Instagram is a growing marketing platform nowadays. When it comes to marketing brands, it is essential to explore all available platform to get maximum output.
It’s been 7 years since Instagram introduced to us. More than 800 million people use this platform actively.
If you want to promote your brand this is a great platform. More than 70 million photos are posted on this platform daily.
Instagram can be used for personal as well as business purposes. Any platform can be turned into a strong marketing tool if you can use it effectively.
If you haven’t thought about using Instagram to promote your business, this is the right time.
Here is the complete guide which will help you to create an Instagram account and various tips to use it for marketing your brand.
The main aim while using it for brand promotion is to get more followers. If you can bring a relevant post that can engage users, it will be an easy task.
To stand out among other thousands of posts is a big task. Use this platform to promote your brand in a friendly reliable way without directly marketing.
Post regularly and stay active to be popular on this platform.
Why Instagram?
This is a very interesting platform with more than 300 million active users. People love to use this platform to promote brand awareness. The main reason behind it is given below
- Instagram users like to connect with brands. These brands can engage users well compared to other platforms like Facebook, Twitter, etc
- More than 62% of Instagram users follow a brand
- According to 32% of marketers, Instagram is more effective than another social media platform to promote a brand.
- Brands can connect with their users well
These are some opinions of marketing experts. You can use Instagram easily by just finding out nice images to post on your profile.
You need to have a clear goal, frequent posting, connection with users, etc to get the maximum output of it.
How to create an Instagram business account?
Like any other social media sites, you need to create an account here. There is a business account which can offer you more features.
When using this platform, make sure to post frequently and make your account active always.
Consistency of posting is an important quality you need to look for if you want success.
- Download the Instagram app
- Create an account. There are two options to sign up using an email address or Facebook. If you want to use it for business purpose you can sign up using a business email address.
- Pick an easy username and password. Username should be catchy and easily recognizable.
- Next is to pick a profile picture that represents your brand.
- Now, you need to optimize your Instagram bio by giving a description of your brand. It could be up to 150 characters maximum. Include URLs and CTA to engage users and bring more followers to your site.
Now, after creating your business account, you can change your account settings whenever you want as per your business plan.
Business profiles have got many advantages like free ad publishing, access to the analytical tool, etc.
Instagram marketing strategy:
When we develop any marketing strategies there should be proper planning. Everyone will have a goal in their mind when they think about a marketing plan.
Here are some strategies you should think about when you are into Instagram marketing.
Know your audience:
This is the first and foremost thing every marketer should do. Whenever a product is released, it should be aimed at a particular people.
The criteria could be age, place, gender, location, etc. If you need some help to find out your targeted audience, search on Instagram about similar products like yours and see who participated more in those campaigns.
This will help you to get an idea about your targeted audience.
Analyze your competitor:
You can apply any strategy to Instagram. But, one thing you have to do before that is to check your competition.
Know how they connect with their audience and what types of post they are using. This will help you to create a more engaging post for your brand.
No need to copy them. You need to bring your own ideas and implement them well.
Schedule your calendar:
An editorial calendar is very good. Here you can include all your previous post and their details like hashtags, descriptions etc. This will help you to avoid repetition of same image or sentences.
Include all special events and launches on your calendar to arrange your account in a proper way.
Build your brand:
Building your brand is not an immediate process. It may take some time.
You need to post relevant images on your page and make sure to entertain the users with your post. You can define your brand identity and post contents related to it.
Everything you post should be related to your brand in some way or another. This can help you to bring an identity to your brand.
Promotions, contest, charity drive, etc are very effective to get active participation from users. This can also improve your followers too.
How to Market on Instagram for Businesses:
Every tool will give you good output if you can use it well. Instagram is also the same.
You can increase your followers using the Instagram business account as most of the Instagram users depends on this, before making any purchase.
Use free Instagram tools:
When you sign up for Instagram Business account there are many advantages to it.
Like Facebook business account, Instagram also offers you tools to measure your content performance among users.
Know the statistics to make sure that you are performing well. Other tools are like Instagram feed planner to schedule your post, hashtag finder to find out right hashtag so that you can be the part of the right community.
All of them are free to use and will help you to get your content to the right place at the right time.
Share your Instagram post:
This is another idea to get more followers. You can post your Instagram account all over other social media platforms and request your followers to follow you on Instagram.
This will help users to get all the updates about your product/service. Some of them will follow you and some others will not.
But you need to try all available options to make sure to inform your followers about your Instagram account
Build a steady brand:
While posting on Instagram account you need to be consistent. Each brand varies and their post also varies accordingly.
Random contents cannot help your brand to build an Integrity in this platform. You can see some great examples on Instagram by visiting the pages of Redbull, Tacobell, etc.
When you post something, it should be relevant to your product. You can make it interesting by creating an interesting backstory to the images also. The images should be significant to your brand too.
Sponsored Ads are effective:
Sponsored Ads are also very effective to reach to more users. The best thing about these ads is you can create it and decide where you want to put it by keeping the budget in your mind.
There is a feature called carousel feature that lets you showcase multiple ads and sponsored ads.
Also, sponsored ads have the power to reach to a wide audience other than your followers. That is the best thing you can find about these ads.
Use the photos which gained maximum popularity among your post and make it a sponsored Ad. Post these Ads wherever you want according to your targeted demographic. Sponsored Ad could be photos, videos, Instagram stories or canvas, etc.
Use hashtags:
Hashtags are the best way to connect with relevant groups. You can use it effectively to make users easy to find relevant content. There are three types of post top post, more recent post and related hashtags.
Pick appropriate hashtags and use keywords to get easily noticed. You will get an idea about it from the app itself where you can explore popular hashtags.
Incorporate relevant words related to your niche in your hashtag and post images.
An interactive hashtag will also work well. This can use when users want to share their pics with the product.
The interactive hashtag is a very good thing with many advantages. When a user post picture with your hashtag that will increase your brand popularity and they will get the satisfaction of getting featured on your page.
This is a kind of free advertisement you can do to popularize your product. There was a campaign from Coca cola with interactive hashtag name “ShareACoke” which was a huge success.
Instagram stories:
This has a great potential to help with marketing your product well.
Instagram stories are a slideshow of your images and will disappear from your page after 24hours.
These stories can create a great impact on your followers. It will appear at the top of their page and they can view stories by clicking on it.
You can use anything like photos, short videos, etc. Also, there is an additional feature where you can tag with other accounts. It could be any other brands or influencers. This can bring more popularity to your brand.
Use Influencers:
Like any other marketing, on Instagram also you can use influencers to promote your product. There will be someone who can influence user’s buying decision.
You need to find someone in your niche who can promote your product/service well, collaborate with them and build a long-term relationship. This can bring many benefits to improve your brand awareness to a wider audience.
When they post something featuring your product, it can reach to their followers. Thus, the product name reaches to some new audience and there is a chance of getting some new customers to you via this.
Posting time matters:
To keep your Instagram account active, you must post frequently. But no need to over post and stuff your page with irrelevant contents.
When a user sees only your brand in their new feed there is a chance to unfollow you.
So, you can do this without irritating them. Make a schedule and follow it properly. Posting on Instagram according to a time schedule is a more professional approach.
Do some research and find peak time when your followers are online. The day and time will vary according to your followers. There are tools available to help with scheduling your post.
Try to use them to get your job done easily. Hootsuite, sprout social, etc are such tools.
You can post two times a day maximum. If you want to post more images then there is a special feature called carousel album where they post multiple images in slideshow format, you can try that also.
Track your result:
This is the final thing you can do after implementing new changes. You need to know the response of users to the new change.
Track your follower’s growth rate, engagement rate, etc using an analytical tool from Instagram. This will help to get an idea of what works and what not.
Also, measure the CTR of users to know the effectiveness of your marketing techniques. If you find any of them low, make new plans to improve them as per your expectations.
Final words:
Instagram is a great platform to build your brand if you can use it effectively. The reach of this platform is wider.
If you can explore and handle it’s all possibilities well there is no such best platform to showcase your product.
Follow all the tips properly and see your growth chart. Concentrate on working idea more and get more followers.
Your brand can get a place in the user’s mind if you can present in a new and innovative way. Experiment with new things with your brand promotion.
This will allow you to advertise your product for free as well as by paying. Use all the features well to make a good identity to your brand among all other competitors.