The Do’s and Dont’s of Instagram Marketing
Instagram marketing can drive a lot of traffic to your business, but make sure your Instagram Marketing tactics don’t drive potential customers away.
Instagram boasts an impressive user base of half-a-billion active users each month. That’s less than Facebook, but it remains a powerful and widely used social media platform. Business owners such as yourself can use Instagram to promote their products and services. But there’s a right way and a wrong way to approach Instagram Marketing.
Do Plan a Content Marketing Strategy
You can’t expect to connect with your target audience on Instagram unless you have a clear content marketing strategy. In other words, what type of content do you plan on posting?
Being that Instagram is tailored for images, you should obviously stick with photos. With that said, you may still want to sprinkle some videos into the mix as well.
Don’t Use Too Many #Hashtags
#Hashtags are a great way to categorize and curate your content on Instagram, which in turn boosts your visibility and overall traffic. However, you should refrain from using too many, as this may discourage users from following your account.
Instagram supports up to 30 #hashtags for every picture. Just because you can add 30, however, doesn’t necessarily mean that you should. Instead, try adding no more than three #hashtags for every picture.
Do Respond to Comments
When someone comments on one of your photos or videos, take a minute to respond. For Android devices, this is done by tapping the comment icon (looks like a bubble), followed by tapping the comment to which you want to reply, tapping the arrow icon, and then entering your reply.
Don’t Post Duplicate Content
I guess you could say this goes hand in hand with a content marketing strategy. Nonetheless, it’s still worth mentioning that you should avoid posting duplicate content on Instagram. Posting original content will help encourage other users to follow you.
Most commonly on Instagram, duplicate content comes in the form of re-posting your the same photos or videos you’ve already shared.
Do Regram
You don’t have to create all of your Instagram content by hand. A better solution is to post a combination of both your own content and other user’s content, assuming you have their permission. Known as “regramming,” posting other user’s content is a great way to diversify your content efforts.
Regramming seems similar to duplicate content in that you are republishing someones photo; however the main difference is that you are crediting the creator and not claiming it as your own.
Proceed to the caption screen and enter your caption. Be sure to attribute the photo to its creator by adding “Credit: @username” or “📷 : @username” to the caption.
Don’t Leave Your Account Private
Arguably, one of the biggest mistakes that small business owners make when using Instagram is setting their account to private. If your account is private, no one else can see it; thus, it’s not going to prove useful in attracting customers and generating sales.
