It’s time to rethink how you promote your Instagram account.

Why now? Because the rapid evolution and growth of the platform means that what worked in the past won’t generate the same kind of engagement today.

Based on recent Instagram statistics, the visual space is becoming increasingly crowded with brands fighting tooth and nail for more customers.

As a result, it literally pays off for brands to have as many tactics as possible to promote Instagram to their target audience.

In this guide, we’ve detailed 13 totally actionable ways to do just that. From optimizing your posts and profile to rethinking your approach to content promotion, any combination of these tips is a good fit when it comes to Instagram promotion.

13 Ways to Promote Your Instagram Page

1. Increase your content production

There’s no shortage of Instagram content for you to post to fill your feed.

Customer photos. Memes. Short videos.

And that doesn’t even come close to the total available to you.

To find out what performs best with your audience, you’ll need to experiment. This means increasing your content production and posting more frequently.

Posting on Instagram at least once a day is within the platform’s best practices. Big brands like TopShop and H&M post up to three times a day (if not more frequently).

As you release more content, it’s crucial to get more engagement from your followers by understanding the best times to post on Instagram.

Posting a photo every now and then won’t do you any good if you want to stay present in your followers’ feeds.

And by the way, this is also why Instagram Stories are so valuable. Impromptu content through Stories essentially allows you to “skip the line” and appear front and center in people’s feeds. Not only that, but you can freely post photo after photo without worrying about spamming your fans.

The lesson here is that Instagram is changing much faster than it was a year or two ago in terms of content. Brands need to grow if they want to keep up.

2. Use other networks to promote your Instagram

The effort that goes into taking the perfect photo and creating a clever caption is not something that should be wasted.

Posting your content to other social platforms is an obvious choice to get even more ROI from your Instagram presence.

For example, you can promote your Instagram content on sites like Facebook and Twitter to maximize the reach of your content.

While cross-promotion is a smart move, keep in mind that each social platform has its own best practices. On Instagram, for example, you might include more hashtags, while on Facebook, you might create a slightly different description for the images you post.

Does it seem time consuming? It shouldn’t be.

Sprout Social’s Asset Library lets you store images, videos, and text in a single location for use across multiple social networks. Quickly find, edit, and publish directly from the Asset Library to deliver engaging posts that are tailored to whatever network you’re using.

And don’t forget to make your job even easier by using scheduling and publishing tools.

With the help of calendar and agenda tools, we can save time by scheduling and publishing the same post on multiple profiles in just one simple step.
Ana Laura Montaño González
Community Manager

Sprout’s Optimal Send Times makes things even simpler by scheduling content to be posted at times that are most likely to generate engagement from your audience.

3. Focus on people-centric content

While Instagram is a place to close sales, it is still, first and foremost, a place to share experiences.

The popularity of selfies on Instagram speaks for itself, as do photos of customers and people using products in real-life settings. Much of the appeal of Instagram is that brands are able to advertise in a more human way, without bombarding followers with messages that scream “BUY NOW!”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BwsEze3Amqd/

And on a related note, this is exactly why user-generated content like customer photos is a goldmine for brands. Not only do people on Instagram love it when brands advertise them, but customer photos represent marketing firepower that proves people love your products.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bwm9r2ZlzpY/

However, to find and curate user-generated content for your feed, you need to understand how hashtags can help you promote your Instagram.

And that brings us to our next point.

4. Experiment with branded and industry hashtags

Brands, big and small, should create a hashtag to encourage sharing and promotion on behalf of their followers. Doing so doesn’t have to be rocket science, either.

For example, Ernie Ball displays his hashtags #iplayslinky and #colorsofrocknroll loud and clear in his bio.

In turn, they use the tag to promote their own posts, in addition to thousands of loyal fans promoting the brand organically.

Can you see how this works?

In addition to your own hashtags, you should try promoting your Instagram using more general community hashtags specific to your industry, such as #6strings (music) or #unicornhair (beauty). Adding extra tags essentially makes your posts searchable by tag followers and instantly increases your reach.

As noted in our guide detailing how to use hashtags on every social network, engagement peaks at around nine hashtags. While you can certainly use fewer (or more), the takeaway here is that you should at least add something.

Don’t forget to take advantage of hashtag analytics tools. Sprout lets you monitor and analyze hashtag performance to find out what’s resonating with your audience and optimize your usage.

And with Sprout’s Advanced Listening, you can go beyond quantitative data to find qualitative insights related to hashtags, allowing you to fully understand campaign performance and measure share of voice. Additionally, you can identify related hashtags to dive deeper into the brand-relevant conversations consumers are having on social media.

You can see what people are saying, at scale, about your industry and your brand. This is so important – this level of detail and feedback is an incredibly powerful resource to help you.
Dan Wilkins
General Manager and Co-founder

5. Tag followers, places and brands whenever you can

Tagging is a surprisingly effective way to promote your Instagram.

And no, we’re not just talking about hashtags.

For example, you might tag other accounts and brands in the hopes of getting noticed. Since notifications ping anyone who receives them, relevant tags are a subtle way to encourage promotion.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BwmycAJl3Ch/

Likewise, it’s polite and in line with Instagram’s best practices to tag anyone you might be reuniting with. They’ll likely be thrilled to be featured in your feed and will share the news with their own followers.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BwXf0DslIHn/

Don’t forget to tag locations too! For example, if you have a physical location for your business or regularly attend events, location-specific posts allow you to tap into potential new fans and followers.

6. Publish Instagram content to your website

When it comes to advertising, what better billboard could there be than your own customers?

Showcasing Instagram content on your website is a brilliant way to increase conversions. Why? Because when people see the products they’ve purchased in real-life settings, they know that the brand in question has happy customers. Consumers can better visualize and understand a product for themselves when they see it “in the wild.”

Hence the rise of lookbooks and brands featuring user-generated content on product pages. For example, Casper uses an Instagram slideshow on its website to showcase satisfied customers of its mattresses.

Of course, this all comes back to the need to promote your Instagram hashtag.

In addition to its Instagram bio, #TopShopStyle is spread across the brand’s website and marketing emails to increase exposure for its tag. The end result is more user-generated content and people promoting TopShop organically.

7. Create your creative trademark

Creativity counts on Instagram.

Having some sort of niche or theme is a great way to inspire your Instagram content and stand out from the crowd.

For example, Yeti is known for its feed full of high-resolution nature photos featuring adventurers enjoying their products.

Meanwhile, oVertone has a color-coded feed based on whatever shade of their product they are currently promoting.

If you’re not sure what your signature style should be, don’t worry. There are plenty of Instagram apps (like VSCO) that can help you add a creative touch to your photos. Using consistent gradients, colors, and filters, you can make your feed truly your own.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BvpPR5aHIG1/

8. Work with influencers to expand your reach

As we mentioned earlier, Instagram benefits from being a platform where brands can essentially run ads without shoving them in their followers’ faces.

Jump on the influencer marketing bandwagon.

Simply put, influencer marketing involves a paid relationship with another Instagram account with a sizable number of engaged followers. Ideally, the influencer’s audience should mirror your own or allow you to tap into a new segment of users you’re trying to reach.

Influencers are similar to advertising in that the relationship does cost money. However, finding the right influencer can be an incredibly cost-effective way to sell products and grow your following.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bw-S8tXA1-H/

Brands can identify influencers through hashtags and manual searches, or you can try Instagram analytics tools like Tapinfluence or search a detailed database related to your business.

Remember: When identifying influencers, make sure they have followers who genuinely engage with their content. Engagement rate calculators, like this one from Phlanx, can help give you peace of mind about any influencer in question.

9. Rethink how you present your products and promotions

This is a simple tip, but it’s definitely worth mentioning. It relates to another type of Instagram promotion, the one with fun giveaways or sale items, and can be incredibly valuable for your brand when done well.

So when you promote your Instagram in these cases, it’s crucial to present your content as must-see.

Instagram thrives on anything “new.” Anything you can do to create a sense of hype is a huge plus.

For example, see how Glossier builds anticipation for its highly sought-after eye cream by surprising its followers the day before its launch.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bw0EEUWBpDO/

Uniqlo posts promotions and buzz-generating content on Instagram, including calls-to-action for followers to check out their exclusive products.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BwlXfLUFRMe/

Pinup Girl also does a great job of highlighting why their products rock and allowing their brand voice to shine through in the process.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BwIc2o_gno9/

As a general rule, think “so what?” before you hit “publish” for your Instagram promotions. This will ultimately encourage you to write more engaging captions.

10. Run a contest or giveaway

Here are a few things to consider: Brands that run contests grow their following 70% faster than those that don’t.

You may notice that many brand contests and giveaway-related posts get an insane amount of engagement, and that’s no coincidence. When done right, social media contests can generate followers and fans, but they can also attract giveaway hunters. We recommend running a one-off contest promotion on Instagram to test the waters and see if contests are something you want to try long-term.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bw7lAcaj1L4/

11. Optimize your profile for promotion

As you work to promote Instagram to new fans and followers, “looking the part” is essential.

This also applies to brands looking to attract more attention organically.

Let’s take a look at what makes an optimized Instagram profile. The good news is that there aren’t many moving parts to your profile to worry about.

Orlando’s East End Market is a great example of a simple yet streamlined profile. For starters, the username “eastendmkt” is short and sweet, yet easy to find for interested parties who are looking for it.

Your bio also meets the requirements of an optimized profile, including a clear profile picture, attractive bio, branded hashtag, and trackable URL. Everything about this Instagram bio lets us know what to expect from your feed and also that we’re in the right place.

They also feature their email and phone number, which is something to consider if you have a business account. East End also regularly tags other businesses and events to expand their profile’s reach. Oh, and not to mention the amazing visual content that their local followers love.

12. Take advantage of Instagram Stories and its latest features

Stories are by far the most popular feature on Instagram.

Used by over 500 million users daily, brands should leverage Stories as often as possible when promoting on Instagram. For many businesses, this means posting user-generated photos and behind-the-scenes content. The beauty of Stories is that you don’t have to worry as much about looking polished or “perfect.”

That said, creativity still counts when it comes to Stories. Among Instagram’s newest features, Stories are always at the center of it. For example, new interaction stickers, like the new Quiz sticker, represent new ways for brands to engage with followers for a more unique and interactive type of Instagram promotion.

Staying up to date with Instagram means staying active and up to date on its latest features. If you post regularly on Stories and watch what other brands are doing, you’ll always be up to date.

13. Consider running a paid campaign

Last but not least, don’t overlook the potential of paid promotion on Instagram.

After all, social media in general is becoming more and more “pay to work.” As part of Facebook’s incredibly comprehensive advertising platform, you can use Instagram’s amazing ad options to win new customers.

There are plenty of Instagram success stories out there, including this example from Dunkin’ which cleverly uses both Stories and videos to capture users’ attention.

First, familiarize yourself with Instagram’s current ad specs, then make sure you have the tools you need to see how your paid efforts compare to your organic Instagram presence.

…[T]hanks to Sprout’s Paid Performance Report, we can easily show the impact these results have had.
Allison Gates
Creative Manager

Sprout’s paid Instagram tools allow you to gain insight into the ROI of your overall strategy or compare the performance of individual campaigns to optimize accordingly. Easily highlight your top campaigns by video views, conversions, impressions, engagement, and more.

And with that, we conclude our guide!

So how do you promote your Instagram?

When it comes to Instagram promotion, you have a lot of tactics to try.

And look, that’s a good thing.

Making sure your feed stands out means understanding the platform’s best practices and evolving alongside Instagram itself. Following the tips above can help you maximize engagement when promoting your Instagram to new followers and customers.

In the meantime, we’d love to hear from you. What are some of the challenges you face when it comes to promoting your Instagram? Let us know in the comments below!