What are the best practices for marketing through Instagram?
This is a great question, especially since I’m a big fan of Instagram as a marketing tool.
Facebook may still have the biggest user base, but Instagram has an audience base that is more engaged and active. It’s about so much more than just uploading your brand photos and videos. So, here’s my advice on how you can maximize marketing through Instagram:
1. Remember that it’s a visual platform—post high-quality images
Instagram is primarily a platform that showcases visual content. Driving engagement means posting visually compelling material that captures your audience’s attention and prompts them to take action on your post. Make an effort to ensure your posts stand out in your user’s feed. Use colour to help create a visually striking feed. Pay attention to your captions and use them to better establish your brand voice.
2. Keep up with Instagram’s changes and updates
Instagram rules, regulations, and policies are constantly changing. Simply trying to stay up to date will ensure that you maintain a page that’s compliant and relevant. Be sure to stay informed about upcoming new features so you can capitalize on them as they are introduced.
3. Gather social data and insight to understand your audience better
Social data is an important part of your overall marketing strategy. Instagram offers great tools that help you understand your audience better and learn more about what kind of content they respond to best. Learning how to interpret their data shows you how your audience sees your brand, how to make better content that’s shareable, and how to drive more people to participate and engage with your page. Then you can make data-driven decisions for your brand, track post-performance, measure audience engagement, identify key influencers you can reach out to, and track comments effectively.
4. Post at the optimal time
To get the most out of your posts, learn more about how your audience interacts with your page. There are standards you can follow, sure. However, depending on the data you gather, you will see patterns and learn more about what time your followers interact most with your content. Make the most out of this by posting at peak times.
5. Don’t forget to use hashtags
Hashtags help you gain more visibility on Instagram. They can help you get discovered by new audiences, allow you to archive content, and group your images with other highly relevant topics and brands. Branded hashtags are important for your marketing strategy as well because they help influencers (or any user) identify your business, making it easier for you to track and monitor audience engagement with your brand.
There you have it. Hope my answer helps.
As always, if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me by leaving a comment below or by joining the conversation on Twitter and LinkedIn.
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