You offer an immense amount of value both personally and for your career. When you want to showcase that value, it’s time to build a personal brand. With over 2 billion active users, Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms, making it the perfect place to create your brand. Here are five tips to build your personal brand on Instagram.
Create a consistent brand
If you change your brand every two seconds, nobody will be able to keep up. That’s why an important first step is to create a consistent personal brand.
Think about your purpose and what you want to stand for. Then, choose the style, colors, fonts, and tone of voice that best exemplifies your personal style and your desired brand. This branding guide will inform all your marketing promotions in the future. By creating a consistent brand, it’s easier for your followers to recognize your brand from any content you release, even if they don’t see your name!
It can be a helpful exercise to build a personal branding template. There are thousands of free personal branding templates available online from sites like PosterMyWall. Customize the template to your liking using the drag-and-drop editor, then use the template as a guide as you expand your brand. It’s a great way to visualize what you want your brand to be before you release it to the world on Instagram.
Post only on-brand, high-quality content
Billions of users means millions of posts uploaded to Instagram daily. That’s a lot of competition for your brand. The only way to stand out is if you post only high-quality content. Really focus on your content and don’t release anything that doesn’t look up to your brand standards.
But social media marketing isn’t just about quality; it’s also about quantity. Your followers’ feeds are constantly filling up. Make sure there’s no chance they’ll miss your posts by posting regularly. Most social media professionals suggest posting to Instagram at least three to five times per week. That’ll ensure your content will definitely show up on your followers’ feeds and that your brand stays top of mind.
Engage with your followers
Many brands and marketers forget one of the most important aspects of social media: being social! Instagram marketing isn’t a one-way street. Actively engage with your followers by responding to comments and direct messages (DMs) and maybe even liking and commenting on some of their posts.
People are more likely to choose brands they feel engaged with. Whenever it’s time to offer your services, who do you think people will likely want to work with: a faceless business, or a brand they see as almost a friend? The more you engage with your followers, the more likely they’ll be to choose you for their needs in the future.
Use a variety of content types
Your marketing flyers are obviously great, but they’re not the only types of content that you can upload to Instagram. There are three main types of content you should have on your Instagram account:
- Posts
- Reels
- Stories
Each type of content has its own fans. For example, one person might only like to watch reels, while others might only pay attention to stories. If you want both users to follow your personal brand, you need to post both types of content.
Mix up your content types to reach as many users as possible, no matter what they might be into. And like always, make sure you follow your branding guidelines with all your content!
Collaborate with industry influencers
Influencers are people with large social media followings. And for a price, they’ll promote your personal brand to their audience. Influencers are a powerful way to expand your brand and reach new, potentially massive audiences.
The key to influencer marketing is to find the right one to work with. There are over 64 million influencer accounts on Instagram, and they all bring something different to the table.
Choose an influencer in your niche. For example, if your personal brand is based on financial topics, work with a finance influencer. If someone follows a financial influencer, it’s guaranteed that they’re interested in financial topics, meaning they’d be the ideal person to follow your personal brand. The closer you can match your niche to the influencer, the more effective your marketing efforts will be.
It’s also important to consider cost when choosing an influencer. Typically, the larger the influencer’s following, the more expensive they’re going to be to work with. However, there’s no “standard” payment for influencers. While most prefer money, some may promote your personal brand for other payments like free items or even exposure on your channels. Work with the influencer to see if you can reach an agreement that suits you both.
Grow your personal brand on Instagram
Instagram is a great place to reach potentially billions of people around the world. There’s no better place to showcase your personal brand! If you want to stand out from the billions of other users, it’s important to design a branding guide to keep you on track, post only high-quality content, engage with your followers, create a variety of content types, and collaborate with influencers. Do all that, and it won’t be long before your personal brand starts taking over Instagram!