The first 10k – 7 strategies to help you organically grow your brand on Instagram

I love Instagram. To me this is probably more hooking than Pinterest, more visual than Facebook, definitely more engaging and inviting than Twitter (pure skirmish to me, oh dear…), so no wonder it’s one of the fastest-growing social media platforms in the world.

It’s been more or less just a few months since I first started my Instagram page for AllMumsTalk.  I managed to gain over 10k through a few strategies that weren’t wholly time-consuming and actually a lot of fun. I thought this could be a good read for the individuals who are looking to gain exposure for their brands through this amazing app (hey, I’m still new in the game myself, but every day I learn about the powerful potential a good photograph can have).

 1. Find your target audience

Without this, you’re pretty much sailing against the wind. Kevin Espiritu on Seonick says you should be able to define Your Ideal Follower. ‘We need to get in the right mindset before we start on Instagram. We need to know exactly what type of person we are trying to attract to our brand’.

2. Do your research

A bit of preparation is always needed when you’re looking to grow a brand or an idea you had for a while. Same cool Kevin on Seonick says it’s worth asking yourself the following questions:

Exactly what type of person do you want to attract?

What successful accounts are they already following in your niche?

What types of photos are they liking?

What hashtags are they using on their own photos?

What are the hashtags successful accounts in your niche are using?

3. Inspirational. Aspirational

I believe you agree with on me that fact that by nature, quotes can be both inspirational and aspirational and have the power to make your reader identify with your own person. Yes, we are all different, have different jobs, different dreams, different opinions on topics such as breastfeeding, vaccination or even deeper stuff such as happiness. Nevertheless, we all share the occasional weary load of parenthood or have a tough Monday. Hence we all need comfort or motivation words once in a while.

4. The puzzle theory

This is not an easy one and I’m still working on it myself. Every single photo of your gallery is a piece of a puzzle. When you look back at your profile, it must make sense, the photos must compliment each other. Yet finding yourself the right theme is a longer process. It also takes a while until you find yourself a voice. The Voice. After several trials and experiments of all these strategies above, you’ll be able to see which are the things that suit you best.

5. Following, liking and commenting

This is one of the most serious parts of the game. I can’t stress enough on how genuine, genuine, genuine you must be in all your actions. Engage with your followers as much as you can, engage with potential followers through honest comments and likes. The chances are they will not follow back from the very first attempt, but even if so, the satisfaction that you’re playing correctly will be a winner on the long term. So be cool. A quick clear example would be this: I have my Spanish fellow mum follower (who I have never met) giving back a lot of love through constant genuine comments, so how could I ignore this? You’ll meet wonderful people along this journey, so be grateful for their help and give back a little something once in a while.

6.  Checking out the competition

This is a great tool to understanding trends and trying not to go off rail, yet don’t make a mission out of this process. It’s easy to get yourself slightly confused or trapped in a mindset that may not be entirely yours just because you spend more time checking on your fierce competition, worrying about its success while focusing too much on the slowness of your growing process. Good things take time, so be patient. Keep an eye on a few of the ones you admire, yet you should learn more from them instead of becoming overwhelmed or even feeling intimidated.

7. Empowerment.

This is my most treasured tool. Every day I find great people out there and I talk about them. I repost their work, I share it with my followers and I try to learn from it. Sometimes I endorse certain brands, but only because I truly believe in them. And no, the truth is 99% of them don’t pay me to do it such as Crocs or Ella’s Kitchen who my toddler loved from day one of walking and weaning. Or Tiny Me who did indeed send me a few products for my toddler to review and I was happy to as I did use them in the past and I knew the quality. Product reviews are a clever way to grow, so keep this in mind too. Also don’t neglect competitions, giveaways and voucher codes which have the power to increase the traffic on your website and being more followers in your game. 

Any thoughts on other clever strategies that you’d like to share with me today?

So much to learn still, so let’s empower each other…:)

Love

Ally 

AllMumsTalk