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Engagement rates for brands on most social networks are less than 0.1%, but Instagram blows them all away. The average Instagram engagement rate for brands is 58 times higher than on Facebook.
So, using it you can get your business a larger piece of the action and make the most of your efforts with these little-known Instagram hacks.
#1 Make Your Bio-Link Active
You get one clickable link in your Instagram account, but you can change it as many times as you delight. Use the link in your bio to promote your latest content or special promotions.
How to do it?
Create a post on Instagram with a call to action for people to click the link in your bio for more information.
Tip: This is perfect for running special promotions, preparing customers for a product launch or new feature to your site. And, you can split test different landing pages and offers to see which gives you the best results.
#2 Prioritize the Order of Your Filters
Whichever filter is your favorite, make it easy to find by changing the order in which the filters appear on your edit screen. You can even hide those ones you never use.
It actually saves you a ton of time and increases alliance efforts between team members.
How to do it?
- When posting a photo or video, go to Filter
- Scroll to the end of your filters and tap Manage
- Press and hold the three line icon next to each filter on the left-hand side of the screen to rearrange the order of your filters
- Check or uncheck the circles next to each filter on the right-hand side of the screen to hide or unhide filters
- Click done to save your settings
Tip: Make sure your team only publishes with the correct filters by managing and editing them in the app.
#3 Receive Notifications from Competitor Account
Never want to miss an Instagram post from your competitor account again? You can choose to get a notification every time a specific user posts a new photo. All you have to do is turn on notifications for each user exclusively.
Brands always measure their efforts against the competition to know what’s working and things that could improve.
How to do it?
- Visit the profile page of the account you’d like to get notifications for
- Tap the three dots icon in the upper right-hand corner of the screen
- Select Turn on Post Notifications
Tip: If you’ve changed your mind, the option to turn off notifications lives in the same spot. It gives you an advantage to increase the quality of content and better reach your core audience.
#4 See Activity for the Accounts You Follow
Want to know what the people you follow are doing on Instagram? To get a strong idea of what types of posts drive engagement, just view the activity likes and comments for the accounts you follow.
How to do it?
- Tap on the heart icon in the navigation bar at the bottom of the screen to visit the activity tab
- The tab will default to You, simply select Following at the top of the screen
Tip: This is a quick way to do that — by viewing the recent liking and commenting activity of the people you follow.
#5 Clear Your Search History
You’ve probably noticed as you use the platform that Instagram saves your search queries and displays recent terms the next time you perform a search. If you want to start with a blank sheet, give this hack a try.
How to do it?
- Tap the person icon to go to your profile
- Tap the gear icon on iOS or the three dots on Android to go to Options
- Scroll to the bottom, then tap Clear Search History
Tip: You can also hide individual accounts, hashtags, or places in order to permanently remove them from your search history and keep them from reappearing in following searches.
#6 Geotag Content for Higher Engagement
Show your content in front of a larger audience, it’s smart to geotag your images and videos. Users usually scope tagged locations to follow other people in the same area. By tagging multiple areas with your content, you spread out social casting net.
How to do it?
- Click add a location on a new post
- Then start typing your specific custom location
- Once your location is correctly set, click, add to create the location and select an appropriate category to your brand.
Tip: Your custom location will occupy anytime users search for your brand. Make sure you boost users to start using the location 24 hours after you create the address.
#7 Regram & Tag Influencers
Sharing content from other accounts is a great way to build associations on social media. Pinterest has Repins and Instagram has regramming. However, Instagram doesn’t have a built-in feature to regram posts by other users.
This practice of user-generated content creates long lasting connections and helps increase engagement among other users.
How to do it?
There are several Instagram apps such as Websta and Repost for Instagram that will let you repost photos from other users without having to take screenshots and cropping.
Tip: When you repost another user’s photo, make sure you tag them in the caption so they receive a notification and also to credit the original source.
#8 Insert Line Breaks in Your Bio & Captions
Have you ever scrolled through your Instagram feed and noticed a post with a long caption, without any line breaks?
Huge text on Instagram is difficult to read and scan. Fortunately, there’s an Instagram hack that lets you turn that ugly text block into structured paragraphs.
How to do it?
For iOS users, write the caption copy in another app, then copy the text and paste it into the appropriate field on the app. For Android users, tap the return button on the mobile keyboard to create line breaks.
Tip: The result is a caption that’s a lot easier on the eyes and has a better chance of being read.
#9 Switch to a business profile to run ads and get analytics
In 2016, Instagram introduced business profiles and they offer a lot of perks including a profile CTA, access to insights, and the ability to run ads so now’s the time to make the change.
How to do it?
- Tap the person icon to visit your profile
- Tap the gear icon on iOS or the three dots on Android to go to Options
- Select Switch to Business Profile
- Tap Continue at the bottom of the screen
- Instagram will ask you to connect your Facebook account, you must connect a Facebook account to set up a business account on Instagram
- Once you’ve chosen the Facebook Page you want to connect, fill in the information requested by Instagram, you must provide a phone number, email, or physical address for your business
- Tap Done to save your profile and settings
Tip: Instagram users have to click that button and then chose whether they want to email you, call you, or find your location on a map. And, you’ll see analytics for impressions, reach, and follower information within the past week.
Instagram is one of the most fun and visually appealing social apps. Now, with these hacks, you can use it to an even fuller extent, to enhance your brand’s presence on Instagram.
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