With over 2 billion monthly users, Instagram is considered a trend-setter in social media or marketing. For over a decade, Instagram has changed the landscape of digital marketing and the way brands use social media. So the question is: what are the best Instagram marketing strategies, and how will you use them to grow your business henceforth?
What is Instagram marketing?
Instagram Marketing is how brands use Instagram to engage and connect with their target audience and promote their products and services. Recently, Instagram has gained popularity as a great way for brands to showcase their culture, hire new employees, engage with customers, and promote their products in a new way.
Just like other social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, everyone with an Instagram account has a profile and newsfeed. People can connect and interact with each other by following, following, sending private messages, commenting or liking videos or photos.
Read these 15 reasons why brands should hire internet marketing firms to handle their marketing campaigns in 2024.
Editing options and in-app filters on Instagram provide app-specific in-app editing features. Users can upload videos and photos to their Instagram profiles and edit them using various options. Instagram is the best marketing platform for businesses, brands and creators.
Why you should market on Instagram
Become the world’s third largest marketing platform, the most used social media platform. If you run any business, your customers (current and future!) will definitely use this app. Instagram ranks second in social media preferences research.
It’s no surprise that the average Instagram user spends over 27 hours a month on the app. Find something to buy. Users go beyond business interactions too. Two-thirds of active users say Instagram allows them to build relationships with brands.
1. Craft an attractive Instagram profile
This is your first impression, so you got it right; just like a business card, there is a limit to what you can publish, so make sure you have a quick template with as many SEO guidelines as possible. (You may also want to use Instagram Stories to highlight some previous content.)
It’s also a best practice to make sure all contact information is correct and your URL is valid. You’ll also need high-resolution, professional-looking images that match your brand name.
2. Know your audience
It’s hard to create great content if you don’t know who is reading your posts. Strong Instagram marketing starts with a deep understanding of your target market. How old are they? Where do they like to go online? What hashtag or online community do they belong to?
Also look at reviews and information of offline businesses to determine who you’re talking to.
This information will help your team decide on the right content, the right tone, and the right tone of voice. Think about it: If your followers are boys from India or urban adults in Canada, your presence on Instagram will be very different.
3. Get to know the Algorithm
The Instagram algorithm controls what’s in people’s feeds, what’s on their Search pages, and what’s in Instagram purgatory. If you want to be successful on this platform, you better learn.
Content likes and behaviors platform) delivers the right content to the right people. Your history and activity on the platform. We publish articles about Instagram’s main algorithm, as well as the algorithms that govern the Reels and Explore pages.
4. Create a content calendar
Creating a calendar for your brand is considered one of the most important things you need to do to make your mark on any website.
Calendar lets you keep track of messages you’ve sent or plan to send. You can plan and even schedule your posts based on when your target audience is most active.
You decide what content, headlines, images or hashtags to publish and when. It’s also useful when you plan to republish old content.
5. Expand your reach with ads
Paying for advertising helps you get more followers, leads, likes, conversions and more. Facebook Ads Manager (which you also use to set up Instagram ads) gives you many options based on interactions, likes, purchases, and more. You can also choose from many options such as photo and video ads, story ads, text ads and more.
The example below shows Bodybuilding using an image ad with a beautiful (supported) and creative ad. This will encourage customers to engage with the ad and click on the link.
6. Experimenting with different formats
While Instagram started as a simple photo sharing application in 2010, the platform will become a giant social media beast by 2025. Instagram Stories are gaining attention, gaining millions of views every day… and then disappearing after 24 hours.
7. Try live broadcast
Instagram’s Live Broadcast feature offers a unique (and engaging) opportunity to broadcast live to your followers. Offering exciting product updates, answering visitors’ questions, interviewing brand names, and even selling your products for good measure.
Instagram live streaming is exciting for viewers and an opportunity to interact with the brands they love. (You can now reprint the content for your site later.)
8. Promote your most effective ads
Maybe Instagram ads aren’t right for your business, but you still want to get some exposure in front of people coming to see new products. If that’s the case, Instagram’s advanced options are a lifesaver.
Set your budget according to your comfort, define your target audience, and then pay to add a little more excitement to your ads. You can run Instagram ads directly in Hootsuite, then return to social media monitoring and scheduling from the same dashboard.
9. Have a consistent visual feed
Good content always works on Instagram. This is where you need to focus. Your feed should be on a unique topic and connect with your audience in your industry. Your content should make your brand stand out and spread around the world.
This is an example of good content. As you can see the image here follows the underwater or blue theme. You need to make sure your content is easy to understand and pairs nicely with your brand.
Now let’s move on to the next step of Instagram marketing ideas and tips.
10. Tell a story
Tell a story with the photos, videos and stories you post. They need to capture the audience and connect with them. Your newsletter can tell a story, humanize your brand, and build a relationship with your audience. Whatever content you create must fit your customer’s needs or solve a problem they are facing. Each article deals with a different topic related to nature and raises awareness on this issue.
11. Using the right hashtags
Using the right hashtags can have a big impact on the people who see your posts. Use something too common like #newyear, #christmas, or #style and expect your post to get lost in a sea of other similar posts.
Try to find keywords that include different content and industry characteristics that your followers will connect with. Research also shows that the best number of hashtags is seven or fewer.
You can find out which hashtags your competitors are using and how similar they are. It’s also a good idea to research hashtags specific to your brand. Content should be short, catchy, and preferably related to your brand in some way.
12. Use UGC
User-generated content to help your audience connect with your brand. It is cost-effective because the content created is created and approved by the audience itself.
No matter what you encounter, UGC can go a long way in turning users into advocates for your brand. In the post, Starbucks shared a photo of a fan’s child wearing Starbucks products. Since it comes from other followers, it is original and will be well received by the audience.
13. Organize contests and giveaways
Contests and giveaways that will enable your target audience to interact with your brand. Offering your products or services now can lead to partnerships and product awareness.
You need to plan the process, work with the right brands, create campaign rules, monitor the campaign and ensure it goes smoothly. You should follow the campaign and share its results on other social media sites.
This is an example of a campaign run by Domino’s Pizza that encourages people to contribute to the brand with their own short, well-connected stories.
14. Use video ads
Instagram offers marketers three types of video ads. Video advertising allows you to create a 60-second ad; Carousels are a combination of photos and videos, and Instagram Shop allows you to combine photos and videos to create a beautiful trend.
While image ads are more popular among marketers, video ads are not far behind and are being used more among marketers.
This is an example of how Pizza 73 uses Stories to advertise their pizzas. It works because they present the products they advertise with beautiful videos and subtitles.
Now let’s move on to the next step of your Instagram marketing strategy.
15. Work with influencers
Influencers on Instagram are often considered leaders in your industry who can introduce your products/services to their target audience. They believe that by connecting with them, the target audience’s trust in them will turn into trust in your brand.
With the right amount of resources, tools, and guidance, stakeholders can reap great rewards.
Here we see how Ralph Lauren works with influencers to promote its products. The influencer presented new products from Ralph Lauren. This will encourage fans to visit the page and grab something for themselves.
16. Leveraging stories and IGTV
Stories are a combination of photos and videos that disappear after 24 hours. This can have a huge impact on your reach and engagement. It also helps your goals seem more real and realistic. You can add a link to your website for these stories.
IGTV has a feature that is perfect for regular content like interviews and trailers in mobile games
Another new thing they announced is Instagram reels. Instagram is the answer to TikTok. Instagram introduced reels, which allow users to upload 15-second clips. It is full of business potential since its recent launch.
17. Set up an Instagram store
Instagram Store will make it easier for customers to choose and purchase products from the Instagram app, rather than directing them from your account to your website. Customizable digital showcase. It allows customers directly from your Instagram profile.
If you sell products, your Instagram store is a good opportunity to capture products available on the app… especially if you’re trying to tag products in your stories and announcements.
18. Schedule posts ahead
Using a scheduler (like Hootsuite, Cough), you can batch posts in your creative space over the course of a week or month to make the most impact. Scheduling your Instagram posts is also a great way to ensure you’re posting when your audience is most likely to be online. (Hot tip: Hootsuite analyzed your past posts and suggested specific times and days to maximize engagement. Pretty cool.)
19. Track your performance and learn
By doing this, you can create best practices for your brand. Listening and analyzing will help you improve your marketing strategy and increase Instagram engagement. Don’t miss reading tested and proven tips to make the most of yelp for small business advertising.
