Social Media Marketing is all over the internet and if your business is not social, you are nowhere!
Instagram is a popular social media site and Instagram marketing for business is becoming immensely popular.
It has a whopping 1 billion accounts logging in posting, liking and commenting on images every month.
Have a look at some of the interesting Instagram statistics.
There are 500 million active users every day
There are over 8 million business accounts
80% of the app’s user base is outside the USA
Brand follower growth increases from 6% to 8% every month
7 out of 10 Hashtags are branded
Having at least one Hashtag will help you get 12.6% more engagement
Approximately 60% of the users heard about a product on Instagram
30% of users bought products they discovered on Instagram
What does all this tell you? If you are not on Instagram, your competitors are.
Those of you who already have an Instagram business account is on the right track but simply having an account will do you no good.
Here, we have listed 10 Instagram marketing tips and strategies that you can apply to your marketing plan.
1. Increase your Instagram Followers
The first step to a successful Instagram strategy is to grow your follower base.
Without followers, your posts won’t be seen and it won’t be easy to generate sales without followers.
What you can do?
You can start by sending out messages to your email subscribers. However, make sure that you offer them some incentive to follow you. For instance, you can let your subscribers know that you are offering frequent discounts and promotions on Instagram. Be sure to follow through with the promise if you use this strategy.
Additionally, you may also have an Instagram badge on your website and use other social media channels to promote your Instagram profile.
Another great way to get more followers is to follow other people. However, make sure to follow only genuine people. As you find more followers with your target audience, you will be able to generate new leads and sales.
In short, make sure that when users see your profile, they don’t have any questions.
Read More: Why Instagram is today’s phenomenon?
2. Create a Great First Impression
As a marketer, you need to understand that the "first impressions” may be the last impression in the digital world. Therefore, you must make sure to have some irresistible content on your page.
Your page should let the user know who you are within a few seconds.
Your brand logo is most recognizable and you must use it as your profile picture.
Simply put, if your Instagram page fails to grab the attention of the users, you won’t get many followers.
Try to keep everything short, concise and professional. That way you will have a greater opportunity to promote your products and increase your sales.
Have a look at the Dollar Shave Club Instagram page.
3. Instagram Videos
Video content is highly popular and shared around social media and Instagram is no exception.
Thanks to third-party apps, Vine-style looping videos, and timelapse videos are very popular on Instagram. Moreover, Instagram videos need not be similar to traditional commercial videos.
You can create videos using a smartphone.
Additionally, you can post live videos to connect with your audience in real-time. Users love it and you can take advantage of the information they provide. Users can comment while you broadcast.
You could demonstrate new products, introduce some of your employees or host a Q & A segment to build a more authentic connection with your audience.
Another way to use Instagram live story is to collaborate with other brands. You can try to feature on the live broadcast of another profile while promoting and Increasing your Brand Awareness. This strategy will help you expose your brand to a new audience, increase followers and eventually drive more sales.
Read More: Top 10 Free Instagram templates for your Stories
4. Instagram Post Frequency and Timing
When and how you publish your content matters if you want to keep your audience engaged. The timing of your posts also impacts how your followers are to see them.
Most brands prefer to post daily. However, make sure that you do not sacrifice quality over quantity.
Have a look at how the timing of your posts impacts your followers.
(Source: SproutSocial)
5. Don’t over-promote your Products
There’s no denying that you need to post daily and consistently if you want to increase your followers and drive sales. However, that doesn’t mean that all your posts have to be a product promotion. Posting too many promotional posts can go wrong and annoy your followers. Try to post-mix content.
Post pictures of your employees or some celebration in your company without straying from your brand image. However, while trying to post mixed posts, do make sure that you stay away from any controversial topic. Offending your followers will not only hurt their sentiments but also cause your sales to drop.
Whenever you have to post a promotion, make sure that you do keep it very casual without too many words in capital form or quotation marks and star marks around everything. Also, keep it short and to the point.
6. Partner with Instagram Influencers
Partnering with social influencers to promote your brand, products, and services can be an effective tactic. Approximately 94% of marketers have stated that their influencer strategy proved to be effective for their brand.
One of the main reasons for the success of influencer strategy is because their followers trust them.
Interestingly, about 82% of people follow recommendations made by these influencers while 94% of the consumers believe them to be highly knowledgeable.
Instagram is a great Social Media platform for influencers across the globe and if you can get an influencer to promote your brand, you can get sales too.
7. Use Hashtags in your captions
Captions are important and so are Hashtags. You can either use existing hashtags or create your own hashtag. You may use a hashtag with your brand name or with the name of your campaign.
You will have to learn to write Instagram captions that drive engagement.
If you run contests on Instagram, you can have a unique hashtag for each contest.
Read More: New features on Instagram to look forward to in 2020!
8. Respond to your Followers
Although this may sound like a tedious task, you have to make sure that you respond to your followers' comments and messages on Instagram.
By replying to them, you will make your brand more human which will surely go a long way.
It is important to understand how your followers feel about your brand if people are asking questions or raising complaints about your products. Try to respond to these comments at the earliest and resolve any issues.
This will also help your potential customers who see your responses and understand that you value your customers.
If you want to increase your sales, you will have to communicate with your consumers effectively.
Conclusion
You can’t rely only on your website to sell products. You will have to leverage other distribution channels as well.
Instagram with its huge mix demographics provides the right platform and is growing at a rapid rate which makes sense for businesses to use it to your advantage to drive sales. Use the above-mentioned Instagram marketing techniques to elevate your Instagram presence and boost your sales.