Think about the last image or video you posted on your business’s Instagram account. Did you craft the content thoughtfully with a clear intention in mind?
Was it created based on your target audience’s interests? Or was it just a random post to fill the timeline? If you said yes in response to any of these questions, then brilliant! Having an Instagram marketing strategy in place to guide your posting efforts will ensure you see success and results from posting through Instagram.
As with any social media channel, Instagram marketing takes effort to drive results and to gain followers. With nearly a 4X higher engagement rate than any other social network, brands have a lot of opportunity to build communities among their mobile audiences, utilising Instagram as a key tool in order to help benefit their business, whether big or small. So let’s looks at why businesses should be using Instagram as a part of their marketing and learn how to captivate the right audience while driving more engagement across your company’s Instagram page.
- Post Consistently (But Not Too Often!)
Many brands will post 2-3 photos a day, DO NOT DO THIS! If people are bombared with your content on an hourly basis, you are actually more likely to lose followers than gain them. Although there is no “right” number, the recommended amount is between 2-3 posts a week.
Your posting cadence should align with your goals for this channel, so by posting 3 times a week, you can cover all aspects of marketing, being to sell, showcase and provide information. Of course, you can combine these segments and put them all into 1 or 2 posts, that is fine too.
The photos and videos you post should be story-driven, compelling visuals which have an effective message or clear meaning behind them. You can also publish images that show the behind-the-scenes life of your business. After all, customers are nosy and love this organic form of content. So don’t worry if the lighting isn’t exactly right or the centre image doesn’t line up, people love ‘real’ content!
Don’t forget that Instagram Stories allows for 15-second videos, too. Some brands have found creative ways around the time restriction, like breaking longer clips into multiple 15-second videos and posting them consecutively, such as reels.
- Offer Deals, Sales & Giveaways
It is no hidden secret that people are intrigued when they see products on sale. A lot of deals and giveaways on Instagram are community-driven and are often shared to meet the demands of the competition. Offer prizes to customers who take the best pictures of themselves with the product, or ask them to tag friends and share in order to have a chance of winning.
By sharing a special promo code to reward your followers for remaining loyal to your business, you are more likely to see returning customers to your business. They’ll be thankful for the deal and continue to follow your account for future perks.
- Harness the Power of Hashtags
The best way to start building an audience is to use common hashtags that are followed across Instagram. Not just one or two, either. You can opt for anywhere up to 30 hashtags per post to start growing awareness for your business.
By hashtagging industry terms and common words, you can quickly boost engagement and followers the organic way. Include hashtags that align with the content you’re sharing, and go for a mix of really popular tags and more niche-specific ones that directly correlate to your business.
Many people on Instagram often scroll through their ‘Explore’ page or through their followed hashtags, as this is content targeted for them. This will immediately get your post in front of a lot people, ensuring your post remains near the top of results for longer.
- Keep Your Profile Link Fresh (LinkTree)
The link in your bio is the best way to drive traffic from Instagram. This can be to a YouTube channel, online shop or a website landing page. A LinkTree is often used for Instagram as you can combine links together into an online folder, with each of them branching off to their own source. To add polish and improve engagement, many major brands use a custom branded domain in for all their LinkTree.
- Actively Engage With Your Followers
The most successful businesses on Instagram don’t just respond to comments and like others’ posts. They take it this one step further and actively engage with others. By engaging with posts related to your industry or brand, you can create outbound awareness.
It might take some time for your efforts to pay off, as everyone might not respond to messages or comments straight away, but you need to think of this as an opportunity to extend your brand’s voice and connect with potential customers.
For more tips on how to boost your Instagram marketing efforts, make sure you head over to our Instagram package service page, where you can see exactly the type of work we do here at Dynamic for businesses looking to utilise Instagram to take their business to the next level online. Click here to contact us today.