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How to Utilize Instagram As a Marketing Tool

In the current landscape of social media marketing, Instagram is the new gamechanger. Last year, IG announced it eclipsed 1 billion active monthly users as its meteoric rise over Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat continues to take shape, offering marketers with the perfect platform to reach wide audiences quickly and consistently through creative user-generated content.
If you’re targeting the millennial generation, know this: 64 percent of 18 to 29 year-olds are on Instagram. Older? Well, 40 percent of all 30 to 49 year-olds are on it too. Utilizing IG in your marketing strategy is a no-brainer to help increase sales, develop brand awareness, boost online traffic, grow social media followings and enhance customer satisfaction, all from a single smartphone or tablet. Sounds intriguing, right?
Instagram Business Accounts First things first, it’s important for businesses to understand how to utilize Instagram’s marketing capabilities. IG allows established companies with 10,000-plus followers to create an Instagram Business Profile equipped with various features unavailable to those using regular personal accounts. With a business profile, users have more tools at their disposal to establish their brand through an in-depth analytics tracker called Instagram Insights that monitors audience demographics. With Instagram Insights, users can identify who their followers are, where they live, what times they’re active and how they engage with specific posts. They can monitor how many times their followers rewatched their IG story to gain insight on what content works and what doesn’t. Instagram Business Profiles also allow users to run targeted ad campaigns, post links in stories and display a “contact” button on their profile that can provide phone numbers, email accounts or addresses. Follow these steps to set up an Instagram Business Account.
Set Goals Through Performance Metrics An effective Instagram marketing strategy can’t be implemented without a sound understanding of attainable goals, which vary from business to business depending on industry, company size, audience and objectives. A good way to start is abiding by the SMART framework. Specific: Be precise about goals that benefit both your brand AND revenues. Measurable: Determine Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) like follower increases, likes, direct messages, story views and leads. Attainable: Are your goals realistic or slightly too ambitious? Relevant: Does your content coincide with your brand and image? Time-based: Identify the best times to post pictures and stories to engage high user volumes. Performance metrics that indicate the success of an Instagram marketing strategy include engagement through likes and shares, conversion rates and costs-per-click (CPC) for paid advertising.
Remain Consistent with Voice and Posting Times Your followers are always watching! They’ll expect to see posts from your account on a regular basis, so knowing optimal times to post and remaining consistent with them is vital to marketing your identity to the largest audience base possible. It may be the 7-9 a.m. morning commute, the 11-1 p.m. lunchtime slot or 7-10 p.m. nighttime hours, but – regardless – Instagram Insights is perfect for tracking these tendencies. Don’t forget that your followers are probably not all living in the same time zone, either. Similar to posting times, consistency with your voice and tone allows businesses to effectively grow their brand. For user-generated content, establish the right personality fit – such as professional, casual or both intermixed – and stick to it. Know the right way to use hashtags without overdoing it, and even implement a few emojis here and there to spice up your content.
Content is Key You can have the most proactive Instagram marketing strategy in the world, but it won’t get you anywhere if your content isn’t on point. Followers enjoy visually-pleasing aesthetic and captions that are either creative, informative, thought-provoking – or a combination of all three. If you don’t already, consider learning the ins and outs on how to take amazing photos, how to edit them properly with filters and, last but not least, how to enhance them with uniquely authentic captions. It doesn’t stop with photos, though. Over 400 million users peruse Instagram stories every day. By providing the ability to intertwine location tags, text, emojis, music and dynamic filters with their videos and photos, Instagram stories, which disappear after 24 hours, are an ideal tool for businesses to use their content as a form of – yep, you guessed it – storytelling. Ready, Set ... Go In conclusion, it’s easy to see why businesses should view Instagram as a gold mine of social media marketing possibilities. With an optimal strategy in place, the opportunity to achieve both short-term and long-term growth, increased brand awareness, and overall sustained success is right there for the taking. What are you waiting for?