If you want to start building your personal branding on Instagram, it’s important you consider several aspects of this social media platform, such as: its audience, your niche, the different formats it allows and all the resources you’ll need to make original and valuable content.
Instagram appeared on the Internet in 2010, and it slowly grew its fame and user base. It started as a platform to share pictures and immortalize moments. Even though many people still use their profiles with this goal, Instagram changed its objective and it’s now more oriented towards marketing.
Many users have complained about these changes, and while it has its cons, it definitely has also helped little business and brands a lot to reach new audiences and grow their sales.
In this article we will go through the different options Instagram gives you when sharing and posting content, as well as the elements you need to pay attention to, and the basic resources you’ll need to strengthen your personal brand.
Be prepared to be inspired and keep reading to find out more about personal branding on Instagram!
Contents
Statistics and Data About Instagram and its Users
You may ask yourself: why should I choose Instagram for my B2B personal brand? There are plenty of reasons you’ll discover later on this article, but here’s a little introduction to why this is such a great platform to market your brand.
Before we start, you should know that if you’re building a B2B personal brand, maybe Instagram won’t be your first choice when it comes to choosing your preferred social media platform. However, it will be of great help to your growth if you already have strong YouTube and LinkedIn profiles.
First of all, Instagram has a huge advertising audience, which was registered to be more than 1.16 billion people by October 2020. This doesn’t mean your content will reach all those 1.16 billion persons, but does mean that there is a niche for you and your content, as well as a big space to grow.
Instagram is also the second most used social media platform in America, which translates in many chances for new people to reach your content and your profile everyday.
Finally, and since we’re talking about brands and business, it’s important to know that 81% of people use Instagram to help research products and services. This means you’ll have a great chance of people finding your products and/or services as a personal brand.
There is a need and you’ll be building a trust-worthy profile that will, at the same time, allow you to grow your audience and reach the right people.
Content for Personal Branding on Instagram
Posts
This is your regular Instagram post, that can be a single photo, a group (up to 10), or videos under a minute. This is a great format because of its versatility. You can do quotes, carousels, infographics, pictures of yourself, and much more!
Let your imagination fly and make sure to produce content that engages your audience and gets out the message about who you are and what you do.
Stories
Instagram stories last up to 24 hours, unless you decide to archive them into your highlights. They can also be really versatile and allow you to use different gadgets such as: location and hashtag stickers, add music and lyrics, gifs, polls on different formats, countdowns and much more!
By posting quality content on your stories regularly, you’ll have the opportunity to connect easily with your followers, exchange opinions, know what they think about your content and much more.
Besides, by posting on your stories, you’ll be more likely to appear on their feed and increase your chances to raise your engagement rate.
Reels
Reels arrived on Instagram in the middle of 2020, and they consist of short vertical videos. They are a great format because they can go viral really easily and forces content creators to make their information as digestible as possible.
In order to make attractive reels, it’s good to be at least a little updated on Internet and TikTok trends, and be creative enough to identify opportunities to adapt those trends to your niche.
Live videos
This category may be a little self explanatory, but they consist of a live stream for your followers (or really anyone who wants to join). These are regularly used to make Q&As, launch a new product or show an in-person event that can be of interest to your followers.
Due to Covid-19, people also use live videos as a way to share interviews, since you can add other people to your own live stream and talk about a common topic for your audience.
IGTV
IGTV was officially launched on June 2018, and it’s an alternative way to share videos on this platform, since Instagram’s regular posts only allow videos up to 60 seconds. IGTV, on the other hand, has a length limit of 60 minutes.
They can be used to make tutorials, testimonials, showcase products or even make animations and presentations you don’t actually appear on. You may check our YouTube article to get more ideas about video content for your personal brand.
You will find a complete guide about IGTV and its features on this Later blog.
Guides
This is the most recent element on this list, since it became available around November 2020, and people are still getting used to it.
They allow content creators to create “groups” or “collections” under a certain topic. You may collect posts, products or places and share them with your followers.
You can learn more about this feature reading Later’s article about it on their blog.
Details to Be Aware of When Building Your Personal Branding On Instagram
Bio
Having an attractive but communicative biography on your Instagram profile it’s essential if you want people to know what you do, who you are and how you can help them.
You only have 150 characters to share all of this information, so here are some questions to help you build your bio like a pro:
- Who you are and what is your area of expertise?
- How are you different from similar profiles or your competition?
- How can I make contact with you?
Profile picture
It’s important to have an attractive profile picture, so people can easily put a face on your name, and those who already know you may recognize you.
Take a picture in which you have a clear and frontal look of your face, and be conscious about the image you want to project. Do you want your first impression to be serious and professional or friendly and approachable?
With that decision in mind, choose your photo!
Stories highlights
Stories highlights are the little circles you can find at the top of your Instagram profile. These are groups of stories that are marked as “relevant” on your profile.
They can be used to make accessible information that may be relevant to your audience in order to make contact with you, or to your new followers to get to know you better.
Some topic examples for your Instagram Stories Highlights for your personal brand are:
- Who Am I / Get to know me
- What I do
- My experience as a professional
- What can I do for you
- People and companies I have worked with
- Contact me
Links
No matter how small you think your brand is, your online presence won’t be limited to Instagram. Most likely, you’ll have at least two or three additional social media channels and a website. You could even have a podcast, an online shop or featured content.
Since Instagram only gives you the opportunity to put one link in your bio, you’ll need an app that allows you to group all your links into one. Here’s how we have done ours. There are several websites that allow you to build this “link menu”, and here are some of them.
- Linktree (the one we use!)
- Linkkle
- Biolinky
- Biolinks
- ContactInBio
How we Do Personal Branding on Instagram
At Latinpresarios, one of the channels we post the most on is Instagram. You will now read about our different formats to post on our profile. If you want to check out the rest of our posts, feel free to visit our Instagram.
Quotes
Lots of accounts from all kinds of industries post quotes about their niche and areas of expertise. Some may think it’s cliche and even cheesy, but if you choose the right phrases, they will engage your audience and possibly make you reach new potential customers.
Since you will be working on your personal brand, you can post your own quotes from your writings, for example, or share your favorite quotes from the author you read and explain why they resonate with you.
Here’s an example of our quote posts. We try to use uncommon quotes from known personalities, in order to provide our audience valuable content that’s still attractive and different from what they could be used to.
Carousels
Making and posting carousels on Instagram it’s a great way to share relevant information with your followers and improve the way the algorithm works for you.
When you post a carousel, if one of your followers sees it without interacting with it, Instagram will show it to them one more time, showing the second picture and hoping to catch their attention. This is why usually carousels get more likes, comments, shares and saves than other types of posts.
Check one of ours right here.
Engagement Posts
Engagement posts are the way to let your creativity run free and offer your followers a fun and new way to interact with you and your content.
These types of posts can be almost anything: alphabet soups, crosswords, dynamics such as “choose one”, “would you rather”, and many more.
Their goal is to get your audience to interact with your content, have a good time and play a game or make a hypothetical decision regarding your niche and industry. This will make them feel more comfortable with your brand, your content, and the topics you talk about on your different channels.
Short Form Videos
We usually post these videos as a normal post or an IGTV, depending on how long they are. They consist of parts of our long form videos, posted on YouTube.
At the same time, our long form videos are the visual adaptation of our long form blogs. You can learn more about the content on content on content strategy here.
These short videos are a great way to go deeper into our topics of expertise while we motivate our followers to also visit our YouTube channel or our website.
Book Recommendations
At Latinpresarios, we read a lot!
That’s why we always have great book recommendations for our followers. We believe in reading as one of the best ways to learn and open your mind, no matter what your industry is.
As a B2B leader, chances are you have read a lot through your life. This is a great way to share some knowledge and motivate your followers to consume the same content and have more things in common.
Depending on your specific brand and niche, this could change to other kinds of recommendations, such as podcasts, TED talks, documentaries, movies, etc.
Resources You’ll Need to Create Instagram Content
Just as any other social media platform, you’ll need certain resources to produce quality content, besides your expertise and knowledge about your niche and topics you will talk about.
This section refers to the necessary skills or equipment to produce your Instagram posts.
A Camera for Video and Pictures
A big portion of your Instagram content will consist of videos and pictures of yourself and the work you do. It’s really important for your personal brand for your image to be out there, to be recognizable to your audience.
This means you’ll need a good camera to record video and take pictures. You don’t need a professional camera, a good phone will work just as good for you to start building your brand.
Taking good quality videos and pictures also means you will need good lighting, a quiet place in case you’re talking, a clean background, etc. You can find more information about the resources for recording video on our YouTube article.
Video and Photo Editing Software and Skills
Once you have your original content (videos and photos), you’ll need to edit them, adapt them to your brand and make them attractive to your audience. In order to do this, you will need some softwares or apps.
You may edit videos on the following softwares: Premiere Pro, Blender, Lightworks, DaVinci Resolve, Final Cut X and much more!
Design Software and Skills
Your post won’t always be photos and videos you take. As we explained earlier, you can also post designs (quotes, carousels, infographics and much more). However, besides the information and data you’ll share with this design, you’ll also need software and skills in order to make that post.
If you know your way around Adobe software, you may use Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightroom and even InDesign.
However, if you don’t have the time or the skills, you can try Canva, a free design website that can also be downloaded into your phone or tablet.
Copywriting and Hashtag Strategy Knowledge
Even though Instagram doesn’t work as a search engine like Google or YouTube, it’s still very important to know how to tag your content and how to “sell” it through your post’s captions.
Using the right hashtags will allow potential customers to find your content and position your profile in the right niche. On the other hand, a well-built copy can make the difference between someone following you and someone not doing so.
Community Management Skills and Time
Instagram’s algorithm can be a little bit complex, but it definitely likes it when users are active. You will need time to invest into creating your content, posting them, but also interacting with your community.
Since you’re building your personal brand, it’s really important for your followers to perceive you as a human being, as well as an expert in your niche. It’s necessary to answer comments and DMs, solve your audience’s questions, and be present on their feeds.
Managing your online community is something you should be doing regardless of the platform you’re using, but Instagram makes it essential for your strategy to be successful.
Build a Personal Brand on Instagram
As you have just seen, Instagram is a great tool for marketing your personal brand on social media because of the variety of content formats it allows and the huge numbers it manages regarding its users, advertising and features.
It’s important you think about the types of content you enjoy producing (text, audio, video, etc), what are your video and photo editing skills, and how much time do you have to constantly post and answer some of your follower’s questions and comments.
The path of building your personal branding on Instagram is a long one, but with consistency it becomes shorter and shorter everyday. You may learn more about social media for personal brands on the rest of our posts or by visiting our Instagram profile.
Finally, if you feel ready to take the next step and become a better professional by strengthening your personal brand, you can book a complementary call with us right here.
