A Killer Instagram Strategy to Build a Strong Business Presence
You’re no Katy Perry, but that doesn’t mean you can’t build your business with a killer Instagram Strategy.
Currently, Instagram is one of the fastest growing social media platforms on the Internet, second only to Facebook. For brands, having a killer Instagram strategy in place is one of the best ways to increase business.
With over a billion users and an average of 95 million images shared on Instagram, a path to using it successfully isn’t always clear.
Creating an Instagram account is the easy part, but using Instagram for business requires a bit of finesse. The question you need to ask yourself is; do you have the ability to engage, motivate and inspire real people? Using Instagram for business requires a lot more than simply posting pics.
If you’re looking to build a strong business with Instagram, Check out these steps for a Killer Instagram Strategy.
1. Start out with Creating A Killer Insta-Profile
To create a great brand presence of your business on a platform such as Instagram, you will first want to build a killer Instagram profile. Make sure to stay original in everything you do, because your originality is what sets you apart and it’s originality that builds followers. Being able to inspire these followers is what creates loyalty and when you have loyal followers, they will follow you anywhere.
Katy Perry has what we call, influencer power, so if she happens to recommend something on her feed — her followers are very likely to check it out and purchase.
Now obviously you’re no Katy Perry, but using Katy Perry as an example of Star Power branding, we can see how she uses her Instagram profile to feed her fans; which happen to be around 78.6M followers.
It’s essential to have this trust or loyalty established with your audience, because without it influencing them to purchase anything from you is near impossible.
That’s exactly why your Insta-Profile should be an investment in yourself as a brand – not a promotional pitch.
2. Create Mind-Blowing Videos and Promote Them
The future of marketing is all about videos. Do you know that video marketing is going to become one of the most sought out marketing strategies among businesses in the year 2020? On Instagram, a well-written post with an enticing image sells three times less than a video for a product/service. Not only does it help you increase your sales, but you can also generate traffic, convert leads, and increase the number of followers coming to your platform. It even comes with cool editing features to make fun videos.
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Just check out this amazing video posted by the John Wick movie franchise; which pretty clearly illustrates how killer chapter 3 of the movie is going to be. Now, you may not have clips of a killer new movie you’re releasing, but I’m sure that you have something interesting for your brand, maybe a video tutorial that solves a problem for them.
3. Publish Your Brand Stories on Instagram Stories
One of the best tools to help you convey your brand story is none other than Instagram stories. Brands that are using Instagram stories feature on their Instagram profile have far greater success when compared to written Instagram posts alone. Instagram stories are the perfect way for you to create messages with personalized intent that can even include polls & interactive live broadcast.
Here’s an interesting snippet from the BBC which enlightens the public on how after 30 years of dictatorship, the Sudanese dictator has been overthrown by its government. The video has an interactive element which triggers the customer to swipe up so they can learn the key points of the event.
Stories can grab some quick leads for your business, but the only downside is that they disappear in 24 hours.
To put your brand effectively in front of your followers, it is important that you update your Instagram stories once every day. You will just be amazed by how many of your followers are watching your stories.
4. Partner Up with Relevant Instagram Influencers
Eager to drive some potential targeted audience to your specific product?
There are countless micro-influencers existing in your specific niche who are interested in promoting your brand on a paid partnership program. While partnership programs are an interesting option for your online business, always remember that each of them charges differently based on their own pricing plans.
Lee Vosburgh, the creator of blog Style Bee and his personal Instagram account @LeeVosburgh states that there are some important questions that one should ask themselves before finding the right influencer for your online business.
These questions are:
- Does the influencer’s brand align with my values, aesthetics, and personality?
- Does the photography your influencer publishes match your style and caliber?
- Has the influencer previously worked with similar brands just like mine?
5. Use Hashtags on Instagram Wisely
Hashtags are massively important in terms of reaching your audience, generating visibility and even brand building. A well thought out hashtag can drive a load of potential visitors to your Instagram account. However, when placing hashtag, don’t forget that they have to be relevant to what your post is about. Irrelevant hashtags can be misleading. And if you overuse and abuse the hashtags on Instagram, well, that can be very damaging to your goals.
When people watch your post and the hashtag on it is irrelevant, i.e. something they do think is irrelevant to their search, they simply select the “Don’t Show for This Hashtag” option.
As a result, your Instagram algorithm recognizes hashtag as a wrong one and automatically pushes your Instagram account down the list.
When designing hashtags keep the following points in mind:
- Be relevant when creating hashtags.
- Don’t stuff your post with irrelevant hashtags.
- Be careful and concise when creating hashtags.
6. Focus on the Target Audience with the Right Ad Strategy
Is your business niche super competitive?
If so, then you might consider using Instagram ads to send the word out for your brand. There are five ad formats in which you can put your Ad in front of your desired audience. These are videos, carousels, photos, canvas story ads, and Story ads.
Check out this awesome step by step tutorial on how to create Instagram Ads.
These ads then start appearing in your target audiences’ live feeds and in between Instagram stories making it fairly difficult for your respective audience to miss them. Running ads on Instagram is fairly cost effective in terms of brand building and it allows you to focus on your Instagram presence organically while garnering immediate engagement with ads.
Here is a great guide to help you with Instagram advertising.
In the End
Instagram is one of the fastest growing online platforms which stands second to Facebook. It has a lot of potential to attract suitable visitors to your online business and help them carve a way forward. Since, both the platforms now share a similar ad manager, it allows business owners to leverage Instagram ads the same way they can use Facebook ads. They can now put their favorite products in front of their desired customers and push their deals forward with the best discount offers.
