Beth Kearsley has a degree in public relations and media and works for Tao Digital. Here she looks at social media and offers  7 top tips for growing Instagram followers

So you have created an Instagram account, are beginning to master content, and you want to build on your followers. How hard can it be? With Instagram boasting 1 billion active monthly users, that’s a huge audience to be reaching out to and lots of potential for followers. But take a look at our 7 top tips on how to build your Instagram profile successfully:

• Know your audience

Get to know your potential audience. What you don’t want to do is overestimate your target audience; you can’t please everyone so focus on the users that might be interested in your content

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• Study your competition

Once you know your audience, it’s time to get better acquainted with your competition. Take a look at what they are doing. How is it different to you and how can you do better? Don’t be shy about reaching out to their audiences too

• Provide excellent content

No audience/customers are going to be sticking around if you can’t provide decent content. They need to see you as a serious profile on Instagram, a profile they would be proud to tell their friends about and none of this will be achieved with mediocre content. Do something that makes you stand out from the crowd.

• Establish your brand

Don’t be shy about getting your name out there. Spend the time telling people about who you are and what you are doing on Instagram. Your profile will only do as well as the amount of effort you put into selling it. Always remember to be humble, kind and avoid those who are not in your audience.

• Use appropriate hashtags

Instagram implements hashtags (#) and so by using the right hashtags you can direct the right traffic to your content. Also, with the introduction of users now being able to follow certain hashtags, the possibilities are endless. Remember not to use irrelevant hashtags or those that are overused, as they have an overwhelming amount of traffic and this makes it easy for your content to get lost. Find out more about the rules of using hashtags.

• Persistence is key

Building a credible Instagram profile will not happen overnight. It takes time, dedication and persistence in order to see results. As much as those ‘buy 100 followers’ sites look incredibly tempting, never do this. Most of these sites are fake and will provide you nothing in terms of engagement. Keep at it and don’t give up in order to gain an organic following.

• Engage with others

Comment on various user’s posts. Like them and create positive engagement. Make use of the stories element. Generate polls and ask questions. Users like to be involved as much as possible, so give them options and generate discussions. This done well will create positive feedback from other users and, in turn, creates good word of mouth about your brand/profile