June 28th, 2021 | Updated on December 8th, 2022
Thanks to advancements in technology and the internet, marketing has evolved, and virtually every business is leveraging digital marketing to ramp up their profit margin and ROI. With so much competition in the digital market, the last thing any business wants is to sit on its hands and watch other brands take over the entire market.
Thankfully, you don’t have to do much or break a bank to get your business off the ground and compete favorably with your counterparts. All you have to do is invest in the right online marketing strategy.
With social media marketing causing so much buzz in recent times, the chances are that you have heard about Instagram marketing for businesses. Regardless of your business size, scope and niche, you can leverage Instagram marketing to expand your business exposure and gain a fair share of the market.
Speaking of exposure, Instagram marketing has been described as one of the best methods of generating and directing organic traffic to your business. With over one billion users worldwide and an average user spending at least 53 minutes per day on the platform, it doesn’t take much to realize the endless opportunities and vistas that Instagram marketing presents.
Instagram Works Better Than Facebook
In addition to all these figures, it’s also worth mentioning that Instagram can generate 4X interactions for businesses compared to Facebook. In the United States alone, there are 140 million users, and 71% of businesses use Instagram while helping 80% of Instagram users affect users buying decisions (while researching products and services). To cap it all, at least 90% of Instagram users follow one business. Having mentioned that, let’s quickly share tips on how to build a profitable Instagram marketing strategy.
Tips For Developing The Best Instagram Marketing Strategy
Contrary to popular misconceptions, Instagram marketing strategies can be executed without breaking a sweat, and it doesn’t cost a fortune either. There is no limit to how much you can achieve with your marketing campaign with the right strategy.
One of the advantages of Instagram over other social media marketing platforms is its visual nature. It presents its users with all the tools needed to make potential customers visibly notice your content. Instagram allows businesses to leverage video, imagery, and illustration to showcase their products and services. With the right blend of these features, you will be able to connect seamlessly with your audience and get them to choose you over your counterparts.
Checklist for developing a profitable Instagram marketing strategy
1. Set Your Goals
Having opened your business account on Instagram, you will be presented with features that are not available to personal accounts. For instance, Instagram business accounts offer access to features such as Instagram insights, Instagram ads, Instagram shopping, contact information, and most importantly, a call-to-action button on your profile.
Speaking of setting your goals, the easiest way to go about it is to ask yourself: why are you on Instagram? Are you blindly following others (because everyone is doing it), or are you embarking on social media marketing campaigns to establish a strong presence?
If you can answer this question, you won’t have problems setting your goals and making the most of your Instagram marketing strategy. You will be able to highlight your long-term goals and get your purpose right. That way, you can yield maximum return on your time, resources, and other investments.
Some options you can explore include using your Instagram feed to sell your products and services, post user-generated content to keep a tab of people using your product and services. You can also use Instagram to build brand awareness by posting fun visuals and content about your product so that potential customers can see your products in action.
2. Identify Your Target Audience
Having set your goals, you can shift your focus to identifying who your target audience is. You wouldn’t want to dive into a business that no one is interested in. While you are at it, you should consider factors such as your target audience’s age, gender, interests, and pain points.
If you are not sure where to get started, you can begin by keeping tabs on popular events and trending hash tags related to your business. With the right analytical tools, you can also monitor accounts engaging with the list of hash tags you have made and follow up by checking out their profile.
Part of identifying your target audience includes looking at your competitor’s followers to see their interests and motivations. That way, you can find gather information to develop an irresistible and captivating pitch or selling point.
3. Conduct A Competitive Analysis
One of the greatest tools you should have in your arsenal is to have as much information about your competitors as you can lay your hands on. Conducting a comprehensive competitor analysis will give you insights into what is working for your competitors and what isn’t.
To get started, you have to identify your top competitors and review their Instagram profiles. One of the quickest ways to search for “big names” or top brands in your business niche is to type popular search terms related to your business niche and see the results that pop up.
The fact that you are getting feedback or results from search terms is evidence that they are ranking on search engines, and you should make time to audit their accounts. While you are at, you should keep an eye out for what posts are getting the most engagements and what hash tags make the most impressions. It would be best to look at how they craft their captions, their posting timeline (how often they post), and what their growth rate looks like.
With all of this information at your disposal, you can use it as a benchmark to measure your performance and identify areas you should improve on to gain a competitive advantage. If you get your competitive research right, you can make unique offers and make your brand stand out.
4. Build A Consistent Brand
Building a consistent brand on Instagram involves having an editorial calendar to manage your posts effectively. The right editorial calendar will help you plan your posting times, craft compelling captions and hash tags. You have to be consistent with your posts to engage your followers. While you are at it, you should be careful not to post disjointed content. Disjointed or random content will confuse your audience and make them lose interest in your brand. And you know what that means for your business.
Some pointers to help you build a consistent brand and maintain your online presence are first to understand your business persona — what are your business values, how do your customers perceive your brand? Is your business persona bold, gritty, or playful? Been able to define your brand personality will help you build a business that people can relate to.
Final Thought
In addition to building a consistent brand and identifying your target audience, other factors you should have on your checklist of Instagram marketing strategy include growing your follower base (through engagements, optimization, and ads) and promoting your business (through promotions, organizing contests, and donating to charity).
Having mentioned charity, a recent research report shows that at least 80% of millennial develop more affinity to businesses that make public commitments to charity. And since 71% of the over one billion active monthly users of Instagram are under the age of 35, you can take that to your advantage and win more followers over.
