You are the bad boy of the party if you don’t do this on Instagram

Last week, I posted a few hacks for Facebook and Twitter and promised to write up a few for Instagram soon. I love Instagram! Of all the platforms out there, Instagram is my favourite. On this platform too, there are protocols that you cannot ignore.

The best scenario is to publish one, two or three posts a day. And genuinely engage. I squirm when people post something on Instagram or Facebook and say I’m done my social media for the day!

Here are a few dos and don’ts for Instagram for best experience.

• Post everyday. If possible, post 2-3 times a day at good intervals.
• Follow at least 10 new targeted people every day. Follow people that seem to be your targeted audience.

• Make 30% of your posts promotional, 60% of them either educational or motivational and inspiring and lost 10% could be personal or trending current events. #socialmediatips Click To Tweet

• Hashtags are the local culture here. Use up to 30 relevant hashtags with each post. Try to constantly keep switching the hashtags you use and the sequence in which you are using them. The same set of hashtags used in every post make the robot of Instagram think that you’re spamming and that your posts should be less visible to your following. 
  
• Like and comment on other people’s posts frequently.
• Always acknowledge people’s comments on your posts or reply, whichever is suitable. Neglecting to do this makes you the bad boy of the party.
• “Like”ing around 28 images  by different followers and commenting on at least 7 every day is the sweet spot. This way Instagram knows you’re a good active Instagram user. But do it at intervals or IG thinks you are a paid bot. Nobody likes a paid bot.
• Tag relevant people and always tag your location so it’s easier for your followers to decide to follow you. Very soon I’ll be bringing to you lots of details on marketing with an eBook on all about Instagram. (Well, all I know about Instagram, probably even Instagram doesn’t know all about Instagram.)

And now it gets cooler…

• Use the ribbon icon under other people’s posts to save that into your own collections to browse at leisure. Ex: My collections are called DIY for Home, Fun Ideas to Try, Recipes for Future, Marketing ideas, etc. #Instagramtips Click To Tweet

• Include your brand’s hashtags in your bio
• Schedule your content ahead of time. Using @TailwindApp helps not only strategically time your content to go live, but also gives you the top rated hashtags for your post.
• If you don’t like how 30 hashtags look in your post, you can publish them as a comment and still have the same benefit without looking ugly.

I have many more specifics to add to Instagram hacks, dogs and marketing and a blog post can only do a little justice… I’m working on an eBook all about it, stay tuned.