Nathaniel Fried
Social media is vital for marketing; social networks have huge amounts of users and are great visual platforms for sharing content, products, and more. Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms, with over a billion monthly users worldwide.
Running an Instagram business profile takes time, effort, and often money to successfully market your business. Many companies have social media teams trained specifically on social media marketing. Social media gurus work to stay on top of trends to best share their brand on platforms like Instagram.
If you need help running and growing a successful Instagram business account, try out these Instagram marketing tips. These tips have worked for businesses across industries, and when done right, are sure to help your Instagram thrive.
Instagram Marketing Tips
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1. Optimize Your Profile
First, you should make sure that your Instagram account is set to a business profile. This not only lets Instagram know that your account is related to a business, but it also gives you access to Instagram Insights. Instagram provides useful information to business accounts, like impressions, audience demographics, and more.
Your account name and handle should match the name of your business. Consistent branding will make it clear who you are, and makes it easier for followers to find your brand.
Instagram bios are important as well – they are the first thing a new visitor will see. Use your 150 characters wisely, and convey clearly what your brand is, the products or services you provide, your location, and any other pertinent information.
Always use the link in your Instagram bio to link to an important page on your website. You can change this link at any time, but if you’re leaving the same link, make sure it goes to a money page or an important brand page.
2. Stay On Brand
Consistent branding is vital on social media and in real life. Always stay on brand when sharing content on social media. Consider what your brand is all about, its values, and brand voice.
Sticking to a brand image and voice will improve brand awareness and make your business more recognizable. Only share posts that are relevant to your business and within your brand’s aesthetic. Sharing irrelevant content will confuse followers and turn them off, so figure out what your brand aesthetic is and stick with it.
3. Consider Your Customer Personas
Businesses develop customer personas so that they know who they should target when marketing. Customer personas mean the type of customer you’re marketing to, including basic demographics like age, as well as interests and values that you expect your customers to have.
If you know who your target customer personas are, you can tailor your content to match their interests and values. This is similar to staying on brand, but with a focus on giving the customer what they want or expect from your brand. Consider who your customers are and share content on Instagram that appeals to them.
4. Use Hashtags
Hashtags are not to be overlooked. Using hashtags can help you reach a larger audience online. By finding and using the right hashtags, you can get your posts in front of Instagram users who are likely to be interested in your brand.
Look for hashtags relevant to your brand, industry, location, and more. Try to use a variety of small and large hashtags. Larger hashtags will help you reach a larger audience, but smaller hashtags will be more specific and less competitive, so you’re more likely to appear on Instagram Explore pages.
5. Target by Location
If your business operates within a certain geographic area, target those locations. Tag your photos with your location so that they can appear on Explore pages for that location. You can also use location-based hashtags to appeal to a local audience. Local followers will become your customers, so it’s vital to target them specifically.
6. Check Out Competitors
Look at competitor’s Instagram accounts and see what they’re doing. This can be helpful to find examples of things done right and things done wrong. Try to mimic successful posts or strategies of customers, and avoid making their mistakes.
You can also use competitors as a reference for what hashtags to use. If they have a better following than your business, it may be worthwhile to use some of their strategies. You can also target their followers, since it’s more likely than not that they’ll be interested in a similar business or brand.
7. Follow Other Accounts
If you want more followers, first you should follow others. Following potential followers may result in them following you back, especially if you target users who are likely to be interested. For real Instagram growth, you have to be proactive about finding followers.
Follow users who follower competitors, relevant hashtags, or within your location. There’s a good chance they’ll follow you back, and that’s one more follower.
8. Engage With Followers
Engage with the followers you already have to keep them interested and to improve your account in general. Engagement rate is an important factor in the Instagram algorithm, so the better your engagement the better your chance of growing your account.
Ask followers questions and look for feedback, either by asking a question in your caption or directly messaging them. Engaging with followers and customers will make them feel valued, which will in turn improve brand loyalty.
9. Use Instagram Stories
Instagram stories boast higher engagement for businesses and everyday users. Over 500 million Instagram users use stories daily, making them a great platform to improve your reach and share more content without blowing up your Instagram feed.
Tada, one of the trendiest app for pop up gamification on Shopify, recently published an article to guide you in the marketing process of your Instagram stories. Indeed, Instagram stories work differently than Instagram feed. Have you thought about how to measure the ROI for example?
Instagram stories are viewed as more informal, so take advantage of this feature. Share behind-the-scenes shots, insider info, or big reveals via Instagram stories to entice followers.
10. Focus on Content
The most important part of an Instagram account is the content. Focus on creating interesting, high quality, on-brand content. If you share great content, your Instagram accounts and business will grow over time. Always share high quality images or videos, and make sure they are true to your brand.
