Over a billion people log into Instagram every month. 80% of Instagram users follow a business and 200 million users visit a business profile almost daily. The advertising potential of Instagram is currently slated to reach nearly 849 million users. And over 75% of businesses agree that Instagram is their go-to channel in 2020. The platform can become an aggressive marketing contributor for a business when its potential is leveraged strategically. The features present immense outreach opportunities and almost all your competitors are joining the field.
Here are the top tips for you to create the perfect Instagram marketing strategy. Start now and grow big.
Daily Post
You need to have enough content in your arsenal to post daily in your Instagram account. Any lapse and your customers will go to your competitor brand who are doing things right. Statistics show that Instagram users are most active during the weekday in between their office hours and that is when you should target to send out a post daily.
1. Tone down the promotional content
Too many promotional posts gather 57% negative responses from Instagram users. 46% agree that they unfollow a brand instantly if all the posts are promotional. Sure, you will want to market your product on Instagram to generate sales but remember that it is not the only way. Customers stay with you on this platform because they want to stay engaged.
2. Keep it personal
One way of driving engagement is to show your users that you are not faceless entities. Post images of your employees at work, brainstorming sessions, packing and delivering warehouses and success parties. When customers connect with you at a human level, they are more likely to buy from you when the need arises.
3. Use hashtags
Instagram now allows its users to follow hashtags just like profiles. Using hashtags in your caption will make that post to appear for all users who followed the hashtag but might not be your current followers. Add the popular and relevant ones. Create your own brand-specific hashtag and make that go viral.
4. Tap into stories
The story feature is a quick way to say a lot. Previously, stories used to disappear after 24 hours. But now you can add the important and engaging ones as your highlights and save them in your profile. Post both pictures and videos in your stories and engage your customers with comment, polls, scroll up and response features.
5. Give away
Giveaways and prizes are excellent ways to drive more followers. Ask your users to like, follow and tag on your giveaway post in the hope to win a free product. Create FOMO by stating a deadline and space out the offers at least by a month. Not only will you have your word spread but also get your product out in the market.
6. Allow users to generate content
Post a raving question in your story and ask your users to answer it. Then, share the top responses in your story only or create a post with the best one. User Generated Content or UGC is a best digital marketing tactic that most top brands use to tackle the lack-of-ideas problem. Here, your customers help you to post daily.
7. Run Instagram ads
Similar to Facebook, you can create targeted Instagram ads as well. Select demographics, age group, timespan and gender to promote one of your posts as an advertisement in user feeds. No matter what your reach is currently, you need to run ads to continuously create outreach. There is no scope of any slack. Instagram gives you options of story ads, carousel ads and video ads. Story ads pop up in between Instagram Stories from the accounts people follow. They usually provide a positive experience to prospective customers.
8. Generate familiarity
Post about the same product more than once. 60% of social media shoppers have said that they buy those products that they see 2-4 times on their feeds. Of course, you cannot repeat images with narrow windows but post the product from different angles or setting to create familiarity among consumers.
9. Use Influencers
Last but one of the most vital tips is to use Influencers. Instagram Influencers are personalities with established audience on a niche. Their followers take their word quite seriously. They exist in every industry, from fashion to tech to finance. That is why increasingly brands are turning to influencers to promote their products. But take care that the influencers don’t make things too obvious. Consumers don’t like being blatantly sold to. The content needs to be interesting and attractive and at the same time compatible with the influencer’s usual content. If you cannot afford celebrity influencers the best thing is use local micro-influencers. They not only resonate with the local audience better but are more relatable too.
10. Utilize Instagram Live
As the name suggests, Instagram Live allows you to engage your audience in a real time “live broadcast”. This feature works very well for live events or for streaming in any vital piece of information. The best thing about Instagram Live is that your story will show up in your followers’ Story feed, and they also get a notification that about the live event when they open the app.
But remember not to use this feature unless you have some great content to share or else users will soon stop opening your live sessions.
In the recent times, Instagram has given brands some great results. As on January 2020 there are more than 25 million business accounts on Instagram, and you need to stand out among them. It’s very important to have a robust Instagram marketing strategy that aligns with your business goals.
Instagram Statistics :
- Instagram generated $20 billion in ad revenue in 2019.
- Instagram has 2 Million+ monthly advertisers and 25 Million+ business profiles.
- 200 million+ Instagrammers visit a minimum of one business profile daily.
- 70% shopping buffs turn to Instagram for product discovery.
- 1/3 of the highest viewed stories are from businesses accounts.
- 89% marketers revealed that Instagram was one of the most important social media channel for influencer marketing.
- There are 500,000 active influencers on Instagram.
- Instagram explore page is viewed by 200 million accounts each day.
- Instagram has 56.3% of Females and 43.7% are male users
- Six out of ten online adults have Instagram accounts and 72% of teens use Instagram.
