Instagram can be an incredible platform to build your audience, but figuring out how to cultivate a loyal following can be confusing if you’re new to it. You can buy followers on Instagram for a boost, but you still need to build an audience as well organically. This article will look at tips for creating an Instagram audience who will love to hear what you say.
Find Your Audience
Before you build a loyal audience, you need to figure out who your audience is. Studying demographics, creating a picture of your audience, and acting accordingly is small business 101, but you should learn about your audience differently on Instagram. Who does your audience follow? What are their pain points? How can you speak to them?
The right audience is the first step. When you market to the wrong one, you may build a large audience of followers, but they won’t interact with your content. On the other hand, if the audience fits your brand and demographic, even if it’s smaller, they will interact with your content.
Luckily, Instagram reduces the time needed to study your audience. You can search hashtags that your audience tends to use to see who your potential fans are. You can look at your competitors and see who is commenting on their posts. Perusing a person’s profile to see what they post and who they follow can help you build an even bigger picture.
Know When Your Audience is the Most Active
Another common-sense way to gain a loyal audience is to post when they’re most active. Your insights can tell you when your audience is on Instagram the most. It can depend on your target audience; for example, if you appeal to college students, they may check their phones later at night. Sometimes, if they’re early risers or older, they may be more active first thing in the morning. You can schedule your posts, allowing you to post when your audience is up.
Build Your Brand Image and Voice
Your Instagram account should have a recognizable brand image. This can come in your profile pic, content you post, voice on captions, and much more. Sticking to a specific filter, choosing casual or formal language, and choosing how you communicate with your audience can be a part of your voice. When you’re consistent about your brand voice, this can promote customer loyalty as well.
Another way is to post your values in your content or bio. Telling your audience what you stand for and showing that you practice what you preach can be a way to build a loyal audience. People don’t want just someone who says things but doesn’t believe them.
With your brand image or voice, the most significant thing you must remember is to be consistent. Your image can evolve with time, especially if the audience needs change, but it should not be overnight. People love consistency; if you have that, your audience will be clamoring for you.
Have Your Audience Build Your Content for You
Sharing user-generated content is one way to build a loyal audience. Creating a branded hashtag or hashtag challenge and then letting your audience post photos or videos using your product or performing another challenge can encourage audience loyalty. You can then cross-post the content on your feed. Crediting the users also helps them grow, enabling more content. While you should not use your audience as free labor, having occasional user-generated content can be a fun and exciting way for them to participate.
Try the Giveaway
You probably know what a giveaway is. You have your audience act for the chance to win a free product or service. With a giveaway, you should make it brand-appropriate, offering free products from your company or products your audience will love. One easy way is through a gift card.
A giveaway should be unique. Ideally, it should encourage liking, commenting, and following your account. But you can be more creative and make it more identifiable to your brand. Another tip is to do giveaways occasionally, usually as a milestone celebration. In addition, you want to have a clear deadline and a clear list of rules. This way, no one feels like they were mistreated.
Create Content That is Meant to Be Shared
Another way to build a loyal audience is to create relatable side content. Memes, tweets, and anything else you find online can go here. Many businesses use this to grow a loyal audience, and it works. You can post these ethically as long as you credit the people who make it. You can still add your branding to it, such as using your trademark filter.
Add CTAs to Your Content
Another way to boost your content to engage your audience is to add calls-to-action (CTAs) to them. Asking your audience to share important information, telling them to give their thoughts about a specific issue, or acting now on a deal you’re having can create more interactivity.
When you add CTAs, you want it to sound as personal as possible. Some people will create a story and then add the CTA. Consider encouraging your audience to add their two cents or perform an action. This can increase loyalty and also help with engagement, meaning your posts will be promoted more in Instagram’s algorithm.
The best place to put CTAs is in the caption, but you can add them to your image. In addition, Story content is ripe for CTAs. More on that later.
Live Stream More
Instagram gives you the ability to livestream. Since most streams will be you looking at your phone, this creates a way for your audience to feel like they’re interacting with you one-on-one.
Schedule a live stream and build hype for it. With streams, you can create a show that encourages audience participation. One example is the Q&A, where the chat asks questions, and you answer the ones you feel are the best. You can also do a live tutorial or comment demonstration and then answer your audience’s questions.
Live streams are self-explanatory with how they build a loyal audience. As long as you acknowledge your audience and answer as many comments as possible, your audience will know you care about them and will want to support your brand more, including saving the date for your next livestream.
Collaborate With Other Businesses and Influencers
Another way to build audience trust is to collaborate with a similar business or an influencer whose audience would be a good fit for you. If people trust that influencer, they are more likely to be loyal to your business by association.
You can reach out to many influencers, and the smaller ones can still significantly impact. Reach out to one, state your intentions and the type of collaboration you want to do, and then you can make some magic happen!
Answer Comments and Messages Quickly
One way to have a following who will never want to give up on you is to provide excellent customer support. In an age where some customers feel ignored, brands that can display that they care about their customer base rise to the top.
How can you maintain this? One way is to respond to any comment ASAP. Even if the comment does not answer a question, liking it or responding briefly shows that you care. Put contact information in your bio, and use automated messages to simplify customer service. Facebook Business Suite allows you to set up automated customer support messages without using any third-party tools.
Of course, automated messages can tell a customer that help is on the way. That said, you still want to reply quickly and give a helpful notice.
Post Personal Content
If you’re a brand, you still want to show that you and the people who work for you are human beings. Making content that shows what happens behind the scenes is one way that you can do this. Another way is to post photos of your pets or host live streams where you chat with the audience. If your audience feels a personal connection to your brand, they will be loyal to you through thick and thin.
Instagram Stories
Instagram Stories last 24 hours, meaning they can build a connection between you and your audience. Another way to enhance your Story creation is to use stickers. These are engagement tools that can allow your audience to answer a poll question and interact with your audience in some way.
One sticker you should use a lot is the question sticker. As the name implies, you make a question, and the sticker lets your audience answer it quickly. These answers can help you know more about your audience, and your audience feels like they have some influence or stake in the future of your business. You can then create another Story that answers these questions.
Use Carousel Posts
This is another type of Instagram post you may not have heard of. With the Carousel post, you can post up to 10 pieces of content in one post. You could use the Carousel post as a product tutorial, brand brochure, and more. Like an actual carousel, many people will want to save the posts you make on there and want to tell their friends about it.
Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for Feedback
We’ve mentioned asking questions, and one of those questions should be asking for feedback. If your audience has comments, suggestions, or criticisms, have a post where they can voice them.
Asking for feedback is an excellent engagement for a few reasons. First, it shows that you’re open to criticism. When there are many companies who feel spiteful toward their customers, listening to feedback, addressing it, and being open to it regularly can tell your audience that you care.
Check Your Insights Regularly
Is your audience engaged? One way to see is by looking at your Insights and seeing how often people have liked your posts, commented on them, and performed other interactions.
There are several ways you can calculate engagement. One way is to add your likes and comments, then divide it by reach times 100. If you feel your engagement rate is excellent, keep making good content. If it’s failing, you may want to return to the drawing board. Remember, audiences’ tastes can change over time, and with algorithms changing as well, your brand can be future-proof if you constantly adapt to the changing world. Remember, things happen quickly on social media, so studying your insights every few months can be valuable.
Conclusion
These are several ways you can create a loyal fanbase on Instagram. As long as you interact with your audience, create engaging content, and be consistent, you will have an audience who wants to interact with you forever.
Also Read: 7 Instagram Content Ideas to Boost Your Brand’s Sales
