Instagram, which is a very popular name among social media platforms, is also an ideal option for companies and individuals who carry their marketing activities to the digital field these days. Now you too can learn about Instagram marketing. At this point, it is very important to get general information about Instagram before doing research.
The platform, which has been loved and preferred since the first moment it was created, manages to be an ideal option especially for photo sharing. In general, users spend approximately 8 minutes a day on Instagram, which has over 1.16 billion monthly active users. There are also a considerable number of people who use stories. There are also many Influencers with large numbers of followers on the platform where 500 million stories are shared daily.
If you use Instagram with the right planning, you can create a successful and effective account and become a strong brand with flawless marketing. At this point, you first need to take care of your existing followers and at the same time share the right content regularly to gain new followers.
However, it can be challenging to know which content will produce the best results for growing your audience. That’s why we’ll share the best Instagram marketing tips for you. In this way, you can learn what you need to do to become an expert Instagram marketer and carry out productive work by taking firm steps on this path.
How to Do Marketing on Instagram?
Here are ten important tips that you can use to take advantage of the opportunities offered on this very popular platform and to achieve strong marketing.
Switch to a Business Account Without Wasting Time
If you’ve decided to market on Instagram, you’ll need to switch to an Instagram business account before you can plan your strategy. It is also possible to switch your existing profile to a business account without opening an account.
To perform this very easy process, just follow these steps without wasting any time:
- First, open your account.
- Then go to the settings section.
- Here, click on the “Switch to Professional Account” option.
This is how simple the process is. You should remember that there are many advantages to having a business profile. For this reason, it is necessary not to neglect this process and to change your profile as soon as possible.
For example, just as users who come to your website can click on the contact button to get in touch with you, your followers on Instagram can do the same. This gives you a lot of practicality.
You also don’t need to use Facebook advertising tools when you open a business account. Instagram allows you to create and publish ads on its platform, and you can also use Instagram’s analytics tools. You can take advantage of the Insights tool, which provides statistics on how many people your posts were shown and their reach.
As soon as you obtain a business account, you can benefit from the advantages offered to you free of charge; you can evaluate all the opportunities offered to you to monitor metrics, examine and understand your target audience.
Use Free Instagram Marketing Tools
Contrary to popular belief, there is not much difference between Instagram business accounts and Facebook business accounts. Taking advantage of the free marketing tools offered on the platform will provide you with convenience in many ways.
You can view a wide range of statistics such as impressions, engagement data through Insights. You can also access all information about your followers, such as their gender, location, age, and the time periods during which they are most active, and even get a breakdown of these.
You can also get a variety of detailed data, from how many impressions you received in a certain time period to what your best posts were.
In short, despite being free, these marketing tools are highly valuable. By using these, you can understand how your followers interact with your content and create your strategies accordingly.
Share Product Promotional Posts That Will Drive Purchase
Did you know that you can make more sales by posting product promotions on Instagram?
Yes, it’s actually quite easy with the right methods. Among the posts, especially product promotions attract a lot of attention. Therefore, you can also use Instagram to advertise your products. If you play your cards right, you can promote your followers without disturbing them or scaring them with ads.
However, if you are too persistent, your followers may move away from your page. For this reason, it is important that you create your product promotion content without giving the impression that you have worked too hard on it and that you do not give too much information about the product. In this way, you can create more natural and sincere content.
Posts that don’t directly try to sell a product, but where your followers can buy your products if they want to, are highly successful. You can also share photos of products that your followers can buy and offer them discount opportunities with these images. In this way, you can both promote your products and increase your sales.
Advertising works as long as it is not intrusive. It is therefore important that brands do not bother people with discounts and product images to get them to download the app and shop. This is true for almost all sectors. For example, Starbucks announces seasonal drinks with clear visuals and without pushing people to buy. So it turns out to be quite successful.
When you create humorous content for people about products they’re interested in and don’t push them to buy something, you’re actually giving them the perfect incentive to make a purchase. Even if they don’t buy these products, they will like your post, comment on it or share it with their friends. So feel free to share product photos, but do so in a very elegant manner.
Create Sponsored Ads
Instagram ads are very popular nowadays. Therefore, in addition to finding out where the most ideal area for advertising is, you can also clarify exactly how much you want to spend on advertising by setting an advertising budget. You can also advertise multiple products with a single post by using the carousel ad feature.
This type of sponsored advertising gives brands a tremendous ability to reach their target audience. Before sponsored posts, which allow you to target in a whole new way, your photos and campaigns were only visible to people who followed you. Now you have the opportunity to promote your images to anyone who fits your target audience to increase your reach more than ever before.
When you are going to make use of sponsored ads, you need to make use of engaging content. You can also turn existing posts into sponsored ads. So it’s good to identify your most successful posts and keep them. This way, you can direct high-performing posts to your potential customers in the form of sponsored ads at a convenient time.
At this point, it would be right to send multiple posts to different audiences at the same time for more interaction. You should also be aware that there are many different types of sponsored ads you can run in this process. The most important of these are as follows:
- Photo.
- Video
- Carousel/Dynamic Ads
- Stories
- Canvas Stories
Stories in particular are a very effective method for both sponsored ads and other promotional posts.
Use Instagram Stories
By taking advantage of Instagram stories feature, you can generate potential customers and ensure their conversions. You can also promote your brand and products and reach a wide audience.
Instagram stories are different from regular Instagram posts. Because the content is in slideshow format. Such stories only stay on air for 24 hours. Then it goes off the air.
However, if you wish, you can save them on any device and store them for later reuse. In this respect, Instagram is similar to Snapchat Stories and is a direct competitor to Snapchat.
Instagram stories do not appear in the news feed, as they do on many other platforms. Instead, it is located in a small area at the top. When any user clicks on your profile photo at the top, a new window will open and allow you to view your story.
Instagram stories, which are very advantageous for brands, facilitate the promotion and advertising process, especially for newcomers. Stories offer practical use as they are displayed at the top of the follower timelines that users already view on a daily basis.
Stories don’t need to be as high quality as regular posts, so brands often take advantage of this feature. You too can share stories without having to worry too much about sharing content that is in harmony with the aesthetic appearance of your brand or Instagram page.
Instagram stories make it easy to experience a wide variety of content types, such as photos, short videos, live videos, rewind videos, or Boomerangs (GIF-like images that play in a loop), allowing you to create stunning images and videos. At this point, you can especially benefit from tools such as Canva and InVideo.
You can also tag other accounts in your stories, so you can collaborate with another brand or different accounts. This way you can achieve impressive work.
There are face filters, text or stickers to help you create fun visuals. These simplify the editing process and allow you to create eye-catching images.
Each photo and video you add to Stories will play in the order you added them. There is also no limit to the amount of posts you can add to stories at any given time. You can share any number of stories at any time. This feature can be easily used by all businesses worldwide.
Today, stories are only available on the mobile Instagram app. Currently, it is not possible to share Instagram stories with users in the form of messages. But you don’t have to worry about that because most Instagram users access the platform through the smartphone app and not through the website. This way, you can reach your target audience effortlessly.
Collaborate with Influencers for a Wider Reach
If you don’t have any joint projects with one of the Influencers who are very influential on Instagram and add a lot to the value of the platform, you should discover them and try working together. In this way, you will gain a very advantageous situation and reach a much wider audience.
You should know that the fastest way to reach potential customers on Instagram is to get support from Influencers who have a large follower base.
Nowadays, many people count the products or services they see in the posts of popular people they follow. Because they love and trust them. To turn this situation into an advantage, you can collaborate with the right person and introduce your brand to the followers of the Influencer account.
At this point, you first need to research influencers who have an account related to your products or services. Once you discover a few influencers, you can contact them and have them promote your products on their pages for their followers.
Thus, you can get support from very popular accounts to promote your products on your Instagram page, and if you make the right choice, posts about you can get thousands of likes. Since many of the followers of the Influencer you have chosen trust him/her, countless users can turn into potential customers.
Therefore, by preparing an impressive campaign and collaborating with an Influencer, you will both gain short-term profit and have the opportunity to benefit from much longer-term benefits.
To do this, you need to find an influencer in your field, get in touch with them and play your cards right. This way, you can create lasting brand awareness with a new audience.
Collect Photos Submitted by Users
You’d be surprised if we told you that there is a way to effortlessly create effective content for your Instagram account, right? Yes, you have such a possibility. You can review the photos submitted by your followers and create highly enjoyable and entertaining content.
Your existing followers may not be very influential on the platform, but you can take advantage of the images they post and use them to create unique content. This way, you can take advantage of the opportunity to genuinely encourage your other followers to purchase the same products.
You already have an existing audience interested in your products. Whether you have hundreds or thousands of followers is not very important at this point. All you need to do is leverage the submissions from your target audience to create useful and effective content.
This kind of sharing will make your followers enjoy your post. Such posts, involving a large number of users, also allow them to feel special and valued.
Nowadays, many brands use tons of content created from their users’ submissions on their Instagram pages to showcase their products.
However, at this point, you need to pay attention to many details. It’s important to review how users have utilized hashtags in these types of posts published on their pages and to carefully consider how you will tag them in the image accordingly.
But are you wondering how you can get your users to create engaging and positive content? This is actually quite simple to achieve. Because most people on the platform want to increase the number of followers on their accounts. So when you want to use their posts, contact them and let them know how to tag them. Thus, the user will be willing to share their content. Since both they and you will benefit positively from this sharing, no issues are likely to arise.
For example, GoPro is famous for using posts from its users. The brand chooses a #FeaturedPhotographer every week. A brand that turns this into a weekly competition creates an exciting and enthusiastic environment while also finding an opportunity to promote its products.
If you decide to try something similar, you might be surprised at how eager your followers are to participate in these kinds of activities.
You also need to choose the photos you want to use wisely. This process may be challenging for you, but don’t stop being meticulous about what you will achieve. At this point, you can make your choice by paying attention to the details we’ve listed below:
- Check that the photo matches your brand’s image. Thus, you can make ideal posts for the image you have created or are trying to create.
- Don’t forget to check the number of followers of the user whose photo you plan to share. Thus, you can reach the right options for reaching a much wider audience.
- You should make sure that the photo is appropriate for your current audience and followers. Otherwise it is unlikely to have the desired effect.
- For your brand to be a strong name, all your posts need to be aligned with the message you want to convey to your target audience.
- On Boosted Boards, you can check whether the user-submitted photo matches the brand’s aesthetic. In this way, you can reach high quality, interesting and unique options.
- It would be right to prefer to turn to images prepared similar to the color tone of your brand.
- You should also be careful not to be prejudiced about the content you want to share. Therefore take advantage of the options that you see as beautiful and effective. In this way, you both increase the number of followers and watch the effects of the post grow.
- Finally, you need to come up with a hashtag that directs Instagram users to your brand and encourages them to interact.
Create an Interactive, Branded Hashtag
One of the main things you need to do to create instant engagement is to use interactive hashtags. These branded and interactive hashtags, which offer significant advantages, allow other users to search for all posts related to your brand at any time through the tag included in the content.
Additionally, you can easily search through the images to repost on your own page, making your efforts more efficient.
It is very useful to create a hashtag that both your brand and your target audience can search for. This process can actually be considered as a free advertising activity. When any user posts a photo using the hashtag, your brand’s followers can also see that post. If you have an existing brand slogan or phrase, you can make it a branded hashtag. For example, Coca-Cola chose the #ShareACoke hashtag and achieved significant success with it.
Also, no matter what you share, the most important thing is to share at the right times. However, it’s important to be mindful not to overpost at this point.
Post at the Right Time and Avoid Overdoing It
Posting excessively on Instagram can negatively affect your followers and may even lead them to unfollow you. Therefore, it’s important not to go overboard with the number of posts.
If your followers see only your posts in their news feed, they may become bored and choose to unfollow you to resolve the issue entirely.
However, you can easily overcome this situation. All you need to do is post consistently to stay in the flow. This is achievable by posting during times when your followers are most likely to be online.
According to data provided by SimplyMeasured, Wednesday and Sunday are the worst days to post on Instagram. Monday and Thursday are the ideal times for posting.
According to research by CoSchedule, the best time of day to post is between 08:00 and 09:00. 02:00 is also considered the ideal time. Between 8:00 and 9:00 in the morning, people get ready for work, leave and go to work. During this period, they check their social media when they have the chance.
2:00 a.m. is a time when most people need to go to sleep, and before going to sleep, people scroll through social media and see what’s going on. Therefore, it is a very popular time for posting.
Additionally, you can use Instagram Insights to determine when your followers are most active. This way, you can determine which days and times are right for you to post. Because the ideal posting times can vary based on the characteristics of your target audience.
You can use tools such as Hootsuite, CoSchedule or Sprout Social to schedule posts for the day and time you want them to be published. This way, you won’t have to post content in real-time.
According to research, it is effective for brands to post once or twice a day. However, posting significantly more or fewer times than this number can lead to a decrease in followers.
If this number is too small for you to promote more products, you can create your post in a slideshow format. This way, you can use Instagram’s carousel feature to post multiple images or ads in one go. This way, you will not overwhelm your followers.
Make Sure You’re Tracking the Right Instagram Metrics
In order to improve your Instagram performance and perform the necessary optimizations, you need to have clear data on the efficiency of your posts. For this reason, you can benefit from the tools offered to you by the platform and have measurable results. This way, you can precisely determine what is working or not working and make the necessary adjustments accordingly.
In order to monitor Instagram metrics, you should first monitor your follower growth rate. So you can get information about the performance of your page. While the total number of followers you have is important, it is not a decisive factor for measuring growth.
What matters here is what the amount of engagement of your followers looks like. In other words, it is how details such as the type of post you send, the frequency of sending, and the quality of the content affect the process. By observing this effect, you can measure the required engagement rates. These include likes, comments, and shares.
To measure your page’s performance, it is essential not only to know the average engagement percentage of all your followers but also to understand the average engagement rate of each post. You can easily do this on the platform and then proceed by developing new marketing strategies.
In addition to Instagram engagement rates, it is also important to monitor your URL click-through rate. You need to make sure you have a link to your website on your Instagram profile. This way, you can measure how many people clicked on your URL.
According to research by Conversion XL, the average URL click-through rate on Instagram is 0.94%. So you can see how successful your own page is at this point. You should remember that the more effective the marketing techniques you use on Instagram are on your target audience, the higher your click-through rate will be. Therefore, if your click-through rate is low, you should work on improving your approach.
By using a tool like Sprout Social, you can measure how many clicks your link receives and gather the necessary data to help your page grow.
Conclusion: Perfect Instagram Marketing with the Right Steps
Instagram, which has managed to dominate the social media world, is preferred by over a billion monthly users. As a platform offering the possibility of visual sharing, it becomes an ideal option for marketing efforts due to the billions of likes it receives every day.
With the right steps, you can realize a perfect Instagram marketing and thus contribute to the development of your brand. To succeed, it is crucial to take the following steps:
- First you need to convert your account to a business account. So you can easily take advantage of the free marketing tools available to you.
- By actively using free tools, you can learn many details about your target audience, from age to location.
- Regularly share posts promoting your products, but don’t overwhelm your followers in the process. In particular, you should avoid pressuring for a purchase.
- It is important to turn your posts into sponsored ads to attract other users who are not following you. So you can reach a much wider audience.
- You can use Instagram stories to publish photos or videos about your products. When such stories are fun and attention-grabbing, they strengthen the bond between you and your followers.
- Collaborate with a few influencers who excel at engagement on the platform. So you can reach an extremely wide audience.
- Keep the images your customers share safe for reposting. So you can create fun posts with them when the time is right. You can even organize various competitions with them.
- Regularly share images that fit your brand’s image.
- You need to publish content at the right time and share it with appropriate frequency. Avoid oversharing for this reason.
- Last but not least, you need to make sure you’re using the right metrics to see the results of your Instagram marketing efforts. So you know which path to follow to make the necessary corrections.
Instagram Marketing Tips FAQ
How can I improve my Instagram marketing?
To improve your Instagram marketing, you should start by using a business account, identifying your target audience, completing your profile thoroughly, and utilizing features that enhance reach, such as Instagram Stories.
How can I promote my small business on Instagram?
When promoting your small business on Instagram, make sure to create a business profile and fill out your bio. Then you can start by setting your goals. You may be selling products, increasing brand awareness or have a different purpose. You can use these to guide your marketing strategy as you define your goals.
How can I increase my Instagram follower count?
If you want to increase your number of followers, you should first aim for quality rather than quantity. At this point, you can regularly create attention-grabbing posts and plan for this. You can also organize contests, use relevant hashtags and share your Instagram account on other platforms such as email.
How effective is Instagram marketing?
With more than one billion monthly active users, Instagram is an ideal platform that makes it easy to reach your target audience and offers supportive tools to grow your business.
