Over the years, Instagram has become one of the most important tools of social media marketing in Singapore.
Like all social media networking sites used by digital marketers in Singapore today, Instagram started as a platform for people to share their everyday memories.
Instagram has over 500 million daily users and almost 80% of the accounts follow at least one business account.
The bottom line here is that you have to start using Instagram to increase brand visibility and user interactions.
Following a social media marketing strategy in Singapore, Instagram allows you to build a loyal fan base for your products or services. However, Instagram has been making changes to its algorithm, but despite the changes, it always favours the accounts with high user engagement.
Therefore, one of your social media goals should be to increase user engagement on Instagram, and this will boost your chances of appearing on the ‘Explore’ page.
However, the biggest challenge comes in increasing engagement.
In this article, we look at the top five tricks that the top brands use to grow Instagram engagement as part of their comprehensive digital marketing in Singapore.
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Post High Quality and Creative Content
The key to increasing engagement on Instagram and other social media sites is in having good quality and creative content. High-quality and creative content that resonates with your target audience will make your business memorable since it is at the heart of your social marketing campaign in Singapore.
On top of this, Instagram is a visual platform, which makes it necessary that you incorporate thoughtful and engaging composition, as well as vivid colours to your content.
However, this goes beyond adding filters, and if you are not skilled in photo editing or you do not have the time, you can always hire a photo-editing professional in Singapore.
You can also use photo-editing apps such as Mendr. You only need to upload your photos, specify the edits you want, and the professionals running the app email you back the touched up photos.
With that said, content alone will not get you the engagement you desire, and this is why it is crucial that you couple it up with good storytelling.
Plain posts usually feel like promotional content, and a story will help you connect with your audience on a deeper level.
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Instagram Stories
Several studies show that the human attention span is at an all-time low at only 8 seconds. This creates a problem for aspiring to get more engagement from your general posts alone.
Instagram Stories are great for social media marketing in Singapore especially for capturing your audience’s attention.
This means that you need to create eye-catching content for the platform, despite the fact that they disappear after 24 hours.
The trick is to include much movement or action in the beginning, and this will keep your audience hooked. On top of this, you can make your Instagram Stories more accessible by adding them to your ‘Highlights’.
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Post at the Right Time
The right timing will help you reach a bigger audience, and your posts will receive better engagement. This calls for you to analyse when your audience is most active on the platform.
Posting at this time will ensure that you get improved engagement, and this should be part of your social media marketing strategy in Singapore.
According to a study by Sprout Social, Thursday is the best day of the week to post on Instagram, while Sunday is the worst.
However, your brand may not follow the same trend, but if you want to know the best times to post for high visibility and engagement, you can use a social media optimisation tool such as the Preview app.
This app will tell you the best day and time to post as well as interact with your audience. The data you get is crucial to the success of product launches, or when you have special announcements in Singapore.
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Use Relevant Hashtags
If you are using the right hashtags on Instagram, you will find an audience in Singapore that is interested in your posts. This could include your followers as well as people who do not currently follow you.
For example, if you have posted content related to Singapore, you should include #Singapore in your post descriptions.
You should also use variations of the main hashtag, for example, #Singapore2019, #SingaporeTourism, and so much more.
You should avoid generic terms such as #Business or #StratUp since they are too broad, and will not attract the intended users in Singapore.
Before using a hashtag, check its search volume. For trending events and topics, you can use hashtags with a massive search volume.
However, for general posts, avoid such hashtags, since your posts will get lost among the other posts using the same hashtags.
With that said, Instagram only allows a maximum of 30 hashtags, but according to a Sprout Social survey, posts with only nine hashtags will get you the most engagement.
With that said, you should experiment with a variety of hashtags and take note of the ones that work best for your social marketing campaign in Singapore.
You can also use them in other posts as long as they are relevant to your audience in Singapore.
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Host Contests
Hosting Instagram contests is one of the best ways to increase brand interaction and engagement. Discounts and special offers are a great way of motivating a majority of the users.
However, it is not easy to host a contest as part of your social media marketing in Singapore.
Here are tips on how to host successful contests on Instagram
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- Create a branded hashtag for your contest
- Keep encouraging your users to like, comment, share and tag their friends and followers to your posts as an entry requirement
- Encourage and motivate people to use your branded hashtags on their posts
- Your products should be the prize
- Give discount codes to winners for future purchases
After the period of the contest is done, you should publicly announce the winner and ensure they get the prize.
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Encourage User-Generated Content
The best way to market your brand on Instagram is to get users to endorse your brand.
Find ways to encourage and motivate users to post GIFS, videos, and photos captioned with your branded hashtag, as well as to tag you in their posts.
This way you will infiltrate their network of followers and friends. You can also incorporate user-generated content on your Instagram handle.
This is one of the ways of motivating your followers to generate content for you as well as having diverse content on your page.
10 Impressive Instagram Growth Hacks for Businesses
User engagement is everything when doing Instagram marketing. Applying the above tested and proven tips will give your business an upper hand.
However, with the digital marketing landscape changing daily, you need to rethink your Instagram marketing strategies to remain relevant continuously.
Here are 10 impressive Instagram growth hacks for business that you should apply today.
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Focus on Consistent Branding
Branding is what will put your business on the map. It’s what will make your business memorable to the target audience. Instagram is one of the best hubs for enhancing your branding efforts. The tips discussed earlier in this article will enable you to get followers.
However, it would be best to focus on consistent branding to get to the next level. Create branded content that offers real value to your followers. Use hashtags to increase your reach and convince new followers to join your community.
Check out how @turtlecreeklane uses Instagram for branding. Notice the quality of the images on every post and replicate the same on your profile.
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Leverage Instagram Paid Advertising
A robust hashtag strategy will help increase your followers on Instagram by making your posts more discoverable. The platform algorithm is designed to display posts to people based on their interests and the hashtags they follow or have used in the past to search.
You need to go the extra mile and leverage Instagram paid advertising to show your content to more people. The platform allows brands and marketers to create ads for different goals. You can run a paid advertising campaign to increase sales today with as little as $100.
Monitor the campaign results to know whether it’s working. Change the campaign settings to ensure the ads are displayed to the right audience. Also, change the ad formats to know which one best resonates with your audience.
Some of the supported Instagram ad formats are;
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- Story ads
- Carousel posts
- Standard videos
- Standard photos
Like other digital marketing campaigns, make sure that you budget accordingly. Seek professional help from a reputable digital marketing agency with a proven track record of providing quality social media marketing campaigns.
The agency will help you avoid common pitfalls that hinder brands from profiting from Instagram marketing.
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Use IGTV and Instagram Stories
IGTV and Instagram Stories are some features that give Instagram an upper hand. 86% of active Instagram users post on Stories. 59% of millennials and 70% of Generation Z Instagram users watch content posted on Instagram Stories.
Grow your Instagram community by cross-promoting content on conventional posts, Instagram Stories, and IGTV. The two offer brands an excellent opportunity to spice up content marketing strategies.
Instead of constantly posting pictures and short videos, you can spur engagement with your audience by posting longer videos on IGTV and Stories. Use the background information about your audience to know which type of content to post.
We also recommend creating Story Highlights to showcase your best stories. These are stories that received a high number of views and comments. IGTV video content can also be reposted on Instagram Stories to increase your brand visibility.
Ensure that you include valuable and trending hashtags on the IGTV video description to make it more discoverable. There is also no harm in having clickable links and mentions in the video description. They will work magic on your overall Instagram marketing strategy.
During our research for this article, we noticed that top brands now promote live streams that are preferred and prioritized by the platform’s algorithm. Test this trend to know how it can benefit your business.
Note that Instagram recently announced plans to shift live streams to IGTV. They intend to do this by incorporating a new button feature that will make it easy for users to watch video content.
Wondering which kind of content to post on Instagram Stories? Start with user-generated content such as customer testimonials. Be on the lookout for satisfied customers who freely review your brand positively. Download their posts and repost them on your business account (with their consent, of course).
Alternatively, you can offer incentives to encourage customers to record videos using your product and post them on their Instagram accounts. Request them to tag you in the post to increase your brand visibility further.
You can also repost the video not only on Instagram but also on your website to increase sales. Here are some impressive statistics on how UGC influences your customers buying decisions.
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Create an Influencer Marketing Strategy
79% of brands consider Instagram one of the best platforms for doing social media marketing. 4 out of 5 brands use influencer marketing to connect with potential customers on Instagram.
Therefore, you should create an influencer marketing strategy to get your business ahead of the curve. Start by doing extensive research to connect with influencers who are relevant to your industry. The ideal influencer should have similar interests and goals as you.
Check other projects they have done before for different brands and the results to gauge their suitability for your campaign. Remember that a huge following doesn’t always translate into many sales. You are better off working with a team of micro-influencers whose audience is genuinely interested in your industry as opposed to macro-influencers with millions of followers who are not interested or likely to buy from you.
Save time using advanced influencer marketing tools such as Intellifluence to discover the right audience. Otherwise, you may spend up to 14 business days manually searching for influencers and reaching out to them.
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Repost Twitter Content on Instagram
Twitter is another popular social media platform you can use to promote your business. Use promoted tweets and paid ads to increase your reach and grow your community. Unknown to most brands is that they can profit more by reposting twitter content on Instagram.
How can I do it?
Simple, start by posting a screenshot of a tweet that garnered many likes, comments, and re-tweets. There is a high likelihood that your Instagram followers are also active on Twitter and won’t hesitate to follow your account.
For even more results, post your Twitter handle in the Instagram posts to supercharge the growth of your follower base. The amount of engagement the Twitter posts get will help you know whether you should repost them on Instagram.
Interact with the followers by conducting surveys and polls. The recorded responses will give you insights into your audience and ideas on how to improve your products/services.
Also, you can launch a cross-platform contest with Instagram and Twitter followers. The contest’s goal should be to get maximum value in terms of exposure and sales for the prizes awarded to the winners.
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Spark Conversations in the Comments
Comments from your followers are low-hanging fruits that you should capitalise on to spark conversations and market your brand. Despite the vast potential they have to enhance an Instagram marketing campaign, most brands and marketers ignore them.
Be different by committing two hours per day to respond to the comments. Make sure that your replies are professional and authentic to paint a positive image of your brand to the commenter and other people who come across it.
Engagement is one of the factors that the Instagram algorithm considers when determining which type of posts to display to different users. It will notice the surge in activity on the post and consequently increase its visibility.
Once in a while, you will get a negative comment from a disgruntled customer. Be careful how you respond to such comments to avoid ruining your credibility. The secret is being objective and offering solutions as opposed to being defensive.
Once the issue is resolved, request the follower post a follow-up comment to inform other people following the chat that the problem was sorted. The bottom line is that both negative and positive comments have the potential to enhance your marketing and brand awareness efforts.
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Post More Video Content
The demand for video content on Instagram and other social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook is insatiable. 84% of digital marketers attest that video content helped increase organic traffic to their websites and social media pages.
Video marketing has a high ROI that is almost knocking off email marketing.
Creating captivating Instagram Reels will increase audience engagement without costing you an arm and a leg.
Don’t just post the videos on your Instagram account; go an extra mile and post the videos on other platforms that your audience is fond of, such as YouTube and Facebook. Be sure to include links to your profile in the video description to get more followers from these additional platforms.
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Write Resounding Captions
Assuming that your audience on Instagram doesn’t take time to read the captions could be one of the reasons you are yet to get tangible results from the campaign.
Generic captions won’t get the job done as they are ineffective in encouraging followers to like or comment.
Like website content and ad copy, master the art of writing resounding captions.
The captions should be relevant to the image or video for it to compel the followers to engage effectively. Include text overlays on some of the posts to inform them of the desired action they should take.
The action can be anything from leaving a comment to liking the post and visiting your official website to learn more about your brand.
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You can hire a copywriter to write the captions to free up your schedule for other business obligations.
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Have the Photos and Videos Ready in Advance
It’s easy to get swamped up with tasks as the business grows.
Jump this hurdle by creating a content calendar in advance. Have the videos and photos ready to keep your Instagram campaign organised.
This doesn’t have to give you sleepless nights. Use your free time to capture quality photos of all your products. There is no shortage of photo and video editing tools that you can use to polish them in preparation for posting.
More importantly, consider using one of the reputed social media posting tools.
Here are the top 10 social media scheduling tools for 2022.
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- Brandwatch (previously known as falcon.io)
- Hootsuite
- Loomly
- Sendible
- Napoleonic
- AgoraPulse
- Iconosquare
- ContentCal
- Onlypult
- Planoly
Compare the features and pricing to know which tool best suits your business and the goals of your Instagram marketing campaign.
We recommend starting with a trial version to get first-hand experience before upgrading to the premium option.
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Post User-Generated Content (UGC)
User-generated content (UGC) refers to content created by customers about your brand.
This content effectively convinces customers who aren’t sure about your brand to convert. The impartial nature of this content makes it better than the salesy product and service reviews.
Online customers consider testimonials from people who have in the past used the products or services as personal recommendations.
Therefore, don’t limit yourself to just content created by your in-house team. Give your audience a different taste of your brand by posting user-generated content.
As mentioned earlier, give the customers an incentive to create and share this content with their peers.
Concisely, UGC is like modern-day word-of-mouth marketing and will soon pay you back high dividends if you use it correctly. Here is an article we wrote on using user-generated content to scale up your online business.
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Bonus Tip
Optimise your Instagram Stories to make them more visible in the platform’s search results.
One way of optimising them is by including the target keyword in the description and hashtags.
Do A/B tests to know which kind of content best resonates with your audience and create more of it to get even better results.
Use the above growth hacks to scale up your Instagram marketing campaigns.
MediaOne Marketing is a reputable agency best known for offering top-notch social media marketing services.
Our highly talented and skilled team, so rest assured that you will get value for money. Contact us at + 65 6789 9852 to book a non-obligatory consultation session.
Conclusion
Instagram is one of the sure ways that you can get your products and services noticed by interested audiences.
The platform will help you gain a loyal following in Singapore, and the secret to attracting potential customers is by driving more engagement, so you need it as part of the tools of social media marketing in Singapore’s e-commerce solutions.
Contact us today for professional digital marketing in Singapore. Our team will handle your social media strategy and help increase Instagram engagement.
