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Ruby Porter’s Guide to Instagram

Here at Ruby Porter, we harness the power of social media to help brands grow awareness and engagement with their followers. For clients that subscribe to our social media management services, we oftentimes manage both their Facebook and Instagram accounts, as well as other platforms (LinkedIn, Pinterest) on their behalf. Crafting a steady stream of posts ensures that your followers will be kept in the loop, because you’ll be kept in their feeds! Generating unique posts for different platforms is possible, but clients often want to make sure that their followers are seeing the same content everywhere.

While some companies might schedule the same post for both platforms and then walk away, our social media gurus know that management is much more than creating and posting content. We take the time to research your competitors’ accounts, and figure out how to make yours the best. We carefully, meticulously plan out the visual components of your feed (check out West Avenue–this is our Digital Marketing Assistant’s pride and joy!) to make sure it feels coherent and on-brand. We follow the hashtags of your industry and create unique, custom hashtags for your niche corner of the IG world. And finally, we engage with your followers: replying to comments, following influencers, and coming up with polls and stories to showcase your brand’s voice.

We recently had the opportunity to create a Ruby Porter Guide to Instagram to share with a new client who is just starting his business. We’re helping him to run some ads to bring traffic to his brand new website, but his budget isn’t quite big enough yet for social media management. Our approach to Instagram fame isn’t magic; it’s rooted in the TLC we give each account. We’re happy to share this guide with you, too, internet!

Here are a few snippets:

Make a Business Profile

  • Boost your visibility, add business information, and gain followers; it will have additional features from a personal profile.
  • Business profiles are needed to cross-post to Facebook and use scheduling tools.

Use Hashtags

  • Hashtags are your best friend for engagement, but only if they pertain to your audience and business. Look up hashtags to use based on your industry. Check out your competitors and find a niche.
  • Geotag your location to help your local community find you, as well as tourists and people who are new to the area.

Refine Your Voice

  • Your voice is just as important as your visuals. Give your brand a persona and identify the tone you want to use.
  • Whether you’re serious, lighthearted or funny, keep it consistent!

Boost Engagement

  • Ask your followers to tag their friends in your comment sections. Encourage them to use your hashtags when showing off your products.
  • Simply engage with them: reply to comments, conduct polls, and pose questions.
  • Use stories and video to quickly update your audience without crafting a whole post.

Ready for insta-success? Download Ruby Porter’s Guide to Instagram. We wish you luck!

Erin has degrees in Philosophy, Linguistics, and Instructional Design, and taught English to international students at the University of Oregon. Prior to joining Ruby Porter, she was Project Manager with a local nonprofit, helping connect high school students to career opportunities, including internships in the tech industry.

Erin loves writing, storytelling, presentations, building relationships, and thinking deeply about brand identity. She plays and coaches ultimate frisbee (Go Birds!), loves cooking, hiking and camping in the PNW, and is an aspiring Cat Lady.

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