In today’s world, social media is the key to a good business, and instagram is one of the top social media platforms. An instagram strategy will have you marketing on instagram in no time – find out everything you need to know here!
Get to grips with Instagram by developing a Social Media Strategy for Instagram. This guide not only shows you how to set up your own business profile, but explains the importance of posting regular and engaging content, as well as ways to grow your following. It includes important information about using other networks to increase engagement, setting automated reminders for scheduled posts, making cohesive images to better connect with your audience and more. Earn the right to use the Hashtag
Use a business account
Just in case you skipped over the section above and plan to dive into the rest of the Instagram marketing tips while using a personal account, here’s why you should reconsider.
A business account gives you access to features you can’t use with a personal account, including:
- Instagram Insights
- Instagram ads
- Instagram Shopping
- Primary and secondary messaging inboxes
- Contact information and a call-to-action button on your profile
A creator account has its own set of benefits for influencers and content creators. But for most marketers, a business account is where it’s at. Hop back up to the top of this post and convert your account if you haven’t already done so.
Clearly define your goals
All social platforms are tools. But you can’t use those tools effectively unless you know what it is you’re trying to build.
Instagram marketing can mean different things to different marketers. Are you looking to:
- Create an online presence for your business?
- Increase brand awareness?
- Get new leads?
- Establish your brand as an industry leader?
- Sell products directly from the app?
You might even want to combine several different outcomes. But unless you know where you want your Instagram strategy to take you, you’re unlikely to get there.
Know your audience
A little preliminary research can help you figure out who you can best reach when you’re thinking about how to market on Instagram. For example, our post on Instagram demographics shows that:
- The most active Instagrammers are between 18 and 29.
- The United States is the largest Instagram market.
- More urban residents use Instagram than their suburban peers.
But that doesn’t mean you should only use Instagram to try to reach urban Americans in their 20s. Instead, you need to define your target market so you can create content that speaks directly to that audience.
This will also become critical when it comes time to choose targeting options for your Instagram ads.
Use Free Instagram Marketing Tools
Business profiles on Instagram aren’t all that different from Facebook business profiles.
Through Insights, you can view statistics like impressions, engagement data, and more.
You can even get a breakdown of the demographics of your followers, including information on their age, gender, location, and most active hours.
Insights aren’t just generalized, either. You can get specific insights on posts for the week that show you how many impressions you earned for that time period and what your top posts were.
These free tools are priceless because you can use them to understand exactly how users are interacting with your content.
The more that you know about how users are interacting with your posts, the better you can adjust your content to boost engagement.
One category of posts that is almost always attention-grabbing is product teasers.
Post Product Teasers That Will (Gently) Urge People to Buy
What if you could sell more products just by posting product teasers on Instagram?
Well, you can.
Instagram is a great place to advertise your products. And if you play your cards right, you won’t annoy users or scare them off with advertisements, either.
If you’re too pushy, followers will drop like flies. But product teaser posts are a simple way to talk about your product and increase excitement without looking like you’re trying too hard.
Here are two posts from Gilt Man’s Instagram page that don’t directly try to sell a product, but offer a free app where users can shop all of the brand’s inventory.
The brand offers a 70% off discount while showing you photos of some of the items that are available to purchase.
And the posts received thousands of likes each, which is huge in the advertising world.
The ads work because they aren’t pushy. They’re laid back. They tease users with the discount and product image to download the app and shop around.
This works for almost any industry. Starbucks teases its audience by announcing seasonal drinks with sharp imagery and without trying to force people to buy them.
When you tease people about products they are interested in, and you don’t push them into buying anything, they’ll be more likely to pull the trigger and actually buy something.
If not, they’ll at least engage with your post by liking it, commenting on it, or sharing it with a friend.
So don’t be afraid to show off the goods by posting product photos. Just do it gently.
It also helps to create some sponsored ads.
Create Sponsored Ads
Instagram ads have become commonplace on the platform. The best part? You can control exactly how much you want to spend on them by setting an ad budget.
You can showcase just one sponsored ad or multiple ads with the carousel feature.
This gives brands the ability to target their audience in a whole new way. Before sponsored posts, only users following your account could see your updates and photos.
Now, brands can promote their photos to anyone that fits their target audience to increase their reach further than ever before.
For sponsored ads, use content that is engaging while also appealing to the target demographic you want to put the ad in front of.
You can turn existing posts into sponsored ads, too, so keep an eye on your top posts.
You can push these high-performing posts out later to potential customers in the form of sponsored ads.
Run multiple posts to different audiences simultaneously for even more engagement. Keep in mind that there are many different forms of sponsored ads that you can post, such as:
- Photo
- Video
- Carousel/Dynamic Ads
- Stories
- Stories Canvas
Instagram Stories, sponsored or not, are another great way to connect with followers.
Focus on the first impression of your page
First impressions matter. This statement holds true in the real world as well as the virtual world.
As a marketer, you need to recognize that. It’s the same reason why writing an irresistible blog post introduction is vital to your content strategy.
When an Instagram user clicks on your profile, what’s the first thing they see?
They see your profile picture, biography, and your most recent posts. Going back to our last point about following users to grow your own follower base, when a user clicks your profile, they shouldn’t have any questions.
What I mean by that is this. Your profile should say who you are and what you do.
Having your logo as your profile picture makes the most sense. It’s much more recognizable than a random picture of a person or one of your products.
Here’s an example from the Dollar Shave Club Instagram page:
What is your first impression of this profile?
To me, it’s clear from the beginning who they are. The profile picture is their logo, and their bio explains what they do in greater detail.
They even include a link to a landing page on their website to encourage users to sign up for the service.
Basically, if your brand’s Instagram page doesn’t grab the attention of users, you won’t have much luck getting followers.
For the most part, it’s best to keep everything short, to the point, and professional. Now, you’ll have a greater opportunity to promote your products and ultimately increase your sales.
Conclusion
People love to share pictures on Instagram. What better way to engage your audience than to share original pictures with them? But creating a successful Instagram strategy means more than just posting pretty pictures. Learn how to use Instagram as a social media marketing tool and expand your business’s network. This instagram strategy guide will teach you how to post on-brand photos, increase followers and engagement, drive traffic to your site, and promote your brand effectively online!