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4 Simple Steps to your Brand’s Success on Instagram

Event Tips >

Instagram Iphone It is widely known that Facebook and Twitter are incredibly important aspects of event promotion and brand marketing. Instagram, however, has grown so much in recent years that it is now the third piece – creating a trifecta that cannot be ignored if you want to build a successful brand in the long term. Instagram can feel a bit daunting at first, given that it is a strictly visual platform, but with the right guidance you’ll be an expert in no time.

Create a Separate Business Account

I often hear event promoters mention that they promote their events on their personal account, which is a great way to get the word out to a smaller group of friends and family. In the long run, if you don’t have a separate account for your events (and essentially your brand) you are doing yourself a disservice. A separate business account will showcase your efforts and streamline all of your past, present, and future events. Just be sure to post the event link in your account profile bio. Instagram limits sales capabilities within captions, so the only hyperlink text on accounts can be found within your main bio. When you caption a photo be sure to reference the ticket link and where to find it.

Post Relevant, Quality Images

You want to remember to post images that promote interest and intrigue around your brand and your events. You will want to decide on a theme or angle for your account as a whole for potential followers. The simplest way to go about this is to stick with a particular color scheme, filter, or even a similar angle or point of view.  When you think about certain professional accounts you follow on Instagram, chances are they all use this road map to some degree. Every image has a cohesive feel whether that be with content, color, or image tone. This cohesive nature and quality content plays a large role in gaining followers and continuing the long-term success of the account.

Build a Loyal Following and Hashtag with Precision

It sounds trivial, but the amount of likes and follows your account receives will likely determine how your brand and account is perceived by potential followers. You want your account to shine through and showcase your efforts to pull these followers in to increase your numbers.  Engagement is a crucial component to successful Instagram marketing in order to raise the amount of likes and follows your account receives. “Liking” and commenting admiration or praise on various user’s content (by way of applicable hashtags) will get you noticed by potential followers further.

Before hashtag-ing your content, do some research.  Take time to determine your target demographic and relevant hashtags for your events.  You want to hashtag your images so that they can be easily found on Instagram. All hashtags are grouped so if you tag relevant, popular content your image will get discovered by potential followers. You want your hashtags to get you seen, but you do not want to stray too far from the content.  If you’re hashtagging popular tags, but they are not applicable to your image, your credibility will be lowered. Once an image is located by a potential follower they will typically go to your main account and scroll through your images to decide if you are someone they wish to follow, which is why you want to make your account content memorable.

In addition to researching hashtags you will want to create and promote your own hashtag. By creating and promoting your own hashtag, it allows others to assist with content creation and will give you a chance to locate all fan images from your events. Make it something unique enough to only have images pertaining to your events, and remind followers to utilize the hashtag to continue building hype around your events.

Stay on your Attendee’s Radar

Continue posting content regularly to build your brand and excitement around your events. Posting during hi-traffic times will ensure wider visibility. Typically early morning and weekday evenings works best or maximum reach. Make sure you give your attendees all the information they need to consider purchasing tickets, and always reference that ticket link when appropriate. Feel free to keep your posts fresh by mixing up your captions a bit. Caption some of your posts with questions pertaining to the event, such as, “What song are you looking forward to hearing from the artist?” Or, what aspect they’re most excited for regarding the event. This type of engagement builds loyalty and gets your fans excited and involved with your content.

Keep in mind that this isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon. It will take creativity and time to build your content and following. If you do it right and with passion, you will easily be able to build the hype needed to sell out your next event.

For more Instagram tips, check out The Event Organizer’s Guide to Instagram