Want to grow your Instagram followers in Singapore? All you need to incorporated these strategies in your marketing plan.

In this era, if you are not using social media for your business, you are missing out on a huge customers and marketing. Social media takes your business to a lot of people, if it is used strategically.

The major stress of most small businesses is on Facebook and Twitter. They often forget that they can also find customers through image platform like Instagram. However, Instagram requires different marketing strategies than Facebook and Twitter. At this platform, you need to sound more “emotional and humanistic” than “business”.

If you know the art of posting over Instagram, you can expand your followers list. After all, there are 1.9 million users in Singapore, accounting for 33 percentage of the total population. From generating engagement, building a personality for your business to making your content viral, Instagram benefits your business in many ways.

And icing on the cake—there is a low competition on Instagram as there are only 2-3% businesses are active on Instagram.

You couldn’t ask for more!

But the thing is that you should know how to use it. Let us help you with these tips.

1. Use the Right Hashtag:

Users can easily find the photos with hashtags when they are looking for those specific terms. However, there are certain hashtags that can give your products more visibility. This is because the users of Instagram use these hashtags over others, just like with Twitter or Facebook. Using the right hashtags will expose your photos to new users.

Some of the top used hashtags on Instagram are…

• #love (1,271,692,015)
• #instagood (742,795,562)
• #photooftheday (507,358,504)
• #fashion (487,010,088)
• #beautiful (463,668,566)
• #happy (427,528,663)
• #cute (418,686,470)
• #like4like (417,887,839)
• #tbt (413,049,020)
• #nature (303,040,276)

Don’t worry if this list doesn’t feature the suitable hashtags for your products.

Free online tools like IconoSquare or Websta help you find relevant and most popular hashtags for your products. However, popular hashtags are likely to change over time as they are driven by the trends. So make sure to changes the hashtags keywords every few months. Or you can also take hashtags ideas from the top selling competitors accounts.

One more thing—try to use those hashtags in your stories too!

2. Choose the Right Time to Post:

Do you consider the timings of your post?

It is important because your target audience may not be active the time you post. May be they don’t have time to respond to that post. So choosing the right time slot can make a difference. The key is here to post when majority of your audience in online. Evening (around 5.00 p.m.-7.00 p.m.) is the best time to release your post when people are back from work/school and have time to check their phone.

Further, you can use Instagram Insights to check where your followers are located, their gender, theirage and, above all, when they are likely to active on Instagram.

Besides, the insight lets you see their locations by country or city, so you can know their time zones. On the basis of this data, you can determine the time to schedule your Instagram posts.

Read Also: 7 Reasons Why Businesses in Singapore Should Use Instagram for Brand Promotion

3. Share User-Generated Content:

As the name implies, it is generated by the users as personal story or their experiences related to the product.

Most brands feature this type of content while giving credit to the user. Invite your followers to share their experience with your products. For example, invite them to post their photos with the dress they bought from you. Or how your travel agency made their Europe tour great.If your customers have no idea how to generate content, interview them and publish it on Instagram. This will encourage other users to submit their content. By reposting the user generated content, Buffer, a social media management tool, has seen a rise in number of their Instagram followers by 400% in one year.

4. Attract Your Competitor’s Followers on Instagram:

This is one of the best ways to find and attract new followers. Visit your closest competitor’s Instagram accounts and interact with their followers. And there are many ways to interact with their followers.

• Follow them
• Like their photos
• Comment on their photos

The more you make efforts and interact with the users, the more will be added to your follower list.

5. Post Regularly:

According to one study conducted by visual marketing tool Tailwind, the more often you post on Instagram, the more like and followers you have. The study unveils that accounts that posted seven or at least once a day are likely to get new followers faster than those post less frequently. Make sure to use right hashtags (as we have told you in the first point) to be discovered by others who will be interested in your services.

6. Run a Contest:

Running an Instagram contest is one of the best ways to get more followers, create an engaged audience and promote your brand. The objective of your contest shouldn’t just be to boost your follower count. Make sure it also builds awareness for your brand while interacting with your existing followers. It is simple to start.

For example, you can ask your current followers to tag a friend to participate in the contest. The algorithm or your follower will encourage the people who are new to your brand. They might follow you if they choose to enter the contest.

Before starting the contest, keep these things in your mind.

• Make sure to check Instagram’s promotion guidelines or any legal requirements for running a contest that apply in your region.
• Use a good hashtags (remember the first point in this blog)
• Use an amazing photo or video. (don’t use the one created with MS Paint)
• Give away prizes related to your brand
• Make it easy to enter

7. Post Better Photos:

Now this is the point you can’t afford to take lightly. It is fair to say that images are the lifeline of your Instagram account. After all, Instagram is all about images. But that doesn’t mean you just post anything. Great photos help you get likes and followers as well. Here are some characteristics of the most liked photos on Instagram.

• Be creative with your captions. It can add depth or humor.
• Try teaser photos that create anticipation or satisfy curiosity for your new opening or product launch.
• Behind the scenes video
• Animation or artful photos

So these are some tips to boost your followers on Instagram in Singapore. However, incorporating these tips won’t give you result overnight. Do the things right and keep patience.

We also like to hear from you. How’s been your experience on Instagram? Do you have trouble getting started over there? Let us know in the comments below.