You don’t have to be a photographer or an expert Photoshop editor to gain a large following on Instagram. All you need is the proper knowledge, and you will gain an effective Instagram list building technique to grow your digital brand visibility.
4 Effective Instagram List Building Tips
Instagram is a more personal way of connecting with your audience. User-generated content is important and is something you should be using if you want to have success in social media.
When you create your user-generated content, be sure to use only the best and most relevant pictures for your audience.
Just remember, 30% of millennials spend their time on Instagram looking at user-generated content, and user-generated content is 35% more memorable and 50% more trusted than any other content.
Utilizing Instagram for your business is a great way to increase your social media management.
Why You Should Be Using Instagram
Instagram was founded in 2010, and within two years gained over 100 million users. Now Instagram boasts a population of 300 million.
Instagram became such a success overnight because it capitalized on the fact that people were using Facebook to look at and like pictures.
It’s this ‘liking’ that makes Instagram important for building your email list and brand. This is because engagement rates on social media have been dropping since their extreme high in 2014, due in part to an increase in advertising. Instagram has not felt this drop in engagement as much and has over 6x as much engagement as its nearest social media competitor.
SEE ALSO: Everything You Need To Know About The New Instagram Update
Another advantage that comes with Instagram is its immersion in the millennial market. Marketers are already spending over $500 million dollars a year to try and reach millennials, who, experts believe, will account for 1/3 of the buying power in the USA by 2020.
How Are They Using Instagram?
The average millennial user will spend around 439 minutes (almost 8 hours!) on Instagram in a month. Break that number down, and they’re spending almost 15 minutes on Instagram every day. Plus, the average Instagram user will check out their account at least 18 times a day.
As Instagram has gotten into better marketing for businesses, its taken off with the millennial crowd as well. Sales orders on Instagram have increased by 122% since its launch in 2010, and the average Instagram order is $65.00. Only Pinterest can compete with this order amount at $66.75, and they’re only beating Instagram by less than 2 dollars!
SEE ALSO: How To Sell With Instagram Shoppable Posts
How to Create an Instagram Funnel
Before you can get started, you’ll need to set up an Instagram account, create landing pages, and own a Smart Phone.
1. Create Engaging Content
The first trick to you Instagram list building is to start creating content multiple times a day. This content also needs to be designed to engage your audience.
Images that usually get a lot of attention are:
- Animals, particularly baby animals like puppies or kittens
- Model style photos of people
- Photos of places and fancy food, lifestyle pictures
The best way to get noticed for your brand though may just be using inspirational quotes.
Inspirational quotes are popular on Instagram and are a great way for you to work on your Instagram list building because they are one of the most shared forms of content and are easy to create.
The biggest thing to look out for when creating your inspirational quote for Instagram is that it should look good. The colors will need to match or complement the background of your account and your brand.
When you start posting your inspirational quotes, it will be important for you to pay attention to the analytic numbers to see what is popular with your audience. Check out what you post that gets a lot of comments and attention from your audience and model the rest of your posts after it.
For your Instagram list building to be a success, you’ll need to possess these basics:
- Basic Communication Skills
- Niche Audience Research
- The ability to edit images
- Decent copy and CTA Design
- A mobile-friendly landing page
2. Optimize Your Bio
Once you’re creating content that consistently gets engagement and you notice your audience growing, you’ll want to optimize your bio to get maximum lead generation.
Three Components of an Optimized Bio
1. A quick blurb that focuses on you.
Your blurb should use a few short words to describe your account. Narrow down your brand into less than ten words to give people a quick way to find out who you are.
2. Include a testimonial.
Add a short quote about the results from your business that your clients have liked. Be sure to add their first name to give it credibility.
3. Demonstrate a free offer.
Add a little advertising for a free offer from your brand. This could be any kind of product right down to an ebook.
4. Include links.
The most important thing to remember to include on your account is a link to your landing page. Make sure your brand website is set up before adding an Instagram account so that the people who are interested in you have somewhere to go to learn more.
3. Use S4S
S4S or share four share is a quick way to get flashy followers.
When you use S4S, you agree that you will post something from another account if they post something of yours.
There are options to pay an agency to set up S4S for you, but it’s not very difficult to get started on it by yourself. You’ll just want to reach out to accounts that are a similar size to you, or even slightly bigger.
That being said, you can ask accounts with millions of followers to do an S4S if you want because it just might work! If you can get your post shared to millions of followers it will grow your email list and the number of your own followers exponentially. Obviously, this will be great for your Instagram list building.
SEE ALSO: How to Convert Instagram Followers Into Clients
4. Use Instagram Ads
The Facebook Ad manager platform is where you’ll find Instagram ads being sold.
Creating an ad will demonstrate the value of your free offer and will direct people to your landing page. Plus, depending on the kind of ad you create, it may not have to stay just on Instagram. It could be reused on Facebook too, although you will have to check your own account for details.
5. Instagram Sponsorship (bonus tip!)
Instagram is limited in where you can have any sponsorship or advertorial, however, the bio link is the most visible and valuable real estate for this kind of relationship.
The first step in this Instagram list building technique is to identify a prospective account holder. For this step, you might have to send out 10-15 different approaches to gain one useful response. Don’t be discouraged if you get a bunch of flat refusals; you just haven’t found the right account holder yet.
However, it’s recommended that you don’t try to get a sponsorship from a corporation or a brand name. They are usually less likely to want to work with you, could have too many editorial processes, or be too expensive to work with.
Focus on fan pages, individuals, students, and other non-commercial pages to get the best results when you reach out.
Your message is important
In the message, you send to your potential account holder be sure to compliment them on their images and impressive community size. This is your moment to massage their ego and generate warm feelings towards you.
Next, explain to them that you run a related blog and are interested in building your audience and if they would be open to a sponsorship.
If they agree, you’ll need them to structure the bio link as you would like to be noticed. Some account holders may not like your involvement on their account, but you need to at least explain your need for a call to action (CTA) and a hyperlink URL.
At this point, you’ll have to consider where you URL will go. Sending people to your homepage is nice, but not the most effective for your Instagram list building. The best option for your URL is an email squeeze page.
Send them over to your email opt-in form to build your list. A pro technique is to use a redirect to split test this form without changing the URL in the Instagram bio link.
The biggest thing to remember here is that your opt-in needs to be completely mobile responsive. Most Instagram users will be on their Smart Phones, so make sure that your opt-in is fast and easy. Check how well your opt-in does on a smartphone before implementing this option to avoid any negative experiences with your brand.
Final Thoughts
Using Instagram to build your list can feel intimidating if you haven’t used this resource before. However, it is a great way to link up to a whole new audience, giving your brand exposure to people who have never heard of it before.
Just remember a few simple tips: create engaging content, optimize your bio, use S4S, use Instagram ads, and utilize an Instagram sponsorship.
Who are you following on Instagram?
