Thanks to its many awesome features, Instagram has quickly become everyone’s favorite social network. The visual platform has also grown to be the perfect place for brands to connect and communicate with their audience.
Instagram offers businesses many different ways to engage with their followers: giveaways, stories, carousels, and of course, the most popular type of content – videos. However, many businesses rush to build their presence on every social media network, forgetting that they need a strategy.
To help you avoid this mistake, we’re offering 7 tips that will serve as a basis for an effective Instagram strategy.
1. Determine Your Audience
Before you start marketing on Instagram, take some time to figure out who you want to reach. If you already have strategies in place for other social platforms, you can rely on those in order to keep your efforts consistent. Remember to take into consideration factors like gender, age, location, interests, income, and pain points.
If you don’t know where to start, consider monitoring interest hashtags and popular events related to your niche/industry. Take a look at the profiles of people who are using these hashtags and engaging with them. You can also check out your competitors’ followers.
2. Conduct a Competitive Analysis
Next on the list is conducting competitive analysis in order to see what other brands and marketers in your industry are doing. Start by reviewing the profiles of your main competitors to see what hashtags they are using, what kind of captions they are writing, how frequently they post, and which posts are receiving the most engagement.
While reviewing your competitors’ profiles and content, see if there are any weaknesses or opportunities they might have missed. Managing to fulfill any gaps with unique content might help your brand stand out from the crowd.
3. Have an Effective Follow/Unfollow Strategy
If you want to get value from your Instagram following, you need to ensure that your followers are users who are genuinely interested in what you have to offer. Your follow unfollow strategy should include an evaluation of your following list and levels of engagement with your content. Profiles that aren’t interacting with you, as well as those that don’t belong to your target audience, don’t add value to your business, so the best course of action is to unfollow them.
Remember, engagement is always more important than the number of followers. Use Instagram’s analytics tools to keep an eye on your account’s performance and evaluate whether your growth strategy is giving results.
4. Create an Editorial Calendar
Posting on Instagram without any direction can soon turn into a stressful task. An Instagram editorial calendar actually serves as a social media planner for your IG account.
Having an editorial calendar can help you get more organized, manage your Instagram presence more effectively, and save time. You can use this calendar to plan the type of posts and hashtags, consider special events, launches, and holidays, and ease the pressure of having to find time each day to create content and captions.
You can take your newfound time to create even better content, grow your following, and engage with your audience.
5. Engage
Speaking of engagement, you have to do your part and start communicating effectively with other accounts.
Even though posting compelling content is great, you must always interact with your followers. At the very least, you should make a habit of responding to users’ comments on your feed.
But why stop there? Consider also seeking out popular profiles in your industry, start following them, and comment on their posts. This is an excellent way to boost your visibility without looking or sounding too promotional.
6. Leverage Instagram Stories
Did you know that 50% of brands on Instagram use Stories? Stories are a crucial part of an effective Instagram strategy. They provide an amazing opportunity to connect with your followers and build relationships.
Discounts, sales, giveaways, new blog posts, new products — all these are calls for celebration in the form of IG Stories promotion.
The good news is that everything you need to create a successful Instagram Story is free and easily accessible, provided you know what avenues to explore.
7. Set Up an Instagram Shop
130 million Instagram users tap on shopping posts every month, which means that there’s quite a big number of people ready to buy from the brands they’re following.
The Instagram Shop feature, which is only available to business profiles, allows you to create your own online store within the platform. You can tag shopping products in posts, IGTV, and Stories. You will also get a “View Shop” button on your profile page, so your audience can go to your store without even viewing a specific post. In addition, there is a Shop tab on the Explore page, where people can search for products.
Final Thoughts
When it comes to building an effective Instagram marketing strategy, the tips in this article are just the tip of the iceberg. Don’t be afraid to experiment with new things, but always keep your audience’s needs in mind.
Remember, no matter how much the Instagram algorithm changes, some things, such as top-quality images, friendly and engaging posts, user-generated content, and trending topics, never go out of style.
