Instagram is counted as one of the fastest-growing social media platforms to ever exist. The fact that the user base has skyrocketed to over 1 billion indicates why many businesses are keen to jump on the Instagram marketing bandwagon and want to develop a marketing strategy that is focused on Instagram.
But get one thing straight: getting your Instagram marketing strategy right is no walk in the park. You must learn the ins and outs of the platform to create a strategy that ushers in conversions and engagements.
The good news is that this guide will take you through the dynamics of a good Instagram marketing strategy in an actionable and precise way.
Instagram is the second most accessed network after Facebook. In fact, the popular visual-first-based social media website sees over one billion active monthly users and 500 million daily Instagram Stories.
While videos and photos are great content for an Instagram marketing strategy, the content that you post and how often you post is what really decides the number of followers a brand has on social media.
Some Facts About Instagram and Marketing
1. 71% of businesses in the U.S. use Instagram as a means to advertise their product
2. 90% of Instagram users follow a business. And out of that percentage, 84% of the users have found a new product through ads on Instagram
3. Almost 45% of Instagram’s users are between the age of 18 and 44. The largest age group is 18–34 years old, consisting of 62.2% of all users.
4. The number of Instagram users is increasing at a very fast rate. As of January 2022, the United States had 159.75 million Instagram users.
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What Is Instagram Marketing?
Instagram marketing is a type of social media marketing that allows brands to use Instagram to connect with their target audiences and market their offerings. The content that you post in the form of photos, videos, reels, and how often you post determines the number of followers a brand has. Additionally, it makes brands more visible, increases brand awareness, and boosts sales.
Now, let’s dive into some of the ways through which you can improve your Instagram marketing strategy.
7 Best Ways to Improve Your Instagram Marketing Strategy?
1. Stick to a Product-focused Calendar
The first thing that comes to your mind while creating an effective Instagram marketing strategy is what to post. Product-related posts are among the most popular types of content on Instagram.
Posting bland images of products is not the right way for brands to promote their products. Instead, they should highlight them in a more organized manner. And beyond photos, videos should also be part of your Instagram marketing strategy. Eye-catching and entertaining, anything from mini-commercials to loop-able, boomerang-style product videos are fair game. After all, it’s the wave of short-form videos.
2. Utilize the Right Hashtags
Instagram and hashtags are inseparable. With the right hashtags, you can expand your reach, get more engagement, and attract more followers on Instagram. Moreover, in order to reach out to a wider audience, you should always use the top Instagram hashtags that are relevant to your audience and industry.
For example, a brand-specific hashtag is a must-have for eCommerce brands. You should look at what hashtags your audience, competitors, and industry leaders are already using on Instagram. The narrower the scope of the hashtag, the more engaged the users tend to be.
3. Promote User-generated Content
It is no secret that user-generated content (UGC) is the key to Instagram marketing success. It helps you get images and videos to post without lifting a finger.
Moreover, user-generated content has a positive effect on Instagram promotions. It increases conversion rate by 4.5%, boosts engagement, and improves cost-per-click metrics and click-through rates for paid advertisements.
This is because user-generated content works just like word-of-mouth and social proof. Besides, people are more likely to believe in the recommendations of other customers than paid advertising. To get user-generated content for your account, encourage your audience to share their photos and videos with your branded hashtag. Keep the best pieces, but refrain from overusing UGC — it is better used alongside original branded content.
4. Create Quizzes & Polls on IG Stories
Data from Instagram shows that 62% of people have become more interested in a brand or product after seeing it on Instagram stories.
The use of stories can help you engage your customers with your brand and offering. Instagram stories are suitable for interactive content, such as quizzes and polls. In addition to that, they are also a format for posting comprehensive product reviews with shopping links. The cherry on top is that you can keep your stories forever. All you need to do is add them to a special section on your page called Highlights.
But how will you create interactive quizzes and polls for your Instagram audience? Outgrow has got you covered! Here’s a blog that lets you create interactive Instagram quizzes with Outgrow in just 5 minutes.
5. Promote Through IG Ads
Instagram advertising may not be as popular as Facebook advertising. However, with organic reach declining on Instagram, it might be a good idea to start investing in boosting Instagram posts to grow your following.
You don’t need to create complicated Instagram ads in the Facebook business manager. It’s as simple as creating an Instagram post and clicking the “promote” button once it’s posted. You can easily create your own audience or select the ‘similar audience’ option in the app by choosing an interest, age range, and gender you want to promote to.
Instagram’s ad platform offers eCommerce and retail brands a way to target specific audiences and scale promotions. Therefore, you can use your top-performing Instagram posts or products for your ads to make sure they perform well.
6. Collaborate With Influencers
Among marketers, 79% deem Instagram to be the preferred channel for influencer marketing.
A successful influencer marketing campaign requires an influencer whose audience resembles your own, otherwise, your marketing efforts will be wasted. People won’t show interest in your products or services. Also, The audience you work with should not have fake followers, and the followers should engage with the influencers you work with. This will help you get better engagement and increases conversions.
7. Listen to Your Audience
As your Instagram presence grows, you will find an increasing number of customers asking questions and offering suggestions.
And it’s a GOOD thing!
For example, you can use Instagram as a customer support channel to answer your followers’ questions and assist them in making a purchase.
This makes Instagram another platform for gathering feedback and understanding what people want from your brand. You can use these insights to improve your products and fine-tune your Instagram marketing strategy in general.
Some Instagram Marketing Best Practices
1. Create Trending Reels
Reels seem to be all you see these days when you open Instagram, and it’s for a good reason: They drive engagement.
A recent study found that reels are 22% more engaging than traditional videos.
Reels are an effective way to reach an audience beyond your current followers. Moreover, 50% of Instagram users find reels through the Explore page. Your videos can be featured on the Explore page to reach a whole new audience.
There may be some that don’t get many views, but what if one of yours gets viral? Eventually, it will all be worth it.
2. Utilize Interactive Features
If you are using Instagram stories for business or Instagram marketing, there are some interactive features you should take advantage of. Among them are location and hashtag stickers, which let you share location-based stories on the Explore page, and clickable links that direct followers to specific landing pages.
Additionally, Instagram stories let you tag other accounts, so you can drive traffic to your content. You can also increase engagement through paid partnership features, polls, quizzes, emoji sliders, and question stickers.
3. Use Fun Effects & Filters
Filters on Instagram are a type of Augmented Reality (AR) application that lets users interact with virtual objects in real-time. This feature is widely recognized by brands around the world owing to its innovative approach that enables them to engage with their audiences without making them feel bored.
Users of Instagram AR filters are more likely to share their stories with their friends when the filter is engaging and interactive enough. In return, their followers would be more likely to use and share the filter further. This cycle will go on to reach a wider audience than you can expect, all because of the interactive nature of Instagram filters.
Conclusion
A well-planned Instagram marketing strategy is everything you need to launch your business in the most engaging way.
So, if you are determined to take your business to Instagram, do some research and come up with some great Instagram marketing strategies.
To improve your content marketing efforts, try out Outgrow’s interactive content builder and create the most amazing and engaging content pieces. You can sign up for their free trial here.
