• According to the Search Engine Journal (SEJ), approximately 63 million Instagram users log in every day for around 28 minutes. Additionally, around 500 million people view Instagram Stories every day a third of which are from businesses.

• This makes Instagram a great platform for brands to both reach and increase engagement with their customers. However, a brand needs to find the right tone of voice to do so. Some of the ways brands can increase their following include;

Planning and Creating a Content Calendar Full of Ideas

• By planning and creating a content calendar, a brand will not only be able to come up with clever content ideas but also align the ideas with upcoming business events, traffic and sales goals, holidays, and seasons among other things.

• While a brand can still be spontaneous and flexible, having a calendar full of ideas will ensure it is on top of its game and not struggling to come up with something to post.

Using Instagram Analytics to Feed Persona Research

• Instagram business accounts can use Instagram Analytics for free which helps them to know when their audiences are most active.

• Instagram analytics also offer insights about the age, gender, and location of audiences and brands can use these insights to know what age bracket to appeal to as well as optimize their posting schedules.

Tagging People That Interact With Your Brand In Your Photos

• According to SEJ, this is a great way for brands to get more Instagram followers because by tagging people or businesses who interact with a brand, the posts will appear in their tagged feed and this might lead to new followers.
• For example, if a fitness studio posts a group photo after a class and tags the people who attended, the post will populate their tagged feeds. Through this, followers of the individuals' tagged that are interested will discover the fitness studio.

Summary Of Our Early Findings Relevant To The Goals

• Our initial hour of research was spent gathering some data that addressed the question asked ensuring there was publicly available data that could provide the required data and providing some early findings in line with the goals of the project.
• There was no geographical focus provided to us, so we assumed a global view. If a more targeted approach is desired, for example, the United States, this would have to be clearly communicated to us in any reply.
• Please select one or more of the options provided in the proposed scoping section below.