You probably have a website live already and you’ve been wondering how you can have it reach out to as many people as possible. By now, higher chances are that you know that social media is one of the best platforms people use to showcase their websites, online activities or the products and services they provide. Now, you’ve decided to do the same on Instagram… bingo, you did the right thing.
The thing is, many online entrepreneurs and influencers are resorting to using social media platforms like Instagram to showcase what they’re offering on their website. And this being the case, Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms that can give you an edge when it comes to marketing your website. This is made more solid by the fact that Instagram users keep increasing every month, meaning that once you or your business is popular with a lot of followers on Instagram, you have higher chances of maximizing your brand popularity and skyrocketing your profits. Wisdom dictates that IG can be a great source of traffic for your website and can expand your website reach in a huge way.
But then again, not everybody knows just how to capture people’s attention on Instagram, keep them engaged, get them to like their posts, and follow them. As a matter of fact, getting noticed is in itself an uphill battle. So how exactly do you go about attracting this attention and following? Well, here are some killer tips you need on how to get your website noticed on Instagram.
Find Your Niche
The first and most important thing to consider when using any social media platform to promote your brand or website is to find and understand your niche. This basically involves understanding your target market in and out. In this case, some of the important questions you need to ask yourself include the following.
- Who is my ideal audience?
- What are their interests?
- What are they likely to look for most on Instagram?
- What kind of posts are they likely to view, follow, like, and share?
Answering some of these questions will enable you to know the ideal kind of content to post, how to post it, and when to do so, as well as the hashtags to use, as will be revealed later in this article.
Hashtagging
To thrive on Instagram, the use of hashtags cannot be overlooked. It is one of the best ways to promote your personal or business brand. Popular Instagram hashtags are what Instagram users search for and follow to get to posts related to the topics they are interested in. Using hashtags that are well known will allow many people to stumble across your posts, where they can also get access to your website. In addition to making your posts more discoverable, hashtags will also encourage interaction among your audience, which is what you want in the first place… to grow a massive following. All the same, you will want to use hashtags that are relevant to your website if at all you are to expect any positive results. And contrary to the popular belief, you don’t always have to use hashtags that are already trending for your posts to get a following. With a bit of creativity, you can also create your own tags but then, they have to be really influential and interesting. With some knowledge on how to smartly use Instagram hashtags, you can easily skyrocket your following and get your website noticed on Instagram sooner than you really thought.
Use a bio link on Instagram to send followers to your website
It is much easier to link your followers directly to your website through a clickable link provided than to have them type the link themselves. High chances are that when the link appears as a text, it is highly likely for someone to ignore or bypass it. It’s just so much work to start typing a link that you just came across and that does not involve you in any way. But when there is an active hyperlink, it will allow more people to be directed to the website out of curiosity if not willingly. One of the best places to place your website link on your Instagram is your bio. As you add the rest of the information, make sure to not leave out the URL to your website. This link can be updated as often as you would want to. Your bio should be short, precise, and interesting enough to get people’s attention and encourage them to follow the link.
Mind your content
The kind of content that you post on Instagram determines the kind of atmosphere you will create. People are more attracted to images and videos as opposed to text. Plain text is not quite appealing. To some people, it appears boring and effort-draining. With videos and images, comments can come in, they are interesting to watch and view and the reactions are almost immediate if used well.
Enhance your content to make it as appealing as it can get. In the case of professional practice such as law, experts on Gladiator Law Marketing (http://gladiatorlawmarketing.com/marketing-for-divorce-lawyers/) say that content is the most important aspects you need to ace to promote your business. Image is everything and the first impression matters a lot. Some of your content should provide a glimpse of what is on your website and it should also include a clickable anchor that your followers can use to get more of that on the website. In a nutshell, your Instagram content can act as bait to get people to make that step and click to view your website. On IG, people like sharing content that is interesting and with some creativity at play, your content could just go viral. The content you post should be catchy and able to attract as many people as possible.
Content Tip – mind your aesthetics: The core purpose of Instagram is to serve as a platform where people can interact and engage through sharing photos and videos. For this reason, it doesn’t take rocket science for anyone to tell that as far as gaining popularity on Instagram is concerned, image is everything. The photos and videos you post should always be eye-catching and of excellent quality in order to get you noticed on the platform. Additionally, they should also be in line with your brand or what you’re trying to promote. If you’re trying to promote a fashion website, for instance, sleek and clean imagery will do you better. On the other hand, if it’s a lifestyle brand that you’re trying to promote, the photos you post should be bright and attractive to the eye. On top of these, consistency will also go a long way in portraying your brand as trustworthy and original.
Be active on Instagram
Instagram is the place to be if you want to reach more people and grow a massive following. Let them know that you are available by commenting and liking their posts as well as following them back. It’s always good to return the favor. You want them to follow your link? Then make it a habit to be available on Instagram. Also, ensure that you regularly post content that you need people to know about. This is what being active entails. Socializing will bring you in contact with many people that you previously did not know.
Engaging them in interesting conversations will keep them wanting more and when they ask questions it good to always answer them promptly. Interaction is a good way to make people more interested in your website. Also, as you engage with your audience on a one on one basis, you can direct them to your website where they can get more information that is detailed and satisfying. Gradually, as your audience grows, they get to see your website and visit it as often as they can. The larger the audience, the more the website becomes noticeable.
Captions, Captions, Captions… Make Them Engaging
As much as we’re in a world where most of us care less about the mainstream media, why do you think they still manage to be relevant? Well, this is a broad question, but one of the tricks magazines, newspapers, and TV news programs use to keep their audience engaged is the use of images and videos, and prove me wrong if you can, they always come with captions describing what the audience is looking at. Using informative and descriptive captions for your Instagram posts can have a similar effect. The thing is, you don’t want to keep your viewers or followers in the dark about what they’re looking at, no matter how obvious the message you’re sending using the post may look. As a matter of fact, the caption can leave your audience wanting to know more about the post or the message it is sending, which presents an opportunity to insert a hyperlink leading to your website. Nonetheless, you will want to keep them short and creative for you to get the best results.
Post at the Right Time
Another secret that beginners in Instagram marketing do not know is that the time you make your posts matters a great deal. If you’ve owned an IG account for a while, you probably know that sometimes there’s just too much to read from the feed. Especially for those who follow a lot of people, it can be really hard to read each and every post on your feed. This means that as an IG marketer trying to promote their brand or website on the platform, knowing when to make your posts is of crucial importance. Posting at the right time when most of your target audience is online can be a great way to ensure you get the maximum amount of interactions, likes, views, and shares. The good thing is that Instagram Insights is available to show you when most of your followers are online.
Use Instagram influencers
People like something that has been tested by others. It gives them an assurance that it is the best option for them as well. And in this case, Instagram influencers play a great role in determining how well a website can gain traffic. It’s a matter of playing with the psychology of people to get them into liking what Instagram influencers like. With is in mind, it’s good to have an Instagram influencer who will draw the attention of others to your website. This is what is known as Instagram Influencer Marketing and at a considerable fee, these influencers can promote your brand to their followers and this would be a huge step.
Include Instagram ad campaigns
Running Instagram ad campaigns can be helpful in making your website known. Instagram ad campaigns are clickable and are crafted in a way that they can easily direct IG users to your website. Ads allow more information on Instagram and have a target audience. Advertising is a sure way to ensure that the posts are being seen.
Instagram stories
Connect with people on Instagram by sharing your stories with your audience. These stories should be crafted such that they catch the attention of the reader and make them curious enough to get more information from your site. This can generate traffic to the website because direct links can be added. It’s actually a very easy way to get more people, you only need to give them enough reason to click the link. You can also promote the same link using many stories that disappear within 24hrs. Story highlights, on the other hand, prevent stories from disappearing that fast. Using Instagram Highlights, your stories can stay longer until when you need to do away with them.
Concisely, Instagram can really do wonders when it comes to website marketing. Instagram for sure is not just used to post fun visuals and texts, but it has also been helpful in getting people to notice websites. Remember that there are millions of websites and everyone owning one wants theirs to be noticed. It is this competition of being recognized that drives a person to choose the best platform to do this. Instagram has proven itself to be an avenue that websites can gain popularity.