Instagram AuditThe Tools and Tactics to Increase

Your Likes and Followers

$

Adding a photo to a post increases engagement, and

the rise of apps like Snapchat, Pinterest and Instagram

shows that visual content is here to stay. When you

aren’t a photographer, graphic designer or even slightly

creative, posting to these channels can become difficult.

But who can resist jumping on these platforms, when

Instagram alone boasts 300 million active users?

Increasing your Instagram following can result in more

sales, more website traffic, and a more engaged online

community for your brand, blog or business. In order to

be successful on Instagram you need to master 3 things:

posting, engagement and optimization.

We created this guide just for you, our users who may still

be trying to figure out social media as you go along. The

following list of tips and tools will help you create a solid

long-term strategy for Instagram. We will break down

what you should be doing each day, week and month to

grow your following and convert your audience.

Visual content is king.

Checklist

Immediately

Daily

Weekly

Update your user profile infor to reflect of your brand.

Identify or create an opt-in product.

Provide the landing page link in your profile.

Describe your brand in 3-5 words

Delete all photos that don’t fit this description.

Remove any photos posted with the regram app.

Nail down a “look” for your photos.

Check your account for any new followers or mentions.

Review the Trending Tags to see if any apply for your brand.

Post one photo with an engaged caption and appropriate hashtags.

Like and comment on 5-10 pictures.

Repost one fan photo.

Review your metrics to identify best performing content.

Plan content for the following week.

Profile andPhotos

The most important and overlooked tool on

Instagram is the profile itself. Your instagram

page is viewed in two ways: individually and

collectively as a feed. Those who are already

following you, see your feed one-by-one as

you publish, but those that are discovering

you for the 1st time are looking at your entire

feed. What kind of impression does your grid

make? Are the first 9 images telling a story?

Are they cohesive?

These photos and your profile biography

should capture their attention, communicate

your brand personality and entice them to

follow. Do a quick audit for you profile and

remove any pictures that aren’t on brand or

high-quality. “On brand” doesn’t mean that

every single picture needs to be taken from the

same angle or have the same filter. What you

want to do is evoke a feeling. When you look at

Kirk Kara’s feed, what do you feel? How do you

want users to feel when they visit your page?

A descriptive biography and appealing photos

are the difference between a one-time profile

view and a new follower. Although there is

no formula to calculate this, each instagram

follower represents potential revenue for

your business or opportunities for your brand.

Keeping this in mind, your website link should

drive them to a landing page where you can

collect their information and have them enter

your marketing funnel. An opt-in product is a

great way to build your email list, but it also

helps you to build rapport with your audience.

Melissa from The Nectar Collective nails

this. The biography tells me exact how she

adds value and drives me to her e-course,

while her profile has a clear color palette

and feels exciting.

If you are in retail or ecommerce, consider

offering a coupon. As an agency, coach or

consultant, provide a guide or white paper

providing solutions for one of your ideal

customer’s pain points. Opt-in products come

in many forms, but at the very basic, it should

be valuable information that website visitors

would be willing to provide their name and

email for. Once you have identified an opt-

in product, you can focus on creating better

photos.

Kaye McCoy’s profile is a great example

of what to aim for when you clean up

your profile and take pictures. Notice the

similarity in the lighting and the colors. All

images capture something different, but it

still feels cohesive. Remember, instagram is

about portraying a lifestyle and letting your

audience get to know, love and trust you.

instagram.com/kirkkara

instagram.com/cookayemonster

instagram.com/thenectarcollective

Posing and Posting

Instagram is a very visual platform, so in

order for you to gain any kind of following

you need to take better pictures. If your

profile and individual images aren’t

appealing to the eye, you can forget about

people following you. Taking great pictures

not only increases your amount of followers,

but it boosts your credibility too.

I am by no means an Instagram expert,

but these photography rules are the ones

that every photographer I’ve spoken to has

mentioned. It really just requires practice and

patience. One of the social media managers

I chatted with mentioned that she takes up

to 50 shots of a particular image at a time,

trying out all angles and lighting possibilities.

Here is what you should consider when

shooting your next photo.

Rule of Thirds

You know that grid that Instagram provides?

It is there for a reason. Placement of your

subject is important. You don’t have to center

your subject in every photo. The rule of

thirds suggests placing objects toward the

outer thirds or bottom thirds of a photo to

add depth and provide a different look.

White Space

Your feed is going to need some breathing

room. If all of your pictures are close up

with little empty space, your profile can look

crowded and busy. Balance between close-

up shots and wide open spaces. Remember,

less is more.

Lighting Source

Always seek the light. Selfies, product shots

and everything in general looks better with

bright natural lightning. Flash can wash

your subject out or make your photo look

too produced. Instead, plan to take pictures

near your window or outside where you can

capitalize on natural light.

instagram.com/ceos_downbeat

instagram.com/muradosmann

Consistent Edits

Consistency goes far on Instagram. Whether

the angles of your shots are the same or

you use only one kind of filter, the similarities

in the photos help to tie them together.

Committing to one angle like Murad does in

his #FollowMeTo project may be difficult, but

he does keep all of his photos very bright

and saturated. Find the editing style that

works for you and commit to that one look.

Captions

Instagram is as much about the photo as it

is about the caption. Use this space to tell

a story. Because formatting directly in the

app can get somewhat difficult, type out

your captions in your phone’s notetaking

application and simply copy and paste it

over. Looking for clients? Use the captions

to share tips about your expertise. Selling a

product? Take us behind the scenes.

Tools

VSCOCam

Forget about your phone’s

camera and never open it

again after reading this post.

VSCOCam is the best camera

replacement app and gives you more control

over your shooting and photos. You can

manually control what to focus on and get

the right lighting for your photo.

Snapseed

Now when we talk editing, I

have to mention Snapseed. I

found this app earlier this year,

and it has been my go-to for

those photos that need a little extra umph.

What I love most about this app is the ability

to edit only portions of a photo. Selective

editing allows you to brighten backgrounds,

boost saturation and draw attention to one

part of the photo over another.

Afterlight

Afterlight is another popular

editing app for Instagram. It

has over 60 adjustment tools

and filters that allow you to

transform your photos. This will most likely

be your go-to app, and Snapseed will only

be used for special edits, but both useful

nonetheless.

Wordswag

Monday Motivation is huge on

Instagram, and I have been

using Wordswag to create

quote graphics for a while. If

your brand guidelines are forgiving, you

can use this tool to create wordmark text

overlays on any kind of background. The

app is preloaded with various solid color and

patterned backgrounds, but you are also

able to search for free stock photos right

within the app.

Canva

You don’t have to be a graphic

designer to make awesome

posts. Canva is a step up

from Wordswag. The platform

has images properly sized for all of your

social media channels, so you don’t have to

worry about pixels and placement for pins,

instagram posts, facebook posts or twitter

banners. Available for iPad and desktop,

you can create tons of images with the pre-

created template and the built in gallery of

stock photography, icons and illustrations.

I have moved away from using Indesign

recently, and have focused more on using

Canva since it cuts my graphic creation time

in half. It is a great tool if you are a DIY social

media manager that wears many hats.

Engagement

Engagement, engagement, engagement.

You don’t have to be a social media expert

to hear this buzzword constantly mentioned.

Connecting and building relationships with

people online is the only way to build a

viable presence on the social web.

If you are stagnant in follower growth, create

a schedule to cross promote on other brand

channels like Twitter, Pinterest and your

email list. If they have connected with you on

another channel already or they have opted

to receive emails from you, they are likely

to be engaged enough with your brand to

follow you on Instagram.

Engagement Tip: Each day, go through and

like 5 - 10 photos in your feed and leave

relevant, personable comments.

Susan Petersen, CEO of Freshly Picked,

mentioned that this was her tactic to grow her

Instagram into the hundreds of thousands.

Leaving comments and liking photos allows

other users to discover and connect with

you, as well as humanizing your brand’s

account. This is only successful if you are

engaging with the right people. Identify the

hashtags in your niche and the followers of

influencers in your space. This way, you can

be sure to target the people are already

interested in what you are offering. Speaking

of hashtags, use Instagram’s new Explore

feature to identify any Trending Tags that

may be useful and relevant for your brand.

Engagement Tip: Encourage user-

generated content.

Promoting and encouraging user generated

content (UGC) is a simple way to build

a stronger user community, increase

your following and promote your hashtag.

According to Nielsen, 43% of consumers

are more likely to purchase a product after

learning about it on social media, and

Instagram is a common distribution channel

for user-generated content. Incorporate fan

photos into your feed as well to add in some

social proof. Be mindful not to use a repost

app since it adds an unsightly banner on

your photos.

Optimization + Metrics

In order to stop your account from getting

stagnant, you should be consistently

evaluating and updating your Instagram

strategy. What content is performing well by

consistently getting likes and comments?

Do you notice any trends? Use a tool like

Iconosquare to track these metrics and

inform what content your audience responds

well to. It also goes a step further to tell

you the times that your audience is most

engaged, so that you can post when they

will be more likely to interact with you.

$ SumAll Audience Boost

The average overlap from customers to social media followers is less than 2%.

Audience Boost can make your social marketing 10x more effective by adding

your e-mail list subscribers to your social audience.

Relax EngageConnect

Kick back. We’ll find your

customers, follow them and

get them to follow you back.

With your new overlapping

audience, you can reach

your customers easier.

Add your Instagram account

and import your email list in

CSV format to SumAll.

C Boost has an average 16-25% follow back rate.

C Brings you followers with genuine interest who are more likely to buy.

C Brings you living, breathing people who are not bots or fake accounts.

C You’re paying us to find your users vs. of paying people to ‘like’ you.

$1

100 New Followers

$99/month cap

400 New Followers

$199/month cap

1600 New Followers

$399/month cap

$.50 $.25

If we don't bring you new followers, we'll give you a full refund.

/ F O L L O W E R

E N T R E P R E N E U R G R O W T H B O O S T

/ F O L L O W E R / F O L L O W E R