Instagram started out a platform for the millennials and was all about sharing pictures. The demographics consisted of people between the age group 16-30. Over time Instagram has shifted out to be one the best plaforms for selling consumer goods. It has become a digital marketers main tool for generating revenue. Today Instagram has over 2 million advertisers and over 200 million Instagrammers visit at least one business profile daily. This makes it even more competitive and to get desirable results and create a mark in such an environment, you need to be aware of the right marketing strategies.
We know the importance of visuals in any marketing strategy and this is what makes Instagram even more appealing. Marketing via Instagram can be effective for any business.
Moving on to how one should market their business on Instagram to have more potential customers, promote your business more effectively and gain more followers organically.
1. Switch your account to an Instagram Business Profile
Creating an Instagram business account should be the first step of your Instagram Marketing journey.
It has several benefits such as,
The contact button helps your potential customers to know more about you and get in touch with you even before visiting your profile.
You get a clear idea about stats such as the viewership of your content and so on by getting access to Instagram data.
You can publish ads easily without being dependent on the advertising tools of Facebook.
It increases the chance of your content appearing in the news feed of your followers.
No matter how small a step switching to a Business Profile seems to be, it would make a huge difference in your Instagram marketing strategy.
2. Use Instagram advertising to promote your content
You should try to leverage sponsored advertisements to increase your reach cost-effectively.
Advertising via Instagram has its perks such as,
We know that Instagram and Facebook are connected, so you can also use the Facebook ad manager which would allow you to manage several things such as creating ads to budgeting.
The ads that are engaging and non-intrusive would help you get a better conversion rate at a pocket-friendly price.
There is creative freedom. You can use both images and videos to promote your product or service.
The ads are hard to miss because they occupy the entire mobile screen. This also makes it more catchy and user friendly.
The Instagram ad editor helps you get a better ROI by letting you conduct A/B split tests on your advertisements from within the platform.
3. Use an Instagram Hashtag to build a Community
This strategy while working on Instagram can also be leveraged across other social networks like Twitter and so on. It is one of the best ways to get your audience to engage with your brand. There can be various reasons behind the success of a hashtag. It can be because the hashtag is creative, quirky, or just because it has been able to raise the curiosity of the targetted audience.
4. Partner with good causes
Promoting and supporting good causes while staying relevant to your brand will help you to engage more with your customers and draw their attention towards you. Instagram isn’t strict with its character limits when captioning a photo, but that shouldn’t sway you and you should keep your captions short, sweet, and effective.
5. Try to Relate to your followers
Try to be more relatable. People tend to connect with things and other people with whom they find some similarities. You have to think according to the mindset of your target consumers and cater accordingly. The best way to capture the attention of your audience is by using humor and using trendy topics while addressing your brand directly or indirectly.
6. Measure the metrics
You would have more clarity by using measurable results to understand your Instagram performance and make the required changes for improving it.
Some of these metrics are –
Growth Rate of your Followers
The number of followers you have is considered a metric to show your domination. You need to keep a check on the rate in which your followers grow to know the effect of your content or posting frequency.
Your Rate of Engagement
Measuring your engagement includes keeping track of likes and comments. This would give you a better idea of the steps that you need to take to engage your audience in a better way.
Check the Click-Through Rate of your URL
Your website link in the Instagram bio is your limitation. It is crucial to know how many people are opting for your services by visiting your website through your URL.
7. Create your own Identity
This may be the simplest yet most intricate and important part of promoting your business on Instagram. People always seek for something different, but with the immense competition and crowd on Instagram, it can be really tricky to make your prominent mark.
Some of the ways in which you can stand out from the crowd are –
* By creating engaging content, that is trendy and humorous.
* By pre-scheduling your posts, so as not to miss any opportunity to promote your brand.
* By creating visually attractive posts that draw in more audience.
* By collaborating with Instagram Influencers who already have a considerable audience.
Finally, share your experience and knowledge to stand out. You could share simple tips on a weekly or daily basis to connect with your audience. The more pleasing, knowledgeable and information oriented your Instagram is, the easier it will be for you to engage your followers and gain popularity among the crowd and your peers.
