The new age social media marketing has gone far beyond Facebook and Twitter. Businesses, nowadays, can simply not ignore Instagram, for the social networking app with 700 million monthly users has been proved to be an amazing platform to reach potential customers across the world.
While a large number of companies have already tried their luck at Instagram marketing, a larger number of businesses are yet to dive into it. Reason? It seems to be one of the biggest challenges ever to increase the number of followers and get them engaged steadily and consistently on Instagram. Well, let us help you go strategic and grow seamlessly.
Whether you are struggling with success or are planning to join the bandwagon, these 7 tips will make your journey smoother. Here we go:
Being a photo sharing app, Instagram offers a lot of opportunities to businesses for igniting engagement with their target audience by using their creativity. Posting a creative image with the right message is always a smarter and more effective move than putting up a direct advertisement.
A bright image can fetch almost 592% more likes than a darker one, so start with making your images bright and appealing. Stick to muted palettes as hues like blues, greens, and grays always drive maximum engagement. Find the most suitable filter to create and maintain your brand image. Pay attention to the size of your image as a high-quality photo can stand out in a feed of an Instagrammer only if it displays perfectly on his/her device. Once you are sure that your image is not going to get cutoff, add a witty caption to it. Apart from a call-to-action, an Instagram post can also be spiced up by including some benefits, useful tips, a touch of humor, or even emojis.
Though ‘Instagram for Business’ is a relatively new roll out from the social networking app, it offers a whole lot of free tools that can be highly beneficial for marketing. A business profile in Instagram is almost similar to a business profils in Facebook. You can take advantage of features like ‘contact’ (‘call-to-action’ facilities including sending emails, calling, or texting), ‘insights’ (analytics data related to impression and engagement), etc. and improve engagement by making adjustments according to how your users are interacting with your content.
Cross-promoting your Instagram posts can give a boost to your marketing efforts by increasing your number of followers significantly. The idea is pretty simple! If your business is on other social channels, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc., you need to post across all over those profiles in order to bring followers, who have already been loving your brand there, to your Instagram page. Basically, cross promotion keeps your followers socially connected with your brand and increases your reach per post. However, make sure that you invite your followers to check out your profile on Instagram and follow you only occasionally without getting spammy.
Though it is crucial to post frequently on Instagram in order to stay relevant to your audience, avoid being in their face always so that you do not end up losing your followers. Start with twice daily and keep experimenting in order to figure out the ‘sweet spot’ i.e. the best times of the day when your audience engages with your posts the most. The goal is to get maximum responses from your audience without making them overwhelmed. According to experts, the ideal times to post on Instagram are 8-9 a.m. in the morning and 5-6 p.m. in the evening from Monday to Saturday.
Hashtags are one of the most powerful tools exercised for increasing brand exposure as well as amplifying instant social media engagement. It has been found that an Instagram post with at least one relevant hashtag can lead to almost 12.6% more engagement than compared to a post with no hashtag. However, when it comes to Instagram marketing, those should be made interactive and used the correct way. Even though an Instagram post can contain as many as 30 hashtags, keep it in between 5 and 10 or you might look spammy. You can also ‘hide’ some of those hashtags simply by using 4-5 periods (one on a line) before them. Also, add your own branding hashtag to each of your posts for maximum recognition.
There are times when businesses find it challenging to come up with relevant posts in sufficient amounts. In such situations, content repurposing can help you meet the requirements and expectations of your followers while upholding the repute of your Instagram page. Find a suitable app to download and save images from other relevant accounts, which can be reposted later in an easy and hassle-free manner. Also, never forget to tag and mention the original profile in your post as giving credit to the actual source of content often turns out to be beneficial, for they may also return the favor by repurposing your content.
Engagement is the key to a successful Instagram marketing initiative. It might sound like a tedious job, but you should respond to each and every comment on your posts positively. Make it a point to respond to your followers fast in a helpful manner or at least thank them in order to let them know that they actually matter to you and you really care about them. While responding, address them by their first names to make them feel acknowledged. Such simple interactions and small gestures can spark tremendous growth by creating a loyal customer base and promoting the brand to a large extent.
The power of visuals is enormous. All you need to do is learn the right way to use them to your advantage. If followed religiously, these simple tactics can boost your Instagram engagement almost 10 times! So, start right away and skyrocket your Instagram marketing!
