What is Instagram Marketing?
Instagram is a breathing space for selfies, travel snaps and mealtime pictures. Instagram Marketing has become an increasingly important part of brands’ marketing strategies.
Instagram Marketing is a space where big brands, small businesses, and consumers are all in the same position, with the same opportunity to create a page, gain followers and connect.
Instagram Marketing has quickly become one of the best marketing channels for e-commerce merchants. Instagram Marketing has proven to be a powerful marketing tool for businesses looking to expand their presence and the visibility of their products.
Today, the majority of companies use Instagram marketing as a brand building exercise to increase loyalty.
A brand can use Instagram marketing to increase a connection and showcase a product through its own page, through the use of influencers and paid advertising.
Instagram Marketing allows brands to include product information and price as well as the option to click through to buy.
It enables brands and businesses to tag up to five products in organic posts, which customers can then tap on to find out more information and make a purchase.
# Switch to Business Account – The business account allows you to display additional information such as a contact button, and some handy analysis tools.
You’ll be required to link your business account to the official Facebook page to be associated. You can share Instagram posts via Facebook. In Instagram marketing, the benefits of business account as:-
- You can verify your account as a business, which makes it easier for audiences to contact you.
- You have access to more in-depth analytics and insights.
- It makes the process of promoting content easier and more effective.
Types of Instagram Marketing Advertising –
# Photo – Instagram is first and foremost a photo sharing platform. There are two different sizes of Instagram photos:-
- The first is the traditional photo format that has been a part of the platform since it first launched. It’s the square size with 1080X1080 for the highest resolution.
- It’s another traditional photo size that is elongated with the size of 1080X556 for optimum resolution.
# Integrated Albums – It allows you to upload a maximum of 10 photos to one post that their followers can then scroll through and see. It allows you to expand on a story as well as showcase different angles of a product.
# Video – It’s another form of Instagram content that is steadily growing popularity. Dimensions are the same for photos and video. You can upload only 60 seconds of video at a time.
# Storytelling – Storytelling content is content that takes your readers from point A to point B by giving your product or character an identity that they can relate to. There are three major points you need to bring across:-
# Focus on a Journey – You story needs to focus on characters or a journey that they are going on.
# Set High Stakes – You should make your audience relate to the outcome of your story. When they imagine themselves in your story, then they’re more likely to follow it through to the end.
# Give Satisfying Answer – You should answer the questions which introduced at the beginning of the post.
Instagram Marketing seems like a simple brand building tool. Its provide brands an opportunity to build loyalty and increase customers.
Instagram Marketing Plan Define –
# Goals – It might be to increase brand awareness, increased product sales or website traffic, etc.
# Demographics – Age, location, job, when and how they use Instagram, etc.
# Story Telling – You can share with the audiences that how you made a product. You can humanize your brand by sharing an employee’s story. You can show the pinpoints by showcasing that changed the lifestyle or achievements of your customers.
# Brand Imagination – You can maintain a consistent brand personality, visual look, and story. You should have easily identifiable and relatable posts.
Advantages of Instagram Marketing –
# A brand with a Face – Instagram is a visual platform to aid you to form a personal connection with consumers.
You can easily share videos and pictures of your happy customers and your team to engage the audience. It’ll reflect the uniqueness of your brand and differentiates your business.
# Boost your Sale – You can use this platform to update your users about special promotions and sales. If you are going to launch a new product/service, you can use Instagram to give a quick look into the latest offerings.
# Interesting Story Telling – Instagram stories are made to boost audience engagement. Instagram stories can be used to offer discounts and running a flash sale. It’s one of the most important Instagram tips.
# Increasing Users – There are over 500 million daily users on this platform. Your business has no limit to success if you can reach with a dedicated Instagram marketing strategy.
# Fit into Every Size – Instagram is fit to every large, well-known company as well as smaller and pop shops and one-man operation businesses.
Every company needs to do keep an active presence and maintaining a routine of at least one post per day to get their organization on the map.
# Shopping Posts – Instagram marketing platform has the latest program i.e. shoppable posts. It allows businesses to add tags to the products in their photos with links.
Here, you can add a product description, price and the ability to show which will lead the user to your online store.
# Business Stories – Instagram stories features allow you to share photos and videos with your followers. Stories are expired after 24 hours after posting.
You can add stories to your profile as permanent highlights. Instagram users can access your stories by clicking on your profile picture which will be outlined in a bright orange to indicate that your profile has an active story.
You can make an impression with live posts and stories. Your stories will display at the top of your followers’ Instagram feed.
The best way to use life stories is to show behind-the-scenes insights into your company and the people who work there.
You can add videos that show how products are made, videos of office employees interacting with each other. You can put live Q&A sessions between you and your audience.
Instagram live posts are a great way to build rapport, trust, and credibility with followers. It shows that there’s a human side to your business.
##### Instagram Stories are Beating Snapchat – Instagram stories are out-performing Snapchat on every level. The top influencers using Snapchat are now posting on Instagram stories twice as much as they are on Snapchat.
##### Perfect Storytelling Platform – It gives businesses a way to convey a message and have conversations in a more casual manner.
The companies can post about the incredible stories of the people’s that changed their lives by using products or services.
##### Prepare Less and Publish More – Posting content in bulk throughout the day may get you flagged as a spammer.
Stories are designed for continuous watching and consumption, so the posting more content is better. Instagram users are more forgiving with stories and brands.
They don’t expect the polished, super calculated shots that show up in a beautifully composed profile.
##### Business can go Live – Live video marketing is a growing trend and consumers are increasingly attracted to live streams.
The success of Instagram stories has been due to live-streaming ability. It allows brands to live stream events, host Q&A sessions.
##### Drive Traffic and Engagement – Instagram users with over 10k followers unlock additional stories features including the ability to link to profiles and add external links to each story post.
Stories can connect on a more personal level with your followers and drive traffic to specific web pages like a blog post, articles or shopping cart through a swipe up feature.
# Partner with Influencers – Influencers are online celebrities who will promote a brand or product and take it into the mainstream.
An influencer can bring your company’s sales to a whole other level through increased return on investment (ROI) and access to demographics.
They can spread the word of your brand or product to millions of followers with just a few posts. Influencers are key to keeping production levels up when consumers are demanding more and more content.
Social media is so content hungry which means it’s hard to create enough content and also keeping it high quality.
Many brands focus solely on working with influencers and building their profile page and it’s important to combine this with paid advertising.
# User-Engagement – Instagram is a platform to like, comment and share for their favorite posts. Your brand becomes more visible when you get more likes and comments.
You can get more likes and comments using high-quality photos, local hashtags and partnering with other brands.
# Mobile is King – Instagram was created to be an app from the start. You can take advantage of this and make your posts accessible to viewers wherever they go via Instagram.
Smartphones users tend to turn to Instagram because it’s a cleaner style.
Instagram Marketing Drive Huge Traffic:–
Your Instagram followers are not there to purchase from you, not at first. They prefer those brands that don’t promote and sell their products/services consistently.
You can make your followers to become brand advocates. You can show them that you know what they are talking about and be ready to share your knowledge with them.
Responding to their comments is the best way to start the process. You can even hold contests, other events, and promotions. You can Instagram pods to increase engagement.
# What you need to focus on – It’s important to focus on several vital things. You can focus on a few points:-
- Consider paid ads
- Understand what drives your business
- Grow your profit or number of followers
# Mistakes of Instagram Marketing – Always avoid a few mistakes as:-
- Using an incomplete bio
- Not responding to followers
- Under posting or over posting
- Posing repetitive or boring content
- Posting poor-quality or random images
- Setting an Instagram account to private
# Instagram Marketing Strategies – You should consider a few important marketing strategies:-
- Hashtags are important to use
- Optimize your profile completely
- Follow people
- Post engaging photos and videos
- Be a part of an Instagram community
- Use the right Instagram marketing tools that will help in streamlining your efforts.
Instagram Marketing Works for B2B:–
# Align Instagram Marketing with Your B2B Strategy – You need to take a more strategic approach rather than repackaging your Facebook or Twitter content and pushing it to Instagram.
You can consider a few tactics as:-
##### Reveal Company Culture – The key to humanizing your brand is sharing a raw, authentic, and informal glimpse into your company.
You can take your audience behind the scenes, inside your offices with employee spirit, mission, and values. Always remember, buyer want to buy from people they like, and potential candidates want to work with people they like.
##### Share Customer Stories – Every customer story isn’t made to be shared on Instagram. You can choose ones with a true visual impact, whether it’s through images or videos.
##### Tap into Employee Advocacy – Your Company shouldn’t be the only one sharing content. You may find that many of your employees are happily posting about their company to Instagram.
You can equip them with ready-made content or simply re-post their content to the corporate account. Many B2B brands are programming pictures of their team members, partners, and communities.
##### Break Down Products – Instagram is a visual-first medium that can be used to explain the value of your products or services without words.
You can create infographics, demo videos or simply show your products in an artistic way to highlight your main value propositions.
##### Engage with Followers – Instagram isn’t a one way televise network, you can have a conversation with your audience.
You can encourage your customers, employees, and followers by creating a brand hashtag to share things about you and get a conversation started.
##### Use Inspirational Quotes – You can create visual image quotes to diversify your content and inspire audiences. There are free tools which provide you ready-made templates and you just need to insert the quote.
# Leverage Instagram Marketing Business Features – Instagram algorithm reserved most of the content for you uploaded by your friends and family.
It’s like Facebook photos and videos according to what Instagram thinks you care about most. The rise in B2B marketers concerned about the potential decline in reach.
Instagram Business accounts offer greater opportunities for b2B marketers to engage their audience and see a real ROI for Instagram. Instagram has a few most and newest useful features as:-
##### Advanced Profile Settings – Instagram poses a light barrier to lead generations due to the inability to include links in posts.
It means B2B marketers must think out of the box when crafting calls to action. Instagram also released the options to include a # or @ in your bio which become live links that lead to a hashtag page or another profile.
##### Story Highlights – It allows you to pin a story you love to the top of your profile page. It’s a way to group images or videos with a common theme, like Culture, Customers or Product.
##### Automated Posts – Instagram recently opened its Content Publishing API to allow third-party applications to automate Instagram posts for business profile only.
It allows you to manage, plan, and schedule posts the same way you have always been able to across Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
##### Instagram Advertising – Instagram is adding features tailored to businesses mainly to increase ad revenue. Instagram Ads offer a truly flawless way to target specific niches within your audience.
# Promote Instagram Profile on other social network platforms – The key to getting more followers is to make your Instagram profile easy to discover.
You can share your profile on other networking websites like Facebook and Twitter.
# Use Relevant Hashtags – You should use relevant hashtags to make your content or posts easily discoverable by people.
You should find and use the popular hashtags related to your brand, industry, product or service. You can also create your own unique hashtags and encourage people to use it to tag posts related to your brand.
You should avoid too many hashtags and use of gimmicks hashtags. There are three types of hashtags that can be used to make your content searchable:-
# Industry – Industry hashtags are ones that numerous people who belong to one specific group are using to identify their content.
# Trending – Trending hashtags are ones that occur during certain events, holidays, premieres anything that has a shorter lifespan of being in the limelight.
# Company – Company hashtags are ones that identify everything from major corporations to mom and pop shops on Instagram.
Tools & Hashtags Strategy for Instagram Marketing –
# Tag Blender – It displays popular hashtags in multiple categories, including art, fashion, food, and sports. It’s a great starting point to find content in your industry.
# HashTagsForLikes – It also displays popular hashtags in different categories.
# All Hashtag – If you have a list of basic hashtags, you can use this search tool to find related hashtags.
# Display Purposes – It allows you to find hashtags related to multiple topics.
# Instagram – In the results, Instagram displays related hashtags.
# Follows other Relevant Users – You should follow other users because it’s one of the most guaranteed ways of getting more followers.
When you follow someone and with meaningful posts relevant to the interest of the other party, then he may follow you in return.
# Post Consistently – It’s very important to post daily to retain the current followers and keep them engaged. It’s an added benefit of exposing you to a larger audience.
You current followers may comment or maybe even share your post with their followers.
# Use Instagram Ads – Instagram ads are a powerful tool to reach many people quickly by getting your content in front of people who might have completely missed it.
You need to target your audiences correctly by location, demographics, behavior, and interests, etc.
Important Tips for Instagram Marketing –
Instagram has become a great marketing platform for business and you can establish engagement with the right marketing tactics.
The social media platform has become part and parcel of our daily life. You can follow these incredible tips for your marketing campaign in the online business:-
# Concrete Marketing Plan – You should come up with a definite purpose; a clear understanding of your goal and objectives for the marketing plan.
You should have answers related to marketing campaign such as the frequency of your posts with original post content, types of images or photos to post, your target audience.
Then you can plan effectively with enough resources to launch the marketing plan.
# Fix Measurable Goal – Your primary goal is to develop an interest in target users within a specified period. Then a predefined and measurable goal helps to achieve the target within the stipulated time.
It’ll be easy for you to prioritize the campaign activities and make necessary improvements based on the engagements.
# Identify Target Audiences – It’s very important to identify the right audience of your business for a successful marketing campaign.
You should carry out market research to identify the audience for your business. You must develop content based on audiences’ interests to get maximum engagement and thereby business leads.
# Create Your Brand Story – Your marketing campaign should contain an impressive brand story for the targeted customers.
You should create unique and engaging content for your business and audience in every posting. You should bring in emotions to your posts to attract the audience.
# Organized Marketing Campaign – It’s necessary to organize and schedule the marketing campaign with a definite start and end date.
You should have an idea on how to schedule each campaign without delay. You can change the posting time, content types, images, and videos that bring up the overall performance of the campaign based on the performance.
# Right Time to Post – Every business has a specific set of audience depending on the products/services. You should plan the best time to post when the audience is active.
It’s beneficial for your business to post at the right time which brings more traffic and higher engagement.
# Call to Action – If a post contains call-to-action, it helps the followers to take action based on your requirement. You can link a call-to-action button for the website traffic.
# Run Various Contests – You can run a contest as a marketing tactic to get quickly higher engagement. It helps to bring excitement to your followers.
In the comment section, the participants have to like photos, follow an account or tag friend, etc in specific contests. Sweepstakes, giveaways, and photo contest are methods to bring the attention of the targeted audience.
Use & Benefits of Analytics in Instagram Marketing –
Instagram Marketing analytics tool will give you data on impressions for each post along with reach, engagement, top posts, and more.
You can also find demographic information about your followers including gender, age, and location. This data can help to identify areas where you can adjust a strategy to get more followers.
Instagram best marketing strategy is to include reviewing analytics thoroughly. It’ll give you an insight into what interests your audience the most.
Analytics Tools for Instagram Marketing –
# Social Insider – It’s a powerful Instagram analytics and reporting tool. It’s highly useful during the promotion of your brand and to track your results. You can compare profiles and download reports in any format.
# Storyheap – It helps you to manage Instagram stories by gaining insights on how it’s performing, including open rates, views, engagement, etc.
It interacts with the Instagram platform through their interfaces and doesn’t violate Instagram terms of service.
# Social Insight – It’s an amazing marketing tool to measure your Instagram advertising results. It allows you to control your engagement, follower growth, interactions and much more.
It allows you to link various accounts and easily change from one to another and managing several accounts.
# Crowdfire – This free tool has everything. You can use the desktop version or an app for iOS or Android. You can easily manage your followers with many options:-
- It automatically unfollows the users who don’t follow you.
- It can copy followers from a different account
- You can see a list of your followers
- You can view your new followers and people who unfollowed you.
# SocialRank – This tool has three features:-
- Identify – You can access all your followers’ profile.
- Organize – You can organize all your followers according to different filters after import.
- Manage – You can create personalized lists, save them on SocialRank or in CSV format and export them to Twitter.
Conclusion – Instagram Marketing doesn’t demand a massive budget. Instagram has proven itself to be one of the best marketing channels for brands. The visual nature and the high engagement of this platform make it a prime channel to add to your marketing mix.