Building an Engaged Community: A Guide to Growing Your Instagram  

By: Maddie Bertsch

Getting to work with my client Hilda Franco has been a very interactive experience. Her goal is to increase engagement and grow her community. Franco specializes in beauty and lifestyle content. She embraces her Hispanic culture and looks to connect with other Latinas with similar interests.  

Social media is an ever-changing landscape that takes some getting used to. It is often hard to grow and stay current on the dos and don’ts of social media. Creating a strong and engaged community is necessary for brands and individuals to be successful on social media platforms.  

  Defined Voice: 

My client is a great candidate for our class assignment. She has a defined voice and a great sense of identity. A key factor in driving content creation. Her brand and personality resonate with her target audience of other beauty influencers, and Latinx culture. Hilda is based in L.A. which has had an impact on her career, daily life, and content. Franco stays consistent in her values and mission. She spreads information with positivity, happiness, and self-love. Building, strong brand recognition and fostering a sense of familiarity with her followers. She is also very funny.  

Compelling Content:  

Understanding the preferences of your client is important. That is what we are searching for in Hilda’s data. She does a good job at posting consistently. With a variety of different types of content. For example, she posts stories daily, an occasional reel and photo carousel. Franco also posts sponsored content for Burts Bee’s, and PR package reviews. Keeping her audience entertained with different things to consume. By posting daily on her story she provides her followers with behind-the-scenes content. Creating a greater sense of community by showing how authentic she is. 

Two Way Communication:  

Hilda understands that communication is a two-way street. She does a good job of interacting with her audience by asking questions on her Instagram story, running polls, responding to comments, and even direct messages. Acknowledging and appreciating your audience goes a long way. The more you interact the more you will grow.

#Trendy  

Using hashtags and understanding trends is key to growing your audience. Hilda uses various hashtags on all her Instagram posts to increase engagement. She often participates in viral beauty trends and has the newest products. When she hashtags the campaigns it boosts her visibility. Connecting her to individuals and communities of the same niche. 

Consistency is Key:  

Posting daily and having a routine is important to Hilda for success on Instagram. It helps with maintaining audience engagement and creates a sense of loyalty. Hilda keeps her audience informed on small things like where she got her morning coffee or her lip combo of the day. Reinforcing her brand presence on her audience’s feed. Our goal is to help create a schedule to help her plan her posts. For instance looking into platform tools and content calendars to organize posts effectively and efficiently.  

Analytics:  

We have started keeping a close eye on Hilda’s Instagram analytic insights. Gaging the effectiveness of her content and engagement. As well as how we can help her grow. Using Meta Business Sweet we’ve been able to identify her demographic engagement rates and performance. We used these insights to create and refine our strategy for Instagram and platform growth.  

Working with Hilda has been so much fun. My team and I have learned how much dedication it takes to grow your platform. Hilda is creative and cares about genuine human interaction. It has helped her get to where she is now. I believe that honing in on those wonderful aspects of herself will help catapult her to another level.