Our Top Instagram Hacks

If you’ve been looking for an opportunity to up your social media game, there has never been a better time. You have an unexpected break in work outside your home and people are spending more time connecting through apps like Instagram than normal due to social distancing. If you’re a regular here at the IDCO blog, you know that we recommend focusing your social strategy on Instagram and Pinterest, as those are the highest-performing platforms for interior designers. 

We recently launched our Studio Sessions online course, Instagram for Designers as a comprehensive guide to improve your visibility and engagement. But if you’re looking for a few beginners tips, consider this a great place to start.

Hashtags

Hashtags are a discovery tool, so if you’re looking to gain more authentic followers, it’s a great way to get found by people who are interested in the kind of content you’re posting. If you aren’t sure where to start, here’s a guide to the Best Hashtags for Interior Designers. 

One approach we like is 20/7/2/1 rule:

– 20 general/industry wide that pertain to your design style

– 7 location/niche specific

– 2 post specific (like #openshelving)

– 1 branded hashtag (include this one in caption)

Creating your own branded hashtag is a good idea if you’re trying to build an online community around your brand. Here are our best tips for that based on our experience with #IDCOathome. 

Posting Frequency + Time

Visibility is everything. The key is to post frequently and at the right times. We recommend posting six days a week. I know that sounds daunting, but if you schedule your content in advance (here are 12 unique ideas), it really simplifies the process and ensures that your content is well thought out. As for times, you have two major considerations: when people are online + working around timezones. With that in mind, we try to post before 7:30 a.m., around 3 p.m., or between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.

Engagement Strategy

When you’re growing your following, it is very much a give and take situation. If you aren’t engaging in the larger community, whatever other strategies you’re utilizing probably won’t work.  A high level of engagement is super important and is so much easier to accomplish if your posts are planned + scheduled so all you have to do daily is just engage with other users’ content. And, always always engage with commenters on your own posts.

If there’s a silver lining to this global pandemic, it’s that many of us have been given the gift of time—to spend with our loved ones, work on our businesses, and knock out some to-dos. We can’t wait to see the creativity that comes out of our industry while everyone is staying safely at home. 

To learn about more using IG to level up your business, check out our Studio Sessions Instagram for Designers course.

Looking to browse around the blog? Here are a few more posts we think you might love:

• Why Instagram is the Platform Interior Designers Should Be Investing In
• The Best Hashtags for Interior Designers
• How to Make a Hashtag Happen
• Unique Instagram Content Ideas for Interior Designers
• Instagram Etiquette: How to Properly Credit + Regram

IDCO Studio is a full-service creative studio for interior designers and boutique lifestyle brands. Offering bespoke branding, web design and social media content creation, we help brands built around beautiful living elevate their digital presence to represent the physical spaces they design. Our recently launched limited-release website templates are the perfect way for interior designers to get a luxury website on a budget. These templates allow designers to maintain control of their content. Want to work together? Shoot us an inquiry here.