Building Your Brand – Instagram is your new best friend!

Hi all! My name is Tamar, and I’m thrilled to introduce you to “Building Your Brand,” a deep dive into the platforms and features that can help – or hinder – your growth as an influencer. This series will help you define your brand, increase your social media following, and help you grow as a creator! Today’s topic:

GETTING STARTED ON INSTAGRAM

As models and photographers, Instagram will likely be your most used platform. I’m assuming that if you’re reading this, you already have an Instagram account, but if not, now is the time to start one! It’s also important to note that these tips and tricks won’t work if you aren’t already posting regularly. For some, posting new content daily is easy; for others, it may feel like a nightmare to post two or three times a week. If you’re one of those people, it’s worth looking into creating a posting schedule that works for you and adapting as you learn more about your followers. To do that, it’s essential to set up a…

PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNT

Already have a professional account? That’s great! Feel free to skip ahead to the next section. If not, go to your profile, tap the three lines in the upper right corner, and choose “settings.” From there, choose “switch to a professional account” and then either “creator” or “business.” The “creator” option is the best choice for people who are their business (model, photographer, actor, etc.), while “business” is a better fit for a company (modeling agency, photography studio, etc.). Once you’ve finished, you’ll have access to one of Instagram’s best features –

INSIGHTS

I absolutely love Instagram’s professional dashboard, which you can access after setting up a business or creator account. The dashboard uses Insights, an incredible free tool that allows you to learn a lot about your following thanks to age, gender, and location breakdowns. Insights can also help you develop and maintain a posting schedule, by collecting data about the days and times your followers are the most active. They also track your follower growth and show changes in reach, impressions, and profile visits. You can also view insights for each post, which can help you see if the hashtags you’re using are effective or not (more on that next time).

Take some time to familiarize yourself with your insights page before making any changes to your content or engagement – the people who already follow you are probably in your target audience. Look at what types of posts get the most engagement and figure out why – is it the time of day, the hashtags, the content, something else?

TAKEAWAYS

Once you feel like you have a solid understanding of Instagram as a platform and the tools it provides, make a note (physical or mental) of 2-5 things you know about your page and following that you didn’t know before, plus a goal to focus on for the rest of the series. Maybe you want to grow your followers, maybe you want more engagement from the followers you already have, maybe you just want to post more, whatever you want! There’s no wrong answer – it’s your page and your image, so it should represent what you want, not what I say makes a strong profile. At the end of the day, your strongest profile will be one that is reflective of yourself as a creator and allows your personality to shine.

Stayed tuned for next time when we’ll explore different ways to increase engagement through posts, stories, reels, and more, plus tips on creating cohesive, brand-friendly posts. Until then, happy posting!