Today, the Gram is the mainstay of digital marketing.
If you're just starting a brand and want a channel through which your goods or services can reach out to many, Instagram might just be what you need.
There are billions of users on the platform worldwide. This shows you the potential reach your post stands to gain when Instagram is used for your promotion.
At the end of reading this guide, you'll know exactly what to do to get started and how to do it perfectly.
What do you need to start your Instagram marketing?
It's quite easy to start. All you need is to simply register an account. Well, can you get into a room without passing through its door?
It can't be done. As soon as your account is set up, you'll be granted access to the many marketing-friendly features of this platform.
Get a name
A profile name is very important as this might be what you will be recognized with. In choosing one, be careful so as to take a worthy name for your cause.
Choose a profile type
You will have the option of choosing between personal and business accounts when registering on Instagram. And you can even switch after.
Again, choosing an Instagram business account is ideal for your promotional purposes. This will avail you the opportunity to input details like your email address and phone number into your bio.
You will also get a chance to put your physical address for your products and the importance of this cannot be overstated.
Give the account a professional look
Giving your Instagram account a professional touch is a must to leave your viewers impressed. We're talking about a few optimizations, which include:
1. Bio
Ensure this space is expertly written and attractive to whoever is looking at it, especially your prospects and leads. To do this, you should include your corporate category and physical address.
Don't forget to also add your link or URL; a surefire way to direct more traffic to your website, landing page, or product catalog.
2. Profile
You need an easy-to-remember profile name and username. This can aid visitors when searching for your content.
You also need to use something you definitely will be proud to associate with your brand and not just some bizarre name.
Your profile also needs to carry an appropriate picture. For a business, it's advisable to use a logo that can easily be traced back to you from anywhere.
In the case where you lack such, use something beautiful or something that depicts what your brand is offering.
3. Account Verification
This is a must if you want your customers to trust and take you seriously. Get your account verified so it can be differentiated from scammers and similar profiles out there.
A verified profile is likely to be taken more seriously than non-verified profiles. And when customers trust you, it drives up sales.
Get to understand Instagram's very own algorithm
Algorithms are the ways through which the internal structure of Instagram interacts with your account.
It's responsible for how far your reach could be, which can be a rate-limiting step in achieving commercial success.
Avoid shadowban
Such bans can give your reach a very big blow, even without you finding out.
When you get a shadowban, some of your content gets blocked from being seen by some of your followers. When this is the case, your popularity starts to fade away.
There are a couple of things you need to do to avoid this scenario:
-
The use of banned hashtags
-
Spammy posts as much as possible
-
Buying followers (refrain from doing this no matter how tempting it seems)
You now have what you need to get the journey started, so what next?
Create some goals
It's always easier to achieve a task when you plan it with achievable goals and objectives.
It enables you to assess how well you are doing and what needs to be changed if needs be.
In creating your goals, you should have in mind your target audience and the strategy you need to implement.
Decide on the format of your posts
Instagram has several categories of posts that you can utilize for your marketing, which include:
-
Photos and videos
-
Photo gallery
-
Instagram Stories
All these formats depend on what you're comfortable with or what suits your brand.
If you're going for any kind of visual content, ensure they're clear and almost blameless. Use filters if you need to bring special effects that suit your intentions.
For some posts that require more than 1 or 2 pictures, you could go with a photo gallery. This will help your message to be understood much more clearly.
Sometimes, you just need to talk to your followers in real-time. Instagram Live should be able to save you here.
And when you provide long-duration videos consistently, you just might be needing Instagram TV as it's best suited for content spanning close to an hour.
Consider ads
The role of advertisements has been pretty successful in digital marketing, in recent years.
Instagram's in-house ad system covers lots of grounds. As long as you have an Instagram business account and a Facebook page, this shouldn't be a problem.
We cannot conclude this without acknowledging the role of the analysis
It's advisable to analyze your work regularly to know where you're getting it right and where things can be done with more finesse.
To achieve this, you'll need an Instagram business account or use a third-party app (especially if you need more than you're getting from the native tools).
Final thoughts
Instagram marketing, when employed with the right strategies, can go a long way toward attaining your business goals.
There's this massive potentiality—you can connect all sorts of customers and partners. This shouldn't be taken for granted by any serious-minded marketer.
Research has shown that people tend to buy a particular product after watching an ad on the platform.