Most people are visual learners and it is undeniable that one’s attention span can change drastically upon presenting pleasing visual stimuli. A social media platform like instagram has its thrust on sharing pictures and videos with your friends and connections. Instagram now has grown from being a social platform to being an asset, an important tool in digital marketing. According to recent statistics, there are more than 800 million people who are actively using Instagram every month. 80% of Instagram users follow at least one business account and about 60% of users use their instagram account daily. But wait, there’s more. Instagram now has about two million advertisers every month with approximately 59% of influencers claiming that instagram is the best platform out there if you want to increase the reach of your brand to grow your business.
It is then clear that instagram is a widely used platform in marketing and it is recognized by big brands down to those who are still starting their businesses to help them promote their products and services. Instagram helps in reaching out to potential customers and making your brand known. In this article, we will be discussing its benefits and some tips on how to get you started in using instagram as a means of marketing to grow your business.
Why choose instagram?
- Instagram revolves around story-telling. Engaging and attractive content are the trademarks of instagram. In using instagram to promote your business, your pictures and captions will do the talking. The more interactive and relatable your content are, the more likely people will start to be intrigued in your brand and buy your products. And who doesn’t love stories? People love stories and they will be hooked if your brand is more than just selling products or your services, but a business who can convey their message pretty well. If I were an instagram user, I would anticipate what would be the next collection or perhaps for communication plan strategies, say, #ThrowbackThursdays I will wonder what would be the featured story.
- Users can easily browse and read through your content. On instagram, your choice of content is everything. When one checks out your instagram account, your feed can make or break your reputation. Let’s face it, the more aesthetically pleasing and curated, the more appealing it is to the user. The most obvious advantage of instagram versus other social media platforms used in digital marketing is that on instagram the unwritten rule is that post pictures and short but striking captions. If you’re scrolling and this product or service appears posted by a business account, your inkling to click it and check their profile is high.
- Instagram Marketing has a broad reach. There’s a concrete basis why instagram is the top choice for digital marketers. Its potential to reach a great number of audiences, it’s definitely beneficial to your brand especially for those businesses still starting. With over 800 million monthly users on the platform, with the right strategies on hand, your brand will sure create a buzz in no time. When posting on Instagram, hashtags are the best way of getting your content out there and in front of the right people. A tip for using hashtags is to make sure you’re using relevant and not outdated ones. This way, you can increase interaction and likelihood for users to click or follow those hashtags and lead to your business instagram page. You can also create targeted ads to reach even more potential customers, if you’re willing to invest a little time and set aside some budget.
- Perfect venue for engagement with your community and followers. You need good content and that presupposes it is informative. If it’s catchy and relevant enough to stir discussions in your community, then you can say that it was effective. Just make sure that your topics won’t be that sensitive as to avoid unnecessary heated arguments. Just enough to spark creativity, curiosity and participation. However, do not throw the main goal off the bus, which is to make your brand and get leads for sales.
- Feedback from your followers can help you improve your content. This should not be underestimated. The more interactive you are with both positive and not so nice comments from your followers on instagram, the more you can also learn on where you did well and perhaps points for improvement. Also, your followers can feel that they are valued when there are responses from their comments. It may not be much however in the long run, these customers will be the loyal ones and will solidify your sales and brand.
- To generate higher conversion rates. No matter what kind of a business you run, boosting conversions must be a top priority for you because social media can help you out in this regard, with tons of referral traffic and leads. According to a study by Shopify, the conversion rate of ecommerce businesses from Instagram is 1.08%. This result is way higher than Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter. The beauty of Instagram is that it delivers such incredible returns even though you can’t use clickable links anywhere on the platform other than your bio. Undoubtedly, Instagram proves to be a clear winner when it comes to boosting conversions and generating sales.
How to get started on Instagram
Now that we discussed the benefits of having an instagram account for business, it’s time to visit the steps on how to create one for your business.
- In creating your instagram account, make sure you’re using your business email as you don’t want it to be mixed with your personal instagram if you already have on. Your Instagram profile is essentially your homepage on the platform. It provides you with space to share a little information about your business and also gives you the chance to drive some traffic back to your website. In this section, we’ll guide you through how to maximise your Instagram profile and drive as much value as possible from it.
- Make your profile bio catchy and enticing. It must truly speak your brand. The bio is also where your business puts the link of the most recent content may it be a video or a blog post.
- Select a profile picture, it has to be your official logo.
- Unlike many other social networks, Instagram doesn’t allow you to add links to every post. Instead, you only get one link, and that’s the one in your profile. Though accounts with more than 10,000 followers can also share links within Instagram Stories. Most businesses tend to use this link to drive traffic back to their homepage, and this link can also be a key way to drive traffic from Instagram to campaign-specific landing pages or individual pieces of content.
- Create a communication plan laying out what key ideas on what to post. You can be very creative, the sky’s your limit. It is also equally important to remember that sticking to a pattern may be a bit boring, thus if you already found your content pillar then just tweak it a bit and develop it constantly for your future posts.
- Track your engagement. Interact frequently with your commenters and reply to enquiries especially if you’ve claimed in one of your posters that you will be responding to enquiries and feedback. Remember, accountability in customer relations transcends in all facets of business.
- Make use of instagram stories and link your current content such as a video or a blog post which allows any instagram user to click it and will be redirected to the actual content.