There is no denying that Instagram plays a very important role in today’s digital marketing world. Businesses do their best to increase their presence on the platform, but some still fall short of accomplishing noticeable results.
This happens for a lot of reasons, but you can always salvage the situation by simply changing the way you do things. In other words, you need to rethink your strategy and start applying certain techniques that can make a change for the better.
If you are not utilizing Instagram correctly you will find that you are missing out on some important stuff so, this article will be a great reference to use resulting in you seeing some better results.
1. Understand Your Audience
First and foremost, it is crucial to get a better grip on what your audience is like, and whether you are doing the right things in targeting them through your Instagram posts. Sure, the whole thing comes down to your niche and the demographics that would be interested in your products or services.
You also need to keep track of how things are going. Look at your overall impressions, reach, website clicks, video views, etc. There is an Insights tool available to every business account, and everyone ought to make better use out of it.
Related: 8 Top Tips for Getting 250K Followers on Instagram
2. Instagram Stories
This feature was introduced a few years ago but it has become a cornerstone for quite a few brands. A great Instagram story campaign can make a world of a difference, especially considering the fact that there are hundreds of millions of people watching stories every day.
Stories are up for 24 hours and your social media marketing campaign benefits from them a lot since you can:
- Include an outbound link if you have 10 thousand followers. Other than this, you can only put a link on your bio.
- Promote exclusive stuff and increase your engagement. Since stories disappear rather quickly, getting your Instagram followers to hook up and keep up with your posts is simple. Especially if you throw in some teasers, special discounts, or giveaways.
3. Captions
Becoming a good copywriter is tough. However, you should still look to capture the attention of your followers with compelling captions on your Instagram posts. When writing, keep in mind that an average person will not bother reading something too long. They skim because Instagram is a visual-based platform.
People love to look at pretty pictures instead of reading texts. So, you need to capture those few seconds that you have and include crucial information in the first few sentences. Otherwise, your message will be lost.
4. Engage
Social media should be more than just trying to pitch your sales. Show them your human side. Share their content, organize giveaways, and spend more time answering any questions that they might have. And don’t forget to utilize Instagram search. The more time and effort you put into this, the higher the payoff.
5. Hashtags
It should be a no-brainer that hashtags are crucial to running a successful Instagram campaign. And while it may appear like a very simple thing on the surface level, hashtags are a lot more complicated and there are multiple effective ways to use them.
One of the most common mistakes is putting as many different hashtags as possible in a single post. Some believe that this is the best way to reach a higher number of people, but the reality is quite different. Instead of spamming random ones, put 3 to 5 targeted hashtags.
Related: 10 Instagram Automation Tools Every E-Marketer Should Know
6. Schedule
First and foremost, you will need to find the best timeframes for posting. It may differ depending on the day, especially when it comes to weekends. The goal here is to determine when you get the most engagement from your Instagram followers.
It usually depends on the niche and what demographics you are targeting. Each day has three best time slots. For weekdays, it is the very early morning, noon, and evening. As for the weekend, if you are posting on Saturday, do so in the evening. Mornings are better for Sundays.
7. Visuals
Instagram is all about visuals and you need to post the best quality you can get. Not everyone is going to pay attention to the copy, but they will always notice what the picture is like.
It is nice to have filters and other neat features directly on the platform, but you should look to boost your results by using professional editing tools. Photoshop is an obvious example. Every little bit that improves the overall quality of a picture will make a difference in the eyes of your audience.
8. Influencers
Partnering with Instagram influencers will do wonders for your brand, especially if you can find someone to cooperate with long-term. Why would you want that?
Organic reach is not as great as it was, and advertising on social media can turn out to be pretty expensive. Meanwhile, promoting your brand via an influencer who does not charge ridiculous rates will provide a great alternative to meeting your goals for successful social media marketing.
Finding the right influencer should not be a problem. Hashtag following is one of the best ways to locate your ideal candidate. And if you are struggling with that, try using Instagram search tools for finding influencers. Buzzsumo and TapInfluence are good examples.
Related: 9 Ways to Get Traffic to your Blog Using Instagram
9. Competition Research
When you feel like things are still not up to par with your expectations, there is always an option to look at how your competition is managing their Instagram posts and Instagram followers.
Pay careful attention and see what they are focusing on and what the engagement is like. Is it visuals that attract the people, or well-written captions? How many hashtags do they use? Do the posts seem to follow a structure or appear to be unrelated to each other and random? Are they actively responding to comments? Take their best and apply it to your own campaign.
To sum it all up, it should be quite clear that Instagram marketing can be a tough nut to crack. But if you have a plan and follow through with it, the whole ordeal should not be that much of a problem. And using these tips is what could be the difference-maker in finally seeing some decent results on your Instagram account.
