Brand Authenticity Strategies for Instagram Growth

Are you struggling with brand authenticity on Instagram? It can be a tricky road to navigate when you don’t have a plan or experience in growing brands. However, with the right approach, you can have one of the best accounts in your niche. 

Think about the top brands that you follow on social media platforms like Instagram. They are likely to be some of the more authentic brands out there. Thinking about what you like about authentic brands is a good way to strategize about your one. We’ll also share some proven strategies to help take your brand authenticity to the next level. 

What Is Brand Authenticity?

Are you wondering what brand authenticity is? Brand authenticity refers to the trustworthiness and legitimacy of how a brand comes across. Do customers believe that what the brand stands for is genuine? Most brands have a lot to say about what they stand for and wish to do in the marketplace. This might be to improve quality while reducing the carbon footprint. However, do they actually follow through with their mission statement? 

Having an authentic brand should be an essential part of your brand strategy. That’s because customers pay attention to how honest a brand is and if they deserve the sale. You can trick audiences for a brief period. However, it’s hard to pull the wool over the eyes of the internet for prolonged periods.

Why Is Brand Authenticity Important on Instagram?

Do you want to know why brand authenticity is important on Instagram? In this section, we’ll cover some of the big advantages that you can expect when you get this right. It can be the difference between having success and failure on the social media platform. 

Authentic Brands Get More Followers

When all other things are equal, authentic brands will get more followers compared with questionable ones. That’s because Instagram followers can tell when an account is trying to trick them or cut corners. For example, Instagram accounts that use AI-based images instead of real ones may see a jump in the unfollow rate. 

Likewise, when the content creator makes things up instead of being genuine in their videos. When content creators upload a heartfelt apology video, it can be hard to repair trust once they break it. 

Having more followers is one of the core values of any Instagram account. That’s because more followers mean better brand sponsorship deals and higher niche authority. Also, it means you can sell more products if you wish to monetize your audience. 

Authentic Brands Can Sell More Products

Did you know that you can create an Instagram business account and start selling products? This includes setting up dedicated product pages and using Instagram ads. However, if audiences believe the brand not to be authentic, then you may struggle to generate sales. 

Firstly, customers don’t want to support brands that cannot be trusted. Also, they may question the quality of the products. If they feel you’re taking shortcuts with brand building on Instagram, then you might be doing the same with product quality. 

Stand Out From the Crowd

Instagram is a massive social media platform, and some niches are completely saturated. For example, standing out from the crowd in the fitness niche can be tricky. However, with the right branding approach, you can have a unique Instagram account with a strong following. 

Staying true to this unique branding approach will ensure that you can grow your Instagram account to new heights. However, you need to remain consistent with the branding so that followers don’t feel misled. 

How To Build Brand Authenticity on Instagram

Would you like to uncover the secrets of how to build brand authenticity on Instagram? With the right approach, you can have a highly reputable brand that will boost your account growth. Also, it’s more fun growing a brand that audiences can resonate with. Choose the right brand mission, and you may even find higher meaning in growing your Instagram audience. 

1. Choose a Mission Statement

The first stage of building brand authenticity is to choose a mission statement. However, the mission statement must inspire your audience so they take notice. It should include your plans for serving the audience. For instance, Amazon had the goal of bringing the most customer-centric brand online, and it worked. 

It’s understandable that your brand mission statement may change as the company grows. After all, the market may change and require the company to pivot to remain profitable. However, you need to be transparent about changes to retain your relationships with customers. Keeping your customers in the loop will help them accept changes. 

2. Authentic Content 

Social media platforms like Instagram are all about the content. That’s how your brand will ultimately be judged. Here are a few tips for creating authentic content on Instagram:

• Value over sales: It’s not a problem for brands to try and sell products to customers. Modern-day internet users understand how marketing works on Instagram. However, you shouldn’t flood your content with marketing messages without giving value. Your followers will pick up on the fact that selling on Instagram is your only objective. 
• Target audience: Make sure that your content consistently aligns with the target audience. For instance, if you’ve built a following based on fitness content, don’t start posting content about VPNs. You can promote VPNs as a brand sponsor, but keep the plug short. Focus on the content your Instagram target audience wants to see. 
• Engage with your community: Creating stronger relationships with your audience promotes authenticity. This includes answering questions in posts and doing live streams. This allows the audience to see who is behind the brand and better judge the authenticity. Additionally, engaging with your audience boosts vital metrics that lead to higher searchability. 
• Expertise: When sharing specific information or making claims, you need to back up the information. This includes sharing studies or why you have specific opinions. This allows the audience to understand better why you are qualified and worth listening to. 
• Ask the audience: You can create polls to ask the audience for what type of content they want to see. Giving the audience a voice in the direction of your Instagram account adds authenticity. It will also make them feel more invested and look out for your content. 

3. Research the Competition

Not sure how to grow an authentic brand that can stand up to scrutiny? Then, look at what competitors in your niche are doing. Consider following their Instagram accounts and even subscribe to a newsletter. Pay attention to the small branding details to get an idea of what it takes to build a reputable brand. 

However, don’t copy the branding strategy word-for-word. Instead, use what you find for inspiration and create something of your own. After all, standing out from the crowd should be your goal on social media. 

4. Reward Brand Loyalty

Rewarding brand loyalty is one of the best ways to ensure that you are viewed with authenticity. Here are some of the top ways that you can reward brand loyalty on Instagram:

• Giveaways: You can set up posts that act as giveaways for products, services, subscriptions, and more. The size of the giveaways will determine the number of eyeballs that are attracted to the event. It’s also a great way to grow your Instagram account organically. 
• Personalized messages: You can send direct Instagram messages to users who are regular contributors to your posts. This can include a message to say thank you for your contribution. It will make them feel special and feel even more invested in your brand. 
• Better content: You can make a commitment to improve the quality of your content as the audience grows. This includes creating special milestone posts that add a lot of production value. For instance, you can share some of your best content when reaching a specific Instagram follower count.

Brand Authenticity Examples

Now, let’s turn our attention to some examples of brand authenticity for some ideas. After all, learning by example is a great way to get the creative juices flowing and come up with something of your own. 

• Recess: Recess is one of the more successful brands on Instagram. They aim to offer an antidote to stressful modern times. They speak to the issues that led to stress and anxiety and aim to provide products as a remedy. Users can subscribe to a newsletter that has an open rate of 25%, while the industry average is just 14.5%. The high open rate suggests the brand has made a good impression on its audience. 
• Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers: This brand is a large restaurant chain in the United States. Their Instagram account does a great job of highlighting their owner, Freddy, to promote brand authenticity. For example, you can see Instagram Stories of the brand owner signing shirts at one of the locations. 
• Lush Cosmetics: This brand focuses on offering high-quality cosmetic goods in an eco-friendly way. On their Instagram account, you can learn about the different ways their products are manufactured in a sustainable way. Also, you can see different projects to help save the environment.

Building Brand Authenticity: Top Things To Avoid

When building brand authenticity, it’s important to avoid mistakes. These can sabotage any progress you’ve made in the past. In this section, we’ll raise awareness of the different things to avoid when focusing on building brand authenticity. 

Don’t Break Instagram Community Guidelines

Make sure to read and understand the Instagram Community Guidelines. This includes reading the short and long versions to comprehend all the rules you must follow. However, if you break Instagram’s rules, you may receive a suspension or ban. You can also get shadowbanned for a few weeks to months. 

In any case, your audience may pick up on the fact that you’re going through a punishment phase. This can lead to a big credibility hit with your audience. They don’t know why you may receive a suspension but may come to the worst conclusions. 

Therefore, when you break Instagram’s community guidelines, it’s a good idea to be transparent with your audience. This ensures you get out ahead of the problem and save face. 

Don’t Buy Instagram Bot Followers or Likes

Are you tempted to buy Instagram followers or likes to boost your account metrics? This is common practice because of the advantages that a boosted account receives. For example, with a higher artificial follower count, you may get better sponsorship deals. 

However, you may get found out, and that will destroy your brand’s authenticity. Followers will stop believing the authenticity of your spots and engagement metrics. They may notice a high like count for a video or post and determine it’s artificial due to buying bots. 

Don’t Change Your Brand Often

It’s difficult to grow an authentic brand when you keep changing the mission statement and overall direction. Ideally, mission statements should be created once at the start and kept for the duration. 

However, it’s understandable if you want to pivot in a different direction once you experience growth or spot better opportunities. In such cases, you need to be very open with your audience. Well in advance of any changes, you need to message your target audience with the right info. 

Also, you can create positive marketing buzz by offering promotions and discounts for the top products. Good deals and added value always help audiences to accept brand-related changes.

Brand Authenticity: Is It Worth Building?

To conclude, you need to consider the authenticity of your brand if you want to have longevity on Instagram. That’s because, with true authenticity, your customers will buy more and receive higher engagement. In fact, word-of-mouth marketing can shoot through the roof when the audience buys into your brand. 

Now that you have a few ideas for improving brand authenticity on Instagram, consider giving it a shortcut for yourself. It’s never too late to improve how your audience views your brand. However, it’s an ongoing process that never ends, and you should always look for ways to outsmart the competition. 

Are you looking for strategies to grow your Instagram account? Then, take advantage of the services provided here at Plixi. We provide a combination of an in-house algorithm and Instagram influencers to target specific audiences. So what are you waiting for? Start growing and gaining Instagram followers today.