First impression is KEY

Your Instagram profile is one of the first things customers and Instagram users see. Occasionally, someone may see one of your photos before they come to your profile.

But if they’re going to follow you, they will see your page. So what impression are you making?

Your name

First and foremost, your name needs to be your name. Whether it’s the name of your business or your

actual name, the name people see on Instagram needs to be how they know you. Don’t use funny spellings, odd words, unnecessary abbreviations. or other versions of your name. It’s your

business and your brand. Make this section representative of that.

Keep it fun!

Instagram is about having fun, right?. Your bio should reflect that fun side of your personality. Don’t make your bio too stuffy or formal. Be laid back about it. Include emojis or symbols in your bio! Use humor. Ask a rhetorical question, make people laugh. Keep your audience in consideration.

Whatever you choose to say about yourself or your brand, make it interesting. This is your “sales pitch” so to say… give it your best.

Bio examples: The good and the bad

Above is an example of what is so common, because it’s easy. Super short, not very

informative. It’s bland and dry, leaving you dissatisfied. If all you saw was this bio, would you follow? Most likely not.

...

Now here’s a GOOD example.

Notice how “Calico” uses humor. “Hedgehog by day, Superhog by night.” Even if you didn’t crack a smile, I’d daresay you were at least a little amused by that. This

bio is funny, intriguing AND informative.

If all you saw was this bio, you’d be pretty likely to follow (unless you’re a very weird fella. C’mon­ HEDGEHOG).

:)

Does that make sense to you?

Here’s another example

Can you spot all the differences between the two?

Bad bio: Lack of information

Boring So empty No link

Great bio: Emoji included! Inspiring quotes Informative LINK to page

(if you DO have a webpage of any sort, it’s vital to include.)

Now that we’ve covered your bio, what’s next?

Your overall page look/style/feel.

THIS vs. THIS

The profile on the left is inconsistent, patchy, unprofessional. Don’t get me wrong, if your page is just for personal recreational fun, staying in

touch with friends, that’s totally cool! Nothing wrong with that. This eBook just isn’t made for you ;)

The profile on the right is consistent, artsy, professional. I’m pretty sure that’s what most of you are going for, so read on!

This Instagrammer consistently uses a lot of LIGHT in his photographs. Their overall page is beautiful. I’d LOVE for those photos to pop up in my feed. I’m

ready to follow just by seeing this screenshot!

The main thing for having a nice overall look is CONSISTENCY.

By now you already know so much more than the average

Instagrammer, and we’re just getting started!

Captioning your photos; do’s and don’ts. Just. don’t.

Don’t just explain what is obvious in the photo. We can all see that it’s a flower, okay. Don’t be long­winded. NEVER say “follow me” or “spam me” or “like this photo”. You might as well have typed “Hey, get off my page as quickly as possible, never

come back.” Don’t use too many hashtags! (3­5 is a safe zone to stick with)

Don’t ever hashtag every word in your caption.

Don’t: hashtag every word in your caption.

DON’T just explain what the photo is and ask for follow.

Tell a story A picture may be worth a thousand words, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t enrich your Instagram followers’ experience by telling the story behind your latest photo. After all, Instagram didn’t start out as a channel for professional photographers and iPhoneographers—it was a social network where people shared their life moments,

with some funky filters thrown in.

Whether you use Instagram for personal branding, a behind­the­scenes look at workplace culture or as an online catalogue of your products, any photo can benefit

from some context. Plus, if your caption text has storytelling value, then any hashtags or emoji you add don’t look quite so distracting.

Ask a question A while back, Instagram’s parent company, Facebook, published a study in which they have analyzed posts that asked for help from the user’s network. Researchers found that, understandably, posts with requests for help or recommendations have higher

engagements than non­question posts with affirmative statements.

Similarly, if you share an Instagram photo that is similar to other photos on the network—say, a picture of your lunch, your feet, or a beautiful sunset in your city—you

can make yours stand out by providing some context and asking a question. For example, if you were impressed with the presentation of food at a local restaurant, why not ask your followers if they’ve had similar experiences? What’s their favorite place to eat at? After all, the more comments your photo has, the higher the chances

of it appearing in other users’ Explore tab.

Think before you link When it comes to captions, Instagram has made many changes, except for one:

clickable hyperlinks still don’t work in Instagram captions. Brands can find ways around this limitation with the new sponsored posts format, but what about other users?

People can work around the hyperlink issue by placing the link in the ‘Website’ section of their bio description and then pointing to it in the photo caption.

As a general rule, it’s best to keep links off Instagram. One of the essential parts of the

Instagram experience is how immersive it is. Links take users away from the app, which can in turn take away possible engagement opportunities for your photos.

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Brevity is so important something super brief. It should be shorter than a tweet.

Add value to the image with the caption. When people scroll through Instagram, they don’t necessarily even read the captions. If you want to have a caption that people are actually going to want to read, you kind of have to build that up with the image

first. You want people to say, ”I’m going to look at this image, but hey, I’m going to read this caption too.”

Here’s the thing about hashtags. They can ROCK your world, or they can RUIN it.

You just have to know how to use them.

Be Specific Choosing specific tags will help you connect with other like­minded people on

Instagram. For an example, let’s say you’re posting a photo of a Volkswagon Van. Instead of using the tag #van, we could use #vwvan. The photo will be added to that highly targeted tag page, where other Volkswagen lovers will be able to find the photo

more easily (without sifting through photos of Toyota Siennas and Chevy Astros)

Be Relevant Make it easy for other like­minded Instagrammers to find you by making sure your tags describe your photo. Using very general tags like #photo might get you a few likes, but with over 700,000 photos tagged #photo, it isn’t the best way to make your photos stand out and connect with the people most like you. Relevant tags will help you attract new followers who will take a genuine interest in your photos and continue

liking and commenting on your photos over time. For the Volkswagon photo, in addition to #vwbus, we could use the tag #volkswagen.

Be Observant

Pay attention to the other hashtags used on photos that use the same tag as yours. You may discover a popular hashtag you hadn’t thought of on your own. For example, on photos tagged #volkswagen, we saw that many of those photos also use the tag #vw. When you do a search for those tags, you’ll find out that Instagrammers use #vw

to describe their Volkswagen photos more than twice as often as they use #volkswagen!

After tagging the photo with relevant and specific tags, you may also find that people sharing photos similar to yours are using even more specialized tags that you hadn’t thought of originally. For our photo, we found that photos tagged #vw and #vwvan also

use #vwbus.

All of these points are very important if you are using Instagram for your business.

While you might think it’s best to only use popular hashtags, this is a mistake. Yes, you want to use popular hashtags to increase your chances of showing up in popular searches. However, if it’s a popular category, everyone else is doing the same thing and your post will disappear quickly into the depths of the search results. Instead, incorporating less common hashtags will ensure that your posts “live” longer in the search results. Mixing in a variety of popular and less popular hashtags ensures you

get the best of both worlds!

Tagging your photos with #justinbeiber or #tagsforlikes isn’t going to help you grow your business any faster. And just because Instagram lets you use up to 30 hashtags per post doesn’t mean you should. In fact, doing these things can make your brand

look worse. Using irrelevant tags purely because they’re popular makes you look desperate for attention.

Use humor here, too.

Every once in a while, make up a funny hashtag that obviously isn’t going to get you any interaction. This makes people laugh­ and actually grabs the attention of your

current followers ­ at the same time, telling them that you’re NOT looking for attention.

A (bad) vs B (good)

A ­ barely a caption, way too many hashtags. #desperate B ­ A caption that makes you think, ONE popular hashtag.

Interaction What goes around comes around.

The golden rule, that we all have heard hundreds of time: “Treat people the way you

want to be treated” actually works here on Instagram. If you’re a faithful follower, you’ll get faithful followers back. If you’re a consistent liker, you’ll get consistent likes. If you

take a few seconds to comment on photos that you enjoy, people are going to reciprocate!

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If you’re committed to building your Instagram following, here’s FIVE simple steps you can do each day to increase interaction and rapport with your fellow Instagrammers.

1)LIKE at least 15 photos in your feed 2)COMMENT on at least 5 photos in your feed

(make an effort to comment genuinely. Not just a smile, or a “nice shot.”)

3)RESPOND to any new comments on your posts 4)FOLLOW BACK any new followers whose pages you enjoy

5)BROWSE through your “explore” tab and find a nice photo posted by someone you’re not following. Let them know you enjoy their work! You reach out, and you’ll be

reached out to.

All of the above can take 5­15 minutes a day depending on your effort. I guarantee you this will make a positive difference in how other Instagrammers (especially those who

follow you) will think of you, interact with you.

YOU, my friend, are now Instagram smart! Can’t wait to see your success!