Instagram continues to grow as an effective digital marketing platform for brands because it reveals interesting brand stories with engaging visuals that can be easily shared. And, with consistent and strategic effort, businesses can build substantial audiences.
But are you and your brand getting the most out of Instagram? Do you have a strategy for growth and conversion? And, more importantly, is it working?
Download your Instagram Checklist here.
Here’s a few ways to ensure your business’s success on today’s fastest growing social media platform…
Your profile matters
While it may seem like the smallest part of your Instagram presence, your profile’s description plays a huge role in your potential growth. You only have 150 words to play with, so make them count! Be concise and to the point but take the opportunity to use this space to convey your brand’s personality.
You should change your profile description to advertise important events, sales or product launches. Make careful use of the one link you can put in your bio. Remember, most of your fans will already know your website address, so perhaps here you can promote specific landing pages to entice potential customers further down the sales funnel.
If you register for an Instagram Business profile, you can include your phone number in your bio. You will also be able to access useful analytics data. This might be worth considering!
Get strategic
While this may seem pretty obvious, posting regularly is the best way to attract interest and followers on Instagram. The ideal amount of posts varies, depending on your audience, but posting high-quality images 3-6 times a day definitely grow your views and, in turn, your followers.
Make sure what you do post really speaks to your niche and don’t continually repost your own images. The Instagram audience can be fickle and will unfollow in an instant if they don’t like what they’re seeing. If posting so frequently doesn’t suit your brand, keeping the posting low quantity but high quality is the way to go.
There are several apps, both paid and unpaid like Hootsuite, ScheduGram, Later or Buffer that can help you to keep on top of your posting schedule.
It’s also important to make sure you give your fans the correct ratio of value posts (that educate, empower or inspire) to selling (promoting your product or service) posts. A good rule of thumb is 3 value posts to 1 sell post.
Go behind the scenes
While many businesses use Instagram to show off their products and achievements, one of the best ways to leverage the platform is to instead take your audience behind the scenes. And Instagram Stories is the best way to show them things that they did not already know about your business.
Providing this sort of insider perspective develops a stronger bond between you and your target market. They will likely feel more connected to your brand, having been allowed into the inner workings. Ideally, this strategy will foster stronger brand loyalty and it also gives you the chance to speak directly to your fans or followers.
Going behind the scenes might involve filming or taking photos from in the warehouse, or after work hours. Alternatively, you might create content about where you source your products from and how they’re made. There are endless ways for you to share some behind-the-scenes action with your fans.
Look out for trending hashtags
To get your content in front of as many sets of eyeballs as possible, you need to use trending hashtags within your target audience and then post content related to what people are looking at! This will help put you in front of the eyes of those you care about, without having to spend on advertising.
You can use up to 30 hashtags per post so it’s a good idea to use them all. If you’re worried about your post looking messy, simply post the hashtags in a comment immediately after the pic.
Of course, before of hashtags that have been shadowbanned (hashtags that Instagram makes undiscoverable, therefore they won’t show up on searches and reducing the reach of your account and making it much harder to reach a new audience).
You can find an extensive list of hashtags that are currently shadowbanned here.
Track your traffic
It can be difficult to measure conversion rates from your Instagram posts, particularly when coming from the mobile app. This makes it harder for businesses to determine how much money to budget towards Instagram marketing.
A great way to combat this is to use link shorteners whenever posting links on Instagram. That way, you will be able to see when people are visiting your website from the shortened link – meaning they have come from Instagram.
This allows you to better evaluate your Instagram strategy along the way, and tailor it through A/B testing towards converting into business profitability. This sort of analysis is crucial in the world of digital marketing for businesses.
Partner up
Influencer marketing is one of the most important ways to leverage Instagram for your business. Look for people who have like-minded followings in your niche and think about how you can make a partnership with them mutually beneficial.
Sometimes, it can be as simple as tagging them in a post that they may share. Other times, you will have to more formally collaborate with them.
Influencers act as a point of authority and have an audience of passionate fans. They are all over Instagram, so you should be making efforts to engage with them, especially if your target market looks up to and respect them.
Download your Instagram Checklist here.
