One of the main life-changing phenomena of the digital era is the growing use of social media across the world. In recent years, as more and more people started using various platforms to communicate with friends and family and consume content, more and more businesses have started using them to promote their products and reach potential clients.
With billions of monthly active users, Instagram has become one of the best and most effective marketing channels in the world, allowing businesses to bring their brand to thousands or millions of people, build a positive image, and, ultimately, grow their business. But not every business Instagram account is successful and here are some of the main ways to improve yours.
1. Grow Followers
The main reason behind any marketing effort is to reach more people and increase profit. It’s the same with your Instagram account. The more people you reach, the more people end up buying whatever you are selling. So, to boost your account, you also need a large following.
Use Instagram tools and agencies
There are many ways to grow Instagram followers and aside from offering relevant quality content, for best results, you can use Instagram tools or hire an ad agency. Nevertheless, avoid simply buying followers because fake followers either bring fake engagement or no engagement at all. More than that, using fake followers and bots can get you banned, and you may lose your Instagram account and harm your credibility and reputation.
Use ads
While valuable content is the best way to attract people to press “follow” and engage with you, you should also think about using paid ads because they are a great way to reach more people on Instagram. Moreover, social media can be very accurate in choosing who will see your ads. Namely, you can target users based on their location, age, gender, or internet behavior.
Hire Instagram influencers
One of the newest marketing methods, Influencer marketing can also be very efficient in bringing you more followers. The trick is to find the right person, with the right type of audience.
2. Connect With Your Audience
Unlike traditional, social media marketing allows a direct connection with your audience, interaction, getting feedback, and so on. To truly make a difference in your bottom line, your Instagram account needs engagement. Simply put, when people react to your posts with likes, comments, or shares, you know that they didn’t ignore your content.
Share valuable content
Sharing content that is valuable to your audience is the best way to encourage them to engage with you. Your content should be educational, informative, fun, diverse, and always relevant to you and your target audience. Also, your videos and images should be high quality.
Interact with your followers
Don’t forget to show your audience appreciation. Interact with them, answer their questions and comments, even if they are negative, mention them in the comments, etc.
Offer something free
It’s become a common practice for businesses to find ways to encourage Instagram engagement, for instance by offering prizes. People love getting free stuff, so this can be a great way to get more followers. For instance, you can create challenges, contests, or surveys.
3. Show Who You Are
One of the biggest mistakes businesses make when it comes to their Instagram strategy, is trying to use the platform as a traditional marketing channel. Instead of posting content to simply tell Instagram users how great your products or services are, you should find ways to show them who you are, and show how what you are selling can be of value in an informative and creative way.
This can be done by creating and sharing content about your company, your team, your values. However, it doesn’t mean that you should never promote your products. But you should do it in a way that would appeal to an Instagram user. Generally, people are there because they prefer visual content. Something short and sweet – an image, a reel, a live stream.
Take advantage of Instagram to establish a more personal, intimate relationship with your audience. Even though they do most of their shopping online, people nowadays prefer buying from smaller businesses – because it feels more personal and human, and because of the growing awareness of the negative impact of huge corporations on the environment, and other social issues.
Conclusion
Regardless of the size or the type of your business, and regardless of the field you operate in, not having an Instagram account is a missed opportunity. More than that, nowadays a lot of consumers expect businesses to have accounts on the major social media platforms. But simply being there isn’t enough. Instead, you need to constantly work on improving your account, post regularly, and optimize content according to results.
