Instagram can be a powerful medium for your business. If you're struggling to gain traction, here are some ways find the secret formula that works for your audience.
A. Track Your Photo Results
Successful social media campaigns follow a formula for posts and engagement. The results are tracked and the most popular posts are repeated in future campaigns. In addition to engaging with other accounts, you'll want to work to discover which photos and hashtags you can use that gain the most attention. Track results for nature photos, behind-the-scenes shots, memes, etc. - Nicole Munoz, Start Ranking Now
A. Test the "Bad" Instagram Stuff
To learn how to make the most of your marketing time and budget, try everything on Instagram to see if the platform works for your business. Spend $5 on Fiverr and artificially boost your followers. Do a free trial on Instagress to automatically follow accounts and like photos relevant to your niche. Try stuff, fail, and see what succeeds while investing minimal time and money on the platform. - Brett Farmiloe, Markitors
A. Automate and Have Fun
Rely on automation for targeted growth. Find an automation software that will "like" pictures from followers of profiles related to yours. One out of 10 of those "likes" will reciprocate. Explore their profile, say something, be social, and have fun. See what you can learn about followers willing to reciprocate your digital greeting. If possible, refine your targeting to reach more similar people. - Andrew Namminga, Andesign
A. Write Long-Form Content in Your Captions
Over the next 12 months, you'll start to see more long-form writing on Instagram. Take a look at this Wired post as an example. This was posted exclusively to Instagram. As Instagram moves to an algorithm-driven feed, the engagement of your posts will matter more, and great story-telling will still get the most engagement. - Fan Bi, Blank Label
A. Connect With Influencers
Instagram has hundreds of millions of users. The fastest and easiest way to grow your following and connect with all of them is to associate your brand with the top influencers on Instagram. This is actively taking place with some of the top celebrities and brands in the world today. In this new world of mobile and selfies, it's all about brand association. - Zac Johnson, How to Start a Blog
A. Include Relevant Hashtags
On Instagram, your biggest ally is the all-mighty hashtag (#). You can instantaneously improve the reach of your content just by including hashtags that are relevant to your content or niche market. Just don't become one of those accounts that over do it. Stick to between 3-7 hashtags per post. - Stanley Meytin, True Film Production
A. Focus on a Theme
Post consistently so others don't forget about you. The most successful Instagram accounts post at least once a day. Your account should also tell a story or remain consistent with a theme, and all your photos should relate to each other somehow. This should reflect what your brand is all about, showcase unique original content, and ultimately attract your target audience. - Solomon Thimothy, OneIMS
A. Understand Who Your Audience Is
We realized that our main audience on Instagram was our employees and potential future employees. With this knowledge, we began to feature the staff more, tag them in photos, and capture photos around the office. Friends of our current staff saw that we not only work hard but clearly have fun. Aspirational photos have allowed us to visually demonstrate what it's like to work at our company. - David Ciccarelli, Voices.com
A. Plan Your Campaign
Are you looking to boost followers, convert leads/customers, or simply improve your reach? The goals you set will determine your entire approach. Properly planning your campaign, from your visuals to benchmarking your engagement/followers before you launch, will set you up for success in meeting said goals. Once you launch, use Facebook Ads and a tool like Iconosquare to measure. Then adjust accordingly. - Wesley Mathews, High Level Marketing
A. Set Up Conversion Tracking
Too often marketers use anecdotal evidence to confirm whether or not a particular marketing campaign worked or not. That may have been OK in the traditional world of newspapers and billboard ads, but with digital marketing -- Facebook and Instagram in particular -- conversion tracking is a prerequisite to making the most out of your limited time and budget. - Obinna Ekezie, Wakanow.com
A. Advertise Outside the Box
Don't focus on advertising on similar pages to yours. Focus on finding what your audience likes and other pages they explore. Then, craft a personalized message for that specifically. Understand your audience more than you worry about your competition, and you will outpace everyone in marketing. - Pejman Ghadimi, Secret Entourage
A. Create Infographics and Mini-Presentation Videos
Instagram is just another vehicle for content-based marketing. Unless you're a design business, this means you should use infographics to capture the information that a blog post, tweet or Facebook post otherwise would. Alternatively, you could post short videos that function as your company's "elevator pitch." - David Mainiero, InGenius Prep
These answers are provided by the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only organization comprised of the world's most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched BusinessCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.