At the time of publishing this post, Instagram is my favourite social media platform for promoting an ecom brand organically. It’s got good reach, plenty of traffic and it’s great for acquiring engagement.
So it makes sense for most ecom brands out there to build a community on this platform and showcase their products, value proposition and brand values.
For some brands, growing their Instagram pages can be a challenge. That’s why I have created this post to help you guys with growing your Insta pages. Some of the methods listed below include gamification and involve creative ways to build your audience online.
Let’s dive right in…
Post Engaging Content Regularly
Your page has to give reasons for your followers to stay engaged and the best way to do that is to post engaging content on a frequent basis. If you are starting out, post up stories and video content about why you started your brand, what problem and pain point are you trying to offer solutions for.
What desired outcomes are you offering your target audience. Show off products, news about your brand, trends, how to’s, top 10 lists etc etc. Content that is educational and informative whilst at the same time weaving in your product line as the solutions to problems and desired outcomes your target market wants.
Offer Discounts To Your Followers
So now that you’ve built out a bit of a following and getting some decent engagement, it’s time to reward these followers with a discount on your products.
Create a discount code for your product that is only available to your Instagram followers. You can also create unique discount codes for each of your influencers (more on that later). Offering exclusive discount codes can help to increase your following and also generate sales along the way.
Use Attractive Hashtags of Your Competitors
Hashtags are a great way for getting new people to follow your page. Use hashtags wisely and test new tags to get your posts found in the explore page. Find attractive hashtags using your competitors Instagram analytics, you can learn what their most successful hashtags are. Use this knowledge to your advantage and target your competitor’s audience using your own hashtags.
Run Regular Giveaways
I’m a big fan of gamification done the right way and giveaways are a fantastic way to build out your social media following, engagement, brand awareness and even generate sales. There are various ways to run giveaways. You can do a simple “Follow” giveaway to increase your followers and engagement on Instagram.
Alternatively you can use third party software that can assist you with building out your following on various social media, email list as well as encouraging sales. Use your influencer network to help build brand awareness and promotion of your giveaway. If you have an existing email list and social following, be sure to incorporate that too.
Connect With Influencers
Influencer marketing is another great channel to work with when building out your Instagram following. Find credible influencers in your market and connect with them. If you’re looking to cross promote and exchange value, it’s usually best to find influencers who are on the same authority level as your brand.
If you’ve got some money to invest and can afford influencers who have a larger authority and influence on their audience, by all means work with them too.
Achieving Goals With Your Followers
This can be quite a clever way to market your Instagram page. I tend to come across this method with certain YouTube channels I subscribe to. Create goals for reaching a certain number of followers, whether through giveaways or something else, this will allow your followers to engage and interact more with your content.
Ask your followers to refer more like minded people to the page by tagging them in the comments and getting them to follow the page. If you’re doing a giveaway after reaching “X” amount of followers, make sure your offer is a juicy one to attract lots of attention. It’ll be worth it in the end.
Create Tasks For Your Followers To Complete
This is another creative way to build following and engagement on your Instagram profile. It’s another gamification campaign you can introduce into your arsenal. What you do here is tell your followers that when they share “X” amount of YOUR photos to their stories, they will receive a reward.
You can also reward followers who invite five friends to the page. If those five friends end up following the page, everyone receives a little reward. This doesn’t have to cost you much. Think information product in your niche.
Another common method is asking followers to “like, share and comment” on a post. The opportunities are endless for what the task and reward could be. Just get out there and experiment.
Ask Your Followers To Share Photos
This idea branches off from the “Create Tasks For Your Followers To Complete” point above. In this case, ask your followers to share a photo with a specific theme in mind. Your reward for this can be as small as a mention in your stories/post, highlighting them as the winner.
Or as large as a physical product or subscription to your brand. What’s more, by doing so you will also receive free shared content targeting your audience from your users.
Use Other Platforms… If You Have Any
Got an email list?
Or use other social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, TikTok etc. You can utilise these platforms by letting the people on these assets know you have an Instagram page and encourage them to follow you.
Create a “Find The Clue” Story For Active Followers
More gamification ideas you say?
Ok I gotcha!
Another idea for a photo game is to create “find the clue” stories. Publish content clues within your stories that your active followers should gather to solve a puzzle and ultimately win a prize or enter a draw for a jackpot. Just don’t forget to announce that such a game exists, so that you can keep your audience busy.
Make a Site-Wide Discount on a Follower Milestone
This is a creative way to attract more followers, create “buzz” for your brand and drive sales on your store.
How does it work?
What you need to do here is create a site-level discount that will be available to everyone, once a certain milestone in the number of followers is reached. Encourage your followers to share this upcoming potential discount to speed up the time in which the discount will be available. This can perfectly fit in with planned discounts and realistic goals for your follower count.
Do a Live Q&A or Shopping Event on IGTV
Last on the list of acquiring followers and just as importantly engagement. Why not go live every once in a while to answer questions for your audience. By doing so, you’ll be able to handle sales objections, answer questions about that Christmas sales that’s coming up and build some hype for it. This type of content allows you to connect effectively with your growing audience and communicate your personality.
I always say that people buy from people, not websites. Your prospects and customers appreciate seeing the face of your brand and the type of lifestyle your value proposition brings to the table. A deeper connection to your audience builds a more indepth “Know, Like & Trust” factor which can only help your brand.
You can interview influencers in your market and talk about solving problems for your market, or desires they have and how your products are the solution to their problems/desires. Or how about doing a live Shopping event? Think QVC, Home Shopping Network etc.
The Internet allows you as a brand owner to do things like this with your own audience, so by all means take action and experiment with it. Make sure you presell the event well in advance before you go live so that your audience is aware of the event.
Let me know your feedback on the above. Do you use any of these methods to grow your following? Maybe you could share some tips in the comments below.
