Instagram marketing may seem like a lot if you are new to this world. But don’t get overwhelmed. It takes some time to understand and fully use the unique features and strategies to become successful on Instagram, particularly if you are into e-commerce business marketing.
In the past few years, Instagram has evolved into one of the most well-reputed business platforms, giving tough competition to Facebook. Adopting new features at a lightning-fast rate, this platform has become a valuable asset for global brands and businesses. Not just that, its success has given birth to a whole new social media marketing/management industry that helps you buy Instagram likes and increase your engagement rate.
This starter guide is a fundamental outline of all the steps you need to know for Instagram marketing. Right from setting up your profile and creating highly engaging content to using various marketing features and evaluating your progress, this guide provides a deep insight into building a powerful Instagram marketing strategy, especially for beginners.
1. How to Optimize your Instagram Profile?
If you have been using Instagram for a while now, you must be familiar with some of the popular features of this platform. If not, then let’s start from the beginning! All Instagram accounts whether personal or business have three elements in common – the Username, Profile Picture, and Bio. Ideally, for business accounts, the username should be your brand/company’s name. Further, it should be consistent with the usernames on other social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and more.
Next, your profile picture should be a high-quality snap of your brand’s logo. Having a customized logo allows for easier recognition. Last, write a concise yet informative Bio that puts across the values/mission of your brand. Here, you can even incorporate a link to your landing page, website, or other social media URL. You can even add contact information to your business account for customer support. This enables the viewers to get more information about your brand.
2. What features are useful for Instagram Marketing?
Once you know how to set up your Instagram business account, let’s look at the popular features you can use for Instagram Marketing –
- Instagram posts – Posts are nothing but a piece of content that has photos, videos, or both. Use this feature to promote products or showcase brand collaborations. When you publish a post, you can write long captions, tag individuals/brands/products, and set a location. The more captivating your post is, the more engagement you will receive from the target audience.
- Instagram Stories – Stories are a unique feature that allows you to post an update that remains online for 24 hours only. Instagram Stories are more casual as compared to posts. You can use multiple stickers to interact with your audience in real-time, ask questions, get opinions, conduct polls, share behind-the-scenes, and more to stay connected with your audience.
- Highlights – These amazing features help to collect selective Instagram Stories and save them forever. Followers can view them whenever they visit your profile. Highlights act as a resource for your followers to find new updates, view products, and more.
- IGTV – This is a long-form video feature that allows you to post different video content up to one hour long. Most creators and brands use this feature to post teasers or snippets of their upcoming sale/project/product launch.
- Reels – Instagram Reels is the latest feature on the platform inspired by TikTok. It allows you to post short-form videos featuring new trends related to your niche.
- Instagram Shop – this wonderful feature allows users to shop from your inventory directly on Instagram. Add shopping tags on posts and shopping stickers to your stories which will allow your audience to make purchases within the application itself.
3. How to Build a Strong Instagram Strategy?
Now comes the fun part of creating a strong Instagram strategy. The first step of this process is to target the right audience. Look at your brand and think who will benefit the most from your products. Think of different content ideas that will attract the right audience. One of the biggest mistakes that many marketers make is to post evergreen content (a piece of content that is not specific to an event or campaign).
Social Media is a place where everything happens quickly, trends change daily and viewers want different content in every post. So, come up with ideas that make your brand stand out. Study your competitor’s page and see what type of posts are doing well.
Next, set a goal you want to achieve with your Instagram presence. Do you want to increase brand awareness, engagement rate, or product sales? This is where Instagram Insights play a huge role! Track your growth by looking at post impressions, reach and the number of visits to your profile/clicks on your Bio link. Look at the number of likes, comments, and shares you receive on each post. This will illustrate whether or not your posts and overall profile successfully generated interest in your brand.
After analyzing all the information, take action to strengthen your Instagram strategy. For example, if your goal is to increase brand awareness, highlight your company culture, values, and customer reviews. Share some industry–specific tips and tricks that will benefit your followers. Get help from social media marketing services to enhance your content, schedule posts in advance, and automate customer sales funnels. You can also get help from the best sites to buy Instagram Followers to increase the engagement rate on your profile.
4. How to grow your audience on Instagram?
After building a strong Instagram marketing strategy, it’s time to increase your following and hit the marketing goals. There are several ways to grow your audience on Instagram but let’s focus on the top five game-changing ways. First, post user-generated content as frequently as possible. Do not shy away from asking your followers to tag your brand in different posts or stories when reviewing your product. This one step will increase your reach incredibly.
Second, respond to the comments and personal messages in a timely and positive manner. Consumers love brands that are active and interact with them regularly. It increases brand reputation and provides a good customer experience. This way they will more likely come back to your website or recommend your products to other potential clients.
The third step is to collaborate with influencers in your niche. Instagram influencers are the doorway to reach highly engaged audiences who’ll be more likely interested in your brand and services. Partnering up with influencers makes brand promotions more authentic and genuine.
The next step to grow your audience is to use Instagram advertising. Instagram provides a wide range of ad templates, customization options, and insights on creating a powerful campaign for brand promotion. Choose your objectives, create your ad and reach millions of active users within a few seconds.
Last but not the least, buy Instagram followers online. This method has recently gained a lot of attention especially from beginners and small businesses who are looking to grow rapidly on the platform. Some of the websites like Viralyft, SocialRush, SocialPros, GetViral, and more are the best sites to buy Instagram followers. They are budget-friendly and 100% authentic. So, you don’t have to worry about any legal restrictions or bans. Influencers, global brands, and well-reputed e-commerce businesses buy Instagram followers to keep up with the competition.
Conclusion
Instagram has become one of the major e-commerce business platforms that every digital marketer should use. Whether small or large, local or international, it offers tons of opportunities to every type of business. If you are looking for a smart way to grow and make a mark in your industry, then Instagram is the best place to start. Follow the above guidelines to optimize your profile, create an amazing marketing strategy and increase your following. From familiarizing yourself with the game-changing features of Instagram to strategizing every move, these guidelines will help you move forward and boost your Instagram visibility.