Here are ten tried and tested Instagram marketing tips to boost brand awareness and drive engagement. Topics discussed include creating an Instagram Business Account, using free Instagram tools, performance tracking, among others.
Before we begin discussing Instagram marketing tips, let’s first convince you why Instagram marketing is important for you or your business with some staggering stats. There are 1 billion monthly active Instagram users – 71% of which are under the age of 35 years. It is also the 2nd most engaged social platform after Facebook. An average Instagram user spends nearly 53 minutes on this app each day.
The figures above clearly depict that if you are not on Instagram or you are not using it as it should be used, you are losing out big time. This means, Instagram marketing as important as any other social media marketing platform or digital marketing channel as a whole.
Incidentally, there are hordes of influencers on Instagram, each with millions of followers. So, with the right Instagram plan, you too can leverage the opportunity to become an influential brand. Also, posting the right content can aid you in staying relevant to your existing followers while helping you to get new ones. However, it can be hard to find what kind of post can help you drive engagement and grow your audience.
To help you with this, here are some proven Instagram marketing tips:
- Create a Business Profile at the Earliest: Before you begin social media marketing on this platform, make sure you have an Instagram Business Account as this offers you several benefits. On your business page, your followers can click on the contact tab to connect with you directly, just like as they do on your website. Furthermore, it allows you to use Instagram analytics tool to track reach and impressions of your posts.
- Make Full Use of Free Instagram Tools: Business profiles on Insta and Facebook are quite similar. Here, through Insights, you can monitor engagement data, impressions and more. The free tools are important in that they help you observe how your followers interact and engage with your posts – which is crucial for fine-tuning your content to enhance engagement.
- Post Teasers to Subtly Arouse Curiosity and Urge People to Buy: Instagram is one of the most effective platforms to advertise your products. Thankfully, you can do this without being too persuasive or annoying your users. Product teasers are a great way to discuss your product and create excitement among your followers without actually letting them realise that you are trying to market.
- Create Sponsored Advertisements: Instagram ads are one of the most popular trends in social media. The best part of these ads is that you can set your ad budget depending on how much you want to spend on them at a given point in time. As per your choice, you can show a single or multiple sponsored ads using the carousel feature. Sponsored ads help brands target those users, who are not their followers, but potential customers.
Instagram also lets you convert your posts into sponsored ads, so keep a watch on high-performing posts to boost their reach. Your sponsored ad could be photos, videos, carousal ads, stories and so on.
- Post Instagram Stories: These are a superb option for those who want to generate lead on Instagram. They are different from normal Instagram posts in that they appear in a “slideshow” format. Only live for 24 hours, Instagram Stories can be saved on any device to be re-used at a later time. It offers a host of benefits. Brands can use it to show behind-the scenes posts without worrying about whether the content aligns with your aesthetics or not. Moreover, Instagram allows you to tag other accounts in Stories, especially when you are collaborating with an influencer or another brand.
- Collaborate with Your Niche-Specific Influencers: This is perhaps the quickest way to reach out to your prospects. Partner with your niche-specific influencers, who have a large number of following or who already have the audience of your interest. People are more likely to buy products and services they look in their Instagram feeds from the influencers they follow, simply because they trust them. Establishing relationships with influencers can help you reach new audiences while enhancing your brand awareness.
- Gather User-Submitted Pics: Make use of user-generated content to boost brand awareness and engagement without making any personal effort to generate an engaging content. If you already have an engaged audience, it is good to capitalize on them to generate excellent content for you. It is a win-win situation, both for you and your followers.
- Use a Creative Branded Hashtags: Quick engagement on Instagram can be achieved through interactive hashtags. Your customers can use these tags to post user-generated content. This lets them to search through all posts pertaining to your brand. It additionally allows you too to find your previous posts that you would like to re-post on your own page. Creating a unique hashtag for your brand and followers is certainly a wonderful form of free advertising.
- Post at the Appropriate Times: You may turn off your followers by over posting on Instagram. Showing them things that are solely related to your brand on their feeds may cause them to eventually unfollow you. A great way to maintain consistency without annoying anyone is by posting regularly during peak hours and days – when the bulk of your audience is online. Stats suggest that you should avoid posting on Sundays and Wednesdays and should schedule your content to be posted on Thursdays and Mondays.
- Track the Performance: You cannot improve without tracking your performance and Instagram is no different. You have to monitor how well your posts and page is performing in order to enhance and optimize your social media marketing campaign. With quantifiable outcomes, you can easily check what’s working in your favour or against your brand.
Track your Instagram growth rate to see how each type of content that you post is affecting your growth rate. Also, check the frequency and the time of postings to see what better can be done to up your growth rate.
The tips above can surely help you make the most of Instagram to grow your audience and boost engagement. However, if you don’t have time to manage your Instagram Business Account or you want it to be done by an expert with a proven track record, you can always count on Alchemy Interactive.
As an award-winning web design and internet marketing company, Alchemy Interactive has carved out a niche for itself in the field of social media marketing.
Collaborate with us to step up your Instagram marketing game and take your brand to the next level!