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If your business thrives through accounts on social media, there’s a constant need to keep getting more exposure. Getting a social media shoutout now and then proves effective to keep your business in the public domain.
Instagram is one of the most popular locations to get a broad shoutout. IG users follow several businesses, and a shoutout could help them decide who to patronize. Information on how to get a shoutout on Instagram will ensure your fashion, sports, or other business receives ample attention.
Through this post, businesses will have complete information about how to get Instagram shoutouts quickly. Other necessary details about Instagram shoutouts in this post will ensure you get the most from publicizing your business.
What is an IG Shoutout?
An Instagram shoutout is any promotional content user posts to direct attention towards another user’s account. IG shoutouts could be in the form of photos, an @mention, or Insta Stories.
Most IG shoutouts are for business promotion, and many influencers boost the awareness of brands with this tool. Small and large business accounts can leverage micro or mega influencers to drive their brand through shoutouts.
Types of IG Shoutouts
Three kinds of shoutouts exist at the moment. Here’s a detailed look at each one:
Paid Shoutouts
Most shoutouts carried out by influencers are paid for, either in cash or for a free product or service. Businesses keen to garner a broader presence on Instagram can approach influencers that suit their profile. After you reach an agreement, the influencer posts content about the brand’s products or services for followers to engage.
Voluntary Shoutouts
Free shoutouts are not rare on Instagram and do not involve any offer to exchange cash or products for posts. A voluntary shoutout usually happens when a customer is satisfied with your brand to post your content on their page.
Many voluntary shoutouts on Instagram and other social media platforms have attracted enormous attention to previously unknown businesses. Even trendy brands tend to benefit from voluntary shoutouts now and then.
Tit for Tat Shoutouts
Commonly called shoutout for a shoutout, or S4S, this type of promotion isn’t free but doesn’t involve cash. An S4S is a basic trade between IG users – you get a shoutout when you agree to give a shoutout.
Most S4S can be captions, guest posts, or regular mentions. S4S can be effective in sending attention towards both accounts simultaneously. Most influencers in the same follower range tend to use S4S to garner more attention on social media.
Common Forms of IG Shoutout Posts
Four forms of IG shoutout posts exist.
- Shoutouts with a product photo and description (@mention, caption, etc.)
- Promotional shoutout post
- Shoutouts without product photo
- Shoutout through IG Story
These shoutouts can work individually or collectively, based on the agreements between your brand and influencers.
Smartest Tips to Get Shoutouts on The Gram
Vet Potential Accounts
Verifying accounts before seeking a shoutout is crucial, especially if you plan to pay for posts. Some accounts have inorganic follows that is evident whenever they post content. For example, an account with over a million followers should garner thousands of likes and comments per post. If such accounts cannot get up to a thousand likes per day, their followers could be fake.
Carry out a thorough investigation to make sure every shoutout you get is valuable. Your returns will be significant when shoutouts come from accounts with organic, regular activity.
Locate Accounts in Your Niche
Several niches exist on The Gram, and you must know where to seek shoutouts. Choose an account that has similar interests to yours or possesses the potential to drive your brand presence online. Shoutouts from such accounts usually have more bite and can assure greater returns.
Engage Users’ Profiles Before Requesting a Shoutout
Building relationships is a smart way to boost the chances of receiving free shoutouts. Follow your target account, engage their posts and contribute whenever you can with positive comments. When you can keep it up for some time, there’s a greater chance of your favored account offering free shoutouts.
Make a List of Suitable Shoutout Accounts
Your brand might need more than one influencer to drive your online presence. Making a list of all potential IG marketing accounts will help you get in touch with ease. You can make the listing much easier by keeping a spreadsheet with essential details of all your target accounts.
That way, it can be more convenient to contact accounts you want shoutouts from on a moment’s notice.
Look for IG Accounts With a Similar or More Significant Number of Followers
Approaching an account with a slightly lower, comparable, or higher number of followers is a smart way to get shoutouts. Luck could shine on your brand if an account with hundreds of thousands or millions of followers offers free shoutouts. However, it’s most unlikely that would happen from the get-go.
When you can approach an account with a similar number of followers, the odds of getting shoutouts are much higher. You can also seek shoutouts from accounts with a lower number of followers if benefits are involved.
Reference Target Accounts
Shoutouts from accounts you fancy may not come immediately – you might have to get noticed first. Posting content about the other IG account on your Stories could prove effective. Don’t forget to tag the particular account you want a shoutout from to make re-shares easier.
Create Engaging Content
Even if influencers are ready to offer shoutouts, you must create consistent content to keep them interested. Influencers will be more inclined to keep sending shoutouts if your content can serve their followers too. So, it’s a smart move to continue churning out valued content to support those shoutouts rolling out.
How to Locate IG Shoutout Pages
Engaging thorough research is the only way to get relevant pages for potential shoutouts. Generally, there are two ways to engage research to locate important shoutout pages. Here’s a look at both:
Manual Research
Old fashioned research works to help you gather relevant IG shoutout pages. However, manual research could be a painstaking process that might gulp several hours or days from your schedule.
Manual research is more effective when you seek out hashtags relevant to your industry. And the interesting manual study could become more manageable when you glean hashtags from websites like TagsFinder.
Let’s say you sell men’s shoes; these could be some great hashtags to consider:
- #menshoes
- #shoesformen
- #footwear
- #fashionformen
- #fashion
- #menswear
Alternatively, you can brainstorm suitable hashtags to guide your ideas as your search progresses. It’s easier to conduct effective manual research when you keep records of previous searches. Engaging in a thorough manual search will give you some suitable candidates you can contact for shoutouts.
IG Shoutout Apps
Shoutout apps might be an option if you have a solid budget and can’t spend several hours searching for hashtags. Instagram shoutout apps are specialized software designed to research suitable hashtags across niches in record time.
The information available through shoutout apps makes it more convenient for brands to link up with several shoutout accounts.
Most popular shoutout apps vet their influencer lists and sort them for potential users based on keywords or industry. Using shoutout apps is convenient and can get your campaign for a broader online presence off to a flying start.
Paid or Free Instagram Shoutouts – Which is Better?
It largely depends on a few factors that might be unique or standard to niches.
Paid Instagram shoutouts tend to be more rewarding if you engage an account that has tested organic followers. However, voluntary Instagram shoutouts can be a turning point for businesses, especially if the post comes from hugely popular accounts.
Choose what works best for your business before opting to engage paid Instagram shoutouts. You can’t control the narrative if you seek a highly-rewarding voluntary shoutout.
Conclusion
A social media shoutout might be what sets your business on the map. All the information on how to get a shoutout on Instagram will make it easy to get a bigger outreach on IG. However, it’s worth noting that setting off a new campaign for shoutouts might not be all rosy.
Getting significant returns from an IG shoutout campaign could take some time. But if you apply the correct steps towards getting a better reach, your business will start seeing great results.
Take cues from these tips, and don’t neglect any scrap of information you come across in this post. Any or all of these tips could turn your business around and guarantee you a broader online presence.
And don’t forget that getting more shoutouts is one way among many to garner a solid follower base on Instagram. Other handy methods can make more followers flock to your account on the Gram.