The intention behind any post of an influencer on social media is to gain more followers and increase engagement. Similarly, the intent behind Insta influencers is to grow their Instagram presence. However, purpose, consistency, and engaging content alone do not help one achieve their objective. With Instagram’s rapidly changing algorithm, it is prudent to take some measures to ensure you get the desired attention from your followers and potential consumers. Regardless of the algorithm change, staying on top of the followers’ engagement is easy with selected actions taken every time a post goes online. They are as important as a catchy picture and a cool caption.

Hobo.Video has compiled a list of to-dos to become an appealing Instagram influencer.

A checklist to step up with your Instagram game

1. #Hashtags

Hashtags are the so-called agents that pull in the traffic of new visitors to your profile and help you grow your Instagram presence. In most cases, new footfalls to a profile is a repercussion of wise usage of hashtags. While using too many hashtags in a post’s description may look a bit desperate, a handful of chosen hashtags may get the job done right. The hashtags must be aligned with the post and potential audience.

At first, being able to come up with creative and unique hashtags can be a daunting task, and very unique hashtags are likely to go unnoticed. Confused, how to find the right hashtags?

Being a bit lazy pays off in this phase. Reverse engineering hashtags is a smarter way to get to know the most popular hashtags through which the followers conduct searches regarding a specific topic.

Already popular hashtags can be found with the number of posts that have used them. While paying attention to the number of posts that have used a specific hashtag, bear in mind that, hashtags are not too rarely or often used. Cause, your posts with those kinds of hashtags are likely to get deserted or lost in the crowd.

With the right combination of hashtags, the views to a specific post can surpass your number of followers, which also helps you grow your Instagram presence.

With your post using hashtags surfaced on your non-followers feed, the next thing they do after going through your post is an island on your profile.

2. Your Bio equals your Résumé

Time to make a great first impression!

Your Instagram bio is the only factor that pulls in the traffic by saying what you have to offer through your profile. Usually, the brand and your potential audience make decisions about whether to scroll further down your profile or to move to another profile without wasting time in this phase.

The first impression is the only impression you need to gain audience engagement for your profile. Little or too many details in an Instagram bio could make the viewers lose interest in your profile. A crisp and sharp bio leads to people digging into your profile.

Writing about your niche in your profile bio is the best way to grow your Instagram presence. People like it when they are given what they are looking for at the very first instant.

With the slightest of a scroll, comes the feature that made Instagram influencer-friendly.

3. Sorting your Instagram Story Highlights

The next section people land at is the Story Highlights. These highlights back your bio in terms of your niche. Instagram story highlights give them an insight into the expanse of your coverage and engagement with your audience. You can also interact with the audience by putting up some Q&As on your stories regularly.

This space can be used to portray how the products that you endorse, are a part of your day-to-day life. Doing so, in a way, reiterates that you are a consumer too and not someone who is just using the space to promote some products. After all, people trust a fellow buyer’s word over the one who’s selling.

The consistent stories that you post to endorse a product, help in establishing a connection with the audience. This further helps to grow your Instagram presence. And most importantly, brands look for these connections between the influencers and consumers.

4. Exploiting your Business Account

If you haven’t already, switching to a business account is crucial to an Instagram influencer’s career. The features and tools Instagram offers to its users are to make the usage of the app easier. Keeping a tab on one’s shortfalls and fullness is the best way to make sure you deliver everything that keeps the audience engaged. Instagram Insights gives you access to the visitor’s activities on your profile- which gender or age group of the population engages on what specific content.

This sure comes in handy when your campaign is catering to a specific demography. The Instagram insights tool is a one-stop-shop to monitor, assess, and implement strategies. Utilizing this tool to its fullest saves you from opting for paid services.

5. Data for posts

The amazing feature that comes with a business account is the ability to view the data of the number of post saves, followers, likes, and comments for every single post. If there is a link to a website description, the number of visits by the users through the link can be viewed. This data can be instrumental in striking a deal with certain brands.

One of the principal qualities that a brand looks for in an influencer is transparency. When presented with data that exhibits your capacity to engage the audience through your content, your authenticity can be seen through this move which increases the chances of sealing the deal.

The Discovery section in the app shows how your post is found by the viewers in terms of Searches, DMs, Hashtags, etc.

Making your profile failproof by following the above ideas it is time to start pitching to the brands.

6. Do all it takes to sell yourself

Putting yourself out there and reaching out to the Brands may sound nerve-wracking, but it takes equal effort as trying out conventional methods of establishing contact through emails.

With the omnipresent Social media, influencers can now endorse products of certain brands even without collaborating with them by posting reviews of products to attract their attention. A sneak peek of what entails your collaboration with the brand wouldn’t hurt.

Adding a link to several E-commerce platforms which is selling the product of a specific brand, and presenting the number of clicks on the links along with other data, will give them a clear idea about your contribution to their sales. It will help convince them, that they are making the right choice by roping you in as their influencer.

In the course of reaching out to brands and pitching, you are bound to face multiple rejections at times. This does not mean changing your niche and collaborating with brands out of your zone.

7. Do not get carried away

Involving in one-offs out of your niche may not help you in the long run. Sticking to your niche is as important as consistency and audience engagement. Avoid collaborating with any brands or products that you do not believe in, or have a liking for. As the process of endorsing, it gets too mechanized and loses the emotional touch between you and your target audience. This not only distracts you from your core but also leaves a mark on your track record.

While promoting many brands through your profile, do not ignore the fact that you are emerging as a brand yourself. It is important to conserve your brand value to secure more collaborations through your body of work. Trying to be a jack of all trades does not give a good opinion about you to the Brands looking to collaborate with influencers.

By clinging onto your niche over a while, you become the go-to person for brands willing to try out something new in the market.

Expanding your presence and establishing a brand takes consistency and tough work. To make your presence known and grow as a micro-influencer, you need to follow the best practices of influencer marketing. At Hobo.Video, we provide special guidance and a big influencer marketing platform for budding influencers to thrive on. We also enable businesses to sell directly to customers across India from our platform. Grab our premade templates and video ideas to create engaging content and bag good brand collaborations.