[vc_row full_screen_section_height=”no”][vc_column][vc_column_text]When it comes to promoting your business on Instagram, there are many tactics you can incorporate into your marketing effort to help with growing your followers and enhancing your online presence.
In this post, we’re going to share eight proven ways to market your business on Instagram.
1. Make use of stories and reels
Instagram stories and reels are a great way to drive engagement and encourage your audience to interact. There are lots of things that you can do with stories and reels. For example:
- you can share your latest post stories,
- you can add a poll to your story and ask a question,
- you can share some of the latest products you’re posting out so readers learn about your business, your products, and your quality service.
Creating a mix of different types of stories and reels keeps your page exciting and fresh. Creating a blend of different kinds of stories also means that you don’t necessarily have to post every day because you have running stories keeping your presence active.
It’s vital that you also add a call to action, like adding a link to your product, store, or page. Quite often, stories and reels have a higher reach and impression rates than a post. From our experience, accounts have a more significant ROI than a post.
2. Timing
Timing is critical when it comes to posting online. Whether it’s Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn, it’s essential to monitor engagement and assess which times work best for you and your audience. While a general rule might be to post between 6 AM and 8 AM and 6 PM to 9 PM, it’s always best to test different times during the day and night to see which times work best for your business, products, or services.
3. Tap into complementary business followers
This method is not our most favourite practice; however, it can bring results. If you’re looking to increase your followers and grow your online presence, one method is the tap into complementary businesses and their followers.
For example, if you’re a web designer, look at complementary businesses to that, such as graphic designers or perhaps a virtual assistant. Look at their audience and follow them, as they are likely to have a similar target market, some of which may be at a different stage in terms of design needs.
For example, people starting a new business generally need a logo designed first. From there, they need a website. That is the perfect opportunity to jump on board to make them aware of you.
4. Engage
If you’re going to use the last method, you must engage and comment in a meaningful way on their posts. Don’t just add an emoji; take the time and add a meaningful comment. They will appreciate your interaction, and it helps to create awareness of your brand or your page.
Engagement is the most underutilised form of social media marketing. I see so many businesses focused on creating content and pushing it into the ethos; however, to drive more people to see your content and engage with you, you also need to engage with them.
5. Share others work, posts and tag
Don’t forget that online networking and relationship building works the same way online and it does offline. When you’re networking and building relationships, it’s important also to give back to others. Share their work in your stories. Include a link to their website and praise their work, so you’re both building your presence within each other’s following.
Here’s a great example of this. Imagine you own a clothing business. You see one of your customers wearing one of your items post on a business page you follow. One way you can tap into their following (and help them out) is to share that post and tag them along with your product. People love to see the experience others have with your product or service. It gives them a sense of security, knowing you will provide them with a reliable and quality service or product.
6. User-generated content
When we talk about user-generated content, we mean that your customers create and share images using your products in the post. Generally, the way this works is to make comments about the product or service, share with their following and tag your business, and use your hashtag. You are then notified that someone has mentioned your business. This allows you to share their post with your comments in your story or post, not to mention the ability to engage on the original post. And don’t just double-tap to like, comment, or say thank you. Perhaps offer their followers a special deal simply for seeing and enjoying that post.
7. Use Hashtags
Hashtags are an easy way for people to find your content using keywords. Hashtags make it super easy by being clickable. People can click on a hashtag and see all posts related to it. Quite often, hashtags are used as part of marketing campaigns for businesses, making it easy to see when their customers share their content. It becomes easier to build communities and groups around a particular topic.
Hashtags are also used for special occasions, events or even seasons.
An Instagram post can include up to 30 hashtags on a regular post and ten within a story. In saying that, just because you can use that many, sometimes it’s not necessary. Using hashtags within your copy for your post helps highlight words and draw the eye to your story. Researching and using popular hashtags that are relevant to your business will help you get found. If you’ve ever researched SEO keywords for your website, this is also a great list to use.
8. Add a call to action
And finally…
There are so many posts we see without a call to action (CTA). It’s a missed opportunity to drive traffic to your website. A CTA doesn’t have to be salesy, but it’s essential to use one to tell people what you want them to do – to show them the next step.
For example, “If you would like to find out more, we’d love to hear from you. Feel free to send us a PM”. Or perhaps “To arrange a no-obligation demonstration, visit our website and book.” You’ve taken the time to create the content and add value, so make sure you bring readers back to your business. You need to drive traffic to your website actively; it’s the only way you’re going to get conversions.
If you would like to find out more about these tactics and how you can incorporate them into your business and marketing strategy, feel free to contact us to arrange a marketing coaching session.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]