Complete Guide for Instagram Ads Performance

Have you started Instagram to promote your product? Great. Filled it with colourful photos and cool texts? Perfect. Now we need to somehow promote this page. The easiest way is to run advertising. But if your budget is limited, there are also free methods. Let’s take a closer look at them. 

1. Put hashtags in your posts. Always

One of the simplest and, in a sense, mandatory ways is to use hashtags in publications. These tag words are needed to group, sort, and quickly find things that interest your potential clients. Instagram can follow hashtags, so general words (for example, #design, #art, #jazz) will allow you to attract a new audience in a short time (if, of course, your content is high-quality). And your unique hashtags will work for your image and search results in the future.

How many hashtags to use?

Instagram has limited their number to 30, but we do not recommend strictly following this feature. A large number of embedded display hashtags will scare away potential subscribers and will give you a completely different reputation than you dreamed of. But about 10 pieces, among which there will be your tags (categories are always good), and popular general concepts, and terms from your work area will work.

If tags prevent your post from looking attractive, then you have two options: 

• Make a post without tags and indicate them in the first comment. The disadvantage of this method is that you close off the possibility of delayed posting.
• After the text of the post, make several lines with only one dot and then put a set of hashtags. 

2. Geolocation to the rescue

Instagram users today have not stopped looking for interesting places and with them photos. Which is great because you can hook them too. Make it a rule to put a geolocation tag on Instagram: this will not ensure the maximum influx of likes and Instagram followers buy from Followers Cart, but the post may take off. Some cunning people have found a loophole here to “get likes”: in each new publication, they put completely different places, from the Caribbean islands to Big Ben in England. They say it works. However, you can check it yourself. 

Geolocation is also a good option for local businesses: people often look for shops, salons or cafes in their city, not far from their home. In this case, it is always worth indicating a real address if you have an offline business. 

How to create your own geotag on Instagram?

 If you are the owner of a cafe or store, be sure to create your own geotag and use it to track who is taking the photo and like, comment, and repost. Making a geotag is not difficult, for this you need:

•  Log in to Facebook from your mobile phone (namely, from your phone).
•  Go to create a new post “What are you thinking about” and click on the pink geotag icon.
•  You may see a “Where are you” window asking you to enable geolocation. Agree (you can also do it manually in the settings).
•  Click on “Add a new location”.
•  Fill out the form and click “Create”.
•  Publish the post and your tag is ready.

3. Reels and Reels again

After the enormous popularity of TikTok, the owners of almost all social networks decided to keep up and introduce the function of an endless feed with short videos. Instagram is no exception. And since reels are a relatively new Instagram tool, it gets a lot of coverage. Even accounts with a small number of followers can expect hundreds of thousands of views. The main thing is to make the most sticky video that users will want to watch and like. 

This also includes IGTV – the function is no longer new, but is constantly being improved. For example, you can now save live broadcasts on IGTV. 

 4. Mutual PR on Instagram

A good, and most importantly, free opportunity to promote your own Instagram profile will be mutual PR with other accounts whose work topics are similar to yours. Agree on cooperation: you post photos or stories about them, and they post about you. Of course, with marks on the photo, indicating your accounts and happy emoticons.

5. Tell stories 

Today even a child can create Stories on Instagram. For you, this is additional content and an opportunity to remind yourself without cluttering up your subscribers’ feeds. Place a geotag in your stories and perhaps you will be included in the selection for your city.

What to post in stories? 

What kind of posts there will be is up to you. But as practice shows, people are much more interested in watching the process from the inside. Make videos, don’t be afraid to be creative and experiment. Don’t know what to do? Try to create a boomerang with your product, and create surveys. This attracts the attention of subscribers. Live broadcasts are also welcome. They are good because all your subscribers instantly receive notifications about the start of the live broadcast, which means they will most likely come to watch it. How to keep them at their screens is a more difficult task. Therefore, think several times before this, and also prepare the place, choose the time and occasion.

Another new feature for stories is stickers. Select a sticker with a suitable theme (for example, the latest photo on your phone), add your photo, and get views from the general feed of this sticker.  

6. Look for partners among opinion leaders

Fashion bloggers, show business stars, and famous people in local communities have many loyal subscribers. You don’t have to start with millionaires; you can try offering services on a barter basis to beginning video bloggers and see what comes of it. In this segment, the simpler, the more natural and better.

One of the ways of collaboration is joint live broadcasts. Share useful information, and answer popular questions – try to make the broadcast primarily useful, because there is already a lot of entertainment content and users are unlikely to spend much time on it. For example, you can share your experience of running an online store and tell how to sell on Instagram and attract more customers. 

7. Competitions. Prizes. Present

Everyone loves free things – that’s a fact. So turn this into a great tool to help grow your account. Launch a competition with a good prize, specify simple conditions for participation (tag a friend in the comments, answer a question in the comments, come up with the funniest caption for a picture, etc.), and enjoy the results. Old as time, but always works.

The main thing here is not to overdo it. People will follow you because of the prize, but they will just as quickly unfollow you after. Your task is to interest subscribers during the competition, so that afterwards they will not have the desire to unsubscribe. And one more tip – as a prize, use what you sell (if you have an online store), or what is most related to your page (for example, beauty products if you are a beauty blogger). This way you will attract a relevant audience. Don’t play with universal things like iPhones or money. 

8. More carousels

Another cool way to increase reach and engagement is to post in a carousel format. Your task is to interest users so that they scroll through the carousel to the end. This could be advice, stories, or interesting stories. If users not only like, but also save your post or share it, even better. The Instagram algorithm must see that your post is interesting, and then there is a high chance of being recommended to users who do not follow you. 

Keep your finger on the pulse and follow Instagram updates – any new feature will be tested and receive greater coverage. Don’t be afraid to experiment and don’t wait for everyone to start using these features – the further you go, the smaller the coverage.

And finally…

All methods of free Instagram account promotion will work if your account is properly designed:

•  Login – simple and clear, reflecting the essence of the business or company name, with keywords describing your activities; without underscores, capital letters and anything that will complicate users’ lives.
•  Avatar – a beautiful logo, a photo of your products, or a personal photo (for example, for the author of a webinar). The photo should be bright, clear, without inscriptions or small details that no one will see.
•  The account name is a definition of your activity in a few words. Use CAPS LOCK, and emoticons (don’t overdo it), and never duplicate your login.
•  Description in the profile – 150 characters to tell about your advantages. A motto or a one-line unique sentence would work great if you have one. Don’t forget to indicate your contact information and your location. Use emoticons and text breaking into lines, as well as center alignment using transparent characters.
•  Link is your main method of sales. It should be shortened (do it via Google Short URL) and lead to the mobile version of the site. By the way, make sure that everything is displayed correctly and beautifully in the mobile version. To do this, you can use the Ucraft designer with ready-made adaptive templates.
•  The photographs are high-quality, square, interesting, and “tasty.” Come up with your strategy: photos in one color, only bright or, conversely, black and white or dark account, video recordings.
•  The texts are catchy, interesting, without grammatical errors, short and succinct, and funny. Come up with a language in which you will speak with your potential customers; do not be afraid to impose something on them and force them to play by your own rules.

If a potential subscriber lands on your page, he will only have a few seconds to decide whether to subscribe or leave. Therefore, use all methods to promote and retain subscribers.