Promoting Instagram 2021: 10 free and paid way

To promote your Instagram in 2022, you will have to try hard. There are already more than a billion users on the platform - there are plenty of competitors, and everyone wants to lure followers to you. You need to combine both free and paid methods of Instagram promotion: targeting ads, running contests, advertising with bloggers, cross-promotion and others.

01. Getting your business Instagram account up and running

If you've decided to get serious about promoting Instagram, the first step is to switch to a business account. It has features that aren't available on a regular account:

advanced description;
contact buttons (phone, mail, driving directions);
indication of category (a line where you can indicate the field of activity)
statistics (views, saving to bookmarks, number of subscriptions and unsubscriptions in recent days);
possibility to launch an advertisement.
To access your business account, click on the three bars in the top right corner, go to 'Settings' and then to 'Account'. Click on the bright blue line - "Switch to professional account".

02. Find a relevant account name

In addition to your username, Instagram prompts you to choose a name that may be different from your username.

03. Set a quality avatar

Choose a striking and 'talking' picture. A logo or company symbol for your business, a portrait for your personality. The better your profile picture captures the essence of the project, the better your chances of getting noticed in searches or when commenting on someone else's post.

There are two things to keep in mind when choosing an image:
the final version of the picture will be presented to the audience in the form of a circle - which means the original version is cropped around the edges;
the avatar should evoke an association with the services you provide (or with the brand as a whole).

04. Add hashtags for Instagram promotion

Hashtags are added to accomplish several tasks:
to make the post searchable by hashtag;
to have the post appear in the feed of those who are subscribed to the hashtag;
to create selections - posts on a particular topic can be tagged with a single hashtag; to promote your brand.

05. Use geotags

These can be used to increase the reach of your posts. When you geotag a post, it gets automatically added to the set of posts with that tag. If the post gets a lot of reactions and is more popular than others in that location, the post can go to the top and be seen by others

06. Create masks

Masks are another way to get noticed and attract new subscribers. But you need to create a cool, unique mask that you want to use. It could be a beautiful filter, a funny inscription or a complex effect all the way up to 3D objects. The possibilities are limited only by imagination and skill. If you don't want to make the mask yourself, you can order it from a pro.

07. Attract an audience from TikTok

TikTok is a great platform from which to poach users. One viral video can bring in thousands of new subscribers. If you cut the video short at the most interesting moment and invite users to finish watching it on Instagram, you can get a lot of "easy" subscribers.

08. Think of a lead magnet

This is when you give a user a valuable product in exchange for an action - subscribe, like, repost, etc. For example, you could offer a checklist with tips, a video tutorial or an author's course.

09. Organize mutual PR in Stopis

The scheme is simple: find a blogger with a similar theme and equal number of followers. Offer to tell your followers about his account, and in return, have him tell them about yours.

10. Host joint live events

Live events help you get closer to your audience, and live events can help you swap followers. The scheme is the same as for networking-you find a blogger with whom you can talk about an interesting topic or a live battle, arrange a time and start an online broadcast.