4 Steps for Getting Your Brand On the Instagram Explore Page

Instead of simply snapping and posting pictures, waiting aimlessly for your brand to get the kind of exposure you feel it deserves, improve your business’ odds of Instagram success by working to get featured on the Instagram Explore page.

Here’s how to make it happen:

1) Understand What the Instagram Explore Page Is

First and foremost, if you’re going to make a conscious effort to get your brand some publicity via the Explore tab, you’ll need to know what it is.

Originally known as the “Popular” page, the Explore tab’s primary function is to highlight content you specifically might find interesting.

Care to take a gander?

To access to the Explore tab, click on the magnifying glass between the home and camera icons at the bottom of your smartphone screen when opening the Instagram app.

Once clicked, you’ll be presented with endless photo and video posts that, according to an algorithm, are likely to interest you.

Even better, the content presented to you is largely from accounts you don’t yet follow.

You can already see where this is headed—if you’re able to get at least one of your brand’s posts featured on this tab, both audience size and exposure will quickly increase.

2) Know Your Instagram Audience On a Deeper Level

But just because you know what the Explore tab does, hardly means you’re worthy of placement. To give your posts the friendly nudge they need, it’s key that you know your audience on a more in-depth level …

And no, this doesn’t mean only having a firm grasp on the basics:

• • Age
  • Gender
  • Income

Instead, dig deeper, really making an effort to know who your audience is, what they’re all about and from where they’re coming. The following are a few helpful questions, the answers of which should point you in the right direction:

• • Who does your audience look up to?
  • What sorts of things genuinely interest them?
  • What causes potential buyers to take action on social media?
  • What does the content on their Instagram accounts look like?

Basically, what you’re doing is create a “buyer persona.”

Having a good one will not only help you with your Instagram strategy, but will ultimately guide just about every face of your business’ marketing efforts.

For more information on how this is to be done, click here.

3) Start Listening Intently

Social media is all about building relationships.

You wouldn’t want to spend time with someone who doesn’t listen to you, and neither do your Instagram followers. So, if you’re going to get their attention, start doing the obvious—paying attention.

Begin paying attention (or listening) by looking for the types of posts that generate interest amongst Instagram users that fit the buyer persona you established in the above step.

This can be done manually, but look to simplify the process through tools like Geopiq. Geopiq allows you to monitor posts on Instagram by location, hashtag, username and keywords.

But don’t stop there …

If it’s the Explore tab you want, take to the Explore tab to see what’s trending.

Thanks to the content you’ve produced and the accounts you follow, your business’ own Explore tab should give you a fairly good idea of what’s driving interest on Instagram in your industry …

Use this information to your advantage.

There’s no end to social listening, but as you start to notice trends developing, create similar content of your own—adding a touch of your brand’s unique flavor, of course. Repeat this process often, and you might very well find your own content popping up on the Explore tab.

4) This Is Big—Use Hashtags Wisely

You just knew this was coming, didn’t you?

Here on our blog, we’ve done our best to drive home the importance of proper hashtag use. Truth be told, though, there’s a reason for it—it’s that important …

As such, love them or hate them, you must be using them.

The magic of hashtags comes from their ability to help potential customers find you—not the other way round. Use hashtags that are specific, tried-and-true and even branded to attract audiences who don’t know about your account, but are looking to interact with the types of posts you produce.

The logic behind all of this is pretty simple—people easily find your content, interact with your content and because of it, give your posts the boost they need to eventually find their way onto the Instagram Explore page.

Conclusion

This might seem like somewhat of a far-fetched process we’ve presented, here, but we’ve clung to it on behalf of many clients before, and it’s worked.

Needless to say, we’re confident that getting your content on the Instagram Explore page can get your brand the exposure you need.

Now, all that’s left to do is get started—best of luck!