Build a Brand on Instagram: The Ultimate Guide

Streetwear brands cultivate a community that allows them to release a new season of clothing and sell out the entire line in hours.

Influencers have the ability to create product lines based of their following and sell products direct to their community.

People are now purchasing things like mattresses online from Casper & eyeglasses from Warby Parker.   It is quite mind-blowing how comfortable consumers have become at purchasing things online, which emphasizes even more why your spice company needs to be on Instagram.  If consumers are willing to spend thousands of dollars on a mattress without ever laying on that bed, they would be willing to buy a bottle of your $9 spice jar.

Whether we’re talking clothing industry, supplements, cosmetics, and anything in between, brands can have enormous success with sales by simply cultivating a community with their social media, and in particular, with their Instagram.

I know it sounds easier said than done, but if you are a business of ANY kind, you need to Build A Brand on Instagram.

Why? To increase sales…. Drastically.

With the revolution of the Internet and social media, consumers more than ever want to know the backstory about their product.  Adweek states “Eighty-one percent of shoppers conduct online research before they make a purchase.”

This makes complete sense.  

The Internet is a haven of information and has the ability to expose when brands are not being honest.  People want to know what diet the cow was on before purchasing a steak, or if there was any child labor that went into creating a product, and in some extreme cases, what are the political views of the company…. We all remember the #DeleteUber movement that was heavily influenced by politics.

So if 81% of consumers are doing the research before they purchase a product, this means more than ever, how your brand in represented on social media is absolutely critical for success.

Here are 5 things that you can control in order to represent your brand in the way you’d like online, which in turn, will generate your business more sales.

Grid Aesthetics

Instagram has such a uniqueness due to its aesthetically pleasing nature.  

What I mean by this is, if you go on other social platforms, for example Facebook, there’s a lot going on there.  There are tabs for all kinds of things like events, services, descriptions, etc.  Facebook also presents things like a status, or an event, or a post. What I am trying to communicate is some social media platforms can be quite busy, but Instagram, all you see are photos.

That’s it. Right to the point. All about the aesthetics.

This is huge for your brand reputation because when an individual comes across your Instagram, you want to communicate what you’re all about right away.  You want the consistency of photos, colors and designs so nothing looks random or out of place.

Here’s an example of a clothing boutique, where you can easily see what products they are selling, the color schemes are similar and the style of photos are consistent as well.  Consistency is key, so before taking photos take into consideration the colors of the brand, how the colors in your photos will impact the vibe of your brand, the appearance to each post and how it will look to the consumers eye.

Creative Captions to Build a Brand on Instagram

This description I will keep short and to the point, cause the title says all you need to know.

In today’s day in age, there are posts coming at everyone all time the time, so why should I stop on your photo and stop scrolling?  Well if you have captivating captions that make people think, evoke emotions or are funny ones, people will begin to see a pattern and are more likely to engage.

People will remember they laughed at your caption before and are more likely to stop scrolling the next photo they see of yours to catch another quick laugh.

Captions are also a great way for friends to tag other friends because the caption evoked a thought or an emotion that individuals felt their friends must-see.  These captions can create a sense of community and a place where consumers can engage with your brand.

Word of mouth is always a great form of advertising, therefore if a friend of yours says a place they went to had great tacos, you’re more likely to go to that restaurant because you trust your friend’s opinion on the restaurant’s food.

Same applies to social media.

If you’re friend says an account always makes them laugh, you’re likely to check that account out and give them a follow.  If they tell you a certain account always makes them think or they constantly learn new cooking tips from an account they follow, you’re more likely to check that account out.

Therefore, captions can go a long way in building community and increasing engagement when you build a brand on Instagram.

Link Instagram Products in Photos

The fastest and most efficient way for people to buy products is simply to see something they like on the photo, tap the product and be brought to a page where they can purchase that exact product.

Linking your products in the photo to the location on your website where they can purchase that product takes away any searching people will have to do.

I’m sure everyone can attest to seeing an article of clothing they’d love to wear from a brand and then had to do an internet search and could find related products, but not the exact one they were looking for.  This is such a frustrating thing.

Make the buying experience as easy as possible.  Tag all of your products in your photos.

If you have any questions as how to do so, here is a great explainer article.

Create A Branded Hashtag

Creating a branded hashtag is such a great way to get free exposure of your products/brand as well as monitor how your customers are interacting with a specific product or your brand as a whole.

You can simply create a hashtag that has relevance to your brand and incorporate the hashtag in your bio as well as majority of your captions.  People will begin to see the hashtag trend and whenever the take a photo with your product they can then use that hashtag.

It is a great way to see how your consumers are interacting with your products.  This will allow you get some amazing feedback, allow you to engage with your consumer, build an online community as well engage with your consumer to thank them for their support.

You can search your hashtag in the search section of Instagram and get a sense of the captions your consumers are using, you can see what other accounts they follow, you can see trends evolving, you can find a bunch out but more importantly this is free advertisements and gives you the ability to reach out to the customer and thank them personally.

Location Posting

This one is also straight to the point, but whenever you create a post you should always tag your location!

You never know who randomly comes across a post of yours and would like to receive more information in terms of location.  This is one of those convenience factors that will go a long way.