Since its inception, Instagram has become the ultimate platform for sharing photos, boasting over 1.318 billion active users worldwide. With the right strategy, you can transform your brand into an influential presence on Instagram. To succeed, it’s crucial to post the right content to stay relevant to current followers while attracting new ones. This guide will provide you with the best Instagram Marketing tips to help you thrive online.
What Is Instagram Marketing?
Instagram Marketing refers to the process of brands harnessing the power of Instagram to reach their target audiences, generate brand awareness, and promote products. The platform offers several avenues to connect with desired audiences, including both paid and non-paid options.
If your Instagram Marketing strategy isn’t yielding the results you want, you’re not alone. Instagram’s landscape has changed dramatically, and what worked even a few months ago might not be effective now. The good news is that I’m here to help you navigate these changes. By the end of this post, you’ll know exactly what kind of content to post, the best times to post it, and proven strategies to increase engagement and followers.
Understanding the Instagram Algorithm
The Instagram algorithm is straightforward despite its complexity. Its primary functions are:
- Finding content people might enjoy.
- Showing them as much enjoyable content as possible to keep them on the platform longer.
To leverage the algorithm, you need to clarify who your account is for and optimize your content for your target audience. If they enjoy it, the algorithm will too.
Optimize Your Instagram Bio
Your bio is crucial in convincing people to follow you. Here’s how to optimize it:
- Clear Name and Title: Include a relevant keyword or statement that instantly explains what you do.
- First Line: Describe what you do. Highlight your Unique Selling Proposition (USP).
- Second Line: Explain why you’re worth following. Include social proof or compelling reasons like daily tips or valuable content.
- Third Line: Add a Call to Action (CTA) directing followers to the next step, like visiting your website or subscribing to your newsletter.
Use Story Highlights to condense and showcase your best work, drive traffic, and provide valuable information. Aim for three to four highlights covering:
- Who you are and what you do.
- A portfolio or testimonials.
- Your best content.
- A lead magnet to get followers onto your email list.
Best Content to Post on Instagram
Not all content is created equal. Here’s what works best:
- Text and Graphic-Based Posts: Single images work, but carousels perform better for engagement and growth.
- Stories: Use stories for off-topic themes and behind-the-scenes content.
- Videos: Reels, stories, and live videos offer flexibility and the potential for repurposing across platforms.
Posting Frequency
More frequent posts are better, but consistency is key. Here’s a sustainable schedule:
- Feed Post: At least once a day, preferably a carousel.
- Stories: Two to three times a day.
- Live Videos: Once or twice a week.
- Reels: Three to seven times a week.
Best Time to Post
The best time to post is when your followers are most active. You can find this in your profile’s insights section. If you’re starting out or need a general guideline, try:
- 8:00 or 9:00 AM
- 11:00 AM
- 3:00 PM
Training the Algorithm
Help the algorithm understand your account by:
- Following, liking, and commenting on relevant accounts.
- Engaging with content in your niche.
- Using genuine comments and engaging in conversations.
Importance of Captions
Captions are crucial for:
- Keywords: Include relevant keywords to signal to the algorithm and attract your audience.
- Storytelling: Provide context and make your posts more engaging.
- CTA: Direct your audience on what to do next, like following or DMing you.
- Polls: Use the new feature to add polls in captions for engagement and market research.
Effective Use of Hashtags
While the effectiveness of hashtags is debated, they’re still useful:
- Choose 5 to 15 relevant hashtags spanning big, medium, and small categories.
- Place them in the caption, not in the comments.
Why Should Marketers Care About Instagram?
Instagram is a marketer’s dream for several reasons:
- Narrative: The platform focuses on sharing stories through images, perfect for bringing your brand’s story to life.
- Reach: With over one billion accounts using Instagram monthly, the platform provides nearly unlimited access to audiences.
- Community Engagement: Instagram offers unique opportunities to foster conversation and engagement with community members.
- Competitive Lens: Your competitors are likely using Instagram. Utilize the platform’s visibility to assess what they share and establish best practices for your community.
How To Get Your Brand Started on Instagram
Customize Your Instagram Business Account
After establishing your business on Instagram, optimize your profile for success by:
- Including Contact Information: Add your physical address, email, and phone number so followers can contact you directly.
- Selecting Categories: Showcase what your brand is about with circular topics under your name.
- Adding Call-to-Action Buttons: Tailor these buttons to your business offerings, allowing visitors to take specific actions like making an appointment or booking a reservation.
Create an Instagram Marketing Strategy
Whether you’re a beginner or looking to enhance your Instagram Marketing strategy, follow these steps:
- Set Goals: Clearly define what you aim to achieve with your Instagram campaigns.
- Conduct Keyword Research: Use hashtags to help users discover your content.
- Define Your Audience: Identify and target the segment of Instagram users most likely to engage with your brand.
- Run Competitor Research: Analyze competitor performance to inform your strategies.
Start Posting Content
Carefully consider what you post, when you post, and the aesthetics of your posts:
- Color Psychology: Choose a color palette that embodies your brand’s message.
- Post Types: Select post types that reflect your brand’s personality (e.g., standard image posts, Reels, IGTV).
- Hashtags: Use relevant and niche-specific hashtags to help users find your content.
Interact With Followers
Engage with your followers by liking their posts, replying to their comments, and encouraging them to tag friends. This practice builds goodwill toward your business and fosters community engagement.
Track Your Analytics
Monitor key metrics to understand your audience and optimize your Instagram Marketing strategy:
- Reach: Learn how many unique accounts viewed your posts.
- Sales: Track conversions and revenue generated from Instagram.
- Saves: Determine which content pieces drive the highest number of saves.
Top Tips for Instagram Marketing
1. Use Free Instagram Marketing Tools
Business profiles on Instagram offer tools like Insights, where you can view statistics on impressions, engagement data, and follower demographics. Utilize these tools to understand user interactions and adjust your content accordingly.
2. Post Product Teasers
Gently urge people to buy by posting product teasers. These posts generate excitement without being pushy, encouraging engagement and potentially leading to sales.
3. Create Sponsored Ads
Instagram ads allow you to control your ad budget and target your audience in new ways. Use engaging content to appeal to your target demographic and promote your top posts as sponsored ads.
4. Use Instagram Stories
Instagram Stories appear at the top of follower timelines and are perfect for capturing behind-the-scenes content. Experiment with different content types like photos, short videos, Reels, and Boomerangs to keep your audience engaged.
5. Partner With Influencers
Reach potential customers quickly by partnering with influencers who have large followings. Influencer endorsements can significantly boost your brand’s visibility and trustworthiness.
6. Come Up With an Interactive Branded Hashtag
Create a branded hashtag to encourage user-generated content and free advertising. This allows users to search for posts related to your brand and exposes your company to their followers.
7. Post at The Right Times (and Don’t Over-Post)
Avoid over-posting by scheduling posts during peak days and hours when your followers are most active. Use tools like Hootsuite or Sprout Social to schedule posts and maintain consistency.
8. Track The Right Instagram Metrics
Focus on key metrics like engagement rate, follower growth rate, website traffic, and link clicks per post to understand how your audience interacts with your content.
9. Tag Products in Your Content
Tagging products in your Instagram posts provides a seamless shopping experience and allows brands to track sales more effectively. This feature increases visibility and conversions.
10. Learn How To Make Instagram Reels Work For Your Audience
Instagram Reels are short videos that can significantly boost engagement. Use Reels to showcase products, share behind-the-scenes content, or create entertaining and informative videos.
11. Keep Track of New Updates and Features
Stay ahead of the competition by keeping up with Instagram’s latest features and updates. Utilize new tools like the Creator’s Marketplace and Subscriptions to enhance your Instagram Marketing strategy.
Now, I myself have never uploaded a single thing to their platform, but that’s because it’s mostly just me doing things in the backyard, which is kinda boring.
Alright, tip number seven is all about leveraging Instagram DMs, or Instagram Direct Messages. Here’s the thing: the Instagram DM is an absolutely fantastic way to connect with people that you want to start a relationship with, engage with their content, and provide value. But please, for the love of all things holy, don’t spam people. There is a way to do networking properly, introduce yourself without spamming someone, comment on someone’s posts, and send them a message to congratulate them or provide value without looking like you want something immediately in return. People can see right through that.
The big point here is that a lot of business actually takes place through direct messages and through contact and communication with your Instagram Marketing with your customers. So much so that there’s even a brand or business statement around this term known as “it’s going down in the DMs,” which basically just means that stuff’s happening in the direct messages.
And that leads me perfectly to this video’s sponsor, Dollar 80. Dollar 80 is a software based on the Dollar 80 strategy coined by entrepreneur and marketer Gary Vaynerchuk. Basically, it’s an engagement strategy that encourages users to go onto their Instagram account and leave their two cents on nine posts across 10 relevant hashtags, which equals 90 comments a day. But that’s a lot of work, so the purpose of the software is to help you do this a whole lot easier by creating a space to set up hashtags for posts to comment on, track comments, and analyze growth. Doing this not only grows your following but also creates a more authentic and engaged audience. To learn more about Dollar 80 and to sign up for a free trial, all you need to do is click the link in the descriptions below this video.
Tip #8: Timing Matters
Timing matters both in regards to the actual time that you are going to post your content as well as the frequency and schedule that you decide to keep. This ensures that you’re giving your content the best chance possible of ending up in front of your target market.
Like all things in business and in Instagram Marketing, there is a good, a better, and a best. So, what I’m going to do is offer suggestions for all three, and you can find where on the spectrum you want to start and where you ultimately want to end up.
Frequency
If you’re just getting started, the good is once a day. I appreciate that might even sound like a lot, but remember there are different ways of doing this. You can create a story, for example, in 15 seconds. You can create a post, possibly in 15 to 30 minutes, and you can create a reel in 15 to 30 minutes, maybe up to an hour if you really want to make it amazing, but you don’t have to.
If you’ve got a little bit of extra time, money, and energy, my suggestion is to upgrade to the better and possibly even the best of posting a couple of times a day. I’m not saying you need to put out three reels a day, two posts, and 15 stories, but hey, if you can, it probably won’t hurt. A reel a day is a really great place to start, a post every day or two is good, and a few stories scattered throughout the day can go a long way in helping you build an authentic and engaged audience.
Best Times to Post
This will vary depending on your business, market, industry, and time zone, as well as where your audience is located. Take all of this as a general guide and a good place to start, but make sure to analyze your analytics and figure out what works best for you.
For most businesses, in most markets and industries, these are good times to post:
- 8 a.m. or 9 a.m. Eastern Standard Time: This catches people during their morning routines.
- 2 a.m. Eastern Standard Time: This is for night owls and those in different time zones.
- 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time: This catches people after work.
Most of these times fall outside of the usual 9-5 business working hours, making it important to know when your audience is active and present online so you can post content when they’re actually going to engage with it.
Best Days to Post
- Mondays and Thursdays tend to perform best.
- Sundays tend to perform the worst.
For engagement, the best time to be active on the platform is within the first 30 minutes after you post content. This allows you to respond to any DMs or reply to any comments you get.
If you’re still struggling to figure out when the best time to post is, simply follow your colleagues and competitors, then model your posting frequency, schedule, and even style after what they’re doing. If they’re established and have been around for a while, odds are good that they probably have a clue about what works best for them and, therefore, what might also work best for you.
Tip #9: Know Your Audience Demographics
Understanding your audience demographics is crucial for tailoring your content and engagement strategies. Here’s a breakdown:
- Age: 61% of Instagram users fall between the ages of 18 and 31. Most users, around 69%, are 35 and under.
- Gender: There is a pretty even split between males and females, with a slight edge towards the female demographic.
- Diverse Age Groups: Older and younger demographics are both present and active on Instagram.
This is why I put Instagram into a category I call the big four, which includes Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. No matter what business, market, or industry you’re in, or what target market you’re seeking to serve, you can probably find them on one, if not many, of these big four platforms.
Tip #10: Incorporate Instagram Advertising
First things first, Instagram ads are run through the Facebook Ads Business Manager because Facebook (now Meta) owns Instagram. To run ads, go to business.facebook.com, sign up for a business account, create an ad account, link your Instagram account, and you’re pretty much done. It sounds more complicated than it is, but a quick Google search will guide you through it.
When running ads, ensure you set them up through the Facebook Ads Manager for more options in optimizing, targeting, placements, and everything involved. One of the biggest rules in advertising is dialing in your ideal target market. Know their demographic details (age, gender, income, occupation), geographic details (city, state, country), and psychographic details (attitudes, values, interests, beliefs).
Once you’ve got that dialed in, work on creating a compelling and interesting offer that will get someone to take action. Then, decide on the best placement for your ad. You can run it as a story, put it in the feed, or run it as a Reel. Reels, in particular, are getting an extra push in both the organic algorithm and the advertising platform.
Bonus Tip: Multi-Platform Strategy
I recently came across a statistic that said just 0.1% of people only use Instagram. This means that of the people who use Instagram, 99.9% use some or many other social media platforms. Sometimes it’s Facebook, sometimes it’s Twitter, sometimes it’s YouTube, but in only 0.1% of the time, it’s just Instagram.
This is why you need to create a Instagram Marketing strategy that works across multiple platforms. This approach ensures you’re reaching your audience wherever they are, whether on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or Instagram.
Conclusion
By incorporating these tips into your Instagram Marketing strategy, you can adapt to the platform’s changes and leverage its features effectively. Keep in mind that consistency, clarity, and congruence are key to building a successful brand on Instagram. Stay updated with the latest trends and continuously optimize your approach to connect and convert your ideal customers and clients.
