Instagram is the second most popular social media network after Facebook. More than one billion active monthly users use the famous visual-first social media platform with over 500 million daily Instagram Stories.
Instagram is not just for personal use any longer. It's now a global platform for businesses to humanize their content, find new talent, showcase their products, and inspire their customers.
Approximately 59 percent of the platform's active users log on at least seven hours per week to browse content and communicate with friends and brands.
That said, Instagram marketing is flourishing day by day with more active users.
In this guide, we will be sharing everything you need to know about marketing on Instagram and how to market on Instagram.
What is Instagram Marketing?
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Instagram marketing is all about connecting with your audience and getting them to follow you or your business on the platform.
In other words, Instagram marketing is a sort of social media marketing that involves using Instagram to promote a brand.
Businesses can use this social media platform to interact with a big audience, increase brand awareness, and increase sales.
Why is Instagram Marketing Important?
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Instagram is a social media platform that is different from other social media sites. Instagram is ideal for businesses that have a product with a good design or offer a service with a clear result.
You can share videos, images, and illustrations on Instagram, but the type of content you share and how often you share it will depend on your marketing plan.
Here is why Instagram marketing is important:
Brand Strengthening
Instagram marketing is an excellent technique to increase brand awareness. People have a higher level of trust in brands that are advertised on Instagram.
74% of individuals believe brands with Instagram profiles are relevant, while 78% believe they are popular.
Potential consumers are more likely to avoid brands that do not have an Instagram account.
Higher Engagement
People are more likely to engage with a brand on Instagram than on other social media platforms. People that find your content engaging and relatable will be much more likely to contact you for further details about the product or service your business has to offer. Higher conversion rates are also possible on Instagram due to a more visual approach.
Boost in Sales
Instagram can significantly impact your sales.
One of the most effective ways to keep in touch with customers is through social media. They enable you to get input from your audience via likes or comments, engage them with compelling material, notify them of special deals, and more.
As a result, Instagram performs even better in terms of client interaction than other social media platforms.
Growth Opportunities
The advertising industry has finally caught up with social media marketing. Businesses cannot afford to ignore the effectiveness of campaigns and tools that are as effective — if not more — than traditional methods for such a low cost.
Over time, companies will begin to realize the benefits an Instagram-based campaign provides, including better targeting capabilities and far greater results from just one or two posts versus multiple paid ads on other platforms.
Best Instagram Marketing Strategies
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Before you start using Instagram, it's important to develop a strategy so you can stay focused. Now, here is a quick way to boost Instagram by following our Instagram marketing strategy plan:
Set Your Goals
In order to increase followers, one should organize their goals in a similar way as athletes have their training schedules.
Everything you do on Instagram, from selecting your content formats to utilizing commercial mechanisms, will be guided by your goals.
Increased brand exposure, reputation management, community building, sales acceleration, customer and market analytics are some of the goals that companies aim to achieve using Instagram.
Your objectives should be in line with your company's requirements. If your financial results are satisfactory, there is probably no need to use Instagram to increase sales. Instead, concentrate on gaining clients or market knowledge.
Know Your Target Audience
Determining your target audience is critical; if you skip this stage, your attempts to reach your objectives will be in vain. Making a buyer persona is a good idea here.
Find out who your typical consumer is, including their age, gender, occupation, region, and income level. The more you know about your customers, the better your results will be.
A significant blunder to avoid here is creating a fictitious persona. Instead of relying on guesswork, use a data-driven strategy. You can use Instagram hashtags linked to your business to learn more about your potential clients.
For instance, if you are marketing a pet business, you can use the marketing hashtags like #petlovers #petowners #petcare and others.
Analyze the Competitors
Once you know your target audience and what they want, it's time to analyze your competition. This is the process of studying how each brand is using Instagram, analyzing their content and strategy, as well as understanding who their target market is.
By doing this research on Instagram, you'll have a better idea of which content formats will work best for your company and be able to create a more strategic plan.
You may also look for your competitors' branded hashtags to see their popularity.
Concentrate not only on winning strategies but also on what your competitors may be overlooking. This will assist you in devising innovative and successful brand promotion strategies.
Create an Editorial Calendar
It's important to have a plan on how you will be using Instagram. You need to create an editorial calendar that lets you know what posts and videos are going to go up each day, as well as when they will expire.
This way, you'll avoid over-promoting your content and preventing yourself from having any long-term engagement with your followers. Additionally, it's important not only to post consistent content but also to vary the type.
Create a Business Account
Instagram users can choose between personal and business accounts. The latter provides you with many more advantages and prospects. You can, for example, track your progress in real-time, discover more about your followers' habits, add company information, and more.
Here is what you can include in your business account:
- Create a business bio: Make a 150-character summary of your company that focuses on what makes it unique.
- Improve the quality of your profile photo: It should be easily recognizable and reflect your company's image. You can use a logo, but keep in mind that Instagram will display it as a 110×110 pixel photo.
- Include a link to your website: This is critical for lead generation because aside from Instagram Stories, your profile description is the only place where you may include a link.
Once you have a good understanding of what your company is all about, it's time to create a story and engagement plan.
A story tells the journey of your business from inception to launch.
It should be concise, exciting, and full of information that will make your followers want to learn more about you and/or your product or service.
Design Your Content
On Instagram, where people are picky about both the visual and word elements, visual content plays a crucial part.
As a result, the platform offers a diverse range of content forms and audience engagement opportunities.
Begin by determining the core concept and message you wish to convey. You can choose to highlight your products, focus on your company's culture, or entertain your visitors.
The next stage is to determine which content formats will best help you achieve your objectives. With IGTV, you may use static images, galleries, short movies, and longer video formats. Along with this, Reels are also available. However, they come with a time limit of 60 seconds. Depending on your content type, you can also go for generic posts.
Keep Your Content Consistent
You don’t want to alienate your followers with sudden changes in style or direction, so be sure to stick with the basics and use tried and tested formats.
While you should tailor each post to its specific audience, using the basic Instagram tools will help you attract a wider following while keeping them engaged.
It is also important to keep your consistent aesthetic. The images on your Instagram page should convey a sense of belonging. Using specific Instagram filters or presets can help you achieve this.
Focus on Growing Your Instagram Base
Make time to expand your audience and maintain their interest. Following relevant influencers is one natural approach to do so. Remember to interact with their content - like their posts, give thoughtful comments, and tell others about your experiences.
Another alternative is to use hashtags, which can help you reach out to your target audience, gain followers, and increase engagement.
Keep in mind that not all hashtags are appropriate for your industry. Millions of posts have used the most popular ones. As a result, you should go for hashtags that are exclusive to your industry.
Here is what you can do more to grow your Instagram base:
- Make sure your username is easily searchable and recognizable: People can't follow you if they can't find you!
- Complete your bio: Your bio would describe you or your business. Make sure to include a bio that includes every information you want to share about you.
Create a Strategy to Turn Your Followers Into Customers
Although an increase in vanity metrics such as likes and comments is beneficial, it has no direct impact on your sales. As a result, pay attention to converting your followers into consumers.
Promote your new products, run teasers, and give bargains and discounts through promotional materials. In your promotional posts, don't forget to include calls to action.
Keep in mind that Instagram is not just about photos and posts. You can also use it for marketing purposes by incorporating hashtags, promoting deals and discounts, and running competitions.
After your Instagram marketing strategy is mapped out, put it into action and track its effectiveness on a daily basis. Keeping a close eye on your results will allow you to make timely adjustments and implement new approaches to improve your KPIs.
Share Your Post on Facebook
This isn't precisely Instagram marketing, but it will help you improve your social media performance in general. Instagram allows you to instantly publish photographs and videos to Facebook.
It's as simple as turning on the Facebook slider in the "Also post to" box while posting your work.
This will allow you to promote your work on Facebook alongside the photos and videos on Instagram. Additionally, it's a great way to alert your followers that new content is available.
Do not Forget Stories and Highlights
Instagram isn't just about uploading beautiful and creative photos. Your followers want to see stories of your adventures, highlights from the past week and things that you like in order to gain greater insight into who you are as a person.
By putting more IGTV videos and stories, you can keep your audiences more engaged and tell a better brand story.
Stories are a great method to connect with your customers on an emotional level.
Stories are great for unpolished lifelike stuff, such as backstage views and behind-the-scenes content, whereas your feed should be perfect. They're also a way to offer extensive product reviews with links to where you can buy them. The icing on the cake is that you can retain your stories indefinitely.
Reach out to Influencers
79% of Instagram marketers believe Instagram is the best platform for running influencer marketing campaigns.
When you reach out to influencers, you're tapping into a powerful and very engaged group of customers.
Influencers have the ability to bring attention to your brand and product in ways that are magnified by their large followings.
They can also share your content on their own channels, increasing the reach of your campaign.
There's no better way to get started with influencer marketing than by reaching out to someone who's already successful at it.
Here is how you can tap the right influencers:
- Choose an influencer with a similar audience to yours. Otherwise, your marketing efforts will be ineffective since no one will be interested in what you have to offer.
- Avoid making false claims to your audience. Ensure that the influencers you work with have engaged followers.
- Determine how an influencer's audience feels about him or her. Some bloggers who have a large following elicit more hate than affection. Using them to promote your business will not result in new subscribers or purchases, so read the comments carefully.
What are the Types of Instagram Posts?
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It's time to start posting amazing content after you've built and optimized your Instagram account.
Instagram allows you to share photos, videos, and stories in a variety of ways. Let's explore the various forms of Instagram posts and strategies for gaining interaction.
Images
The most popular kind of Instagram post is an image post. Make sure to include a variety of photographs when uploading them. Variety will show off your company's adaptability and get your customers involved in a variety of ways.
It's also important to keep in mind that Instagram users want genuine brand posts, not blatant advertisements. Try to capture your company's culture with lifestyle images and behind-the-scenes looks. It is not a good idea to post too many photos of your product.
Instagram is filled with images and graphics that reflect your brand personality.
IGTV
IGTV is a new way to share vertical video content on Instagram. This updated feature allows you to post up to 20-minute long videos that can be viewed in the context of your account's feed.
IGTV posts can easily become part of your customer's daily routine by featuring great storytelling, engaging visuals, and giving customers a behind-the-scenes perspective on your business or product. Utilize IGTV when possible for high-quality and engaging content.
Instagram Highlights & Stories
With over 1 billion monthly active users, Instagram Stories has quickly become one of the most popular ways to market and engage with your customers.
Stories are brief videos that can be up to 10 seconds long and expire after 24 hours. They're perfect for sharing quick insights or engaging customer dialogue. Make sure you create engaging stories that include creative visuals and a sense of personality for your brand.
Reels
Reels are a great way to showcase your best work on Instagram. Create short videos (60 seconds or less) that highlight your company's strengths and why your customers should love you.
Use creative visuals, music, and sound effects to tell your story in an interesting way.
Be sure to follow user guidelines when creating reels; they must be publically accessible and use no sensitive data (including personal contact info). Reels encourage engagement and are great for sharing content around events or product launches.
Instagram Live
Live videos are a great way to engage with your customers in real-time. They can be used to show off new products or services, answer questions on social media, or even host Q&A sessions.
Instagram Live, which debuted in August and is currently used by 100 million users every day, allows you to stream videos to your followers in real-time as part of Instagram Stories.
Instagram Live is a real-time feed that your followers may watch and participate in, which can be a fantastic way to demonstrate your brand's more human side.
Since it enables your audience to make comments and ask questions in real-time, Instagram Live is one of the most participatory video platforms on the platform.
Since you may obtain direct feedback and information from the people who matter most, this can be a very valuable instrument for strengthening the connection between your brand and potential consumers.
FAQs
Q1. Can Instagram pay you?
Ans: Instagram Ads, Branded Content, Shopping, and Affiliate Marketing are all ways to make money on the platform. Creators can also make money through sponsored content, fan membership, licensing their content, and becoming a consultant.
Q2. Is it legal to sell on Instagram?
Ans: Yes. You can sell all the legal products on Instagram. However, most countries have banned the selling of products like ammunition, drugs and other black market products.
Q3. What are the best Instagram tools?
Ans: The best Instagram tools for analytics, measuring campaigns and analyzing competitors include the ones that are more inclined to social media features or specifically Instagram. Some of the best tools are SocialPilot, Buffer, Awario and Agorapulse.
Q4. Is there a difference between paid and organic traffic on Instagram?
Ans: The major difference between the paid and organic traffic is that the organic one is free whereas the paid one comes from paying for campaigns.
Additionally, there is a small but growing difference between paid and organic traffic on Instagram, with organic traffic generally being more valuable. This is due to two reasons: first, organic traffic is more likely to be from interested users who have engaged with your account in the past, which means that your posts are more likely to be seen and shared. Second, organic traffic is more likely to result in conversions (a sale or other action), which means that it is more valuable to your business.
Q5. How do you know if your post has been seen by other people who may be interested in your product or service on Instagram?
Ans: You can use the Instagram business account to check the analytics and audience interaction. In the audience section,you can check for the total likes, engagements and the audience demographics.
Conclusion
Instagram's power and reach are undeniable, with one billion monthly active users. What began as a simple photo-sharing app has evolved into an immersive social experience that allows users to discover a company's visual identity.
Instagram users place a premium on high-quality content. Create visuals that provide interesting information to your audience or showcase your brand in a new, unique way. Optimize your content by creating engaging captions that are entertaining.
At the end, you can also use some amazing Instagram marketing tools to boost your marketing efforts.
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