Do you want to learn about how to do social media marketing on instagram? Maybe you want to know about how people can make their instagram accounts more popular? Well, we’ve got a great list for you today. We’re going to take a look at some incredibly successful Instagram brands and how they find success on this platform. Hopefully by the end of this article, you’ll feel inspired to make some changes to your own Instagram account, or maybe even start one from scratch.
There are a large number of different social media marketing accounts on Instagram worth following. These social media marketers on instagram are doing some amazing things, offering more value than many of the larger companies. Chances are that most people don’t even know these accounts exist. So follow these social media marketers on instagram to learn from the best social media marketers out there.
1. Set your goals for Instagram.
Before you start posting on Instagram, ask yourself (or your team) one thing: Why are you on Instagram? As popular as the platform is, your answer shouldn’t be, “… because everyone else is.” To be successful on Instagram in the long-run, you must have a set purpose and goals so you can justify your time, energy, and monetary investment.
There’s no right answer here. Maybe you’d like to use your Instagram feed to post and sell your products to customers, like Anthropologie. (Many ecommerce and physical products businesses are on Instagram for this reason.)
Maybe you’re leveraging Instagram to share portfolio content so followers can see your product (or service) in action, like my esthetician, The Wicked Waxer.
Perhaps you’re on Instagram to simply build brand awareness by posting motivational quotes and fun visuals, like one of my favorite organizations, The Blurt Foundation.
Maybe you’d like to use Instagram to share user-generated content so that followers can see real people using your product or service as Orangetheory does. (Many worldwide businesses or businesses with franchises do this, too.)
Whatever the reason, be sure to define your Instagram goals first thing. And, guess what? Your Instagram can have multiple goals — you can post product images while also sharing user-generated content (UGC). It’s less about the type of posts you share and more about why you’re sharing them. If you know the why, you can know how to measure your performance and use Instagram Analytics tools.
2. Determine your Instagram target audience.
Determine the audience you want to reach before you begin marketing on Instagram. If you have other marketing strategies in place, draw from those to keep your efforts consistent. Don’t forget to consider factors like age, location, gender, income, interests, motivations, and pain points.
Don’t know where to start? Monitor popular events and interest hashtags related to your business. See who’s using and engaging with these hashtags and check out their profiles. You can also take a look at your competitor’s followers. Instagram makes it easy to define your audience.
3. Conduct a competitive analysis.
After you determine your Instagram audience, do a competitive analysis to see what other marketers in your field are posting.
If you already know your top competitors, start by reviewing their Instagram profiles. If not, search for terms related to your business and industry to find similar accounts.
Conduct a quick audit of related accounts to see what posts are getting the highest engagement, what popular hashtags they’re using, what their captions are, how often they post, and how quickly they’re growing. This information can serve as a benchmark as you start growing your own account.
While auditing your competitors’ content, take note of any opportunities they might’ve missed. Adding unique content into the mix will help your business to stand out from the rest.
4. Configure an editorial calendar.
Creating an editorial calendar can help you save time and manage your Instagram presence. Fill in your calendar with some Instagram post types and plan your captions, hashtags, and posting times in advance.
Your editorial calendar is also a great place to record any key events to highlight on your Instagram account, such as new product launches or special offers. With an editorial calendar, you can keep an eye out for real-time opportunities instead of scrambling for last-minute posts.
Manage and plan your Instagram content with our free calendar guide and template.
5. Build a consistent brand on Instagram.
Random or disjointed content confuses your audience and can cause you to lose followers. To prevent this, maintain a consistent brand aesthetic on your Instagram account.
Determine what this looks like by thinking about your brand personality. What are your brand values? How would your customers and employees define your brand? Are you bold, playful, gritty, or adventurous?
Apartment Therapy‘s brand personality is bright, clean, and organized, and its account reflects all three of those traits. Ideally, brand aesthetic helps your brand become recognizable, meaning someone could see your picture in their feed and instantly know it’s yours … without seeing the name.
Taco Bell is another great example of brand aesthetic. Its feed focuses on the bold, on-the-go lifestyle of its millennial audience and features fun images to drive engagement.
Once you determine your brand personality, refine your content to match. This can even apply to the color palette used in your photos.
Brand aesthetic doesn’t just apply to visuals. Aim to post images with your brand narrative in mind, too. Including compelling stories in your captions can make your brand more relatable.
For example, Red Bull’s feed features plenty of high-energy images and videos that add to its brand’s story.
6. Grow your Instagram follower base.
Growing your following takes serious time and energy. You may be tempted to take the easy way out and buy followers … don’t do this! Purchasing followers won’t actually drive engagement, which is really what you need to ensure your posts are being seen. (Also, Instagram’s recent API changes will automatically delete those followers!)
Here’s what you can focus on to build a following the right way.
- Make sure your username is recognizable and searchable. If people can’t find you, they can’t follow you! Fill out your bio. It’s the last thing someone sees before they make the decision to follow you so be sure to include who you are and what you do.
- Once your profile is optimized (which we talked about in this section), start posting. It’s a good idea to populate your feed with ten to 15 high-quality posts before you really start engaging people. If users visit your profile and find it empty, they probably won’t follow you.
- Then, start following accounts that interest you and relate to your business. Think of Instagram like a community and look for other businesses in your area or influencers who might enjoy your product or service. As you follow accounts, Instagram will suggest related ones that you can follow, too.
- After you follow an account, interact with their content. This is the most natural way to draw attention to your own Instagram account without being spammy. When you follow or interact with an account, the account owner will get a notification. This could prompt them to check out your account and start following you. Always appreciate your followers by responding to their comments and engaging with their content.
- Encourage others to share your content. Invite brand ambassadors to share your account or collaborate with similar accounts.
Jasmine Star (@jasminestar)
Jasmine is a photographer and business strategist on a mission to “help entrepreneurs grow social platforms,” as her bio reads. Instagram marketing is her area of expertise.
Her blog offers plenty of insightful advice about branding, marketing, and leveraging the platform for entrepreneurial success.
Her Instagram account is a real treat of beautiful, crisp photography and inspiring captions. Jasmine cultivates a really strong and engaged community around her brand that you’ll be happy to be part of.
Aside from awesome photos and useful tips, the best thing about Jasmine’s Insta is that she shares stories about her entrepreneurial journey. It’s real, insightful, and motivating.
Gary Vaynerchuk (@garyvee)
You might have already heard of Vaynerchuk as a serial entrepreneur, investor, and internet personality. He’s the CEO of VaynerMedia and VaynerSports and an established figure in the field of digital media.
An author and speaker, Gary is renowned for his social media expertise. His entrepreneurial wisdom and practical advice are scattered all over his Instagram account.
Gary’s account is the one you keep your eye on to get your daily dose of inspiration and get up to do things when it’s hardest. And he really drills it in.
You’ll find some tough love and a motivational kick in the behind on Gary’s account to fire you up for a productive day.
Richard Branson (@richardbranson)
Richard Branson, one of the most famous entrepreneurs of our era, is an avid Instagrammer – and you’ll find his account one of the most uplifting out there.
The founder of the Virgin Group, which harbours more than 400 companies under its wing, shows off his incredible charisma and energy on the platform. He posts personal photos and various motivational quotes.
You’ll definitely appreciate his posts popping up on your feed, especially when you need a little extra boost to keep pushing on your entrepreneurial journey.
Brian Kelley (@briankelly)
Brian Kelley is the founder and CEO of The Points Guy, a blog dedicated to savvy travellers and finding great travel deals.
Now, if your aspirations are in any way related to the travel industry, following this guy would be a great move.
Brian is wholeheartedly invested in the “points and miles world”. Along with running The Points Guy podcast, he often guest-speaks and participates in discussions about the travel industry.
His account is a great place for keeping your ear on the industry. Whether you want to make it as a travel blogger or you’d like to participate in the industry like Brian, there’s always something to take away from his account.
Conclusion:
Finding social media marketing on instagram examples can be helpful to look at what others are doing right. There are thousands of great examples online, and I wanted to highlight a few of them so you can learn from these social media marketers. You might have heard about marketers on instagram, or who have blogs or websites. But now you see that you can follow them and learn from them. You should do business with them because they are really serious in learning.