every day would be perfect. The followers will completely forget about you if you post once in two weeks.
Luckily, there are social media scheduling tools you can use so you won’t have to stress about posting every day.
6. Pay attention to the quality
You may think that social media posts don’t demand that much effort and investing in quality, but they do.
This competitive platform has gradually made brands step up their game. Now, if you want to attract the attention of Instagram users, you need to have high-quality posts.
Marie Fincher, the head of the content department at Trust My Paper, has worked with many brands who solely want to focus on their Instagram profile.
“It was surprising at first when brands started to hire writers for their Instagram posts. But once we all grasped the power of this platform, it has become quite common that brands and influencers work with professional writers,” says Marie.
Pay attention to the image quality and descriptions’ readability. Nowadays, followers only appreciate quality.
7. Get noticed
High-quality posts and a cool profile won’t be enough if you don’t actively work on getting your target audience’s attention.
Some of the ways that can help you out are:
- Use hashtags. It will help people discover your brand when they use those keywords in their research.
- Follow the trends. People love to follow trends and you will be instantly more interesting if you join the trending squad. Currently, brands love using Instagram Story Stickers.
- Encourage your followers to share your profile. Did you receive a message from a fan or a satisfied customer? Thank them politely and be brave enough to ask them if they are willing to share your profile.
- Follow other users. Start to follow people who are following your competitors. They are probably your target audience and in this way, you’ll get them to notice you.
Use these tips to raise your army of followers. Sitting and waiting for that number to go higher won’t help you out.
Conclusion
If you want to build a noticeable brand you need to play it smart. There is more to Instagram branding than creating a profile and posting a pretty picture from time to time. The above-mentioned steps and tips have shown you how much dedication your brand demands. If you approach your Instagram branding in the right way, you’ll be amazed by how effective it can be.
Diana Nadim is a writer and editor who has a Master degree in Marketing. She combines her passion for writing with her interest in research and creates thought-provoking content in various fields. Besides working as a contributor writer for GrabMyEssay and Studicus, Diana also runs her own 3to5Marketing blog. What inspires her the most in her writing is traveling and meeting new people. Follow her on Twitter @diana_nadim
