Instagram remains to be the top choice for social media influencers and brands alike. As of June 2018, the social media platform has recorded about 1 Billion active users worldwide. About 80% of these users voluntarily follow brands on the platform, making it the most effective tool for promotion.

If you are an influencer, getting promotions, sponsorships, and collaborations with brands might be among your primary focus. But with over 1 Billion Instagram users, how will you stand out as an influencer?

1. Find Your Niche

Finding your niche is going to be the first and probably the hardest thing to do, especially for those who are still starting their influencer journey. Ideally, it would be better if you have already figured out your niche in the very beginning. What type of influencer are you trying to be? What are your interests, and what do you want to share with the world?

Figuring out your niche as early as possible will help you establish a more solid brand. For example, if you decide to become a high-fashion influencer from the start, then your posts will be all about high-fashion brands.

Sticking to your niche will help you attract organic followers, and therefore organic engagements. If you suddenly jump from fashion to other niches like food/ sports, you will end up losing your loyal fan base who only followed you for your fashion content.

2. Time Your Posts Wisely

Understand where most of your audience is from, and post during peak times when most of them are active online. The more people see your post, the higher the potential engagement. Consider factors like time zones and your audience’s day-to-day schedules.

Finding your peak time might take a little trial and error, but your follower analytics can be of great help.

3. Never Forget The Hashtags

The Instagram algorithm works miracles with the right hashtags. Hashtags are so powerful. It can push your content to the top post or bury them in the bottomless pit! A mixture of trending and industry-specific hashtags works much better than generic hashtags like #fashion and #holidays.

Finding the right hashtag can be a bit complicated. However, you can use tools such as All Hashtag to help analyze and find the best hashtags that work for you.

5. Use GeoTags

GeoTags are used to tag a specific location in your stories. It can be a great tool to connect with locals in your area since your tagged IG story will get the chance to get featured in the hashtag’s highlight reel for 24 hours. However, there is also another GeoTagging trick that most people do not realize. You can tag other popular locations such as New York and Paris, and see if they get you more views. Do not worry if your IG story is not related to the GeoTag. You can cover the GeoTag with a sticker to keep your little trick a secret.

6. Post Consistently

Brands and social media influencers must be active to remain relevant. Different social media platforms have different requirements, but for Instagram, businesses should ideally post at least 1-2 times per day.

Having more posts could do better for your engagement. However, always prioritize Quality over Quantity. Posting too much rubbish content might result in unfollows.

9. Collaborate With Local Influencers

Collaborating with other influencers on your niche can help both of you expand your audience and get more engagement too. Find another influencer and collaborate on an idea or campaign that you could do together. Sadly, popularity is now considered a currency in the influencer world. Hence, it could be a little challenging to secure a collaboration with someone who has far more followers than you. It will be better to find someone who would be interested in growing with you together.