The popularity of Instagram is incredible. The only real trouble with a platform that boasted over 1 billion active users is making sure your posts are found by people who are interested in what you have to say (or sell) - needles and haystacks involves mind!

The days of adding a few random hashtags to a post are well and truly over - it's becoming a lot more of a science. So you have to have a strategy.

Here are my top tips for getting the most out of Instagram for your business.

1. Clearly communicate everything you do

Set up your profile properly. Use a great profile image, ensure that your Instagram handle instantly conveys what you do, and write a good bio. Do not forget to include your website URL!

2. Give your posts a unique look

Instagram is an extremely visual platform, so make it happen to your advantage. Using the same signature filter and maintaining exactly the same style of photography will give your posts a frequent style, which helps to make them instantly recognisable.

Whenever possible, try to echo your brand's visual identity - adopting the same colours, fonts and image style used on your website - in order that the experience of your brand is consistent from one communication channel to another.

3. Get active!

Liking posts in a random way isn't more likely to achieve a great deal. But if you do your quest, you can make likes work really well for your business.

Take a good look at what your competitors are up to on Instagram - and more importantly, check out who is commenting on their posts. They're probably your target market. So, it makes sense to activate with and follow them.

This way, you'll begin to build an audience that's actively interested in what your business has to offer.

4. Hashtags are Instagram's signposts

Hashtags help people navigate through an incredible number of posts to get what's relevant or of interest in their mind. Research has shown that using 10+ hashtags is good, but don't go too mad beyond that ? way too many looks a bit spammy, and less is more definitely applies here!.

However many you choose to use, get them to relevant. You can examine out popular hashtags using tools such as Hashtagify . Some will trend constantly, others are simply too generic to be of any use.

It's really worth analysing successful Instagram accounts, especially competitors that have a lot of traction. Learn from how they're using hashtags and emulate/adapt what they're doing on your own purposes.

You may not get it right straightaway, but if you can find hashtags that are both popular and pertinent to your organization, you'll get instant access to an engaged audience. Instagram Tipps have seen virtual forums growing up around them - niche communities that'll be interested in you.

5. Use special hashtags wisely

I'd recommend choosing a few special hashtags to encourage a more impressive following. For example, #L4L means ?like for like' - ie if you want me, I'll reciprocate and like your posts. #follow and #followme are an obvious and transparent request.

6. Hashtags can look messy

Putting them by the end of one's post keeps things tidy. Better still, keep your post clean and post them immediately into the first comment instead.

7. Make life easy for yourself!

Save common hashtags for your business on your smartphone using the standard notes app (most smartphones have one).
It makes it so much easier to prepare your hashtags and post them easily and consistently every time.

8. Brand your hashtags

Don't forget to add your brand name as one of the hashtags, and remember to use 4-5 core hashtags that describe your business - use them each time.

9. Caption your images and videos

And inject a little bit of personality. By this, I don't mean posting a picture of what you ate for dinner last night! Every post should be relevant to your business, and you need to find ways of adding value to your posts. So think about what comment you can add that may encourage visitors to like and repost it. Growth can happen incredibly quickly if your followers feel they have something to gain from following your account.

10. Quality control is important

Make sure your pictures look amazing. Be ruthless - edit them, dismiss whatever looks poor or is blurred from camera shake. Keep things simple and shoot directly from your own smartphone for ease of posting.

11. Use layout and angles

The Instagram Layout app (for iPhone or Android) is really good for creating interesting montages, especially if you want to post a sequence of images or show a step-by-step guide. Canva is an excellent free tool which you can use to create your personal cool Instagram Stories.

12. Use links and landing pages

Presumably, you are using your Instagram posts to encourage followers to do something , whether that is to read your latest blog post, discover your new ebook, enter a competition or sign up to your email newsletter.

Whatever you are doing, be sure you have an appropriate squeeze page on your website that will enable them to complete the action.

An instant note on the restriction of posting only one link in your bio - check out Linktree, a tool that may create one bio link which will then send your followers wherever you need them to go.

13. Share the love

Growth on Instagram depends to an extent on demonstrating you are engaged together with your particular Instagram community. It's well worth tagging business associates, relevant membership organisations, industry associations or accounts you intend to nurture.

14. Require a response

Instagram is - or can be - a two-way dialogue, so ask your followers to respond to your posts. You, of course, then need to respond to any comments - it's all about active engagement, not only having a passive following.

15. Find the movers and shakers in your town

Make an effort to identify who on Instagram is a key influence in your market, and explore how you my work with them to improve your own Instagram visibility.

16. Plan your posts

Just like a blog, it makes sense to plan your Instagram activity. Create a rolling three-month content plan for all your social media, and allocate time to curate images, captions and hashtags.

17. Use scheduling tools

There are loads from which to choose, but I'd recommend looking at Hootsuite, Buffer, Schedugram and Later. They all have their advantages and disadvantages, so it's a case of choosing the one that feels right for you.

18. Track what's working

Google Analytics will show what traffic and conversion you're getting from Instagram. In case you have an Instagram Business Account you have the added bonus of Instagram Insights, which ultimately shows how effective your posts are.

Other tools to consider are Socialbakers, Sprout Social, Union Metrics and squarelovin.

19. Instagram adverts increase visibility

Instagram advertising is working really well for businesses. Regardless of how tight your marketing budget could be, it's really worth dipping your toe and seeing what traction it is possible to gain for your business.

There are four formats to pick from - from the simple single image to a 60-second video - and with a choice of banners for your proactive approach, it couldn't be better to start advertising.

20. Have an Instagram image prey on your website

But always embed them, don't just link to them. Now you have a way of growing your Instagram following directly from your own website, but avoid being tempted to do it with all of your Instagram images - develop a taster!