Instagram can be a great place to market your business. After all, it’s used by 25 percent of smartphone users and is the second most downloaded app out there.
The best thing about Instagram is that it allows potential clients to find you through the Explore feature. About 83 percent of users discover new businesses through the platform. If you aren’t already marketing on Instagram then it’s time to take it seriously.
Here’s how to market your business on Instagram:
Let Others Know About Your Business
The best way to let others know about your business is to ensure your profile speaks on your behalf. Start by choosing a clever profile pic. It should ideally be the logo of your business. Next, work on the bio and make sure to cover everything that’s of importance.
It might be a good idea to change your current profile to a business profile. The business profile comes with additional features such as the ability to run ads and a contact button for visitors to get in touch with you. Moreover, you’ll be able to access Insights, which will help you understand how your page is doing so you can plan accordingly.
Third-party tools such as Hashtag Engine can also prove to be beneficial. It offers performance tracking and covers a variety of elements including engagement rates and follower count.
Run Paid Ads
Instagram can be a great place to run online ads. Ad spend on Instagram is 23 percent higher than on Facebook and it houses more than 2 million advertisers. The platform has a reach of over 1.22 billion, which makes it a great option for all kinds of businesses to run ads.
You can start as low as $1 and choose your target audience based on location, gender, age, etc. The company offers analytics that’ll help you determine what works and what doesn’t. Consider A/B testing to try different ad types and make sure to keep an eye on the ROI.
Improve Your Hashtag Game
Hashtags are an important part of Instagram. They can help people find you and allow you to reach a larger number of people. Most posts on Instagram contain 3 or fewer hashtags, however, the right number is 11 or more. The platform supports up to 30 hashtags and we suggest that you use as many as you can.
Make sure to avoid typos when writing hashtags, only use relevant hashtags, and consider creating branded hashtags so more people can use them.
Know When to Tag People
Tagging helps people know what a post contains. You can tag not just other brand pages and users but also products. You will, however, have to convert your store into a shop before you can add products to your posts.
Also, encourage others to tag your brand when they post content that contains your products. This will help others find you. Also, it’s believed that brands that receive a lot of tags are more likely to appear in the Explore section, which can boost your reach and allow you to win more buyers.
Start a Contest or Giveaway
There are few marketing tactics as rewarding as giveaways and contests. First of all, let’s be clear that these two are not the same. A contest involves applicants putting in some effort and competing with each other. Winners are usually selected based on popularity, jury decision, or other such methods. On the other hand, a giveaway is usually random and is based on simple steps such as making a purchase, tagging someone, etc.
Contests have a very high conversion rate of around 34 percent. They can help you reach more people as nearly 63 percent of users are willing to share the promotion with others. Despite this, only 0.56 percent of Instagram posts are contests.
Create interesting contests that encourage people to share your post so you can reach more people. Many pages hold giveaways that require users to tag a specific number of people. You can also think of similar ideas and watch your business grow.
Upload Content that Works
At the end of the day, Instagram is a visual medium and you will succeed only if your content is appealing. Instagram allows users to post both photos and videos. You can even go live and get in touch with your followers. Don’t stick to a single type of content and make sure to keep your feed as attractive as you can.
Some brands even work on themes. The key lies in posting high quality content that’s relevant. Instagram is all about showing people. Do that by being creative and adding captions that are enticing and interesting. Remember that about 71.9 percent of posts on Instagram are photos, about 14.2 percent are videos, and nearly 13.9 percent are carousels.
How-to posts are the most popular on the platform. You can also post interviews, reviews, backstage videos, and episodic series. Find what works and gets people interested and stick to it.
Work with an Influencer
Influencer marketing has grown by leaps and bounds in the last few years and is now worth more than $13.8 billion. Instagram houses a large number of influencers and is the preferred social media platform for about 69 percent of businesses that use influencer marketing.
There are thousands of influencers out there. It’s important that you find someone who suits your business and offers you a good reach. Look for influencers with a decent following, an excellent image, and a proven record of helping brands find more followers or buyers.
Since influencer marketing is still a relatively new and growing industry, the rules are not set and there are no fixed budgets. Micro influencers, with fewer than 10K followers, usually charge less than $50 per post. Some may even post sponsored content on your behalf in exchange for free goods and services. However, large names with 100K or more followers can be very costly.
This is all you need to know about marketing your business on Instagram. Start by working on your profile and make sure it’s fully optimized. Next, create creative content, find popular influencers to work with, post ads, and use apps like Hashtag Engine for support.
