Traffic Tip - Proven Ways that Helped Grow My Instagram

At 1 billion monthly active users, Instagram is truly a social media powerhouse!

While some brands and businesses seem to grow their Instagram at a rapid fire rate, a lot of small-medium sized businesses are still struggling to stamp their brand presence on this platform. I was once 'struggling' with Instagram, too.

Today, I now have a good following on Instagram and my numbers are steadily increasing but like most entrepreneurs and business owners, I also started out with only a few followers - mostly family, friends and colleagues as I was starting out.

Is your business on Instagram? It should!

Connect with me there while you're at it. 😉

 

 

 

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"I Was Broke"⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ I had a respected school, but respect doesn't pay the bills… And I saw my students more than I saw my own children…⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ "85% of Martial Arts school owners businesses fail… And another 14% wish they never started…"⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ Hey, I’m Paul, and I’m a recovered failing School owner.⁣⠀ People liked me and I was a great teacher… but I was fuckin broke… �⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ You know as well as I do when you’re broke, it’s kinda hard to think about anything else besides not being broke anymore...⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ I was letting my family down and I could feel it clawing away at me every day while driving to the School… it felt pointless...⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ My autistic daughter was a handful… well, she still is haha… but I didn’t have the freedom, time or money to take care of her as she needed…⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ My son wanted to get into all kinds of different sports, but all I could afford was Jiu-Jitsu since it was my school...⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ My wife was pulling out her hair trying to take care of the family by herself... just to have to listen to me bitch and moan about how stressed I was by night… �⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ I love Martial Arts… it’s my favorite thing in the world… but I had no CLUE how hard it was gonna be as a business…⁣⠀ I thought the old way… "If I build it and do good, they will come"... And no one ever came. �⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ Hell, I didn’t really have any place starting a business at all. I knew nothing about it. �⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ I knew I was good at Martial Arts and even better at teaching it… somehow, that gave me the brilliant idea to open my own business with it. �⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ Maybe you can relate...⁣⠀ Read more about this here > https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10219554051697302&set=a.1368786255104&type=3&theater

A post shared by Paul Halme (@paul.halme) on Aug 27, 2019 at 6:43am PDT

Today, I will share these proven tips that helped me increase my Instagram numbers, web traffic and sales.

• Meaningful and high-value content - Write richer captions that share value with your readers. We dont recommend you do this on every post but your audience appreciates a good amount of intuitive posts, too.
• Create EVERGREEN content - produce and post high-value contents that share lessons,tips,hacks that lasts for a lifetime (I talked more about this on my recent blog here)
• Consistency - this one is a no-brainer and applies to both Instagram posts and stories. If you want to establish your brand, you just keep working on it. Remind people who you are, what you can do and how you can help them - DAILY. Post at least once up to 4x a day during your peak hours (check your Instagram insights to know this piece of info). I talked about automating your social media posts here
•  Magic formula content - consistency is important but content strategy is key. When you post content on Instagram, you don't do it like you're throwing spaghetti on the wall, then hope that some of them sticks. That's a waste of time and energy. I previously shared my content formula here.
• Hashtags - adding hashtags enables your posts to reach a wider audience. Instagram allows up 30 hashtags on a post. Turn your brand slogan into a hashtag (e.g. Nike’s Just Do It to #justdoit), use hashtags that target your niche, also include local and event hashtags as needed. I will talk more about hashtags on a separate blog post. 

• Influencer marketing, shoutouts and collaborations - This is personally my favorite quickfire method. These methods may be similar but when you take a closer look, they have subtle differences. With influencer marketing, you partner with a celebrity, a vlogger, a Youtuber or someone with ‘influence’ and fan base. You come up with an agreement and have them mention and recommend your brand on their Instagram/social media accounts and work on ‘influencing’ people’s buying decisions. Shoutouts and collabs on the other hand, are mostly brands working together to help create mutual brand awareness. (Example: Play Doh collaborating with Taco Bell, Urban Decay collaborating with Game Of Thrones,Gary Vee and K-Swiss,etc) Small to medium size businesses as well as local businesses can always grab ideas from these giant companies. Perhaps, it's time for your gym to collab with a local spa or sports therapists, go ahead a list down your collab prospects.  

• Contests and giveaways - giveaways are always fun plus they  help develop the relationship between your brand and your target audience. All you need is a dash of creativity on the mechanics and a PRIZE. 

How’s your Instagram numbers?Do you have proven Instagram growth strategies that you can share?

We’d love to hear about them!

Stay tuned for more traffic and digital marketing tips. 

Have a great week. Keep crushing it!

If you’re needing help with your marketing, I’m here to help out.

Click this link to schedule a call with my team.

Cheers!

Paul Halme |  Combat Business