Nowadays, having a specific and well researched Instagram strategy is key to social media marketing. Buying likes and followers from renowned sites like MegaFamous.com is great, but that’s only the first piece of the puzzle. You not only need to grow a following, but also conceive a sound marketing strategy that you’ll use on them.
Instagram which began as an underling to Facebook, has now established an audience that makes it superior in its own right. With over 1.2 billion users, the platform has become a goldmine for various businesses, organisations and companies worldwide. The last year has contributed significantly to the rising number of Instagram users, which clearly indicates that Instagram marketing strategy has become critical now more than ever.
To get you started, we’ll cover the basics of Instagram marketing in this guide, and provide ten tips and hacks that will help you apply the right Instagram marketing approach.
What is Instagram Marketing?
Instagram marketing involves the use of the platform to gradually develop and grow your audience, target markets, awareness, leads and sales. It is the favoured social media platform of individuals within the 15 to 35 age bracket; and as such, it is a quite effective marketing platform for creators, brands and entrepreneurs who want to target that age group.
Common Instagram marketing strategies consist of:
- Influencer marketing
- Organic posts: Photos, videos, Reels, Stories
- Paid content: Stories ads, Shopping ads, and other Instagram ads
- Shopping tools: Shopping ads, Product tags, Live shopping, Instagram Checkout and more.
Why is Instagram Marketing Essential?
For starters, Instagram marketing is a staple for several start-ups’ marketing campaigns. Instagram boasts a massive and diverse audience that is over a billion users, with 500 million daily Instagram Stories users. These users constantly engage with brands and businesses of all types, creating a massive well of engagement.
Marketing on this platform is essential because over 10% of the social media users in the United states shop on Instagram. In addition, 130 million people visit Instagram Shopping posts every month. Also, at least 80% of Instagram users interact with a business profile, and 72% of those users buy a product or services they’ve encountered on the platform.
Asides these obvious statistics of users on the platform, Instagram also invests in ecommerce brands by helping them turn engagement into sales. As a business on the platform, you cannot take full advantage of IG’s features and marketing perks without creating a credible Instagram marketing strategy
10 Tips and Tricks to Use in Marketing Your Instagram
There are several things you must know before developing an Instagram marketing strategy. Below are the most important ones.
- Create or Switch to a Business Profile
Before you start hatching Instagram marketing tips and tricks, you need to have an Instagram Business Account. If you already have a normal profile on the platform, you simply need to change it to a business account. Just head to Instagram settings and tap “Switch to Business Profile”.
There are various advantages to using an Instagram business profile that a standard profile does not have. For instance, anyone can contact you through your business profile. Additionally, you can develop and publish Instagram ads using a business account without the aid of outside software.
Asides all these, you also have access to Instagram analytic tools which provides statistics about the engagement and impression of your posts.
- Use Instagram Stories
Instagram stories also help to boost your marketing results and generate high-quality leads. They can be saved as a highlight and used at any time, though they are only active for 24 hours. Because of their distinctive placement at the top of follower timelines, where users frequently gaze, Instagram stories offer various marketing advantages for firms.
- Use Product Teasers
There is an art to using product teasers in Instagram marketing. You will lose followers if you are overly aggressive and will gain several when you’re subtle with your teasers. Product teaser contents are a simple technique for talking about your product and generating enthusiasm without appearing to be overly promotional.
Teasers are effective because they are not overbearing. When you tease individuals with items they’re interested in without pressuring them to buy anything, they’re more likely take the bait. Even if they don’t, they’ll still interact with your content by commenting on it, or sharing it with a friend.
- Work With Influencers to Increase Engagement
Another excellent Instagram marketing tip is taking full advantage of Instagram influencers. The quickest way to reach potential customers on Instagram is to partner with influencers who already have an established and loyal audience.
Several people purchase products and services because of the posts they see from the most influential accounts. They trust these posts and often engage and interact with them.
When you work with the right Instagram influencer, you can get your business out in the limelight and improve your sales. To find the right influencers for your brand, always check to see if their audience identifies with your product or service.
- Employ User-Generated Content in Your Posts
User generated content can help you create interactive posts without doing most of the hard work. Since you probably have an engaged audience in the hundreds or thousands, you can encourage them to create contents that are useful to your brand.
Typically, your audience will enjoy user generated content more than your own content because of its credibility, familiarity and authenticity. Such contents are usually unpredictable and can generate interest within your following.
To make things even better, you can tag your followers in your post when you choose their pictures or videos. This will incentivise your following to constantly create user generated content that could be useful to you. In the end, it’s a win-win for you and your followers.
- Monitor The Right Instagram Metrics
Many brands make the mistake of monitoring vanity metrics that don’t necessarily give them insightful information about their performance. You can’t improve sales unless you know how well your posts are performing or not performing.
By monitoring the right Instagram metrics like follower growth rate, engagement rates and URL click rates, you can accurately discern important areas of improvement. Of course, if you find that your follower rate has been static for a while or that you’re not getting as many views and likes as you used to, you should consider buying. There are various Instagram growth services out there and you can use them to hide your account the boost it needs.
- Develop Sponsored Ads
Sponsored ads give businesses the leeway to target their customers in several ways. Brands can promote their post to profiles that align with their target audience to increase their reach. Remember to only use ads that are engaging and enjoyable to your target demographic and also learn to turn existing posts into sponsored ads. Sponsored ads can be in the form of Reels, Stories, Video, Photo and Carousels.
- Don’t Sleep on Free Instagram Marketing Tools
Instagram marketing tools are essential to the growth and development of marketing strategies. Your business account on Instagram gives you access to statistics like engagement data and the demographics of your followers. You can get information on age, location, gender and active user hours.
These free tools on your business profile are invaluable since they allow you to see exactly how visitors engage with your content. The more you understand how consumers interact with your content, the more you can tailor your posts to increase engagement.
- Always Post at The Right Times
No matter what your content form is, you need to post at the right times to ensure maximum engagement and interaction. Just as posting at the right time is important, ensuring you don’t over post is too.
Your followers should not consistently see your brand post all over their news feed. This might leave a sour taste in their viewing experience, making them attribute your posts to disturbance. When this continues you can easily get unfollowed and lose many potential customers.
One of the best ways to post at the right times is to monitor the peak days and hours when your followers are online.
- Develop a Branded Hashtag
These hashtags can create instant engagement because they’re naturally interactive and are only associated with your brand. Every time someone tags you or your hashtag in their photo, they are exposing your brand to their audience. Branded Hashtags work best when you make an already popular phrase your brand slogan.
Final Thoughts
Instagram is among the top platforms that currently dominates the social media world. To effectively market your brand or small business on the platform, you need to take full advantage of its features and tools. These ten tips will serve you well as you journey on this hyper-competitive platform. Good luck.
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