13 Hacks to Be an Instagram Influencer

With the rise of influencer marketing, Instagram is one of the best places to be seen as an amateur personal brand or professional personal brand. Your online branding will live on with the years to come and scale from channel to channel.

For example, A YouTube influencer will naturally get their YouTube fans as followers on Instagram. Therefore, it's worth hacking a few channels you feel comfortable on. 

Now I know what you are thinking. I already have an Instagram account. Right, that's your personal one for your family and friends. Now think about what you do, do you have a professional branded account as well? Do you have a crazy talent, passion, a craft to share, or perhaps your own business on the side or a wish to be a consultant, freelancer or entrepreneur of some kind?

Given how engaging and how quickly Instagram is growing, if you don't already have a presence there, you should. Here is what to do. 

Not all of us have the time to orchestra and implement a sophisticated video content calendar and create a prominent YouTube channel the caters funny, inspirational and relatable fresh insights on YouTube.

If you don't have Instagram swag, who are you? You were born an original, don't die a copy, keep up with mobile branding. Visualize yourself, envision your destiny and brand yourself an authentic new IG.

However, nearly everyone can have an Instagram that promotes their personal brand and boost their online reputation management. Minimal effort, high ROI. Good visibility, decent SEO, highly targeted. 

Hacking Instagram as a social landing page, is actually a lot of fun. Here is some inspiration on how to go about doing this. 

Personal Branding on Instagram

-1- Only the Best Photography 

Use high-resolution photography that is unique, charming and ideally, features you as much as possible. Not just selfie rip-offs, but high quality portraits, exotic locations, social fun, the works. People want to feel you are relatable, have a sense of style and have a positive outlook on life! 

-2- Inspire, Educate, Entertain 

Provide motivational value in the text attached to your images if applicable, insight, tips and pack each post with written value and not just good imagery. Have many layers that will appeal to a wide range of people in your target audience. 

-3- Special Effects

Be playful in your use of thinking outside the box. Research how truly creative brands and personal brands on Instagram use imagery, posting tricks and hacks to create original, memorable viewing experiences for their audience. There are many apps that can help with this. Many of them will help you create interesting visual effects, video-graphic effects and looping GIFF type videos. Experiment and find something that works for you. 

-4- Position yourself as a Thought Leader

While Instagram is visual, that's no reason not to use it as a thought leadership blog, millions of personal brands do, so why shouldn't you? If you offer a service, post on occasion about what you do or make a quick 15 second video about one aspect of it that's a valuable tip. Make yourself shine as a "Go To Person" for the solution you offer. 

-5- Be Interactively Social 

Instagram works well when you truly cultivate rapport with your audience and other influencers. Build a network, build rapport, nurture your audience, be social. Hold contests, hold events, do AMAs on Quora or Reddit. Do a video on YouTube about a special cause that's dear to you or a branded hashtag event that can inspire a trend, start a meme. Be innovative in how you socialize. Invite followers to a live streaming event on Periscope, Blab.im or a Twitter chat on a specific #hashtag and topic. Hold an open webinar with GoToMeetings.com and promote it as a way to generate leads for your business. 

-6- Use a Post Scheduler 

If you don't have time to be on Instagram often, use a post scheduler and post multiple times per day. Delete the 40% lower performing posts so your best content remains. Let the cream rise to the surface, don't just evaluate your posts on likes but on comments as well. True Engagement is more than vanity likes! 

-7- Grow your Instagram Following

Before you can truly shine on Instagram, try and fail, A/B test and find hacks and easy ways to grow your following. Use targeted hashtags # that will attract the audience you are most interested in. Put the hashtags not in the post itself, but as comments to your article, this will help you create a good visual impression, while still targeting. 

-8- Embed Text on Images to Brand Themes 

Use text on images to boost your quotes to a new level, get inspired by following some of the better accounts on IG that does this. You will quickly get the right idea. People want to be entertained, they want eye-candy, but above all, they want to be inspired by what you do and even the lifestyle you lead. Glamorize it, and give them motivational cues. 

-9- Be Powerfully Authentic

Being yourself is one way to say it. Be vulnerable, be relatable, use language that's true to your inner self. Stay true to your own experience while sharing, this way your profile will not seem too fake or highly orchestrated. While remaining true to your own voice, narrative and storytelling style, work up your strengths. Be bold and daring.

-10- Be Intimate & Convey Transparency 

Attracting people to your brand, is no long just about what you do, it's about you. So be intimate, share your life. Keep your followers up to date on your latest success, events that you have participated in, people that have touched you.

Keep it real, people want to feel as if they can know you on your Instagram. Don't be shy, be transparent. Don't just be personable, be intimate. This means Instagram is now the ultimate back-stage pass into your world. 

-11- Share what your Audience Likes

If your target audience are Asian women who are foodies, then your Instagram should have some pretty amazing cooking tips and food pictures, restaurant reviews, whatever. Share posts that are attractive, valuable and the main meal of what your audience enjoys the most about the channel. Identify personas of your audience and create posts that are valuable to them that they could easily relate to. 

-12- Be a Trend Setter

Perhaps you have some creative ideas on how to use Instagram like a canvas as a social artist! Are you up for the challenge? Maybe you will start a meme on a cause you are passionate about. Maybe your personal brand can stand for something greater than just the service, products or things you can offer. Think of yourself not as an amateur influencer, but as a producer of a lifestyle, a meme and a bold innovator of social trends. 

-13- Be a Storyteller

Tell a story with your images. Share a narrative with your insights and the moods and emotional impact you can make with each post, and the story of your posts and how your personal brand evolves. Because of the visual nature of Instagram, you can tell a story of your passion and moods and elicit an emotional response in your audience on Instagram, better than most other visual platforms. Use it, be a storyteller. 

Can you incorporate your will to do good in the world, through the mere lens of an Instagram account? Can you empower your followers to feel it along with you? Can you capture not just their attention but their hearts and enable them to share the journey along with you?

Feel free to skim some of my articles for other related to social media, how to market to Millennials and branding & identity posts. If you like what you see you can follow me.

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