1 billion people use Instagram every month, making it the second-most used social media platform after Facebook. How can businesses and solopreneurs use Instagram to boost their online presence? In this guide, we will walk you through various aspects of Instagram marketing and in case you want to equate your learnings to a real-world example, check out the InVideo Instagram channel.
By the end of the blog, you will be equipped with ideas to enhance your Instagram game.
Instagram has become increasingly important for businesses all over the world. Today’s generation considers Instagram as not only a photo-sharing app but also an app to follow and interact with their favorite influencers and brands.
According to Emarketer, 29.73% of teens in the US believe Instagram is the best way for brands to reach them about new products or promotions. This makes Instagram an indispensable tool for business to not only build their brand identity but also bring together a loyal audience and foster sales. The InVideo Instagram channel is a great example to understand how you can use the platform to create targeted content for your audience to eventually improve sales.
In this article, we will tap into the most important Instagram marketing practices you need to follow to make the best out of this social media platform.
Before you start spending your time and money into creating and posting content, determine what is your target audience. You can do this by either surveying your existing customers or by checking your competitors’ followers (or both.)
Ask questions like:
A little digging into your target audience will answer a lot of questions you might have while preparing your Instagram marketing strategy.
What are you trying to accomplish with your Instagram marketing strategy? Define clear goals for the platform and align them with your business goals. You can divide them into overall brand goals and quarterly targets.
Use the SMART system to set these goals – your goals should be Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, and Time-bound.
If you are an art & craft store, your broad goal can be something like:
To build a community of artists and crafters and to become a go-to account for people who want to learn DIY crafts and buy good quality art supplies.
The quarterly goal can look like this:
Do the optimization process at regular intervals. Check the following areas:
Type of Account – There are three types of accounts you can choose from – Business, Creator, and Private. Switch to a Business or Creator account (Settings > Account) to access more features like swipe up, ads, insights, etc.
Profile Photo – Add your logo or photo according to your preference. This will become your brand identity, so make sure it is clear and easy to recognize.
Bio – Add the most important details you need your audience to know about you – product/service details, your goals, beliefs or likes, hashtags you follow, your second account, etc. You can get creative and add a CTA at the end of the Bio.
Website – Add a link to your website, YouTube channel, an e-store, or even to your latest blog post.
Privacy Setting – Make sure your account privacy is turned off to keep the page open for new visitors. Go to Settings > Privacy > Account Privacy > Turn off the ‘Private Account’ button.
Comments Setting – You can hide offensive comments automatically with this feature. Go to Settings > Privacy > Filters and turn on the ‘Hide Offensive Comments’ button.
Good quality content is the most important part of the Instagram marketing equation. After you define your target audience, you should be able to determine what kind of posts your audience will enjoy.
There is no scarcity of information and inspiration if you look in the right places. Here are three ways to find good content for your account.
Instagram is best known for communities of like-minded people. Users follow pages and hashtags, and you need to focus on being on top of their minds by creating posts that keep them hooked. These are the most engaging types of content on Instagram:
Leverage the power of videos in your Instagram marketing. Create and add videos to your feed and story to garner better engagement. Use InVideo’s Instagram video editor to create scroll-stopping videos for your page.
Instagram Story is loaded with exciting features like interactive stickers, GIFs, an ever-increasing filter library, Boomerang, and more. Make use of them to make your content enjoyable.
Instagram provides four main ways of posting your content – Instagram Feed, Instagram Story, IGTV, Instagram Live. To make the most of the platform, make sure you consider all these formats in your Instagram marketing strategy.
Instagram Dimensions:
Instagram Feed post – 1:1 (square) aspect ratio and 1080 x 1080 pixels
Instagram Story and IGTV – 9:16 aspect ratio (vertical) and 1080 x 1920 pixels.
If you are using Instagram for business, your work does not stop at uploading a post on Instagram. In fact, it just starts there. Your goal is to garner actions from your audience.
As a famous proverb goes, ‘Out of sight is out of mind.’ If you want to build a loyal audience, posting quality content consistently is the key.
How many Instagram posts per day? – 1 to 3
How many Instagram stories per day? – 1-7
Best days to post on Instagram – Thursday
When to post on Instagram –
4 a.m. – 6 a.m. Eastern Time
8 a.m. – 10 a.m. Eastern Time
12 p.m. – 2 p.m. Eastern Time
8 p.m. – 10 p.m. Eastern Time
The best way to find out how often and when you should post on Instagram is by actively observing and analyzing your audience. You can check these averages on Instagram’s in-built insights. Go to Settings > Insights.
Use automation tools like Buffer and Zoho to schedule your Instagram posts. This way, you can plan and make sure you don’t miss posting in case you are busy.
How does the audience engage with your brand on Instagram?
Here Are Some Ideas For Your Instagram Promotion And Engagement:
Here’s how to reach out to your target audience and increase your Instagram followers:
Hashtags help in making your content more discoverable to your audience. Instagram indexes similar hashtags together to organize similar content for the users. Once someone searches or clicks a hashtag, all the posts containing that hashtag is presented to the user.
For example, one of InVideo’s brand hashtags is #playyourideas
You can find your target audience in 2 ways – one by searching a hashtag closely relevant to your page and following those people who use these hashtags. And second, by going to your competitors’ profile and scraping their followers.
How to leverage other people’s followers? Instagram influencer marketing is the key. Connect with influencers with a lot of followers and collaborate with them to promote your brand. Influencers usually have a very loyal audience who likes to do what the influencer does. So most likely, they will follow you and your brand.
Lastly, boost your growth with the help of sponsored posts and ads. It will allow you to tap into a new set audiences and gain new followers. Use our Instagram ad maker to create scroll-stopping ads for your brand.
Businesses all around the world consider Instagram marketing as one of their top priorities. The platform holds a lot of potential for brands wanting to reach out to their audience.
Use what you learned today in the post and optimize your Instagram marketing strategy.
And while you are at it, check out our Instagram video editor to make uber-cool video posts.
Do you follow any Instagram marketing hacks that have worked for you? Let us know in the comments.
This article was originally published at Invideo.io, by author Aneri. Original article >>
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