Instagram, without any doubt, is the fastest growing social media platform with around 1 billion users. You will find all sorts of users, from humans to animals! With so many users on this platform, it provides way more interactions than Facebook, and therefore, it offers an excellent platform to kick start your business.
However, making your mark on Instagram is not so easy as many competitors are already trying their luck out there. Therefore, you must be well-versed in certain strategies to successfully execute campaigns and drive conversions for your business. Let’s look at some of them.
Introduction to Instagram Marketing
Instagram marketing is a part of social media marketing that calls for using Instagram to promote any business or brand. This process uses some tactics and strategies to reach business objectives and goals. Instagram marketing is either done by implementing paid tactics such as ads and influencer marketing or unpaid tactics, which include Instagram stories, posts, comments etc. to engage with users.
The idea behind Instagram marketing is to boost sales, engage a large audience base and build relationships with other brands and potential customers.
How to get started with Instagram marketing
You need to have a business profile; a normal profile will not serve the purpose. To create a business profile, you can follow the below steps:
- Create a new account just for marketing with your brand/company name.
- Create a Facebook business page since you will need it for verification by Instagram.
Steps to make an Instagram business profile:
Step 1: Log in to your company/brand’s Instagram handle from your smartphone.
Step 2: Now, click on the circular icon on the right of the page. After this, you will see a menu, from there, click on the Settings option.
Step 3: From the Settings page, look for the “Switch to business profile” option by scrolling down.
Step 4: Now, you will be asked to sync your page with your Facebook profile and edit details like your contact, number, location and email. This Facebook profile needs to be public so avoid changing it to private mode.
Best strategies to market on Instagram
You need to set a clear goal to make an Instagram strategy for your business while also checking on the progress.
- Goals and objectives
Always follow a SMART goal setting strategy.
Specific: Set a clear goal with a milestone rather than being vague.
Measurable: Set trackable goals and don’t forget to measure insights and analytics.
Attainable: Always be realistic with your goals.
Relevant: Be aligned with your brand or industry.
Timebound: Set a timeframe to achieve your objectives.
- Construct a content strategy
There are many options to build a content strategy for Instagram, but you need to be wise while choosing based on what your audience will like. So, question yourself about the prime demographics of the audience and what they like to see or experience. You also need to focus on what can entertain them and what are the ways to build trust so that they initiate a purchase from your brand.
The points below will help you build an impressive content strategy for Instagram.
- Ensure that you align each post to your brand/business
Your brand needs to have a certain standard. For instance, if you are a fashion brand, you must make sure that all your images and videos are of top quality. Likewise, if you are a footwear company, you can make use of memes, animals, and so on to set up a content strategy.
- Stay on point with social media content calendar
Creating a social media content calendar is essential for you to stay up-to-date. You can begin by planning all your posts for the upcoming month while scheduling a couple of posts in a week. You can use an efficient video maker or use free Instagram templates to create posts in various styles for your brand.
- Track your performance with Instagram insights
Instagram features a free tool to provide you with relevant insights. It gives you an outlook of your performance based on how engaged the users are with your post and how much attention your posts are getting. With insights, you can also view the demographics of your followers to seamlessly find suitable audiences.
The most significant business features of Instagram
- Hashtags
Hashtags are in trend these days as they notify the customers about the kind of post they are looking for. Many people look for content based on hashtags, therefore, hashtags make sense to add relevance to the posts.
- Instagram stories
Instagram stories are widely used. They provide a way to share the idea behind your brand with others while adding value to them. Some of the best Instagram stories ideas are:
- Behind the scenes
- Question and answer
- Audience poll
- Hosting a contest
- Instagram live
Instagram live lets you perform a live broadcast to engage the audience. When you start a live session, your story appears in the followers’ story feed, and they will also get an alert. But, make sure to go live only if you have some engaging content; otherwise, you will end up wasting time and putting off the audience.
- IGTV
IGTV is for posting long videos, exceeding 10 minutes or more depending on your follower base. IGTV videos are recommended to users based on their interests so that the audience is connected to the content they like.
Conclusion
Instagram provides endless marketing opportunities to businesses and brands by expanding their reach, building relationships and encouraging engagements. So, if you are someone who still hasn’t tried this social media platform to promote your business or brand, just follow this guide and help your business reach unmeasurable heights.
Remember, just being on Instagram is not enough. Instagram marketing may look easy, but it involves a significant amount of commitment and skill. Viewers and buyers today are much more discerning than before. This means that they are not likely to buy a product after simply watching a promotional video. So, make your Instagram marketing strategy count, with the right tools like Social Scrape, insights and reach.
