5 effective tips on how to increase your reach on Instagram with geotags
Geotagging your location on Instagram is a highly undervalued way to generate traffic and reach a wider audience than the people that are already following you. Normally, getting new followers can be a big challenge, so geotagging is something you should definitely get into if you want to grow your account. And honestly, who doesn’t?
But before we dive into the “how” of things, let’s take a look at what an Instagram geotag really is. Geolocations in the first place are gathered from your physical location, based on where your mobile phone is. This information can be obtained in many different ways, for example through your IP address or through cell phone towers, WiFi access points, GPS coordinates or a combination of these.
In your smartphone settings, you can choose whether to let the Instagram app access your geolocation. In other words, Instagram will only post your location data to the photos you post if you give them permission to do so. When users share content and use geotags, brands can utilize this to engage with consumers.
Add location stickers to your regular feed posts to get noticed by more people and gain some extra exposure. Just remember to tag your location when you post a new video or photo. There are many other things you can do except tagging your location in your regular posts. Here are some ways you can use geotags in your Instagram marketing.
Stories Location Stickers
When you use location stickers, people who aren’t already following you can discover your stories through the explore page.
There are two kinds of location stickers. First, there is the sticker where you can tag for example an address in your story. Then, there is the more subtle kind of location sticker that’s more city-specific. This latter type of sticker will vary depending on which city you’re in.
Some different ways you can use location stickers for your marketing:
1. To tag your own location
Share some behind-the-scenes content in your Stories and tag the location of your office. People love getting a sneak peek behind the curtains. This can be especially fun if you have a brick-and-mortar store, an atelier or a café. If your content is good enough, people will come back for more or give your account a follow.
2. At events
Share stories from industry events or exhibitions. This is valuable content for those people who can’t be there themselves physically. If you’re several people from the company at the location you can take advantage of it by interviewing each other. If you’re alone, bring a gimbal or tripod and film yourself. Don’t be afraid of showing yourself to the audience. Guide your viewers throughout the day by sharing short clips of the most important moments.
3. New openings
Opening a new store? Perfect! Record the whole event and post it live. Tag the story with your physical location and share it. These type of events should be shared live for the best effect. Don’t worry about post-production, the whole purpose of Instagram Stories is that it should be casual, fun and authentic.
Hashtag locations
Other than using geotags you can also tag your location through hashtags. If you’re in New York City you can tag #NYC or #newyorkcity to reach people near your area. This is something that is easy to forget, as it’s common to use hashtags related to the topic or industry rather than the physical location.
You can also add hashtag locations to Instagram stories, using the hashtag sticker.
Tag yourself when you’re not there
Be smart when using geotags. To increase your reach, you can tag your photos in locations even when you’re not physically there. Keep the local audience in mind and tag locations where you think your content would be relevant. But don’t go overboard, only tag relevant places on relevant occasions.
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