Sweet mother of pearl, are you ready for this?

The busiest shopping days of the year are upon us. At this point, your promotions for Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday and the remaining holidays should all be slated. If you still need help with that, head here.

I know everything is happening at lightning speed, as it does, and you may feel a *bit* overwhelmed, especially with your social media marketing but…

…no fear, my dear!

This week I’m sharing a few of my go-to Instagram tricks so you can strike while the iron is hot and grow your exposure FAST during the busy season and beyond. And, let’s be honest, IG is totally your favorite social media platform. Plus, it’s ideal for shopping so, let’s get you more followers and eyes on that profile!

5 ways to grow your exposure FAST on Instagram

1. Be strategic about the link in your bio - STOP USING LINKTR.EE!

You should be directing all traffic from your Instagram captions to the link in your bio AND this link should point to your website. Don’t give your hard-earned traffic and engagement away to link summary sites like Linktree - push those users to your website and grow your reach there instead. 

Here’s an example of how I do this: elisabethfleming.com/bloom. I made a hidden page on Squarespace and added in a few buttons (because I have several different learning opportunities I want my followers to know about). Then, elisabethfleming.com/bloom is what appears as the link in my bio. It literally works the same as a Linktree but you’re pushing traffic to your site instead. Also notice how, on my /bloom landing page link, I don’t have any top or bottom navigations or popups. The only links I share are the buttons down the center of the page - this helps direct the focus of my visitors so they take an appropriate action and don’t immediately click away to my home screen, etc.

If you don’t have more than one topic you want your followers to see, stick with linking just to your website’s homepage or blog - wherever your offer or content with the most value lives on your website.

2. You get 30 hashtags for every post - use them all. 

It works BUT, make sure you’re mixing them up. You should use a variation of local geographical hashtags and customer-focused hashtags. Remember, don’t use industry tags - your competitors are using those. Instead, go for tags that your customers are using so you can attract them. And, ofcourse, you’ll want to drop in the go-tos for this time of year: #blackfriday #smallbizsaturday #shopsmall #cybermonday #givingtuesday #holidayshopping #giftideas. PLEASE only use holiday-focused hashtags if you have a relevant offer otherwise, you are just spamming.

Here’s an example of my holiday hashtag set so you can see these categories come together:

Geo tags - I live in Pinehurst, NC so I also include county and surrounding city tags
#pinehurstnc #moorecountync #southerpinesnc #fayettevillenc #raleighnc #clt #rdu

Customer tags - my customers are female entrepreneurs, creatives and makers
#solopreneur #fempreneur #entrepreneur #selfemployed #etsyseller #etsyshopowner #smallbizowner #maker #makersgonnamake

Holiday tags - I have Black Friday, Small Biz Saturday, and Cyber Monday offers. I also work with small businesses and portions of my proceeds each year go to charity so it makes sense for me to use…

#blackfriday #smallbizsaturday #cybermonday #shopsmall #givingtuesday #giftideas #giftideasforcreatives #smallbusiness

So my whole hashtag set, complete with the three categories of tags, is then used in my posts for this time of year like this:

#pinehurstnc #moorecountync #southerpinesnc #fayettevillenc #raleighnc #clt #rdu #solopreneur #fempreneur #entrepreneur #selfemployed #etsyseller #etsyshopowner #smallbizowner #maker #makersgonnamake #blackfriday #smallbizsaturday #cybermonday#shopsmall #givingtuesday #giftideas #giftideasforcreatives #smallbusiness

This rounds me out at 23 tags and leaves room for me to add in 7 more for even more variation, which I recommend.

And, hopefully you know this by now…you don’t have to type out all of your hashtags each time you share a post. Create a few sets and save them to “Notes” on your phone so all you have to do is copy + paste. Or, if you’re more advanced, try this IG management program that also allows you to save posts + hashtag sets - it’s my fave!

3. Hashtag placement in posts makes ZERO difference - don’t stress about it.

There’s been a lot of debate over whether putting your hashtags at the end of your post caption (overt placement) gets you more Likes than hashtags placed in the first comment below your post (covert placement). There is no proof that either works better. This is totally your preference based on how you want your content to look and feel. I mix mine up. Sometimes it’s appropriate for them to be in the post caption and other times, it’s not. Experiment. If you are going to use covert tags in your first comment though, remember to space them down so they are hidden like this:
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#hashtag #hashtag #hashtag

Click here for more hashtag secrets!

4. Create an IG Story for every post - maximize that engagement!

Every time you post to your grid, share your post to your Instagram Story and gamify that bad boy with “Tap Here” or “New Post” gifs so users are encouraged to interact and visit your profile. Not even that, when you post something new, you should tell them about it. You can’t rely on Instagram to do that for you - your content won’t always pop up in your follower’s feeds.

Also, in Instagram Stories, you can use up to 9 hashtags - DO THAT. And, did you know, you can hide them to keep your images looking clean? I figured out this handy hack while playing around with the paint dropper tool and did a blog post on it recently. See the video tutorial here on my Instagram Story hacks!

Both of these tactics combined will increase your exposure like gangbusters on this platform.

5. Use IGTV already - it’s GOLD!

When you craft your content, think about the customer experience on this platform and how they prefer to consume their information. Right now, they don’t have as much time on their hands to read a 5 paragraph caption but, they will tune in for a 30 second video. Get in front of that camera to bring them more value and then upload your video to IGTV (you can record up to 60 minutes). Then, post a 30 second preview to your profile - IGTV will do this for you automatically if you let it.

*bonus tip*

Ahh, tis the season for boosted posts.

Remember, social platforms loooove to take your money so be mindful that they’re going to persuade you to boost more posts than usual during the holiday season to capture more leads. I’m an advocate for growing your exposure organically but, I will say this from experience: if you’re going to boost a post on Instagram, ONLY do so when the post is already doing well. That means only boosting posts after 6-12 hours, if it gets a sufficient amount of Likes AND Comments. This will allow you to truly capitalize on the traction but, honestly, I’d save your money until you have an ad strategy in place. Boosted posts, even for just $5 bucks a pop, add up fast. Be careful!

Want to take your learning further and grow your following across all the social media platforms?

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