Instagram is a social networking platform that allows users to upload pictures or up to 60-second videos and share them with their followers on Instagram as well as other social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. Instagram boasts a huge audience, which you can tap into with your Instagram marketing efforts. At the time of this writing, 800 million people use Instagram every month and that audience is growing bigger by the day. The good news for brands and entrepreneurs is that 70 percent of those users seek out brands on Instagram. In other words, Instagram is home to a huge group of potential customers who actually want to see promotional content. You can use Instagram to promote your latest products, acquire new customers and even communicate directly with your fans.
This is why Instagram has the potential to deliver amazing engagement in the form of Likes and comments. This engagement can be fifty times higher than on Facebook and Twitter, so Instagram is an important platform to use for building a brand and it should be a big part of your online advertising strategy.
INSTAGRAM MARKETING TIPS FOR BUSINESS
Here are some basic Instagram marketing tips that you can use to build and optimize your Instagram account.
Use an Eye-Catching and Attractive Profile Picture
It goes without saying that you will need a presentable profile picture that represents your brand in the most compelling way possible. Your profile picture is literally your brand’s presentation to the world so make sure it is a good one. It is fine to experiment with different profile pictures and to change it up from time to time. This keeps your page fresh and updated.
Have A Relevant Username
A good username is essential to becoming successful on Instagram. Your username should be relevant to your brand but also attractive, so users will notice it quickly.
In addition to your username, Instagram allows you to have a name. This should be utilized properly as well. It is very common to use your business name for the username and then to use keywords related to your niche as part of your name. For example, your username can be @Pezlogic but your name can be “Pezlogic eCommerce Consulting” because you are trying to highlight the fact that you offer ecommerce consulting and that “ecommerce” and “consulting” are popular search words.
Make Your Bio Stand Out
Your bio is a great place to help people become familiar with you and your brand. Every time someone clicks on your account they will see your bio, so it is important to make sure it is optimized. You are given 150 characters to work with, so your bio should be easy to read and should describe what your business is about. It is also helpful to include how to contact you or your business as well as a link to your website and your email address. If you have room, you should definitely include hashtags that relate to your business.
Here is an example bio from Gary Vaynerchuk:
An example of an Instagram bio
Include A Link to Your Website or A Landing Page
As mentioned above, it is important to include a link to your website (or a specific landing page) in your bio. In order to prevent spam, Instagram currently doesn’t allow links in the caption of your photos. However, they have recently allowed selected users to include links, so this rule might be changing in the near future. In the meantime, they allow one clickable link in your bio. This is a great opportunity to send followers to your website or landing page. You can also use this space to change the link every time you post. For example, every time you promote a new product, you can put a link to that product in your bio. In the caption you simply say, “see link in the bio” for more information. This is a great way to get people to click through to your website and to hopefully get conversions.
Make Your Own Attractive Photos and Include Your Logo or Watermark
It goes without saying that Instagram requires you to have good photos if you want to be successful on this platform. One of the best ways to gain traction is to upload your own photos. This doesn’t have to be very difficult because you can get a ton of apps that include stock photos that you can embellish with your own flair.
For example, if you sell jewelry or watches, you want to upload images of your products, so you can showcase them. You can use various apps to add stylish fonts and other decorations to make your photos stand out. Similarly, if you’re an athlete, post photos of you doing some athletic activity and write something motivational on the image. If you are not in the photo-taking mood, you can license millions of stock photos from other artists and use those stock photos in your posts.
Also, it is ok to mix it up a little and get a little different sometimes. Once in a while you can post behind the scenes photos of your daily life or business or even post random pictures of your family or some fun place that you went. The point is to try to develop some character around yourself and your brand and give yourself a human quality, so people can relate to you.
Here are some example photos to give you an idea. The first one is an example of a stock photo with some text included in the photo. The second one is a picture of me embellished with some text. Either way, these were my own creations and they helped me stand out. Notice that both images include the @Pezlogic watermark in the lower left-hand corner.
Some really good apps to use to make amazing images are Canva (my favorite), Wordswag, Instaquote, Piclab, Phonto, PS Express (from Photoshop) and about a million more apps.
As mentioned above, it is better to include your logo or watermark in your own photos. They not only make you look professional, but they prevent people from reusing your photos without your permission or when they don’t tag you when they do use your photos. This way, if your photo is reposted on Instagram, others will see your brand and may want to follow you.
Make Sure Your Captions Are Highly Engaging
Once you’ve uploaded an amazing photo, you will need to come up with an engaging caption about your photo. This is your chance to do some effective marketing, so you can build a relationship with your audience and encourage engagement. For example, if you post an image with a motivational quote, explain how it relates to your business or brand. Encourage comments and engagements by asking how this photo or quote makes people feel.
Don’t Oversell
Get in the habit of making most of your posts (around 80% of them) engaging and fun. In these posts you want to avoid selling but rather your goal should be to provide some sort of value to your audience and to try to engage them. You can use the other 20% of your posts for advertising and selling purposes. Your audience will appreciate this mixture of content and be more willing to follow most of your posts. You’ll be surprised that your conversions will probably increase when you don’t oversell but rather provide a good mixture of value.
Repost Quality Posts from Other People
Not all of your “value-related” content needs to be your own. If you don’t have time some days to create your own photos, it is perfectly fine to repost other people’s content as long as you tag them in the photo and give them credit. Your audience will actually appreciate it if you can curate valuable information and present it to them. For example, if you’re a jewelry store, you can provide tons of content about how to buy diamonds or gold, etc. This type of info will be very well received by your audience.
Ask Questions When You Post
One of the best ways to engage your audience is to ask them questions and to encourage them to comment on your posts. If your posts are related to stocks, ask them what they think about Apple’s latest earnings report. If you post about running, ask them what their favorite electrolyte might be. The options are endless, but the point is to try to engage your audience.
Post At Least 3 Times A Day But At The Right Times
It is ideal to try to post more than once a day in order to get traction. There are a lot of tools you can use such as Hootsuite or Buffer where you can schedule posts in advance, so you don’t have to constantly spend your day posting on Instagram. However, if you do post multiple times per day, make sure they are quality posts or else you’ll begin to lose followers and diminish your brand.
Try to make one post in the morning, one in the middle of the day and another one at night. This way you’ll be able to spread out your posts, so you can get as many followers as possible to interact with your content no matter where they are in the world. Remember that most Instagram users are not in the US, so you need to keep their time zones in mind.
Hashtags!, Hashtags!, Hashtags! It’s All About the Hashtags
Instagram lets you include 30 hashtags in your posts, so it is wise to use them all. However, there is an art and science to using hashtags so make sure to do it effectively. Here are some common best practices for using hashtags when planning your Instagram Marketing efforts.
Firstly, make sure the hashtags that you use are relevant to your post. You don’t want to use unrelated hashtags or else you run the risk of getting reported as a spammer. Nobody appreciates clicking a popular hashtag about running and seeing a post about watches.
Secondly, use hashtags that are commonly searched and used by other users. The point of using a hashtag is to get discovered so you don’t want to use a hashtag that nobody will ever use. There are a number of ways to find good hashtags and to rank them by their popularity. For example, the quickest way to do this is to search for popular hashtags in Instagram. Instagram publishes the number of posts that a specific hashtag has been used in, so you can get a gauge of its popularity.
On the flip side, while you want to use popular hashtags, you probably won’t get any traction if you use a hashtag that has been used in more than one million posts. This is not always the case, but it is likely that your post will get lost in a sea of other posts that use the same popular hashtag.
Thirdly, don’t use the same exact hashtags in every single post. Make a long list of popular and effective hashtags and mix them up according to their relevance to your post.
Where you place your hashtags can vary as well. Some experts say that Instagram prefers it if you place your hashtags in the caption area. However, some people argue that looks cleaner if you place your hashtags in the first comment of your post instead of in the caption. This is because it looks cleaner since your caption won’t get cluttered with a bunch of hashtags. The thinking is that if you place your hashtags in the comment section they will become hidden after a few comments are posted but will still be seen by Instagram’s search algorithm. I don’t care where you put the hashtags as long as you include them in your post.
Here are some popular tools to use to find relevant and popular hashtags:
- Hashtagify.me
- Ritetag.com
- tagboard.com – great for finding cross-platform hashtags
- Hashtags.org
- Twitter Trends
Create Your Own Hashtags
One cool thing to do is to create your own hashtag that is unique to your business or brand. For example, if I were running for president I would create a unique hashtag like #PezforPrez. This allows your followers to further connect with you. This is a great way to get engagement from your followings because you can encourage them to use this hashtag in posts that they want you to see. While they can always tag you in a photo, providing a unique hashtag provides a second way to ensure that you will see the photo that they want you to see. Moreover, by having your followers use your unique hashtag, you further reinforce your brand in your follower’s minds.
For example, you can say something like, “Use the hashtag #PezforPrez so I can see the photos that you want me to repost.” Let’s say you’re a watch brand, you can say something like, “take a photo of you wearing our watch and use the hashtag #abcbrandwatch so we can repost your image in our feed.” This is a great way to get your customers to take a photo of them using your product and posting it on their Instagram feed. The added benefit is that you will be able to discover the photo and repost it in your feed as well – a double whammy!
Tag Influencers and Celebrities in Your Photos
Instagram lets you tag up to 20 users in each photo. A great way to gain traction early on is to try to get your photos to appear in as many places as possible. You can do this by tagging your photo with influencers or celebrities that are relevant to your niche. However, make sure you do this in a responsible manner where the people you tag are relevant to your niche or else you will get reported as a spammer.
Fans like to check out the photos that their favorite influencers are tagged in. By doing this your page will get more noticed. If you’re lucky, popular users that you have tagged may see your photo and check out your page or even follow you. However, I’ll say it again, don’t abuse this or tag people needlessly or else you will get penalized.
You need to do your research because each user has the option to allow themselves to get tagged either manually or automatically. If a popular influencer has opted to manually allow tags to showcase them then chances are that they won’t bother going through and accepting your photo, making it a waste of a tag. With influencers, you’ll get a feel of whether they are automatically accepting tags because people will be tagging them very frequently.”
Engage with Your Followers Directly in The Comments Section
It is vitally important to build rapport with your followers by talking to them directly in the comments section and responding to their direct messages. This is a great way to build a following and makes it more likely that they will recommend you to their friends.
Comment On Other People’s Photos
An effective way to get noticed by your target audience is to comment on their photos and on popular pages that they will be visiting. If you comment on at least 20 photos per day with a genuine comment that adds value, you will begin to get noticed. Once again, make sure to be genuine and to provide value. Don’t copy and paste any comments. Rather, make insightful statements that portray you in the best light.
Moreover, make sure you tag the author of the post when you comment. For example, if you are promoting yourself as a promotional speaker and you really want Tony Robbins or Tony’s followers to follow you as well, you can make a comment like:
Great video @TonyRobbins! I loved the part about the six human needs and how so many people need significance in their lives. Do you think significance is one of the most needed of the six needs?
Notice that the comment tagged Tony Robbins and showed a genuine understanding of the content and added thoughtfully to it by asking Tony a follow up question. You never know, Tony may actually answer but chances are other fans will see your comment and may even check you out for themselves.
If Tony or one of his followers replies, make sure to reply again so you can build rapport with them.
Use Video to Mix It Up
Instagram currently allows you to upload videos up to a 60 seconds long. This used to be 15 seconds, but they decided to change it to allow users to add more engaging videos. 60 seconds is a long time so if you have good content, make sure to upload it to your Instagram account. It is a great way to mix up your posts so you’re not always posting photos.
A great video to post are the ones that feature people using and enjoying your products or services. If you really want to mix it up, you can post something unrelated to your product that is engaging or funning but still relates to your niche. Everyone always loves a good motivational video from time to time.
Use Email and Direct Messaging to Network and Plan Shoutouts
One way to build traction on Instagram is to do a ‘shoutout for a shoutout’ with other accounts that are similar in size and niche to yours. You mention them, and they mention you. You can even repost each other’s posts.
Buy Shoutouts From Quality Influencers
If you have the budget, an effective way to fast-track your growth is to buy shoutouts from much larger accounts in the same niche.
You can DM or email an influencer and offer something of value to them without anything in return. This helps you build a relationship with them, which may encourage them to reciprocate for you in the future.
You can also reach out to influencers in your niche that offer paid advertising and negotiate a price for them to upload a certain number of posts. You then send them the photos and captions that you want to use so they can post them in their account.
It is a good idea to do your research and get a quote from lots of accounts to find a good deal. Always try to negotiate a lower price, especially for bulk posts. For example, if an individual post is $150, maybe you can get 5 posts for 500. Prices can also vary depending on if you just want to be tagged in the photo or if you want to also be mentioned in the caption. The point is that there are a lot of ways to work with them and negotiate a post.
Avoid influencers that constantly do ads, as the engagement rate for your post will be lower. Try and find an account that also posts lots of their own content and doesn’t just have ads in every post.
Run competitions!!
Run competitions on your Instagram page to get more followers and build rapport and engagement with your current followers. This can be done in many ways, but the point is to make it fun and engaging.
For example, if you’re introducing a new piece of jewelry, you can run a competition for the best name for this piece of jewelry. The winner can get a free necklace.
Another way is to encourage reposts. This is done by asking your followers to repost one of your photos (such as for a new piece of jewelry) with a caption that states that they want to win your competition. You should also require them to tag your page directly. You can even ask them to also tag at least one or two friends that they think will be interested in your post.
Here is an example of how to run this competition. Post a picture (of a necklace for example) and put the details of the rules in the caption. It can go something like this:
We are running a 48-hour COMPETITION to win this necklace from XYZJewelry.com.
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Just follow these 2 steps:
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1) Repost this picture on your Instagram and tag @xyzjewelry and two of your friends on the photo!”
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2) Write in the caption: “I want to win this necklace from XYZJewelry.com”
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We will pick one lucky random winner in 48 hours from now!
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Goodluck!
If all goes well, you get a bunch of reposts and shoutouts and it will only cost you the cost of the necklace. You may even get a bunch of new customers who may buy other products as well.
Another way to do the competition is to post a photo of the necklace and ask your followers to tag 5 people in your comments for a chance to win. This will bring a bunch of traffic to your page from people who will be likely to follow you because their friend who tagged them has given them the social proof that you’re worth following.
Use Instagram Stories to Connect in Fresh and Authentic Ways
Ever since Instagram introduced Stories, it has been a huge hit, probably because they copied it from Snapchat. The addition of Instagram Stories has been one of the most important updates to Instagram to date. Snapchat proved that people love to see fleeting, everyday moments from the people and brands that we follow so Instagram jumped on this bandwagon.
Instagram Stories is a feature that lets you post photos or videos that disappear after 24 hours. What’s more, your Instagram Stories won’t appear on your profile grid nor will they show in your main Instagram feed.
While you should treat your Instagram feed as a place to showcase your most polished photos, Stories should be used as an opportunity to add some authenticity to your brand. Use Stories as a way to take your followers on a journey and tell them the story that takes place behind the posts in your feed.
Use Instagram Stories to showcase your personality and build a deeper connection with your audience. This is your chance to show your personal side and tell your audience a little about yourself by posting content that is less business oriented but more “behind the scenes.” Unlike regular posts, there are no likes or public comments, so let your hair down and get creative.
A great tool to design Instagram Stories is Adobe Spark, which lets you use pre-designed templates that are already sized for Instagram Stories.
Here are some great ways to use Instagram Stories to connect with your audience:
- Behind the Scenes Footage: Take your community behind the scenes by posting images or videos of your activities. Here are some examples:
- A restaurant can show how they prepare their dishes or how the kitchen operates.
- Musicians can show clips of how their music is recorded.
- Sports teams can show training footage and team meetings.
- Fashion brands can demonstrate their creative processes.
- Real estate agents can take their followers on a tour around a property they have just listed.
- The possibilities here are endless…
- Share Interesting Statistics: Are there any interesting statistics that you can share with your followers? Using a surprising or important statistic is a good way to get attention before announcing a new event or blog post about that topic.
- How-to Tutorials: Stories are a great way to educate your audience with quick tutorials where you share some tips or teach your followers how to do something.
- Promoting A Blog Post: Use Stories to highlight key points from a new blog post to get people more excited about your content.
- Countdowns: Since Stories only last 24 hours this is a great way to show time-sensitive content like a countdown to a specific event.
- Limited Time Offers and Promotions: Just like a countdown, Stories are great for promoting time-limited sales.
- Inspiring Quotes: Share motivational quotes and inspiring stories.
- Introducing an Instagram Takeover: If you have a Takeover planned with an influencer, announcing it beforehand through Stories can help build anticipation for the event. If you’re not familiar with Takeovers, it’s when a guest will take over an Instagram (or Snapchat) account for a period of time and share content on that channel.
- Announcements and Updates: Build anticipation by announcing important events in advance such as the launch of a new podcast, product or webinar, etc.
- Answer Direct Message Questions: If a brand gets a question through Direct Messaging, they can take this opportunity to answer the question through Stories, so all of their followers can benefit.
Hashtags and location tags are super important so make sure to use them in your Instagram Stories just like you would in your regular posts. This way your Stories will appear in the Explore tab on Instagram and other potential followers will be able to discover your stories and potentially follow you.
Do Live Instagram Broadcasts
Just like Instagram Stories, there are a lot of reasons to use Instagram Live to promote your brand. Both tools are great ways to build trust with your followers while performing lead generation and sales and boosting your discoverability on Instagram. You can basically use Instagram Live to accomplish many of the same strategies that were listed above for Instagram Stories. For example, Instagram Live is great for Q&A sessions, launches and announcements, behind the scenes footage, interviews, collaborations and Takeovers.
A great strategy is to try to promote your Instagram Live event beforehand, so you get as many people tuned in as possible. The more viewers you get to engage and comment on your event, the more likely it will be that Instagram’s algorithms will take notice and feature you on the Explore Page.
One of the best ways to promote your Instagram Live event beforehand is by posting in your feed and following up with an Instagram Story about your event. You can share a series of Stories with details about your live event in the days leading up to the live broadcast. Make sure to include the topics covered, the time and date of the event along with other important details.
Instagram Live can also present a great opportunity to do some lead generation to collect emails. This is done by asking your followers to submit questions on a landing page that you create for the live event or by having them email you with questions before the event starts. Once you have their emails, you can add them to your newsletter or sales funnel to drive even more opportunities. Just make sure you ask them to opt in to receive additional emails from you when you conduct this strategy.
Use Third-Party Apps to Track Your Analytics
It’s a good idea to use third-party apps to see how well you are doing in terms of engagement, growth, etc. Analytics tools to use include: Followers+, SocialBlade.com, iconosquare.com and SocialRank.com. These tools help you keep track of your Instagram statistics such as how many followers you gained or lost, your best and worst engaged followers, your average likes per photo and much more.
Knowing your analytics gives you a lot of information you can use to improve your efforts. For example, since you’ll know your most engaged followers, you’ll know who to reach out to in order to set up a collaboration or other type of engagement.
Make Multiple Instagram Accounts and Cross Promote
If you have the time, it may be a good idea to make more than just one Instagram account, so you can grow your brand more quickly. Each account can be related to a different sub-niche within your overall niche.
Moreover, having more than one account allows you to do a shoutout to all of your own account, creating a synergy between all of them. For example, if you have a fitness website, you can create multiple accounts each focusing on a different aspect of fitness. All of these accounts will not only give shoutouts to each other, but they will all link to the same fitness website, thereby increasing traffic to your website. The sub-niches can include body building, diet and nutrition, cross-fitness, running, etc.
Avoid Fake Followers
It may be tempting to buy 50,000 followers in one shot to boost your Instagram account, but you’ll be shooting yourself in the foot. This is because you’ll get a lack of engagement and it will show, thereby encouraging your real followers to leave. It won’t be very convincing to follow you when you only get 5 likes 3 comments on each post. People will wonder what happened to your 50,000 followers. Nobody wants to be the only one commenting. People want to engage with other people and feel like they are part of a community. You won’t be able to provide this experience for your audience if most of your followers are fake.
Besides, Instagram is great at spotting fake profiles and will delete them in a flash. You’ll go from 50,000 followers back down to 3 followers very quickly and you’ll have egg on your face to boot.
Experiment, Experiment, Experiment
One thing is for sure, what may work for one brand on Instagram may not work for another brand. That’s why it is so important to experiment with different tactics and strategies until you get a feel for what works.
Take all of the advice that was given above and experiment with different variations. For example, try different bios, use different profile pictures, experiment with filters, try shoutouts with many different people. Some may work well, and some may not. This constant refining will make your account that much more attractive in the long run.
Be Patient – This Is A Marathon
Building a large following on Instagram takes time and a lot of hard work, so be patient. The good news is it gets easier over time because the more you grow the faster you’ll be able to attract new followers. As long as you stick with it, keep grinding and hustling and constantly engage with your audience, you’ll see the follower count grow, which will open you up to many more opportunities.
CONCLUSION
Instagram is a powerful social network for branding business development. The possibilities to find and engage with your followers are amazing. Few platforms offer a better place to communicate directly with your fans. The Instagram marketing strategies outlined above provide a great roadmap to begin this process. With 800+ million users who are more than happy to seek out brands on Instagram, it has never been easier to grow your brand, promote your latest products and acquire new customers. If you stick with it and approach it in a genuine way, you can be successful on this platform. To borrow a term from Gary Vaynerchuk, go out there and “crush it.”
Business Consulting Services: If you’re a small business owner looking to start or improve an online business then let me show you how to benefit from my experience. I have helped several online resellers grow their businesses by developing an online strategy to sell on Amazon, eBay or any other marketplace. Call me at 310-574-2541 or email me at Pez@Pezlogic.com for a complimentary business review.
