Seven Pillars of Instagram Success

Are you hoping to stop struggling on Instagram once and for all and actually grow your followers and increase your business opportunities? If so, you’re certainly not alone.

So many start-ups, coaches, and entrepreneurs are looking to Instagram to market their products and services and engage with their customers. 

 But how do you achieve your business goals on the Gram? Is there a secret to brand success?

I believe there are seven pillars of Instagram success, and if you follow them, you will put yourself in an excellent position to be successful on the platform.

This shouldn’t be seen as a cheat, rather a holistic approach to building your Instagram following organically and adding value to your customers. 

 So, without further ado, here are the seven pillars to Instagram success that will change your fortunes when it comes to engagement on the Gram. 

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Pillar 1: Branding. 

You must begin your professional foray into Instagram with branding guidelines.

If you’re not crystal clear about what your brand is and what it represents, how do you expect your followers to know your intentions? 

To establish clear branding guidelines for your Instagram profile, ask yourself the following questions: 

• Have I defined by brand? What are the values/interests/passions that drive my brand? How do I want to represent this in the content that I post? 
• What is the problem facing my potential customers? And how am I best placed to solve this? How will my brand make their life easier? 
• What is my overall mission? And how will this be communicated through my tone/voice/impression? Do I have specific posting guidelines to follow? 

Remember, your brand on Instagram isn’t just about photos.

Your logo, the way you present yourself, your bio, and your text captions all play into the portrayal of your brand.

Make sure it’s consistent, and you are clear about how you wish to communicate to your followers. 

Pillar 2: Visibility

Did you know that you get no more than fifteen seconds to make a good first impression when people visit your Instagram profile?

If you haven’t done enough to impress them, they will leave your profile and go elsewhere. 

As such, you need to think carefully about how you present yourself on Instagram.

Consider how other accounts see your page and what kind of vibes you’re giving off with the content that you’re sharing. 

You absolutely must optimize your bio to ensure it represents your brand’s values and interests.

Consider your bio as a snippet of everything your brand represents, so you need to put in the effort to capture your followers’ attention and make them want to engage with you.

If you’re looking for a 1:1 marketing strategy consultation to scale your business, click here to check out the packages available.

Pillar 3: Authority 

Consider how you want people to view you and your brand.

If you’re operating within a particular niche and are offering advice to people, surely you want to be an authoritative figure on your subject matter? 

For your followers to view you as an expert, you need to bring original ideas and add value to the conversation about whatever topic you present.

If your content isn’t seen as valuable or unique, it will be difficult to command the respect of your followers. 

When you’re building authority, it’s a good idea to reference your sources and offer insight into your way of thinking.

You don’t want to come across as a ‘know-it-all,’ and offering other people credit for their ideas is an excellent way of bringing them into the conversation. 

Pillar 4: Showing up 

It might seem like a strange thing to say about social media, but you need to make sure you show up regularly. What do I mean by that?

Well, you need to plan your posts and interactions and ensure your engagements with your followers are timely and considered. 

When it comes to your posting schedule, consistency is absolutely key.

Whether you post three times a week or three times a day, posting at regular intervals and at the same time will increase your visibility on the Instagram algorithm. 

You should also take the opportunity to introduce your followers to behind-the-scenes content and stories from your brand.

The more they get to know you as a person and the story behind your work, the more motivated they will be to engage with you. 

Pillar 5: Conversions

Ultimately, the fundamental reason why many businesses are on Instagram and other social media platforms is to convert their followers into clients.

As such, you will need to plan how you will turn your followers into paying customers. 

One of the best ways to do this is to include a call to action in your captions.

So instead of just passively reading your post, you’re actually encouraging your followers to do something in order to engage with your brand. 

Also, include a link in your bio that takes your followers one step closer to you.

Whether it’s your blog, website, or any other site, for that matter, including a link in your bio will direct those that want more information. 

Pillar 6: Nurture 

You shouldn’t see your Instagram following as a static audience. Instead, you should nurture your followers and engage with them in different ways.

Don’t take them for granted, and try new ways of keeping them up to date and informed about what you’re doing. 

You could even think about sending personalized voice notes to new followers to thank them for following you and to give them a little more information about what to expect from you. 

However you engage with your followers, just be sure to put out content that encourages two-way connection, as you want to try and give your followers as many opportunities to engage with you as possible.

Pillar 7: Analytics 

The final pillar is also one of the most important. You need to keep track of your performance on Instagram by looking at your analytics.

Lots of people use different KPIs to measure their success, including the number of followers, types, and frequency of engagement, website clicks, etc. 

You need to think carefully about what success looks like when it comes to your Instagram strategy and use your analytics to hold yourself to account and to continue improving on the content that you deliver. 

Whichever way you decide to monitor your performance on Instagram, be sure to check your analytics at regular intervals, and make changes to your approach as and when they are required. 

Closing thoughts

Hopefully, these seven pillars of Instagram success will help you create a profile for your brand that you can be extremely proud of.

By being mindful of the ways in which you engage with your followers and adding a structure to your content, you can ensure that you will be able to build a successful presence on social media and add value to your clients in a variety of ways.