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How To Grow Your Brand Through Instagram

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“Instagram has over 800 million monthly active users and the platform is a great marketing tool if utilized effectively.” –Forbes

Looking to expand your personal brand or business by using Instagram? Here are a few helpful tips.

Your Bio

Let’s start with the basics — your bio. It’s typically the first thing users see when they visit your Insta page. You want it to be short and sweet. While remaining eye-catching, simple and creative, you also want your bio to give a snapshot of you who you are. Brainstorm a few words associated with your company/brand, and that will help you come up with a phrase users will remember.

AM:PM PR’s Instagram bio: Creativity. Strategy. Socks with sandals. #ampmpr ⏰

Consistency

Keep your content consistent. Although it’s fun to experiment with filters, users will keep visiting your page if it follows a general theme. Choose one filter for the majority of your photos, and pay attention to how much white/blank space is present in each of your photos. A balance between the two is important. If you switch off between these two styles of photos or simply stick to just one, it will result in a overall more visually-appealing page.

It’s important to be regular with your posting schedule. Post every day and include a group of relevant hashtags under each photo. This will allow new users to discover your page, plus, unchanging hashtags will pool your content into Insta categories related to your field.

Examples of hashtags for a food blog/Instagram:

#foodblogger #food #foodie #foodphotography #instafood #foodstagram #foodlover #yummy #delicious #foodblog #foodies #healthyfood #instagood

AM:PM PR’s usual hashtags:

#agency #publicrelations #PR #pdx #branding #agencylife #portland #creative #art #portlandia #business #pragency #socialmedia #follow #brand #creativeagency #ampmpr #instafollow #instagood #creativity #media

Engage

Follow similar users. Not only will this increase your followers, (similar businesses will typically follow back) but you can also gather ideas for future content. Comment on other’s posts, reply to Insta stories and message people who reply to yours. You’ll grow an engaged fanbase in no time.

Connecting Your Website or Blog

If you are using Instagram to ultimately promote a larger businesses, website or blog, make sure to link your Insta appropriately.

When promoting new blog content on your Instagram page, here’s a few tricks:

  • Use call to action words. Examples: “New blog post is up! Click the link in my bio to check it out,” “You aren’t going to want to miss this week’s blog post! Visit the link in my bio to read.”
  • Use a platform like TapBio to immediately direct users to your latest blog post. “Rather than constantly changing your Instagram profile URL (to go with your latest post), you can easily add slides equipped with links to your Tap Bio corresponding to your latest Instagram posts. Tap Bio could be a powerful tool for social media stars, digital entrepreneurs or anyone trying to market themselves via Instagram.” – TechCrunch
  • Use Instagram stories to continue promoting your latest blog post through out the week. Use Insta stories to advertise new content instead of repetitive photos on your feed.

Highlights

A fairly new feature, Instagram highlights are an awesome way to display your archive of Insta stories. To organize them, divide the highlights into categories. Add a creative, consistent cover for each that compliments your theme colors for an extra touch. (See below for AM:PM’s highlights.)

Need more ideas/content inspo? Check out AM:PM’s Instagram page here!

get the interview, get the job

Get the Interview, Get the Job

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Student Portfolio Reviews Reveal Successful Tools & Tactics

For several years I’ve volunteered to review hardcopy portfolios from graduating University of Oregon public relations students. As part of the U of O program, each student presents their portfolio to a panel of three PR/marketing/communication professionals who rate their demeanor, presentation skills and mastery of career-related projects and assignments.

This experience, in addition to reviewing the daily emails and resumes sent to AM:PM PR by new hire hopefuls, has given me a good idea as to what makes a job candidate stand out. I’ve come to appreciate the value of a portfolio – it may be the best and most underused tool by jobseekers. While not always necessary, a portfolio can bolster the information found on a resume by demonstrating an expanded understanding of communication challenges and solutions.

Your portfolio should be easy to follow and easy to share. For the in-person interview, bring a hardcopy, or a tablet to walk through your work with a little digital pizzazz. Either way, make sure you bring extra printed copies of your best work to leave behind with your interviewer, who may want to share it with other decision makers.

Assembling the Standout Portfolio

Great portfolios for PR job candidates include:

  • an up-to-date resume with skills and experience highlighting abilities related the the job you are interviewing for.
  • a compilation of writing samples, i.e. pitch emails, press releases, blog posts and college assignments.
  • before/after analytical data, such as website or social platform analytics from projects that you worked on.
  • graphic, presentation or information design assignments. If you’re using printed pieces within a hardcopy portfolio, make sure you use high quality images. Pixelated images give the impression you don’t really understand the tools or you won’t go the extra mile on the job.
  • materials or case studies from previous work or school experience that demonstrate strategy and results or challenges and solutions.
Leave a lasting impression

If time allows, offer to walk through your portfolio during the interview. Explain each item you’ve included as a case study – the assignment, how you thought through it, how it was executed and what the results were. The students who stood out most in the portfolio reviews I’ve experienced identified PR-related challenges and demonstrated their solutions and results.

Bonus points

Create a professional portfolio website. Think of it as your own personal branding tool. An attractive website demonstrates you value good design. Share links to your successes i.e. social sites, earned media, guest posts. Draft engaging and relevant blog posts. It doesn’t hurt to write fan posts about professionals you admire either. Like this interview with our very own Pat McComick. 

Think about how you appear everywhere online. Include as much as possible on your LinkedIn profile and any other digital platform you use professionally, including your personal website. At 33-years-old, and only 7 years removed from a fledgling rock’n’roll career, I’m not a curmudgeon, per se – but even I recognize the importance of a clean social media profile. Consider the professional reputation you are building and what potential employers could take away from the messages you type or the information you share. You don’t have to stop having fun, but you do need to demonstrate you understand privacy settings.

Now, go get ‘em.