Instagram is BIG. From influencers to all industries, Instagram is seen as a vital marketing tool to help promote businesses, earn a little cash and maybe even win a sneaky giveaway.
Using Instagram is clearly vital for any budding business, and including it in your marketing strategy is a must!
But how will using Insta help your business?
#1 Visual = Viable
Using photos is a proven way to engage your audience, with some suggesting that the use of visual material gives 650% more engagement than text posts.
That is a pretty impressive statistic and could be the key to getting people interested in your brand (whatever that may be).
This means that Instagram could be your gold mine of potential engagement, and using visual material on this and other channels could help see your business engagement rocket.
Using consistent branding across all your channels, including your Instagram posts, will help strengthen your personal branding.
#2 Story Time
Using your new-found engagement may seem like a daunting task. You are probably thinking, ‘what do I promote’, ‘what will engage my followers’? Well… the personal touch is a good place to start.
Stories are a great way to capture people’s interest. From celebrity misdemeanors to heart-felt business journeys, everyone wants to know more about YOU and your business.
Pushing products on Instagram is fine, but this probably won’t get the engagement you are looking for. Instead, focus on how you trigger an emotional response to your brand.
This could be in the form of ‘behind the scenes’ stories that will allow intrigue into your businesses day to day, or a picture of your office cat crapping in the last living office plant. Whatever your business, give your followers a personal story to get them crying and laughing along with you.
#3 Hashtag heaven
GET HASHTAGGING.
That is all.
(Just make sure they are appropriate, relevant and please don’t use any banned ones, we don’t want all your hard work going to #shit (that’s a banned hashtag, FYI))
Also Read: How to write a business blog — and why you need one.
#4 Constructive Criticism
No one likes to be told how pants their business or brand is, however, the internet doesn’t seem to care. Therefore, use this brutal honesty to help build and improve your business.
You can keep tabs on what people are saying about your business on Instagram using Iconosquare Instagram search.
Use this search tool to gather intelligence and data about what your audience does and doesn’t like, and incorporate these things into your marketing and business strategy.
Not only will this help boost your short term engagement, but it will give you a long-term benefit.
#5 Talk to Strangers
Take advantage of Instagrams’ higher than average engagement rate (it beats Facebook and Twitter!) and its open-minded audiences, whom it has been suggested are more likely to engage with branded material than on any other platform.
Get talking people. Reply to the comments on your post, open up your DMs and get talking to strangers and start commenting on others’ posts. Make your audience feel special (kinda like dating, you take them to dinner, you talk…. etc).
Getting people talking on your own hashtags and posts can make your audience really connect with your business and brand. It increases your likes and follows and gets your posts out there.
If you are a seasoned Instagramer, try running one of those cheeky giveaways we mentioned earlier. They can really boost your engagement.
Also Read: 6 reasons why your bounce rate is so high.
#6 Stalking is Creepy (Unless you are Stalking your Competitor)
And finally… Facebook used to be a stalker’s paradise, but now Instagram can give you that fix, just don’t be creepy about it ok?
If you don’t already use Instagram in your marketing strategy, it is very likely that your competitors are.
Use this to your advantage, give their Insta feeds a stalk. See what content they are posting, how often they post, what strategies they are using to get their audience hooked and talking about on their page. You can even follow their hashtags and stalk their activity.
Gathering intel like this for your industry is priceless. You can use it to help discover the best ways to engage your audience and give you some marketing ideas for the inevitable moment you lose your Instagram virginity.
It’s time to get active on Instagram? Need a hand getting your content strategy on the right track? We’re here to help.
