Best Instagram Content Marketing Techniques That Every Brand Must Use

Using your Instagram account is indeed as easy as 123. However, using Instagram to generate interest in your products or services and create demand for your business can be a challenge. Read on to learn more about Instagram Content Marketing Techniques.

Defining Instagram Marketing

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There’s no denying that Instagram has experienced a huge amount of growth during the 10 years of its existence. The social media platform has continuously evolved, that it is not just a social networking platform for sharing your photos and videos, but it has now developed into an effective business tool, helping you promote your brand and boost your sales.

More than 1 billion people are using Instagram every month, it’s no wonder why organizations and businesses are using the platform to help them gain followers, for wider reach and an even wider margin of sales. Not only that, an article posted in hootsuite.com, found out that 81% of Instagram users utilize the platform to research for products and services that they need, with 50% of people visiting the website of the post they saw in the platform and making a purchase of the aforementioned product or service.

This is why Instagram Marketing was born. Loosely defined as a type of social media marketing campaign that involves promoting a brand on the aforementioned app, marketers now rely on Instagram to help them enhance brand awareness, connect with a large audience and boost their sales.

Instagram Content Marketing Objectives

With the onset of the pandemic and with its staying power, most people still prefer to stay home. This would mean that these people will have more time to spend online and ultimately on different social media platforms.

Among the most used and popular platforms out there, Instagram has one of the largest potentials in terms of reach, with 1.16 billion active users monthly. This is more than enough reason to use Instagram as one of your marketing channels, aside from the list of objectives below:

• To boost brand awareness with the use of images and videos;
• To drive website traffic, through links;
• To generate leads;
• To boost conversions;
• To improve store traffic;
• To introduce or promote new products; and
• To Promoting Brand Values and/or Company History.

The Benefits of Using Instagram Marketing

Instagram Marketing features several benefits, especially if you take into consideration what SimilarWeb has found out that Instagram is fast becoming one of the most visited social media platforms, with users spending an average of 53 minutes per day on the Android app in 2018.

Knowing the number of minutes that people spent on the app is important, as it offers benefits to Instagram marketers because users will have more chances to see advertisements or promotions posted by Instagram marketers.

Marketing in Instagram also offers several other benefits, such as letting you:

• reach new markets and at the same time allows you to engage your target audiences;
• make the most of the mobile market;
• use Facebook for your advertisements, and vice-versa, even allowing you to create and track your Instagram ads;
• achieve better engagement rates;
• take advantage of the power of influencers;
• shop conveniently;
• customize the call to action (CTA) buttons;
• obtain feedback and reply to queries; and
• use tools for tracking your content and boost your results.

Why market on Instagram?

For those who use Content Marketing, Instagram is one of the primary channels that they can take advantage of, as at least 90% of users in Instagram follow at least one business, making it more valuable for e-commerce businesses and merchants, particularly when you want to expand your reach, and connect with your clients.

They are two main reasons why you should engage in Instagram Marketing. First, is the platform’s direct messaging (DM) conversations, which allows you to build a relationship with your target audience, as well as have a sales conversation with your followers. DMs also lets you send a voice note to your contacts, which adds a personal touch.

Second, Instagram provides an endless array of choices for you to engage your audience, as it allows you to post long-form videos for IGTV, short-form versions of your videos for Instagram Reels, and various photos and memes for your Instagram stories.

What are the types of Instagram Ads?

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Using Instagram as one of your dissemination platforms yields excellent results, as ads are seamlessly integrated into feeds, ensuring ad interaction. This brings us to another advantage of placing ads on Instagram as clicking one will not lead you to the advertisers’ site.

And for your convenience, Instagram has several Instagram ad types at your disposal, which include photos, slideshows, carousel, videos, stories, collection, and within-app.

According to izea.com, companies have the options on who they want to reach because availing of Instagram Ads allows you to target the specific market that you want to reach. Target markets are segmented according to demographic profiles, locations, interests, and behaviors.

Best Instagram Content Marketing Techniques That Every Brand Must Use

Establishing your strategy in your endeavor to be an Instagram Marketer is important if you want to be successful. This is especially true if you want to build up your reputation as an influencer, and as a successful marketer.

As such, think long and hard, and follow the techniques written here, to help you achieve your goals and most importantly, reach and engage your audience.

1. Switch to a Business Profile

Switching to a Business Profile if you want to start navigating the life of a successful Instagram Marketer is a necessary first step so that you can have access to features that are not available to a personal account, such as Instagram insights, ads, and shopping, along with access to primary and secondary messaging inboxes, and inputting your contact information in your account, and a CTA button on your profile.

2. Clearly define your goals

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To be able to be successful in your Marketing Instagram journey, establishing set goals is necessary. These goals will help you keep your focus, as you aim to build brand awareness, or increase your website’s traffic, get new leads or improve your sales.

You do need to take note, though, that it will be helpful if you set SMART goals or ones that are Specific, Manageable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound, so that you will have a way of measuring them, to continue those goals that are successful, and tweak the objectives that are not.

3. Know your audience

We could not better emphasize the importance of getting to know your target audience, and understanding their needs. This ensures that you are delivering the correct message and using the appropriate dissemination channel for your message to be more effective.

Analyzing your audiences’ demographic profile will help you get a better glimpse of how they perceive your ads. You can get these details through monitoring hashtags used in popular events. Instagram gives you the tools to define and understand your audience better. This knowledge can help you decide on what ads to use for particular segments. 

4. Use Free Instagram Marketing Tools

Always take advantage of free Instagram Marketing Tools, as it gives you an idea of how Instagram users interact with your content. These are valuable data for you, as these can guide your decisions on how to go about your marketing campaign.

5. Plan and schedule your social media (Instagram posts) ahead of time

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Overposting content will not help you in the long run. That is why creating your company’s Instagram calendar saves you time, and helps you manage your Instagram presence. Fill in your calendar with the different Instagram posts, plan out your captions, decide on a credible hashtag, and schedule positing times.

You can also use your calendar as a reminder of important events of your company such as special promos and offers, or product launches. The calendar can also remind you if you need to prepare more contents to post, or you need to de-clog your posting dates and times. Scheduling your post ahead of time can also help you be consistent when you put your content out there, and to build your followers and audience, consistency is key.

6. Post Product Teasers

Even in the virtual world, people do not like pushy people, and they would not like your ads if you shove them on their faces every time your followers are in your feed. That is posting product teasers are the perfect opportunity to get them hooked and curious enough to buy your products or support your brand. Gentle teasing can help you gain engagements at the very least.

7. Create visually compelling content

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Instagram relies heavily on visual content, which means that you need to look spectacular. You need to post sharp-looking photos, eye-catching infographics and you need to ensure that all your posts are visually compelling. You need to post photos and other types of Instagram content that excite the viewers and tells stories, or you would not engagements at all.

You need to keep in mind that you need to post contents that can “talk” to your target audience so that you will have your advocates. You need to aim for shareable content, and just quick like.

8. Write great captions

Writing great captions for your shareable posts is also a requirement for great and compelling Instagram content. You need to communicate your brand’s voice to have that lasting effect, that would make casual viewers into followers. It is also advisable to put in all the important information in the first two lines of your captions, as most Instagram users just scan captions as opposed to reading them thoroughly.  

9. Create Sponsored Ads

Instagram ads or sponsored ads are useful for your intended audience to get to know you better. Through the said ads, you will be giving your customers and potential clients a closer look at your brand, products, and services.

The creation of Sponsor Ads and Instagram ads is also one of the ways to reach a wider audience, improve your credibility and convert more sales. What’s more, you can use your existing posts, or even the top-performing ones, as a sponsored, too.

10. Utilize Instagram Stories

One of the sure-fire ways to generate leads is through the use of Instagram stories. Instagram stories come in a slideshow format and are only available for 24 hours. Instagram stories are is a neat tool, as these were displayed at the of the followers’ timelines, and users are a captive audience, as they have to look at them daily.

You can also be as creative as you want when you post your content like an Instagram story, as you can post photos, videos, and Boomerangs.

11. Partner With Instagram Influencers

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Partnering with influencers can help you in building your credibility, and expose your brand to a new set of audiences. Working with influencers can help you build brand awareness and improve your sales, as a survey conducted by CivicScience found out that almost half of daily Instagram users purchased because they followed an influencer’s recommendation.

Collaborating with an Instagram Influencer is a brilliant idea, as most people follow the advice of these influencers because they trust them.

12. Make the most of User-Generated Content

Soliciting content from your followers can help you get more engagements. More and more followers are looking for validation or looking into ways to also increase their following, and collaborating with your audience to request content will mean more engagements, increase in their trust in you.

Just remember to give credit and where credit is due and you’ll never go wrong. Tagging your followers whenever you “regram” their contents can encourage them to post more contents relevant to your brand or product consistently.  

13. Add Relevant Hashtags Only

One of the most effective ways to enhance your visibility and discoverability in the abovementioned platform is through the use of hashtags. You can use a maximum of 30 hashtags in your post, but it is not advisable to use that many hashtags. 

In deciding on the most appropriate hashtag to use, you need to choose hashtags that are relevant to your niche. Utilizing the correct hashtag can make or break your success in your Instagram Marketing journey.

Remember, using interactive and searchable hashtags that are relevant to your brand and your company is free advertising, and you need to use that to your advantage. Choosing just the relevant hashtags will help you turn up in more searches, reach a new audience, as well as generate more leads and convert them to an increase in your sales.

14. Keep Track of The Right Instagram Metrics

Keeping track of your contents’ views, share, and growth, for you to find out what types of posts or strategies are working. Again, take advantage of the various free Instagram analytics tools, to find out the insights of your audience and your followers’ data.

15. Try Instagram Analytics

One of the free tools that you can use to improve performance is Instagram Insights. It allows you to view the analytics of your content, and other statistics such as your engagement data and impressions.

Conclusion

There’s no denying the fact that Instagram is the go-to place when you want to share your photos, and is one of the biggest social media platforms worldwide with more than 1 billion active users. And these users are important for your brand if you want to build brand awareness, as well as increase your sales and gain the much-needed knowledge for you to continue doing what is right, and correct immediately if there are factors in your campaign that you need to correct.  

That is why it is important to become an expert in the wonders of Instagram, as the platform is continuing to grow, and at this rate, it might just become the primary driver of sales in the future.

As such, it will be beneficial for businesses and organizations to go and create their Instagram Marketing Strategy to reach greater heights in their marketing journeys. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

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How do you make content on Instagram?

The lifeblood of your Instagram account is the great visual content that you were able to create or source. You can make use of online sources that feature high-quality photos and templates for you to create your content. Instagram also offers its pre-designed template for your convenience.

How can Instagram be used for marketing?

Boasting over 1 billion users active online daily, Instagram is the social media platform to help you grow brand awareness, as well as introduce and promote new products. It’s a platform that lets you sell and promote your brand, products, and services in a way that will not annoy your customers.

What kind of content works on Instagram?

The contents that will most like work on Instagram are those that are visually aesthetics, and relevant to your target audience or your niche. These may include posts that feature influencers, behind the scene content, user-generated content, and those that show you are engaging your followers.

What is the best content for Instagram?

Instagram is undoubtedly one of the major players in social media marketing these days, and it is still continuously growing. Posts that contain spectacular visual qualities and tell a story are the best content to post on the aforementioned platform, as users respond to them, which will inevitably increase your followers and engagement.

Why is Instagram important for marketing?

Instagram is an important marketing tool for business as it helps you directly connect with your target audience. It even lets you track your contents’ performance, analyze your clients’ profiles, and a lot more, to help you reach more audience and improve your campaign as necessary. Instagram also allows you to market and promote your products. 

What is the best time to post on Instagram?

Finding out the best days and times to post and integrating them into your calendar is also important so that you will not miss the opportunity to reach your target audience.

One of the best ways to avoid subscribers' fatigue is to only post during peak days and hours when your followers are online. According to research conducted by CoSchedule, the best times to post in a day is between 8 AM to 9 AM and as early as 2 AM.