Note: This post has been guest authored by Kevin Urrutia, who is the founder of Voy Media, an Instagram marketing agency in NYC. He helps businesses maximize the benefits of Instagram Advertising, leading to a dramatic improvement in sales while pushing down costs. Voy Media thoroughly studies each client and comes up with tailor-fit solutions to bring about the best results.
There’s more to it than just cool-looking photos.
Instagram is a social media platform that businesses should watch out for. It’s exponentially growing through the years. Instagram has now reached 1 billion monthly users, and 500 million are daily active users.
This means one thing – a platform rich with potential customers, better engagement, and increased conversion rate – the exact ingredients for a successful marketing campaign.
Social media platforms offer a lot of opportunities for small and medium businesses. Instagram is one of the best channels to increase your reach and awareness drastically. It can be used in a variety of ways.
On the other hand, creativity is always a requirement to stand out among the ocean of competitors. It’s never enough to post awe-inspiring photos. You must be able to create captivating contents that will drive your engagement for a long-term basis.
So, if you are still pushing to gain more likes, comments, shares, mentions, and followers, you better read carefully and take down notes.
Here are seven ways businesses can drive more engagement on their Instagram channel.
Spend Time and Effort in Optimizing Posts
The volume of posting is never the key. You have to be smart enough to get the attention of the audiences. Optimizing your Instagram posts should be your top priority when running a campaign on this platform. You can do that by following these pieces of advice.
Timing
Don’t just randomly post on Instagram whenever you like. Timing is also a key towards a successful Instagram campaign. Many research concluded that the most optimal time to post on Instagram is around 7 PM to 9 PM. It’s the time when Instagram citizens are already on their couch, looking for the freshest post on social media.
Hashtags
You can’t catch a fish using a carrot as your bait. The same goes with Instagram #hashtags. Hashtags work like SEO copies. They should always be relevant to the content you are posting.
Pro Tip: do research and get at least 5 to 10 relevant hashtags about your subject. In one study, 12.6 percent of Instagram posts with relevant hashtags receive more engagements.
Share What’s Happening Behind the Scenes
Admit it! People crave for interaction. We want a sense of relationship and community. Instagram is not an exception. After all, it’s called social media.
People get inspired by other people – not a business image. So, get out there and show your face to the audience. Or at least, let them see what’s behind their screens. Take them to the backstage and show that you are a real human with dreams, aspirations, and has an odd interest with cat videos.
BTS technique is an effective marketing strategy that can quickly create content. It gives your business image an added value because of the human element.
Team Up with Like-Minded Influencers and Brands
They could be anyone as long as they have a large number of followers. No matter what niche they specialize in – whether it’s gaming, cooking, movies, makeups – social media influencers can drive your engagement significantly. Even better, they can do it with just one video or post.
Popular brands can also provide success on your Instagram campaign. Co-branding or brand partnership is now becoming a trend among businesses.
Teaming up with these modern celebs could be your business’ ticket to stardom. They know their stuff very well and understand what people want. They have ideas worth millions. The best part: they already have a well-established market. So, all you have to do is hook up with their image.
Host Contests and Giveaways
There’s no better way to attract customers than giving away free stuff. You can get a lot of benefits from hosting contests on Instagram. Don’t mind the expenses because the rewards are surely worth your time.
Aside from increased engagement, you can also improve your authority through contests. It builds your image as a business entity. Contests allow your brand to be recognized and discovered by a new range of audience who will be interested in your contest.
They will most likely discover your Instagram account through recommendations from their friends and family. This could be done through shares, mentions, and hashtags. Therefore, this strategy strengthens a sense of community among your audience, which can generate leads and convert them into sales.
Use Geotags to Make Your Posts Discoverable
Targeted marketing is effective. It’s a strategy being practiced by many businesses to avoid wasting time, money, and effort. Geotagging is one of the best ways to do that.
Geotags is like the red arrow you see on Google Maps when you search “ice cream shops near me.” It’s the process of geographical tagging locations in your Instagram posts.
Therefore, people in a particular area will find your business or product easily when your posts have geotags. They can also “check in” to your location once they have visited your store.
Include a Call-To-Action In Your Post Captions
They encourage your audience to do a particular action such as subscribing your website, sharing your post, or trying your product.
Call-to-Actions, when done right, can boost your overall marketing campaign. It is used in various platforms; not just in social media but also in websites.
Product postings are well-received by people on Instagram. Sixty-five percent of popular brand postings on Instagram is about products. Asking them straight out to make a purchase can compel them to do so.
On the other hand, light-hearted CTAs such as “leave a comment,” “share your post,” or “tag a friend,” can also work wonders for your marketing strategy.
Take Advantage of Instagram Features
Sometimes, the smallest of details in the planning and organizing stage can make all the difference. In this case, knowing some of the most useful Instagram features can speed up your progress in your campaign. You may want to check some of these features because they can make your life a lot easier.
Archive Post
You can now put your posts on the archives instead of deleting them. This allows you to hide some of your undesirable posts. And yes, you can still retrieve them for later use.
Collection
No more storage space for those dog photos? Don’t worry. The Instagram collection provides cloud-based storage for the posts that you want to save. So, no more screenshots, ok?
Stickers
Does your photo look bland? Well, thank Instagram for this cool feature. You can play with your photos using Instagram stickers. There are plenty of options to choose from. Use your imagination.
Download
Share your stories on other social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. You can now download your stories and repurpose the content.
Conclusion
Don’t just settle for Facebook, YouTube or any other social media platform. An effective marketing campaign makes use of different social media and websites platforms.
Instagram is indeed a robust marketing tool for many businesses. The majority of the audience in this channel are looking for entertainment. So, give them the fun they deserve. But you can also do that while increasing your engagement.
The number of Instagram users is growing exponentially, which is accompanied by opportunities waiting to be tapped by business owners like you.
