Instagram Marketing Tips for Business Success
In 2013, Instagram announced it had over 150 million users. Just 4 years later, Instagram has grown to 700 million monthly active users. That’s some incredible growth. From a marketing perspective, it’s a wonderful social network. It allows brands and businesses to build their identity via images AND it gives them a direct line of conversation with their audience.
Instagram Marketing Tips for Business Success
If you are looking to grow your business with Instagram, there are a few strategies you should implement to help you speed up your growth and see an ROI from your time and efforts.
1. USE VIDEOS, STORIES, AND LIVES
All three are great ways to give a less curated, more personal look at your brand or business. Those people who engage with this type of content are truly invested in what you have to say and are more likely to convert than those who merely like your photos. If you are going to begin to experiment with videos, make sure to combine them with post images. Here are a few ideas on how you can incorporate this type of content into your Instagram strategy:
- Behind the Scenes
- Coupons & Offers
- Product & Service Education – how does it work/how is it used
- Create DYIs
For example, the above video was found by using the #NYCPizza hashtag. Just four days after posting, the video had been viewed more than 1500 times. That’s a heck of a lot of people who are now aware of this business. That’s powerful.
DYK: a view on Instagram means a video has been watched for 3 seconds or more.
2. USE THE RIGHT HASHTAGS
Hashtags are Instagram SEO. These are how you get found, so you need to be smart about it. It is a good idea to use a mix of hashtags that includes:
- Industry hashtags
- Custom branded hashtags
- Related brand hashtags
- Location hashtags (if the post is location specific or refers to a particular place)
If you use a combination of these hashtags, you will increase your chances of being found via the search. Check out the example above. Searching #NYC led us to discover a bake shop in New York. This would not have happened if they had not used this hashtag in their write up.
3. FIGURE OUT YOUR BEST POSTING TIME
On a very good note, Instagram users interact at all hours of the day and every day of the week, since users are active on Instagram through their mobile devices. We recommend that you take the time to look at your Instagram analytics (available if you have converted your account to a business account). You can see what time your followers are active per day. Use this as a guide to figure out your posting time, but don’t be shy to experiment from time to time to reach new people.
4. REPOST
If your clients are posting about your brand, then a repost campaign is a perfect way to engage them, thank them, and have them work to build your brand for you. How can you make this work? Simple. Search for people posting about your brand on the Socialdraft dashboard. Reach out to them to ask for permission to repost. If you want to increase your chances of getting a yes, you can offer a discount on their next purchase or even enter them into a giveaway. Then schedule reposts and you’re set. You’ve both taken care of content, connected with your audience, and now they can brag that you’re reposting their content.
5. ENGAGE
On Instagram, you can engage almost anyone (unless they are private). Start by engaging those who have posted about your business. Leave them a comment thanking them, like their images, and make it a point to engage them on a consistent basis. Then, engage those who engage your competition. Create conversations so they become aware of you and can be converted. I cannot tell you how powerful this strategy is. Try it for a week. You’ll see.
[fve]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T4qyeEYcv8[/fve]
6. USE THE RIGHT INSTAGRAM MANAGEMENT TOOL
If you use the right tool, you can save time and stress on your Instagram management. Socialdraft is not just an Instagram management tool, it is an all-in-one social media tool for teams. With Socialdraft, you can:
- Schedule posts to multiple Instagram accounts
- Search for images by hashtag
- Schedule reposts from Instagram to all your connected social networks
- Have multiple people create content and publish content to Instagram
That was just on Instagram alone. With Socialdraft, you can also:
- Schedule posts to Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, Pinterest boards & LinkedIn pages
- Schedule one time, recurring and duplicate posts
- Schedule in bulk using CSV
- Engage the community in the feed
- Set tasks for team members
- Pull reports
- Keep an eye on your online reputation
- And much more…
Curious about Socialdraft? Take us for your risk-free trial and test it out for yourself.
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