Instagram has a vast global audience of about 1.2 billion people. Leveraging the full marketing potential of Instagram is challenging but far from impossible. It would be best to have an effective and appropriately structured Instagram marketing strategy that reflects your goals and objectives.
All potential customers for your business are looking for quality content to entertain and engage them. However broad or specific your target audience may be, you can bet your bottom dollar it’s on Instagram right now. Importantly, research suggests that at least 90% of Instagram users follow at least one business profile.
Likewise, most purchase decisions online are based on positive experiences and brand interactions. Or, to put it another way, people don’t choose what they buy and who they buy it from at random. This is where an effective Instagram marketing strategy can make all the difference.
From direct product or service promotions to paid Instagram ads and more, there are plenty of options to explore. But which marketing tactics are proving most effective from a 2023 perspective? What should you be focusing your time and effort on if looking to drive the best possible ROI?
20 Instagram Marketing Tips for Business
Irrespective of the type of content you usually publish, the same basic rules for effective Instagram marketing apply. Whether starting from scratch or looking to take your existing campaign a step further, here’s a brief overview of 20 tried, tested, and trusted Instagram marketing tips which will work in 2023:
1. Use as a Business Account
The first thing you need to do is ensure you have converted your Account to a business account. This is easy enough to do, as outlined in the steps below:
Step 1: Go to your profile and tap the “Hamburger Icon” at the top right.
Step 2: Tap “Settings,” then “Account.” Settings
Step 3: Tap “Switch to Professional Account.”
Step 4: Tap “Business” and follow the onscreen instructions.
This is essential as users with business accounts gain access to features that are not available with personal accounts. These include Instagram Insights, Instagram Ads, Instagram Shopping, other messaging inboxes, and the option of including a CTA in your profile. These will play a massive role in your broader marketing campaign
2. Optimize Your Account
Account optimization means making your Instagram bio and profile as punchy as possible. By transitioning to a business account, you can share more information than your 150-character bio allows.
Everything needs to be on point – your name, username, URL to your website or online store, business category, contact info, and CTA. Use an appropriate, eye-catching, original profile picture representing your business.
3. Research Your Audience
The key to successful Instagram marketing is carefully considering to whom you are marketing your business. Profile your perfect customer precisely, then put yourself in their shoes.
Think carefully about what they would expect and demand from a brand like yours and what you can do to differentiate yourself from your competitors. This will help improve the impact and appeal of your output and ensure you get the best ROI from any paid Instagram ads you run.
4. Set Your Goals
A marketing campaign can be run with any number of goals in mind. However, you need to think carefully about precisely what you intend to achieve with yours. Beyond simply selling more products and services, an impactful Instagram marketing campaign can be used to accomplish the following:
Create Brand Awareness
Your goal could be to boost brand awareness and finally get your branded hashtag trending. Creating brand awareness is less about direct selling and more about making yourself known and connecting with your community.
Build your Audience
In general, one of the most common goals of social media marketing is building a bigger audience. You appealingly promote your brand, get more Instagram followers on board, and boost potential sales and revenues. Putting out quality content regularly is the best way to build a bigger audience of engaged followers.
Boost Engagement
Speaking of engagement rates, this can also be the main goal for a marketing campaign on Instagram. The more engaging your content is, the easier it becomes to take you seriously as a brand. Plus, Engagement plays a significant role in determining which profiles and pages the Instagram algorithm promotes.
5. Use All Options and Features
Getting the most out of Instagram means getting to grips with its various tools and features. Increasingly, Instagram users prefer brands that know their way around Reels, IGTV, Stories, and so on. These can (and should) play critical roles in your marketing and branding strategies.
Ultimately, it would be best if you were looking to create a diverse and attractive feed that portrays your brand in a positive light. Going live on Instagram can be particularly effective, as real-time broadcasts are uniquely engaging.
6. Have a Unique Style
The biggest mistake you can make on Instagram is attempting to imitate your competitors. However tempting it may be, it will never work in your favor. Instead, the competitor research you conduct should be used to determine how you can do things differently from others in your niche.
Uniqueness and originality are everything on Instagram. Build your brand’s identity around your unique personality, and always be authentic in your output. Be yourself, let your true personality shine and talk to people using your authentic voice.
7. Write Great Captions
Instagram may be a visual platform, but captions can add accurate weight and value to your content. This is where you can speak and showcase your personality to the world.
Ensure that every caption you publish is similar in tone, but feel free to vary the lengths of your captions. In addition, remember that the strategic use of hashtags, mentions, and shoutouts in captions can enhance their appeal.
8. Engage and Interact with Your Audience
The most attractive and appealing businesses take the time to interact with their audiences. Publishing quality content is only half the job – you must become an active part of your target community.
Check out other people’s content, follow them, write comments, respond to the words you receive, like their posts, share them, and send plenty of DMs. Remember that the social aspect of social media is reciprocal – you scratch their backs, and they’ll scratch yours.
9. Post Teasers About Products/Services
Instagram can be the perfect place to build hype before launching a new product or service. From regular posts to Stories to real-time broadcasts, give your fans and followers a sneak peek at new and exciting things to come.
While doing so, consider throwing in the occasional incentive for those who stay tuned. When counting down to the launch of something big, keep the audience hooked by offering exclusive discounts or freebies.
10. Partner With Influencers
If your products and services are as good as you think, Instagram influencers should be willing to promote them for free. A single mention from an influential figure in your niche could be all it takes to kick your campaign into overdrive. Keep in mind that the most effective influencer partnerships are those that are not based on payment.
Set your sights on micro-influencers and up-and-coming names in your niche instead of the highest-profile faces on the scene. Not only are they more likely to say yes, but the words of micro-influencers carry far more weight than those of their A-list counterparts.
11. Create Brand Hashtags
Creating (and promoting) branded hashtags is essential for building a solid business presence on Instagram. Trial and error is the key to getting things right with brand hashtags. Feel free to experiment, but be patient and persevere – it takes time for a branded hashtag to gain traction.
Hashtags can be based on anything – the name of your business, product name, slogan, and so on. Plus, nothing says you can only use one hashtag to represent your brand.
12. Set Up an Instagram Shop
For online retailers, setting up an Instagram shop is a no-brainer. It takes minutes to get your Instagram shop up and running, after which you can start selling your products directly via your Instagram account.
However, you need to ensure you strike the appropriate balance between promotional content and more general posts. Instagram users, in general, don’t respond positively to overly-promotional output, so do your best to avoid the hard sell while pushing your products.
13. Post at the Right Times
Posting at the correct times means posting when your audience is most active and engaged. Something that differs from one demographic to the next and should be considered by time zones.
This is where Instagram Insights can help – the platform’s built-in analytics tool. Monitor your posts’ performance, note your audience’s most active hours, and schedule your output for these times accordingly.
14. Use Instagram Insights Properly
Speaking of Instagram Insights, this is where you will find all of the information you need to run a successful marketing campaign. Insights enable you to track and monitor the progress of everything you do and publish on Instagram.
Find out which types of posts generate maximum engagement, maximize the effectiveness of your CTAs and eliminate anything that isn’t delivering consistent results. Learn how to use Instagram Insights, and you will have a blueprint for a successful IG strategy.
15. Add CTAs Wherever You Can
CTAs should be used liberally, though at the same time in careful moderation. The whole point of a CTA is to make it quick and easy for customers to take action. This means that by encountering a CTA, they should already be convinced and ready to take the next step.
You must work out exactly where these positions are and incorporate CTAs. Experiment with different placements and vary the content of your CTAs, keeping a close eye on their performance using Instagram Insights.
16. Offer Exclusive Discounts for Your Followers
For every Instagram user, without exception, what matters most is what’s in it for them. We’ve already touched upon the potential benefits of exclusive deals and discounts for your followers. In a broader sense, regular incentives for those who follow you on Instagram can boost brand loyalty.
If following your business means they get exclusive deals and discounts in return, that’s precisely what they’ll do. They might also invite their friends and followers for the ride.
17. Use Highlights
Instagram Highlights are the Instagram stories you add to your profile as a permanent feature. Instead of disappearing after 24 hours, they remain visible on your profile indefinitely. Making the most of highlights is as simple as selecting the most successful components of your stories to date and adding them to your profile, as follows:
Step 1: Open your Instagram profile and tap the “+” icon Button at the top right corner.
Step 2: Choose the “Story Highlight” option at the bottom.
Step 3: In the Add to Highlights menu, “Select” New
Step 4: Enter a “Name” for the highlight
Step 5: Edit the cover
Step 6: Hit Add, and then “Done”
Step 7: After which, your chosen highlights will be featured permanently on your profile.
18. Organize a Giveaway
The only thing better than a special deal or discount is a freebie. People, in general, are powerless against the prospect of taking something home for free. Even if what’s on offer is relatively modest in terms of monetary value, it’s likely to be well-received.
Giveaways are most effective when made a regular feature of your Instagram activities. Once a week, once a month, or whatever works for you, come up with something of genuine value you can give your followers.
19. Have Fun
Instagram is the kind of platform people turn to for entertainment and enjoyment. It’s also a place where authenticity is everything, and personality is what matters most. Long story short – avoid the temptation to take yourself or your business too seriously.
Have Fun, keep things informal, and create an enjoyable show for your target audience. Let your true personality shine and base your output on whatever you are most passionate about.
20. Build Relationships
Last, every effort should be made to build relationships with other brands and businesses in your niche. If not your closest competitors, then those with some relevance to what you do. For example, why not collaborate with a local gym or fitness facility if you sell athletic clothes and sports shoes?
Strength in numbers is critical to succeeding on Instagram when faced with insurmountable competition. Going it alone is an option, but you’ll have far more Fun running a campaign built on meaningful business relationships.
Conclusion
Formulating an effective Instagram marketing strategy can be a daunting prospect. Knowing where to start can be half the battle, particularly when considering the competition you are up against. This is where taking things back to basics can help instead of overcomplicating things.
Each of the tips above forms a simple yet effective basis for effective marketing on Instagram. Ultimately, it is up to you to decide what you want to achieve with your social media marketing activities. But by establishing your objectives and adopting a structured approach, you’ll find it much easier to benefit from the best possible ROI.
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