So you are finally setting up your Instagram, are you a blogger or a small business? How you set it up matters! Be sure you are setting up a business account, this gives you the ability to access insights on your post and see who your audience actually is! Make sure your profile and your Instagram itself reflect who you are and what you are trying to portray. For example, if you are a food blogger get some things about food in your profile. Include your contact information, make sure the people you are trying to connect with can actually connect with YOU!

Engage with your followers and with others that you want to be your followers or have similar followers to those that you want. Commenting, liking, and sharing other accounts will always help with your engagement. Make sure your post has a location tag. This will help you be seen when someone looks for that particular location. Tag other accounts, if you are a food blogger, tag the products you used to create your recipe, fitness influencer, sportswear, or shoe manufacturer. The more you tag, the better chance you have of being found. You want to be found!

Reply to comments and respond to messages that are relevant to your business, you will occasionally get weird ones, block or ignore those and delete them.

Hashtags are king! Use up to 30 unique hashtags on EVERY post. Make sure they are quality hashtags that are relevant to you and your “brand”. DOn’t copy and paste the same hashtags over and over. Change them up. Try and use hashtags that have over 25K uses. Click on the hashtags to see when and how they are being used. Try and use hashtags that are not just one word. Two words are more popular and above all BE SURE your hashtag is relevant to what you are posting.

Make Instagram the fun part of owning your business or building your brand. Take it seriously but enjoy the ride!