5 Simple Steps to Cultivating a Relevant Instagram Community

Besides figuring out what kinds of photos their business should take, many struggle with how to build a relevant Instagram following that ultimately provides value. In this post, we’re going to look at five ways you can increase your Instagram followers to build a targeted community for your business.

1. Find your connections on Facebook.

To get started, you will want to connect with people who are already familiar with you on Twitter and Facebook by going to your Instagram profile on your mobile app and clicking the settings wheel in the top left. Then go to the Find & Invite Friends section and select Facebook friends. Note that this is to connect with friends on your Facebook personal profile, not fans of your page.

You will want to periodically check through your Facebook friends to see if new people have signed up for Instagram or people you have recently connected with are also on Instagram.

2. Make sure you carefully curate photos your target audience would be interested in.

This may seem obvious, but it is often overlooked by businesses on Instagram. Think about who you want to attract as your iideal customers and figure out what kinds of photos they would most likely be interested in.

There’s the obvious - a business that sells custom pet collars could easily get away with cute dog or cat photos. A travel company would want to have photos from top vacation hot spots. A restaurant should share their most appetizing dishes.

But you can also think outside the box a little - a fashion brand could post photos of color inspiration of flowers, cars, and other things besides clothes. A coffee shop could post artistic photos of their best daily customers with a happy smile on their face as they enjoy their regular drink.

3. Use hashtags to join relevant conversations.

Hashtags are not just for Twitter, Google+ and soon-to-be Facebook. You can get an idea of what #hashtags are most popular on Instagram by looking at the Top 100 Tags list on Statgram. Also, you can similar businesses in your industry to see what hashtags they use on their most popular photo posts and start taking great photos to go with them.

4. Get the word out. Tweet, Facebook, and blog your Instagram photos.

Don’t limit your photos to just Instagram. You can set up your app to allow you to share to Twitter and your Facebook personal profile. If you want to share photos to your Facebook page, you will need to go to your profile on the web, click on the photo you want to share, and grab the URL for that specific page.

Another way to share your Instagram photos is via Tumblr. You can create a whole blog on Tumblr for your Instagram photos or integrate your Instagram activity into your current Tumblr blog by connecting it to your Instagram app.

5. Link to your web profile on your website.

Instagram now has their own official badges you can use to link to your profile on your website. They are essentially just icons that have a rollover effect - you can always grab just the icon and link it directly to your profile if you don’t want to copy all of the coding that goes along with them.

Measure the Results

As you grow your targeted Instagram following, you should notice an increase in engagement with likes and comments on your photos. You can also sign up for a free account on SumAll and connecting your Instagram, Google Analytics, and ecommerce platform.

You can even add your Twitter and Facebook accounts to see if sharing photos has helped you build more engagement on those networks. You can then compare them all together to see if they are increasing your overall traffic and sales.

Kristi Hines is a freelance writer, professional blogger, and social media enthusiast. You can follow her on Twitter and Google+.