With more than 400 million active users, Instagram is now the fastest-growing social media platform – and when trends online change, your social media marketing strategy needs to shift with it.

Luckily, Newport Interactive Marketers (NIM) brought #InstagramExpert Sue B Zimmerman to Newport June 9 to share her expertise on making your Instagram work for your business.

Zimmerman says there are three components of Instagram that are essential to success.

• Bio
• Compelling Content
• Active Engagement

Top 5 Tips to Make Your Instagram Bio Pop

1. Name – Use the same name as your Twitter account so that your accounts are recognizably linked. If the name you want is taken, don’t be afraid to use underscores or symbols.
2. Avatar – Make this image pop! You can use a logo, but you want your audience to feel that they’re doing business with a smiling human, not a robot. Use bright colors here, and feel free to use props.
3. Bio – You have 150 characters to tell your audience who you are. Make every character count. This is a great place to use emojis and show personality!
4. Call to Action – Instagram is a great funnel for leads, meaning by the time they get to your bio, they’re likely to be very interested in your brand, so carefully consider what you want someone to do once they get to your account.
5. Link – You have space for only one link, so make sure you’re sending your link where you want them to go. Try sending them to your online store, email newsletter sign-up or strategy guide.

Top 7 Tips to Create Compelling Instagram Content

1. Stick to your niche market – don’t confuse people.
2. Add value to every post by including useful information in the image’s description.
3. Create images that stand out. Use third-party apps to make picture collages or to edit images.
4. Post daily. If you have fewer than 500 followers, post two times a day.
5. Humanize your brand. People want to see the person behind the business.
6. Engage with other accounts. Giving a shout out to accounts you like will encourage them to check out your account.
7. Hashtags are so important for potential followers to find your content. But instead of putting the hashtags in the description of the image, which makes the post look cluttered, post a comment on the photo immediately after you post with as many as 30 hashtags. Try Keyhole, to help find the most useful and targeted hashtags to find your key audience.

Top 6 Mistakes to Avoid on Instagram

1. Never post a blurry photo. If it’s your only image, use a sharpening tool in Instagram to make a photo less blurry.
2. Don’t post irrelevant “stuff.” You may lose followers if too much of your content seems useless or unrelated to their interests.
3. Don’t over-post. If you saturate your feed with images, people will unfollow you.
4. Don’t under-post. If you aren’t active enough, people won’t follow you in the first place.
5. Don’t repost the same images. Instagram posts have a life of about 24 hours, so there’s no need to post an image more than once.
6. Avoid posed, catalogue-type shots. Your audience doesn’t want to feel like they’re being sold to online.

Meet the InstagramGal
Zimmerman is founder of Insta-Results, the world’s first comprehensive online Instagram course, and author of the No. 1 e-book “Instagram Basics for Your Business.”

An entrepreneur and founder of 18 businesses, including her own boutique, Zimmerman is passionate about teaching other business owners, execs, and marketing professionals how to best leverage social media platforms, such as Instagram, to see tangible results.