The newest Instagram stats reveal that it has more than 800 million monthly active users presently and is most likely to reach a billion in 2019. That amounts to more than double the monthly active users of Twitter and over three times as many users on WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.
The question is: what makes Instagram so successful and prosperous for marketers? Let us find out about Instagram marketing tips for success. While most e-marketers focus upon visual aesthetics and ease of use as vital Instagram marketing strategies essential for businesses, we often miss out on the different features and functionalities that help in brand engagement. Here we have discussed seven Instagram marketing tips to effectively target, engage and sell to your customers.
- Keep Up with the Algorithm:
Instagram users are troubled more often over changing algorithms, while some see it as an opportunity for growth; most people see this as a menace. More than 95 million photos are shared on Instagram daily. However, due to the new algorithm, nearly 70% of Instagram posts are not seen.
We often misunderstand the purpose of the frequent algorithm changes. The truth is: Instagram’s new algorithm is focused on past page engagement when choosing what content people will see.
According to the Mach 2018 announcement, these changes give you more control over your feed and suggest the best time for posting updates. You may use Later’s Best Time to Post feature that helps you plan, schedule, and optimize your Instagram posts.
- Captions:
Most Instagram users over emphasize upon picture or video, overlooking the writing part. Your texts may be long or short. But they must be meaningful and relevant for those you want to reach. People love to read stories about products or brands before they click “like” or “add to cart”. Write something real and funny, something is uncanny and out of this world. Also, leave space for your community members to post ideas and feedback.
You may use Instagram Stories for business is an essential part of your Instagram marketing strategy for 2019.
- Instagram Content:
Instagram is a great place to showcase your product, in the true sense of it. Think of your product as a film that is about to be released, or as a new show on Amazon Prime that releases new content every season. Instagram users promote their brand in different ways to engage users:
- How-To Demonstration: How to use your product. Keep it short and simple.
- Behind the Scenes: What goes in the making. Include all the uncensored and lousy videos. It will be fun.
- Event Updates/Streaming: Any exhibition/art fair where you are participating
- Exclusive Content: Something distinctive. For example DIY ideas for torn jeans
- Contests: Make it a regular activity. Thrice a week is the best
- Product Demonstrations: Applicable for products that need guidance
- Cross partnerships: Highlight your network. Grow your community.
- Grow your Instagram Following:
By now you have a decent number of followers on Instagram. Grow more with Instagram Live. Instagram Live is a great way to connect with your audience. You can answer questions on the fly, post trivia, converse on a weekly/monthly basis and solve any issues they might have. Find Instagram Live by tapping the camera icon on your screen (top left).
- Know more about User Engagement:
To get ahead in the competition your brand must stand out in the crowd. Use live videos or Stories ads to be a differentiator. Let your community members or followers share their brand experiences from the live videos, and recommend them to the other Instagram users. Also, you can tag places in your posts. People looking for information on those places will discover your content. Add more of videos, especially the DIY ones, which are more in demand. Users can watch your video keep scrolling. Your videos might drive people to take action.
- Instagram shopping:
If you have an online store or want to advertise your brand on Instagram, you cannot miss out on the Shopping feature. This new Instagram feature improves product discovery on the app by condensing and making information available in one place. Instagram Shopping is one of the hottest Instagram marketing tips for you.
How do you know whether you have like a shoppable product? Simple, all Instagram posts that use this feature will show a white shopping bag icon or a “Tap to View Products” pop-up. What more, all shoppable posts can be identified on account profiles by a white shopping bag icon at the top right-hand corner of posts. According to Instagram, 75% of users who see a business post take action. Check out Instagram and Shopify’s new shopping feature integration.
- Happening hashtags:
Hashtags are by far most vital Instagram marketing tips that I can suggest for you. If you are marketing your brand on Instagram, Hashtags must be your best friend. Here, we advise five ways you can make the best use of hashtags.
- Command – The Command tool shows you how your hashtags are performing. This paid resource is only available in the App Store for iOS users for $1.99 – $9.99.
- Hashtagify – This free service allows you to search for any hashtag. It will give you complete statistics on with the hashtag’s popularity, current trend, and other related hashtags that you may make use of.
- KeyHole – Keyhole allows you to track a hashtag in real-time, providing up-to-date data on the hashtag over a set period of time.
- SeekMetrics – SeekMetrics’ Hashtag Generator is an interesting tool that sources popular hashtags based on the keywords you input.
Final thoughts:
Here are some hot marketing tips for increasing brand engagement on Instagram. Think of these Instagram marketing tips. Look beyond social media success. With the roll-out of Instagram’s latest algorithm, now is the time to focus on building an outstanding brand experience.
You may have to rethink your Instagram strategy to increase your engagement and get more likes and comments on your Instagram posts, the key to your brand success story.
Want to add something? Share your favorite Instagram success story with us. Comment below.
