Four Tips on How to Use Instagram to Reach Millennials

By Travis LeJune, Account Intern

Who is using Instagram? Right now, about 46% of millennials have Instagram, and by 2019, it’s predicted that nearly two-thirds of millennials will be using Instagram. It is one of the most consistently and quickly growing social media platforms; but most importantly, it is one with the highest engagement, especially among millennials. Instagram has 300 million daily active users, with around 80 million photos posted daily. Out of those 80 million photos, there is an average interaction of 3.5 billion likes and over 400 million comments. That is a massive amount of engagement, but how does that compare to Facebook or Twitter?

Engagement and activity on your business’ account is extremely important, especially to build a loyal customer base and spread your brand awareness. On Instagram, not only can you get more reach than any other social media platform through its hashtag search engine, but the higher engagement rates generate more followers and more users likely to continue to engage with you in the future.

So, now that you understand how important Instagram is as a business tool for reaching millennials, I’m going to provide you with a list of tips to reach more consumers and increase their engagement once you reach them.

1. Post high-quality images.

The photos you post MUST be high quality and creative. Like I said before, your posts can get a high amount of impressions on Instagram, so work to make them positive impressions rather than impressions that could hurt your brand. I think this first point is a given, but it is also the most important. Don’t get lazy and post ‘decent’ or low quality photos.

2. Optimize your hashtags.

The hashtags you use need to be commonly searched for and relevant to your brand to the communities of users you are trying to reach. For example, if you are selling pet products, you want to use the hashtags most popularamongst that community of users, such as: #dogsofinstagram #dailyfluffand #pupstagram.

There are even websites such as Websta.me that will search hashtags and then generate other relevant hashtags in order of popularity, which can be a very useful tool. However, once you become familiar with your targeted communities, you will start to figure out which hashtags are the best and produce the most activity. According to Social Media Examiner, even small accounts that use 11 or more hashtags receive an average of 77.6 interactions.

3. Engage in conversation!

Check out some accounts similar to yours, especially your competition. Like and comment on posts and engage with followers of your competition. If they are interested in your competition, they will be interested in your brand also. Be friendly and comment with some depth. The more time and effort you put into this, the more engagement and followers you will get back in return.

4. Stay up to date on social media trends and daily hashtags.

Post some #throwbackthursdays and curate posts for the “national days” that trend on social media. Also, keep up with millennial’s interests and post accordingly; for example, travel posts always do great with millennials.