How to Host Instagram Takeovers to Attract New Followers?

Social media marketing is constantly evolving with new techniques and strategies to boost engagement and followers. One such effective strategy that has recently gained attention is Instagram takeover. It’s an interesting and innovative opportunity to collaborate with experts and leverage a partnership with them. Whether you seek to boost brand awareness, get new followers, build relationships or encourage UGC content, an Instagram takeover is the way to achieve it. It’s a powerful tool for achieving your social media marketing goals.

The best part of hosting an Instagram takeover is you don’t even have to create high-quality content or apply strong marketing strategies. The host of your account handles everything, enabling you to sit back and watch your followers increase. However, it requires careful planning and the right strategy to ensure that the host fits your brand and can understand your target audience. In this blog, we are going to discuss what Instagram takeover is and how to host it effectively for maximum results.

What is Instagram Takeover?

Before delving into how to do it, it’s crucial to understand what exactly it is. Instagram takeover is a unique marketing tactic in which one user partners with an influencer, business or expert, who takes over the user’s account for a specific period. Simply put, a guest takes over your account temporarily for a particular period and engages with your followers via posts, lives, stories, etc. The guest introduces themselves as the host of your account to your audience and begins working on it. They add a new flair of creativity and perspective to your business, increasing engagement and followers over a period of time.  However, if you require instant followers for some important purpose, you can contact Stormlikes to purchase them quickly.

How to Host Instagram Takeovers to Attract New Followers?

Takeovers to Attract New Followers

Now that you understand what an Instagram takeover is let’s delve deeper into it and learn how to host it. Hosting an Instagram takeover requires a careful approach, as giving your account in the wrong hands can hamper your image as well as social presence. Take a look at the below steps to host a successful Instagram takeover to attract new followers:

Define your Goals

The first and foremost step is defining your goals – what exactly you want to achieve using a takeover strategy. Goals help you choose the right takeover approach and enable the host to post the right content to achieve the goals. Ensure that the goals are clear and measurable. For example, a particular number of followers, amount of engagement, number of website clicks, etc. Set the KPIs to track the performance and success of the takeover campaign. The goals can be:

• Driving engagement,
• Increasing followers,
• Promoting a product or service,
• Increasing brand awareness,
• Boosting website traffic,
• Enhance product sales or something else.

Find a Takeover Host

Find a Takeover Host

Finding the takeover host or partner is the most important step in hosting an Instagram takeover. The host should be well aware of your niche and must possess a high number of followers to increase your brand awareness and followers. The host basically depends on your niche and industry. For example, a renowned healthcare expert is an ideal choice for a health-related page rather than a high-following influencer. Have a look at the types of hosts you can choose from for takeover:

Influencers/Content Creators: These are the most engaging and influential personalities nowadays, with immense followers and engagement. Inviting them as your hosts allows you to tap into their wide audience base, which helps you attract new followers.

Customers: For brands, even loyal customers who engage with the brand on a regular basis can act as hosts. They can share their experiences using your products or services, which increases your company’s credibility and reliability.

Employees: They are the best hosts for corporate companies looking to use a personalized approach for growth. The employees can show the culture, behind-the-scenes, personal stories, work-life balance, team interactions, office environment, etc., to maximize engagement and followers.

SMEs: Subject matter experts are the notable experts of a particular industry and have exceptional and exclusive information about the niche. They can further educate your audience on the same and share in-depth information and facts about the industry.

Decide the Length and Format of the Takeover

Decide the Length and Format of the Takeover

Once you select the host, decide the length and format of the takeover. Generally, takeovers are for shorter periods like 1 day, 4 days, or 8 days, but they can also be extended to a higher duration. Now, the important step is deciding the format of the takeover. There are multiple types of content, and choosing the right one for takeover is crucial to accomplishing the goals.

They are:

Instagram Posts: In this, the host adds different kinds of high-quality posts, like images, videos, reels, carousels, etc., to your account. They post content related to your industry, niche, and industry using their own creativity and thinking.

Instagram Stories: The host won’t post anything but only interact via stories. They can post polls, quizzes, questions, announcements, updates, daily life, routine, BTS, etc.

Instagram Live: In this, the host directly interacts with your followers via Live and responds to their questions and queries. They solve the audience’s problems related to your niche and offer high value, which boosts followers.

Establish the Rules/Guidelines

After that, establish the rules and guidelines for your takeover to ensure that there is no confusion or problem that can arise later. It’s important that both parties are on clear terms and understand what’s expected from them. Clearly define what type of content is expected, including themes, tone, color, topics, and post formats along with the personality and values of your brand. Include the branded hashtag you will use to measure the success of your takeover campaign. However, make sure to leave some space for flexibility and give the host the freedom to use their creativity to promote your brand.

Promote the Takeover

No one will know that you are going to give your account to another person unless you tellyourself. Therefore, promote the takeover via the company page itself to build hype and instill curiosity and excitement among your audience. Promote it on Instagram story and live as well as on other platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Twitter, etc., a week before the takeover. Make sure to bring your host to the live and introduce your audience to them to foster a connection. Promotion leads to increased traffic on your profile, which ultimately boosts engagement and followers.

Execute the Takeover

Execute the Takeover

There are two ways to execute the takeover – full takeover or semi-account takeover. In a full takeover, you provide the host with your account’s login information so they can access it on their device. On the other hand, in the semi-account takeover, the host sends you content, like posts, reels, stories, videos, etc., to post on their behalf. Besides that, if the host has their own Instagram business account, you can directly connect their account to yours. In this, they become a contributor to your page and can directly manage it.

Conclusion

Instagram takeover is a less known but one of the most innovative and effective strategies to boost engagement and attract new followers. However, as you are giving your account to another person, it’s important to follow the right procedure to get maximum benefits and ensure security. Start by defining your goals, followed by choosing the host, deciding the time and format, setting rules, promoting it, and finally, executing. Make sure to measure the performance to ensure that you are achieving your goals.