7 Steps to Build Your Personal Brand on Instagram

You’ve got Facebook covered: you’re sharing great content, you’re growing your community, and your engagement looks awesome. But, oh, what’s this? Yet another platform that can build your brand JUST as effectively as Facebook? Through Instagram, you can reach your audience where they are, connect with them, engage with your customers, and grow your personal brand through sharing visual content. Let's dive into seven actionable tips to help you leverage the power of Instagram to amp up your personal brand in 2023!

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Utilise Instagram Stories and Reels

Increasingly on social platforms, video is king. With the rise of ephemeral content, Instagram Stories and Reels have become indispensable tools for small enterprises. 

• Stories allow you to share behind-the-scenes glimpses, product launches, or exclusive promotions, fostering a sense of exclusivity and immediacy. 
• Reels, on the other hand, enable you to create engaging short videos that can quickly grab the attention of your target audience. 

Embracing these features to showcase your brand's personality and creativity.

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Craft engaging visual content

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Creating attention-grabbing Reels can be a time-consuming task. But when it comes to static images, how can you make sure they're just as impressive and capture your audience's attention?

• Ensure your posts are visually captivating, incorporating eye-catching images, videos, and graphics. 
• Experiment with different styles, filters, and compositions to maintain a consistent and visually appealing aesthetic that aligns with your brand. 
• Make sure your images have context and make sense. For example, if you’re a Real Estate Agent posting about cars, this won’t make sense to your audience as it isn’t relevant to them or your brand, resulting in lower engagement. 

A picture speaks a thousand words, so let your visuals tell your brand story.

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Share user-generated Content

Harness the power of your community by sharing user-generated content. 

Encourage your followers to tag your business, your business location, or your branded hashtag in their posts, showcasing your products or services in action.

User-generated content not only fosters a sense of authenticity but also serves as free advertising. Additionally, it demonstrates your brand's appreciation for your loyal customers, fostering a stronger connection.

Engage with your community

Building a strong community on Instagram requires active engagement. 

Respond to comments, answer questions, and acknowledge your followers' contributions. Show genuine interest in their thoughts, opinions, and experiences related to your brand. 

Engaging with your community fosters trust, loyalty, and a sense of belonging, ultimately strengthening your personal brand. Just like Facebook, Instagram is a social platform - so be social! On Instagram you can like posts, make comments, follow users, and privately message people. Each of these forms of engagement and interaction help drive profile growth. How? Whenever you like somebody’s post, comment, or even follow a user - they get a notification. This means they can access and explore your profile, and may end up liking, commenting or following in return. 

Effective use of hashtags

Hashtags are a fundamental tool for expanding reach and visibility on Instagram. Here are key tips for effectively harnessing their power:

• Research trending and relevant hashtags: Stay updated on industry trends and popular tags within your niche. Use tags that are also relevant to your audience/brand as the followers of these will most likely be your target market. 
• Create branded hashtags: Develop unique and memorable tags specific to your brand. They promote a cohesive online presence and encourage user-generated content.‍
• Keep hashtags concise and relevant: Prioritise quality over quantity. Choose concise and relevant hashtags aligned with your content, avoiding generic or spammy tags. Don’t over-tag. Stick to 8-10 tags that include branded tags, high-follower tags, and even unique tags that you yourself can build. 

Keep track of the hashtags you use, so you can re-use them and build a consistent presence in the feed of those hashtag followers. More exposure = more awareness = more followers!

Follow a posting schedule

By posting regularly, you make sure that your content is seen by all of your audience, and that your brand stays relevant in their mind. If not, you may start to see your following drop off as users aren’t seeing new content and migrate to competitor profiles to fill the gap. 

Creator Studio (on Facebook) allows you to link up your Instagram profile to your Facebook business page, giving your account access to handy tools like: scheduling posts, drafting posts, and Instagram insights. This feature is a great way to create a posting schedule, so you can keep on top of content sharing.

An important side note: even though consistency is key, you should never opt for quantity over quality. Over posting low-quality content can make your brand appear spammy, resulting in unfollowers and reports. 

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Use Instagram insights

So you’ve completed all these steps and things are looking good - but do you really know how well your posts are performing? The way to find out is by looking at Instagram insights (can be done in-app). These insights give you everything you need to know about the performance of your Instagram profile, including: 

• The performance of all of your posts (likes, comments, reach)
• The actions taken on your account
• The number of accounts you reached from your posts 
• The age and gender of your audience
• What day and time your audience is active 
• What cities and countries your audience resides in. 

Each of these metrics helps you figure out what content performs best, what time to publish it, who is going to see it, and how users will react to it. 

Instagram offers immense potential to build your personal brand and connect with your target audience. By implementing these seven tips, you can elevate your strategy in 2023 and position your business for growth. Remember to stay consistent, engage authentically, and embrace the playful nature of the platform. With dedication and creativity, you can unlock the full potential of Instagram as a powerful tool for brand building.