Some Instagram marketing tips to use to stay on top

byricklawson

349 followers

6 years ago

When Instagram was starting out, most people were teenagers obsessed with the platform. The user base has been growing over the years and there are now millions of users. This is one of the platforms that brands cannot ignore anymore since it offers channels of marketing that can be exploited to their benefit.

When used in the correct way, you can promote your brand and get more customers while at it. There are some things that the most successful brands do to get their businesses ahead on Instagram.

Use links

It is important to have a page which is customized. You should then link out to it so that customers can find more information in great detail there. Social platforms allow one to add clickable links to the posts. You can add links to your video descriptions, tweets, status updates and so on.

When it comes to Instagram, things work a little differently. You can use a clickable link in the profile section only and not anywhere else. There are the comment and photo caption areas that are only meant for user experience improvement and engagement. Trying to add links in areas that are not allowed comes through as spam. It is therefore important to be very careful about where you place your link.

Use Caution

You should be very careful about where the clickable links lead to in order not to confuse the customers. It is important for the page you link to, to be related to the images that you post on Instagram. The information should relate to what had been shared.

If you are linking to an eCommerce store, the context should be well-thought-out before you start linking. If the image you shared on Instagram is not related to the page you redirect to, people will click on it, get confused, and just leave.

One thing you note about Instagram is that direct sales are not many. In most cases, a customer needs to be nurtured before they decide to make a purchase. When this is the case, you could give customers more information that can be presented in the form of videos, newsletters, or even a blog to groom them.

Run Contests

Contests have become very common today and they accelerate the way users will interact with your product. When you are aiming at a prize, you are essentially tapping into the competitive nature of human beings and still triggering their instinct to avert loss. This is something very powerful. When you have a contest, engagement goes up and your brand gets a kind of buzz. There are different kinds of formats that you can try out and it all has to do with the niche you are in.

One format is the like to win one which is very straightforward and usually requires a visitor to follow a given brand and then like post within a time frame that is stipulated. The winner is then selected at random. One reason why this works is the fact that one doesn’t need to do much to enter and there is a low barrier set. The only thing is that people may only like just to get the prize without wanting to know what your brand is really about. The contests should be run periodically to have more quality.

You can also create contests from content that is generated by the users. In such a case, you can use a Hashtags for the contest and then ask entrants to use the product then take a picture using it to enter. The one that is selected wins. Most people love to be recognized publicly and this can be a great motivation.

The entries can be treated as being original and can be used in promotions since it is social proof that the product is good. The only thing with this option is the fact that the contests may be a bit lengthy and this can discourage people, especially if they feel winners are picked only at random. To make it even bigger, you can allow the winner to be picked by the public.

Running accounts that are highly targeted

Trying to target everyone using a single account is not reasonable and it cannot be effective. Many brands have got many kinds of buyers that need to be appeased. This means that when you try to reach all of them using one account makes it possible that you will isolate certain people and this ends up cluttering the page.

In order to deal with this, you can have many accounts so that it becomes easier to segregate the acquisition of customers into the channels that are best suited to deal with their challenges and fears.

One account can be used to highlight the ways in which the product can be used. If you are dealing with more than just one product, there is a likelihood that each is meant for a different use. Address the uses separately so that when someone is searching for a specific use, they will find an Instagram page that is fully dedicated to that.

If your brand is not hyper local, it means that you will have different customers in different areas and therefore they will definitely have different lifestyles, experiences, and interests.

Different Instagram accounts can be created to target the international and regional variations and increase sales. This will allow you to concentrate on things that make sense to people within a given locality. Try to show people how the product can make their life easier and better.

In Conclusion

There are multiple things that should be considered if you want to make it big in Instagram marketing. When you know the things to concentrate on, you will be on your way to getting more leads and more conversions. Eventually, the ROI will improve. Instagram is a social platform that can get you ahead, especially because it is very visual. You should use this to your advantage as much as you possibly can.