You might have heard it already…
Instagram has recently surpassed 1 billion users and has taken the social media industry by storm.
For the blogging community, it works as a gateway to find new followers and like-minded people in their niche. It has become one of the top social media marketing platforms not only for many influential bloggers but also for many major businesses.
In this post, you’ll learn why Instagram is important and how you can use it for your business to complement your blogging strategy.
There was a misconception about Instagram’s importance being limited to businesses like retailers, restaurants, or travel companies.
Not anymore!
Now, it’s increasingly important for all kinds of businesses looking to build their brands online. Despite the surprising fact that it’s been underutilized by many, Instagram is one of the best ways to use visual marketing for your business.
Industry bloggers are consistently leveraging the power of Instagram marketing to promote their brands and grow their business on a large scale.
Why?
Because Instagram is all about visual content, and visual content makes it easier to grab their audience’s attention.
After all, 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual!
Image Source: Kissmetrics Blog
Why You Need Instagram For Your Business
Think about this for a moment, bloggers are always using Instagram to connect with peers and colleagues, influencers and readers.
How do you think it affects their brand and their business?
It’s simple.
Their network evolves and grows, their brand is exposed to millions of followers, all thanks to the influencers they network with.
According to Brandwatch, “48.8% of brands are on Instagram and by 2017 this number is likely to rise to 70.7%.”
Surely, you don’t want to be left behind, do you?
There are many reasons why you should consider Instagram for business. One of the main reasons is the level of user engagement you get.
The number one goal of your social media marketing strategy is to be where your target audience is engaging and spending their time.
Research suggests that the engagement on Instagram is 10 times higher than Facebook, 54 times better than Pinterest, and 84 times greater than Twitter.
So if your business is not active on Instagram, you are missing out…big time!
How To Use Instagram For Your Business
Using Instagram to promote your business is pretty straight forward, but you need a solid strategy to get your desired results.
Remember:
Like any other social media platform, you must have a strategic plan for marketing on Instagram to gain traffic, get leads, and generate sales.
Instagram Marketing Strategy
First, you need to establish your marketing goals.
- Do you want to increase your product sales?
- Do you want to increase traffic to your website?
- Do you want to increase your brand awareness?
Each social media network has its own features and advantages. You have to determine which of Instagram’s features match best with your marketing goals.
Next, you should be asking yourself –
- Who is my target audience?
Having a well-defined target audience is critical. You cannot say that your target audience is “anyone who is interested in my products or services”!
- Your target audience should be a specific market that is more likely to engage and buy from you. For example, single moms over 30 who speak English as their first language. This is a more effective and efficient way to reach your potential clients.Check out this detailed guide by Neil Patel to understand how to define and reach your target audience.
- Which part of my audience is most active on Instagram?
After you have a clear idea of who your target audience is, next you need to find out which part of your audience is most active on Instagram; men and women of different age groups, college students with different taste and styles – who is actively using Instagram? - What kind of content do they love to engage with?
Find out what kind of content your target audience is mostly sharing, liking, and commenting on. This will help you create content they’ll love to engage with.
As you can see, doing market research is an important part of your Instagram marketing strategy.
You need data to find out what other brands, businesses, and competitors in your niche are doing on Instagram.
Use this data to evaluate what is working for them, and to find things they are missing out on, as well as things you can implement better than them.
High engaging visual content is the key for Instagram marketing so your goals and strategy should reflect that.
Your Instagram marketing strategy should involve –
- Strategizing what you should post on your Instagram.
- Finding out how often you should post.
- Creating a well-maintained content calendar.
- A strategy to get more engaged followers.
Instagram Marketing Tips
- Tools: You can use tools like Hootsuite, Later, ScheduGram to schedule your Instagram posts in advance. Schedule your posts at your audience’s most active times.
- Hashtags: They play a very vital role these days in social media. It’s the same with Instagram too! Using hashtags the right way will allow your target audience to discover your content easily. So choose them wisely!
- Tagging people: This is a powerful technique and can play a huge part in your Instagram marketing strategy. Tag influencers, brands, or businesses featured in your posts and it will show up in their profiles.
- Following influencers on Instagram: This will keep you updated on the latest industry trends. You can also find interesting, engaging and inspirational content ideas for your own posts.
- Monitor and Analyze: Monitor and analyze your marketing strategies and see what is working and what is not. Adopt new tactics when necessary.
Image source: Social Media Examiner
Use tools like Iconosquare to measure your performance and optimize your strategy. Some other tools similar to Iconosquare are Dash Hudson, Simply Measured, and Sprout Social.
When you are setting up your Instagram marketing campaigns, pay very close attention to your target audience and what they are interested in.
Make sure you are engaging with them by liking, commenting, replying to their mentions and direct messages in a timely fashion.
Eventually, you will find what types of content and strategies are working for your business.
By Dave Schneider
Dave Schneider is an expert on Blogging. Dave is the cofounder of NinjaOutreach, an innovative new blogger outreach software for marketers based in Boston, Massachusetts. He writes about blogging for businesses, entrepreneurship, and has a love for travel, having visited over 40 countries. Dave can be found at lesschurn.io and daveschneider.me.
