Instagram is a brand marketer’s best friend. With over a billion active users and the best brand marketing out of any platform, it’s easy to see why companies flock here for their digital marketing strategies.
Well, like anything, a good Instagram marketing strategy comes with some challenges. Luckily, if you follow the right steps, you can build up your audience and revenue in no time!
Let’s talk about some tips on Instagram marketing so you can develop the right strategy for your brand!
Tips On Instagram Marketing: Optimize Your Profile
If you haven’t already, this is the very first step you should take when you create your account, before you even post anything. Create a business account, add a clear picture of your logo or brand, and make sure you get your bio right.
Your bio should give all the necessary information about your brand in as few words as possible. Short, sweet, and to the point. Something like “Local potato chip company located in Worcester, Massachusetts. Find us here:” From there, link to your company’s website, then add extra lines for your other social media platforms or anywhere else you want to direct your audience.
If your company deals mostly with larger sales, like B2B sales, then add contact information after your brief description. “For business inquiries, contact us at -” with your business email at the end.
Your picture and title are easy to get right, but they need to be clear and legible. Make sure people know exactly what brand they are seeing, as the photo often appears small, especially on mobile devices. This all helps you rank higher in search results, and overall looks a lot more professional.
Get Verified
That blue checkmark is the most valuable addition you can add to your profile. Having it acts as the de facto status symbol on the internet, and shows major credibility for your brand before anybody even clicks on your profile.
Get verified as early as possible and you’ll notice a huge difference in followers and interactions.
Utilize Hashtags
Check on hashtags and trends periodically that are relevant to your brand, and use them. Throwing in a hashtag while one is trending is the right time, and it will help you get noticed organically.
Create Good Content
If you’re on Instagram because your target is young people, you’re in luck because there are plenty of them. However, the downside with young people is that they can smell promotional content from a mile away.
Don’t make rigid, stiff advertisements expecting them to win the day. Instagram posts are not TV commercials, so don’t treat them that way. People are on Instagram for entertainment, so give them what they want!
Be Authentic
Authenticity is one of the most important tools to any social media campaign. Authentic influencers get the highest conversion rates, have the most loyal audiences, and are typically the most successful. The same logic applies to business accounts.
Post relatable content that people understand. Post about the daily struggles people face and how your brand can help solve them. Let’s take a random example. If you sell alarm clocks, post a funny video of somebody trying to slap the snooze button, hitting stop, and missing work because of it. Everybody knows that feeling. Use that opportunity to show why your alarm clock is better.
Time Things Appropriately
There are such things as the right time to post, and having a calendar or setting alarms on your phone isn’t a ridiculous idea. Find out when your target audience is most active on the platform, and utilize trends and hashtags at those appropriate times.
You can even create content in advance and hold back on posting it until the right time comes. If you have enough ideas for creative content saved up, sit down and work on them in advance, then drop them when the time is right.
Link Your Instagram On Everything
A good rule of thumb for all the social media platforms you use in your marketing strategy is that if you link your website on it, you can link your account on it.
Are you sending out email chains? Add a link to your Instagram on the bottom. Drop your Instagram on your website, business cards, any of your flyers or brochures, and even receipts! All of your marketing tools will have room for an Instagram handle or link.
If your website has a blog (which it should), drop a link at the bottom of every post.
Interact With Your Audience
Nothing makes people love a brand quite like personally reaching out to them. If somebody says something great about your brand, like the post and share it. It’s good for business, and it will make that person feel like they are a part of your brand!
It will also promote other people to interact with your profile and try to get noticed.
It doesn’t only have to be compliments that you share or respond to. Any feedback they give or questions can receive a response. If it’s a good question that you want the world to know about your brand, share their question with the public, and give a professional answer.
Comment On Posts
This is such an easy way to put your brand out there without creating content. Obviously, you should be posting things, but in between posts, you can still get noticed by commenting on viral posts.
If you run a pet supply store and you come across a viral video of a cat, take a minute and come up with a clever comment for it. If people vote the comment up, it’s a great way to get noticed.
Be Funny
Posting some humor is always a good idea, as long as you’re staying more or less PC. Don’t be rude or condescending in any way, don’t make jokes at anybody’s expense, but try to be funny. Social media users follow plenty of dedicated humor pages, so making yourself into one can’t hurt.
Ask For Shares
Don’t be afraid to ask your audience to give you a boost. There are some super easy and effective ways you can do this!
If you end posts with “share if you agree”, or “please share”, you’re prompting your audience to share your content. If 100 people share your post, then that’s 100 new audiences of all different sizes that you were just exposed to, and that’s only for adding a few words to your post.
You can also run polls, put up challenges, or make totally new content for people to try out, and then prompt people to share. Contests are popular. “Like and share for a chance to win XYZ” is always a great way to promote your account. People love this stuff, so if you do it regularly, like once every month or two, it can be an affordable way to build followers who are interested in competing.
Ask Affiliates For Help
Affiliate marketing is extremely useful and easy to do. Try making a deal with other Instagram accounts that are affiliated with your brand, or who would like to be, to give you a shoutout. They can build your audience up with theirs.
This could be a business partner, another local brand, or even a personal friend with a larger audience! Don’t have those? Reach out to other brands and try to strike a deal!
Make It A Revenue Stream
Every business has a goal, and that’s to make money. Well, there are a lot of opportunities to earn money from Instagram, even as a business account. Once you build the audience, your brand could have an entirely new source of revenue!
Influencer marketing is a huge industry by now, and Instagram is the most profitable platform for it. If you’ve climbed your way through the ranks, why not make some money off it yourself? You can even use it for business deals.
For example, if you’re struggling to make a deal with another business, use your audience as leverage. “We’ll gladly promote your brand on Instagram on top of XYZ!”
Start Your Instagram Marketing Strategy Today
Now that you have some tips on Instagram marketing for your small business, get started today! The sooner you get your account set up, your profile optimized, and your first post out there, the sooner you’ll see the rewards!
Don’t forget to keep up to date with our latest digital marketing news, and get posting that creative content!
Leave a Reply