Social media now plays a critical role in online marketing. Whatever your business or interest, if you want to connect with your target audience, you will have to create a presence on multiple social media platforms.
One platform that is quickly gaining prominence in social media is Instagram. You might find it hard to believe, but there are actually many people out there who make a great by using Instagram to drive visitors to their blog. When you have a good following, you can earn passive income through affiliate marketing.
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Contrary to common perception, the first thing you need to know is that you do not have to be a celebrity or a famous person to have lots of followers on social media platforms such as Instagram.
Any person can have success in Instagram blogging if they know how to do it.
If you have a blog and if you are interested in using Instagram to drive visitors to your blog, you are definitely on the right track.
But the question is: how can you drive over 10,000 unique monthly visitors to your blog using Instagram?
Here are a few Instagram blogging tips:
Start With a Realistic Outlook
There are millions of people on Instagram, and they all want followers. Your advantage, if you choose to make the most of it, is that a large majority of these people tend to become followers rather than leaders on Instagram.
Even many leaders do not have a huge following. You need to understand that it takes time to make it big – time and effort.
So keep your goals realistic and your expectations in control. You can make it big in Instagram blogging but you need to do it right, and for that, you will need patience.
Learn to Market Yourself
If you want to make it big on Instagram, you will need to have some basic knowledge of marketing – especially online marketing.
Try to use online tutorials and good, authority blogs to gather information and understand how online marketing works.
Focus on Content
Many people who join Instagram think that by posting a few photos of their latest vacation or a video of their best friend’s wedding will get them a huge number of followers.
That is just simply wrong. Instagram is awash with millions of images and videos. If you want to drive people to your blog, you need to give them something unique.
One thing that is very distinct about Instagram followers is that they tend to follow people who have a continuous storyline with a different theme. This is actually the key to making yourself unique.
Arbitrarily posting pictures of you at one exotic location or another or with your friends at the shopping mall will not give you the breakthrough you need. Think about something that can be told as a story in pictures.
Create a storyboard if you have to. Have a concept and build your story around it and then post content that would generate your target audience’s attention. If they like what they see, they will click on your blog. That will be your success with Instagram blogging.
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Learn From Other Profiles
If you have no idea what story you want to tell, look up some popular Instagram profiles and see how they do it.
For example, if you have a travel blog, check out other travel bloggers Instagram accounts. See what they do; evaluate the kind of content they post on their profile.
Don’t copy them but learn from them. Apply what you learn but make it different and unique. Make it your own because your blog has to be unique too.
If your blog is unique, you will have unique content to post on Instagram. Make a timeline of events and post the images in chronological order.
If your blog is featuring Nepal, don’t post pictures of Nepal that anybody can see on Google Images. Show them something personal.
Show them how you got there; where you stayed; what you did. Show them what excited you about the place. Make a story and build on it.
Similarly, if you have a food blog, generate interest on your Instagram by posting about the different foods that you feature on your blog. Have a different food theme each week but remember it needs a storyline.
Do not always tell the complete story. Leave something at the end so that your visitors will click on your blog to learn more.
Post Regularly
The key to getting followers on Instagram and then driving these followers to your blog is to post regularly.
The important thing is to post unique and fresh content. You need to do this for both your blog and your Instagram profile.
In general, you should post at least 2-3 times week on Instagram even if you add a new blog once a week. Also, know the different time zones of people you’re targeting. Post according to these time zones so that you are able to connect with a worldwide target audience.
Learn to Edit Photos
If you browse Instagram, you will notice that many people have very poor quality images. Some photos are dark; others are too bright.
Remember, Instagram is all about images, and if you want to create a vibe and if you want followers, you need to post high-quality images.
Now we understand that sometimes the images you have may not be perfect or high resolution. But that does not mean you post them as is.
There is no harm in investing in a good photo editing program. Adobe Photoshop is the best, but it is expensive.
Don’t worry though. There are many free software available online that you can use to achieve the same results.
GIMP is one such software. It allows you to do anything that Photoshop can do when it comes to editing images. It may take you a few months to get the hang of it but it’s worth the effort.
Always try and post the best images. Instagram is all about visual content and readers want to see cool pictures whether they are yours, your vacation, your friends or your business.
This does require work, but that is how the Instagram game is played. Almost every picture posted on social media today is first edited by some type of photo editing tool.
If you want to drive visitors and if you want success with Instagram blogging, you have to follow the rules of the game.
Develop a Brand Hashtag
In order for people to follow you, you need a unique and a cool hashtag.
Try not to promote your blog too blatantly. Use your content to drive people there. Readers often get turned off with promotional hashtags.
Have a unique hashtag that generates attention, and that clicks with your target audience.
For example, if you are into travel, use hashtags that are relevant and attractive such as #travelopedia #travelmania, etc.
Remember, the key to driving visitors to your blog is to through unique content and creative posts.
Make sure you don’t use another person’s hashtag as your posts will then be linked to their story. Create your own and attract people to your blog.
Use Instagram Analytics
Instagram can run analytics. on your visitors. Study those regularly.
This will tell you what type of posts attract your readers; which geographical location most of your visitors originate from; what keywords do they use to get to your page.
Use this information wisely and apply what you learn on your blog and on your Instagram profile.
Develop a Call to Action
A very important thing for people promoting their blogs, websites or business on social media platforms like Instagram is responsiveness.
If your goal is to drive people to your blog, you need to be prompt in responding to those who indicate an interest in your content.
For example, if you post something on Instagram and if your followers message you or comment something, make sure you reply to them promptly.
When you become popular on social media and have a good following, you should know that your followers, if they communicate with you, would expect an answer within 24-48 hours.
If you don’t reply, you might just lose their following. If you reply late, you might lose your reputation. That is why if your goal is to drive visitors to your blog, you must be prepared to engage with them on Instagram as well as on your blog.
If your goal is to generate money through your blog, you can definitely use it as a source of additional income. There are numerous opportunities available for bloggers to make money.
Always Be Polite
The world of social media and online marketing has opened up many doors for new and aspiring businesses, bloggers, public speakers, etc.
But at the same time, the freedom with which people can now access information and public profiles can also result in rude comments, hostile reactions, and unnecessary accusations.
If you want to be a successful blogger, you need to accept the good with the bad. There will always be people who will hate your blog posts and your posts on Instagram. Don’t let them get to you.
Negative comments on social media are normal. The best thing you can do for yourself is to filter the followers that matter from those who don’t.
No matter what type of negative comment is written on your blog or your social media profiles, the best advice is to either not respond or if you do respond, to be polite.
In general, negative news travels fast in the digital world, and you do not want that to happen to you. People can misquote you or just ruin your reputation online.
Therefore, the best advice is that when you come across trolls, either learn to ignore them or if you really have no choice but to engage with them, be polite and choose your words carefully.
Never ever reply to any negative comment right away. Stay calm and then give them a neutral reply if it’s required.
Link Your Instagram
Link your blog to your Instagram profile. This is the best way to drive visitors to your main site. Try to use fresh links to newer blog posts so that your audience will remain interested in your content.
Connect with Influencers
Just like you want people to follow you, there will be people who you will be inspired to follow.
There are always some people that act as influencers. They have a strong presence and their word matters.
It would be in your interest to follow them. For example, if you have a blog on music, you may want to connect with musicians.
Just don’t do things blatantly. Don’t obsess over them. Don’t message them continuously. Maintain a connection but within limits.
Engage with Other Instagram Users
This is a good way to keep an eye on the competition as well as learn from those who are doing it right.
For example, if you have a travel blog, engage with other travel bloggers on Instagram. This can often generate more followers.
Just make sure you know how to position yourself and how to create a competitive advantage over others.
Overall, these Instagram blogging tips can help you generate more followers on Instagram as well as drive traffic to your blog through these followers.
Just make sure that your blog is worth visiting. Blogging has become so easy today that everyone you know has a blog.
But having a blog and actually running a successful blog are two different things. Your blog. should be interesting enough for people to visit.
Whatever your theme or core concept is, just make sure you have the content that drives your message through to your target audience.
You won’t get anywhere if you have a movie blog where you simply post the new releases information and trailer. This information is easily available through millions of sites.
You want to do something different. You want to give your audience something different. There is no doubt that you can generate traffic through your blog through social media platforms like Instagram.
But if you want to retain these visitors and if you want them to keep coming, you will have to continue to provide them with fresh, original and interesting content.
There is no success in blogging if you don’t have anything interesting to say. It’s easy to start a blog but it’s not so easy to create content that would keep your audience happy.
Use Instagram to drive visitors to your blog but then offer these visitors something that would convince them that clicking on your blog was the right decision.
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