More than seventy percent of businesses are now on Instagram. Pause for a second and think back just a few years and you will realize just how staggering this growth is. With engagement statistics 10 times higher than Facebook, 54 times higher than Pinterest, and 84 times higher than Twitter, it’s no surprise that 8 million businesses are now on Instagram.

If a picture really is worth a thousand words and 90% of the information transmitted to our brains is visual, what does your Instagram account communicate about your brand? Start the year off and do an InstaAudit with these simple tips to help you become an Instagram superstar.

Find the next generation of superyacht owners and charterers

The demographics of Instagram are young and motivated with ninety percent of users are under 35. They are 70% more likely to purchase a product online than non-users, and outside China, almost 50% of Instagram users conduct product research on social media. Ninety of the world’s top 100 companies in the world are now on Instagram; so, if you are still reading this and think it still not for you, think again.

Spiff up your bio

Most people open their social media accounts and don’t ever think about their bio again. Do a little spring cleaning and make sure a right link to your website (or the landing page for your current campaign) is correct. And while you’re there, check your company name is the same (or related to) all of your company’s social media accounts so that you can be found easily. The same goes for your profile images. Keep them consistent across all of your platforms so that you can be easily identified.

#BuyAYachtFromMe

Seventy percent of the most popular hashtags are branded, and if you haven’t created one for your company yet, make it a resolution to set one up for 2018. But don’t make the mistake Susan Boyle did when launching one. Sure #SusanAlbumParty seemed like a good idea, but the goal is for other people to use it… and many don’t capitalize letters in hashtags which meant it ended up looking like this… #susanalbumparty. See what I mean? Albeit, it did go viral before her PR team corrected it.

Timing

An Instagram photo typically has a life of about 4 hours before it gets buried in your feed, so posting at night is a no-no… or is it? If your business is global-centric like most in the superyacht industry, vary your posting times from early morning to late evening to make sure you reach high traffic times in Australasia, the Med, and the USA/Caribbean markets. Thinking across multiple time zones where your followers may be at a given time of the year will help you grab them at key “break-times” in the day.

Where in the world is…

You already include hashtags into your post, which boosts the level of engagement along a relevant handle on occasion, but what about the location? Telling your followers where you are (or where the picture was taken) will increase the level of engagement by almost 80%. This year, make it a point to always include a location and watch your likes soar.

Set yourself up with an expert

Feeling overwhelmed organizing an event or at a show? Why not welcome a social media expert to support your accounts during those times when you wish you could clone yourself. With their reach and influence, you can quickly pump up your stats with thousands of likes and hundreds of comments and is one way to introduce your brand to a larger audience while keeping you sane and focused on other things.

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