top 10 Tips For Instagram Marketing
When it comes to digital marketing, social media is a key piece to the puzzle, helping you not only grow brand awareness but interact directly with your target audience as well. If you’re considering which social media platform is right for your business, don’t forget to consider Instagram.
As a highly visual, creative platform, Instagram is a great place to connect with potential customers and show them what your company is all about.
Photo by Oleg Magni from Pexels
About Instagram
So, what exactly is Instagram? It’s a free photo and video sharing app where users can upload their own content as well as view and interact with posts from other people. According to Instagram, “people come to Instagram to be inspired and discover things they care about.”
Why set up a business account?
As a business, you have the option of creating a business account – but what are the benefits? Well, 60% of people say they discover new products on Instagram, according to a November 2015 Instagram user survey. Additionally, 200 Million+ Instagrammers visit at least one Business Profile daily, based on daily active Instagrammers according to Instagram internal data from November 2017.
With a business account, you also get access to real-time metrics on how your posts are performing as well as insights into your followers and their activity related to your content.
Here are our top tips for Instagram marketing:
1. Plan Ahead
Before you even begin creating or posting content, take some time to make sure you have a clear understanding of who you are as a brand and what your goals are. What story do you want to tell? What is your brand voice? What does your brand look like visually? The answers to these questions are going to guide what your content looks and feels like. Since your Instagram page is an extension of your brand, you’ll want to make sure it accurately reflects your business.
You’ll also want to understand who your customers are, what kind of content they’re likely to find appealing, and what topics of conversation they’ll find interesting or valuable.
2. Fill out your bio
Your bio is kind of like a business card: it gives visitors a quick summary of who you are, what you do, how to contact you, and where to go for more information. It’s one of the first things that users see when viewing your page, so make it count. Be sure to include a summary that clearly describes your company as well as a link to your website. You can also select a category for your company as well as provide contact options like a phone number, address, and email address. Don’t forget to upload a profile picture!
3. Post consistently
Whether it’s posting every single day or a few times a week, figure out a posting schedule that works for you and stick with it. One way to help stay consistent is to create a content calendar. This way, you can plan out the topics you want to cover, what kind of content you’ll create, and when that content will go live.
Batching content is another helpful trick. Instead of creating content right before you want to post it, take some time (once per week, for example) to take photos and/or create graphics in bulk, then schedule out your content to automatically post at a later date. Later, Planoly, and SproutSocial are just a few of the content schedulers available.
You can also save post drafts directly in the Instagram app (although you won’t be able to schedule them). By not rushing to put posts together at the last second, you’ll have more time to make sure each post is thoughtful, creative and high quality.
4. Images: best practices
Since Instagram is such a visual platform, you’ll want to make sure that your images and videos are visually appealing. If you’re posting a photo, make sure it’s a quality photo that has good composition and is not super pixelated. Use natural lighting when possible.
If you’re posting a graphic, make sure any font used is readable and the image is well designed. If you post a video, try to avoid shaky shots and poor lighting. In all visual content, try to stick to a color scheme that aligns with your company’s branding.
5. Captions: best practices
When it comes to captions, try longer-form captions to tell a story or share important information; short, witty captions to capture attention and show off a fun personality; captions with questions to encourage engagement in the comments section; and more! You can also include a call to action (CTA) to tell users exactly what action you want them to take, such as clicking the link in your bio or tagging a friend in the comments. Be sure that the tone of voice you use in your Instagram captions matches your overall brand voice.
For both images and captions, feel free to get creative and test out what works and what doesn’t!
6. Stories: best practices
Instagram Stories is another great opportunity to build brand awareness and engage your audience. Not sure what to post? Consider sharing product or service information, sales and other announcements, customer testimonials, behind-the-scenes content that shows a typical day at your company, and more!
Encourage user interaction through features like polls, questions and quizzes, or show your personality by adding fun stickers and GIFs. You can also join in conversations by tagging your location, using a hashtag, or mentioning someone by tagging their handle.
Other alternatives to standard posts include sharing a live video or uploading a video to IGTV.
7. Engagement
Remember, social media is meant to be social! When users comment on your posts, be sure to respond to keep the conversation going. Another great way to expand your audience is to find people who may be interested in your company and interact with their pages by liking and commenting on their posts. When talking to other users, remember to be authentic and avoid sounding overly salesy.
8. Shopping
If you’re a U.S. business in the fashion, apparel or beauty category, you’re in luck. You can take advantage of Instagram’s shopping feature, which lets you create photos, videos and stories and tag them so users can see additional product information. Users can save the post for later, or click over to your website to buy.
9. Ads
While reaching potential customers organically is great, making use of paid content can give your business a boost. With Instagram ads, you can reach your ideal audience by using a variety of targeting options, including location, demographics, behaviors and more.
There are six types of ads to choose from: stories ads, photo ads, video ads, carousel ads, collection ads, and ads in explore. The type of ad you should use will depend on who your audience is and what your goals are.
10. Pay attention to analytics
How is your content performing? Should you try something different? Paying attention to your analytics will help you decide what, how, and when to post moving forward in order to reach your business goals. Instagram provides activity insights such as reach, impressions, interactions, and profile visits. It also offers audience insights such as follower count, growth, top locations, age range, gender, and the average time that your followers use the app. This
information helps you see what kind of content or topics your audience likes best, and which content may not be resonating with them.
Instagram can be a fun and effective tool for expanding brand awareness, growing your audience, and driving sales.
Feeling overwhelmed? We got you! If social media marketing just isn’t your thing, leave it up to the Healthy Dash of Social team. We’ll provide a full strategy to help reach your goals while taking care of the content, posting, and engagement for you.
Click here to view our full list of services and book a call with us.
