Instagram Growth: How to Build a Community on Instagram

Do you use Instagram in your social media marketing?

Are you interested in growing your community on Instagram?

To learn how to improve your Instagram marketing, I interview Sue B. Zimmerman.
More About This Show
The Social Media Marketing podcast is an on-demand talk radio show from Social Media Examiner. It's designed to help busy marketers and business owners discover what works with social media marketing.

In this episode I interview Sue B. Zimmerman, known as the Instagram Gal. She co-authored the ebook, Instagram Basics for Your Business and taught Instagram Marketing for Small Businesses on CreativeLive. Sue helps businesses leverage the power of Instagram.

Sue explores what you need to know to improve your marketing and grow a community on Instagram.

You'll discover what marketers should know about Instagram, including the best photos to capture and the importance of comments, hashtags and direct messages.

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Here are some of the things you'll discover in this show:
Improve Your Instagram Marketing
What marketers should know about Instagram

Video is very much underused on Instagram and yet there are some very cool things marketers can do with it. A few months ago, Instagram bought Hyperlapse, an app that allows you to create time-lapse videos and share them on Instagram.

Hyperlapse is simple and fun to use. It speeds up the frames 3, 6 or 12 times and gives the feeling of moving really quickly through physical space, which is interesting and different to see in your Instagram feed.

The advantage of Hyperlapse is it can absolutely get someone to stop in their Instagram tracks while they scroll through their feed. It also makes it possible for you to compress a longer video into the allotted 15 seconds for video on Instagram.

Listen to the show to discover a new trick with hashtags you can use to get your posts to the top of Instagram's hashtag curation.

Promote conferences and events with Instagram

Instagram is the best way to connect with and grow your community at events and conferences. Just like you would with a Twitter hashtag, you can follow an Instagram hashtag before, during and after an event and find people who share a common passion or interest with you.

When you promote events on Instagram, the visual content can be accessed at any time. It's available forever and can easily be found with the hashtag.

Even if you miss a chance to meet someone in person at an event, you can still reach out to him or her on Instagram afterwards. If you're authentic when you reach out, they will likely respond and follow you back. This is one of the best ways to grow a community on Instagram.

Listen to the show to learn the best photos to capture with Instagram at events and conferences.

Create a community on Instagram

Sue suggests you always have a call to action in your posts. You can ask a question or offer valuable content that starts a conversation. The goal is to drive engagement on Instagram through meaningful comments and conversations, not just with a double-tap heart.

Community is built by each post you curate because it's a chance to connect with other people through their comments and questions. Sue advises to never leave questions unanswered and always thank and acknowledge people who leave comments.

The more engagement you drive on Instagram through your comments and posts, the more others will do the same for you or want to be part of the conversation too. The key is being as diligent on Instagram as you are on Facebook and Twitter.

Listen to the show to learn where to focus your time and attention when you manage your business's Instagram account.

How marketers can use Instagram hashtags

Before you come up with hashtags for your brand or business,