It’s almost 2019 and Instagram is still waxing strong. Features like Instagram search, IGTV, Instagram stories, etc continue to give businesses and users in general, extra reasons to click with this awesome photo sharing app.
With over 1 billion monthly active users and counting, Instagram is one social network you can’t afford to ignore as a serious business owner. It is gradually but certainly transforming from a mere photo sharing platform to something more.
Google’s success with search (recording over 3.5 billion searches per day) has encouraged many other apps, sites, etc to develop theirs, Instagram search is one such example. It is the native search engine of Instagram.
With over 1 billion users as of June 2018 posting millions of updates daily, it would be next to impossible to manually or randomly search for other users, posts, photos, comments or content in general. To beat this Instagram has tried to simplify how to search Instagram so users can more easily find what they seek.
You can use Instagram search to search Instagram for people, hashtags, places and more.
Here’s How Instagram Search Works at a Glance
Desktop
- Visit www.instagram.com
- Log in
- Click on search bar
- Type in query
- Hit search icon
- Results show up in search/explore section
App
- Open or launch Instagram app
- Click on search bar
- Type query
- Hit search icon
- Results appear in search/explore section
Perhaps you searched for how to optimize your business profile for Instagram search.
Here we go
5 Simple Ways to Win with Instagram Search in 2019
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Use Location Tag + Hashtags
Instagram search users often search for people, places and top performing hashtags. Incorporating hashtags and location tags can boost visibility for you, your business or brand
as most searchers prefer to deal with local businesses or brands.
One of the ways to win with Instagram search in 2019 is to add location tags and up to 9 hashtags per post. This will help make your posts and stories appear in search results. This way, businesses can easily get discovered by Instagram search users from your area or those who use keywords related to the ones you’ve used in your post.
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Proper Positioning for Search
Searching for information via Instagram search without specifics can be difficult. It is important to know a thing or more about what users are likely to search for and then position yourself to be found.
As mentioned above, including relevant hashtags and location tags boost visibility via Insta search. You should also use easy to spell usernames by which searchers may attempt to find you. Such usernames could be derivatives of your known business name or easy to guess and spell combinations of it.
Using your logo is another way to differentiate from similar accounts as well as getting your account verified.
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Drive Traffic to Your Website
Instagram is a highly visual platform but also uses texts in bio, profile, captions, comments, etc. These can be masterfully combined to drive much-needed traffic to your business website.
By posting relevant content on your profile using relevant hashtags, you make your posts visible to Instagram search users. When they visit your Instagram profile ensure they can easily find your contact address, e-mail address or website.
This way Insta search automatically becomes a source of traffic for you and your business when they click through.
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Ask Your Fans/Followers
With over 400 million Instagrammers posting Instagram stories (alone) daily there’s a lot of content to sort through by the end of the day. Sadly, much of this content go unnoticed or fail to show up in Instagram search results, especially when the right hashtags aren’t used or are completely ignored.
As a business owner or a public figure, your fans may be uploading pictures of you and your products without tagging your account or using your branded hashtags. If this is happening you’re losing eyes.
To fix this, encourage fans, followers or customers to use a specific hashtag, location tag, etc. The following can happen as a result:
- It makes it easy for you to re-post those posts
- It facilitates interactions
- It increases engagement
All these will increase your chances of turning up via Instagram search.
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Engage Influencers
Research suggests that 82% of consumers are “highly likely” to follow a recommendation made by a micro-influencer. An influencer on Instagram is someone with considerable influence and followership who can help your brand spread its message.
With Instagram search, you can find influencers in the following way:
- People Search
- Followers Search
- Location Tag
- Hashtag Search
- Explore Section
- Similar Accounts
With influencers spreading your message and hashtags, their followers will follow suit further increase your visibility via Insta search.
Conclusion
Winning with Instagram search comes with practice, the more you apply these tips the more you’re likely to dominate Insta search results.
Author Bio
Amos Onwukwe is an AWAI trained Business and Ecommerce Copywriter as seen in Huffington Post, Dumb Little Man, Ecommerce Nation, eCommerce Insights, Understanding Ecommerce, Result First, Floship, Small Biz Club, Small Business Bonfire, Successful Startup 101, SABTrends, Rabid Office Monkey, among others.