When it comes to running a band successfully, there’s a lot that goes into it. Whether you’re focusing on getting the gigs you want, landing a record deal, or making some money from selling merchandise, there are many aspects to running a band successfully. And one of the most important aspects is social media marketing. The fact is, in today’s modern world, it isn’t just about sounding good anymore (even though that’s still a huge deal, of course). It’s about making your mark online and mastering your social media presence. And that’s why your band’s Instagram account has to be as good as it can be.

It’s not just about posting pictures from gigs or using the right hashtags. That’s a start, but if you’re serious about improving your band’s social media presence, here’s how.

1. Switch to an Instagram for Business account

One of the best things anyone serious about improving their social media presence can do is to switch from an ordinary Instagram account to one for Business. You’ll automatically get more views, as well as connect your Instagram to Facebook (which can be especially useful when you’ve got gig dates coming up). Additionally, you can add information such as your website, phone number, and email. There’s also the added plus that you can get free info about your most successful posts and follower statistics with Instagram’s free Insights feature.

Considering that over 60 percent of Instagram users log in daily, making it the second most engaged network (Facebook being first).

Becoming an influencer is never an overnight success story. Even those who’ve gone viral have failed at keeping consistency with building their audience, which shows how much harder than most imagine it to be. However, with the right strategy and vision for who your brand is, what they stand for, and how you can showcase that message to others, your company stands a chance. Here’s how:

Start With Your Story

A significant part of becoming an influencer is having a story that others will gravitate towards. Just take a look at any popular brand and ask yourself “why do people follow/like this?” After all, people don’t just buy Nike or Adidas because they need athletic wear but rather because they believe in the lifestyle that Nike and Adidas promote in becoming a better athlete by wearing their goods. This phenomenon is proven time and time again; according to a survey published by Zimmer Communications, 64 percent of consumers say that shared values are the reason they do business with a brand. If you’re looking to have people start following your brand, you have to present a story that resonates.

A good place to start with your brand story is first asking what your brand stands for, as well as what change or impact you hope it makes on the world. While that might sound high minded, it’s an exercise that can be repeated all the way down to “I want to offer the world better cheeseburgers at a competitive price.” See? This doesn’t necessarily need to be groundbreaking but enough that you feel as though you’re making a contribution. From there, it’s all about honing in on that central message or thesis, including how this mission makes someone feel as though they want to be a part too, which is the most rewarding part.

A few weeks ago, I was in the same position a lot of business owners are. Refreshing my company’s Instagram page, I saw that we were at a lowly 121 followers. “This is pathetic.” I thought, “how do companies get into the thousands to tens of thousands?” 

Coming from the healthcare industry, we felt like Instagram could be a great route to acquire new customers, however, needed to formulate a strategy on approaching this head on. The result? We not only found a way to start telling our story honestly but doing so in a way that could scale. Here’s how: 

Starting With Our Story

I knew if my company was going to be great on Instagram, we first had to be great at showing people who we are and what our values stand for. After all, values are a core reason for why companies see success on social because as noted by Ion Interactive, 64 percent of consumers say shared ideals are the reason they have a relationship with a brand. Granted, as brands are pretty complicated organisms with a lot of intricacies, we knew we had to have a mission that trickled down to what that stood for on our day-to-day. While this wasn’t necessarily relaying our core mission all the time (or even keeping the same serious tone behind our goals), it did come with peeling back our layers and going back to why we started this business in the first place.