To know Instagram marketing and use Instagram marketing strategies, we must first know Instagram itself. So let’s look at the start of this social network and its statistics. Since the unveiling of Instagram in 2010, the world has faced a storm of changes in social networks. Most people from social networks like Facebook and Twitter joined it, and even people who had their first contact with the Internet, the first social network they joined was Instagram.

The reasons for the great reception of this social network are not completely clear, but the most important thing was that there was no need to read a long text and a short time was enough to see hundreds of contents. But now, there are many different uses (apart from viewing pictures) of Instagram, one of the most important of which is Instagram marketing.

But is marketing and advertising on Instagram worth spending? Or is it better to allocate the cost to billboards? To understand this issue, let’s take a look at the statistics in the world:

  • One billion monthly active users worldwide can access the Instagram application or website.
  • Five hundred million daily active users all over the world access Instagram.
  • With 1.386 billion users, Instagram is the fourth most popular social network in terms of the number of users. At the top of the results are Facebook with 2.85 billion users, YouTube with 2.29 users, and WhatsApp with 1.6 billion users.
  • 23.92 percent of the 4.18 billion active Internet users on mobile phones use Instagram monthly, equivalent to the number of people living in Europe and North America.

According to these statistics, Instagram marketing is a good idea, and it achieves the marketing goal of communicating with potential customers, introducing products, and ultimately increasing sales and earning profit. Keep the Smart strategy to be familiar with this effective social network platform. 

What is Instagram marketing?

Instagram marketing is a new way for businesses to communicate with their target audience and introduce their products in a new format. However, this concept is broader than introducing products; you must:  

  • Establishing a logical relationship with the audience
  • Informing the customer, 
  • Showing the inside of the business, 
  • Respecting the customer’s opinions and experiences, and so on.

There are two ways to Instagram Marketing as an effective social network advertising:

  • Business promotion through Instagram influencers and celebrities
  • Create original content on your page and try to increase followers using page promotion

The best type of Instagram marketing is to use both methods with a regular strategy. That means, first, bring your page to a certain level of development, arrange its appearance, produce valuable and practical content, and then use popular Instagram pages to introduce yourself.

what is instagram marketing

 

How to do Instagram Marketing?

  1. Creating a business account is your first step, which allows access to helpful information about the page and the behavior of users with the content.
  2. Creating original content will help you establish a better relationship with your audience. Audiences always appreciate helpful content. However, it is better to consider a specific format for posts and stories unique to your business.
  3. Creating a correct social media marketing strategy is the most critical action for marketing. This strategy includes a map of your page to create content and advertise on other Instagram pages. For example, make a calendar table with three columns (similar to the Instagram page) and determine the following:
  • What is each square (post) content, 
  • What form will the content take, 
  • What day will you advertise, and 
  • What caption will you write for the content?
  1. If you advertise your page, remember that this advertisement differs from billboards in the city, so think about the audience, the goal, and the person you will promote.
  2. Know the updates and new features of Instagram and use them. This shows that you are trying to satisfy the audience and you are trying to create fresh and pure content.

Instagram Marketing methods 

Up to this point in your article, you have been with us with tips on strategy and following Instagram principles. By promoting your page, you can increase your followers and ultimately increase the sales of your product or service. Here are some tips and tricks to market your business on Instagram:

Visiting ads

One of the advertising methods to increase Instagram followers can be considered the use of visit ads. In this way, you only pay for the number of views of your ad content and no more! Your ad will be displayed in the posts and stories of Instagram pro-follower pages, and you will only pay for every 1000 views. With the help of Visiting ads, you can identify the pages related to your brand and implement them best. 

Influencer marketing

By identifying influencers related to your business, you can advertise and attract a large percentage of their followers. Of course, finding the right influencer and their rates for a post or story is time-consuming and tiring. You can use influencer marketing services. The cost of these ads varies based on which influencer you choose. In the flow, the list and price of influencer ads have been compiled along with their information. In final, you can run the best ads according to your budget.

Holding competitions

What better way than to let someone try your product and become a customer? Run contests that require someone to follow your account or post with your hashtag.

Live videos

Consider showcasing a new product or service using Instagram Live. Then, drive users to purchase by placing a link in your bio. Also, remember to use the link in your Instagram bio and your Instagram story highlights, as these can connect followers to your website, blog, and product pages.

Finally, put Instagram social sharing button on your website and share your Instagram on other social platforms.

 

Instagram marketing strategies

Instagram marketing strategies have some principles:

 

1. Pay attention to the appearance of your page

On Instagram, looks are everything; Register your bio page, profile picture, highlights, website link, phone, address, and email. The more you use Instagram features, the more professional and reliable you will look.

2. Post at the right time

In the insight section of your page, you can find out when your audience is online. The timing of posting is highly relevant to the type of business you run. 

3. Create unique content

If you have a channel on Telegram or you publish content on a blog site, try to produce different content for Instagram that is based on the possibilities and audience of Instagram. Produce valuable types of Social Media Content.

instagram marketing strategy

 

4. Take user-generated content seriously

UGC is user-generated content that is either using your product or promoting it. This content creates the most trust in other audiences.

5. Communicate with the audience

Communicate with your audience in directs, comments, and story questions. 

6. Use Instagram insights

Instagram business pages have an option called insight, which helps a lot with your long-term strategies, such as:

  • audience gender, 
  • online time, 
  • the number of visits to the site through the page (website tab), 
  • The number of people who came to your page through a forwarded post or story, 
  • The number of people who saved your post.

Check these statistics weekly and monthly to see how effective your strategies are and what changes are needed.

7. Use hashtags to get more visibility

Hashtags are one of the most influential Instagram marketing strategies. Most people use hashtags to find posts related to a specific topic. For this reason, try to identify hashtags related to your work field and use them correctly.

Hashtag power doesn’t mean you have to use tons of unrelated hashtags under all your posts. Unfortunately, by doing this, you will not only lose sight of the audience, but you will also have to wait for Instagram fines.

You can also place it among your audience by repeatedly using your hashtag. For example, you can turn the name of your campaign or business into a hashtag.

8. Take advantage of Instagram stories

A story is a valuable tool for implementing Instagram marketing strategies; You can use them to increase engagement rates and collect customer feedback. Poll and Ask me a question sticker will help you understand what your audience needs more or gauge their satisfaction.

In addition, you can use the story to introduce your new product or service. Countdown stickers will help you instill a sense of anticipation in your audience.

The life of Instagram stories is concise. However, you can use the Highlight function to show your story to the audience longer. For example, most businesses publish a series of stories for discounts and product categories. Then, highlighting them allows their audience to examine them with great patience and care.

9. Don’t forget the link in the Instagram bio

Link in Instagram bio is one of the most attractive tools for businesses who want to increase their website traffic. Instagram is a great place to display links. Pay attention to this feature when developing an Instagram strategy.

Instagram only allows you to use one link in your bio. However, various tools like Onelink help you make the most of this opportunity. You can also ask the audience to visit your products through the link in the bio.

10. Pin comments

Pinning comments is one of the latest Instagram features that will help you gain the trust of your audience. Instagram allows you to pin up to three comments. For example, you can pin positive comments from your audience and use them to attract potential customers’ attention. Asking questions to page followers is another way to increase engagement rate. This feature allows you to pin interesting and specific comments.

You can also use this feature to take care of your brand image and avoid the risk of spam comments. However, remember that you should not hide your customers’ negative comments or dissatisfaction. You can even respond to negative comments and show your responsiveness by pinning that comment to other audiences.

11. Do not miss the new features of Instagram, such as Reels

Instagram is more excited about its unique features. There are lots of Instagram algorithms. That’s why you should take advantage of them, and somehow, you should use them to reach your goal (Instagram marketing).

Reels are one of the new features of Instagram that has recently made a lot of noise. Instagram’s algorithm encourages users to use Reels; Therefore, this type of content is highly likely to be seen.

Reels can be your crutch when trying to increase followers organically and for free, So include them in your Instagram marketing strategy.

No one expects to see rich and professional content while watching Reels. Here, creativity comes first! Reels help you communicate with your audience cheaply and easily.

How to use Reels? We suggest you take advantage of this short, attractive content in the following cases:

  • How the product works
  • Educational content
  • Show behind the scenes of the business
  • New product teaser
  • Compilation and display of content generated by the user

Conclusion

in this article on smart strategy we deep dive into Instagram marketing.

smart strategy as a leading digital marketing agency providing social media services in Canada. To have more information about our social media marketing services and have a consultation with our social media strategist please contact us.

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