Since 2010, when Instagram was launched, the mobile app is among the fastest growing in its category. Instagram has more than 150 million estimated active users in each month. The application is a simple photo sharing platform that has gained massive popularity and is not showing any signs of going slow. With that said, the benefits of utilizing this tool to market your business are invaluable. It is not a must that you are good in photography and related fields to market your business on Instagram, you only need to have an account and post images that are interesting and useful to your target audience. Here are some tips to help you in your marketing campaign on Instagram:
1. Brand Your Instagram Profile
Just like in anything else in your business marketing strategies, you need to brand your Instagram profile to make it recognizable and tell it apart from all the other accounts. Branding does not mean that you should stick to posting photos of your products or things related to your business only. Instagram gives you an opportunity to create a profile tagline that can include your company website and this is the only place that Instagram will offer a chance to place a clickable link, make it count.
2. Post Great Unique Photos
Instagram is about providing your followers with images they will be interested in. Your marketing success on this platform is directly proportional to the efforts you put in good imagery. Research on the type of photos your audience is interested in and make a point of posting them regularly. Keep in mind that the photos do not have to be all about your business; posting other types of photos will project you as a selfless business. Tip: good humor in photography will go a long way in keeping your audience waiting for the next photo.
3. Make Use Of Hashtags
A hashtag (#) on Instagram and most social media platforms is used to file a post or image in a larger online folder where content shares the same tag. This strategy can be used to market a business by associating it with trending topics and related keywords in the industry. As you start your Instagram business account, make use of the popular but relevant hashtags. This will simply draw visitors to your account and can greatly contribute in increasing your followers. Keep in mind that you need followers to have an audience you can market your business to.
4. Host Contests
One of the best strategies to create attention and trigger engagement on Instagram is through hosting contests. This can easily be done on Instagram and to increase its effect, you can share it through other linking social media platforms. There are endless contest ideas but you have to encourage the participants to use a hashtag of your choice. Use giveaways and perks to attract participants and you will have an Instagram account that gets priority and an increase in followers.
5. Schedule Your Posts Well
The frequency of your photo posts is important when trying to increase your followers for marketing purposes. There is a thin line between keeping your audience interested in your photos and clogging their news feed to a point that they want out. Posting infrequently can also lead to your followers forgetting that you exist. For this reason, you need to closely monitor your account and your followers to identify what works and what doesn’t. This will assist you in planning and scheduling your post such that you remain relevant and prevent the loss of followers through what they will consider spamming.
