Instagram is more than just a network for picturesque breakfasts and cappuccinos. In modern digital marketing, it’s one of the best platforms for establishing your social presence, maximizing your online reach, and bringing more traffic to your website.
Currently, there are over 600 million Instagram users ready to consume your social media content. Being the most popular image-sharing network, it’s also perfect for visual content marketing.
However, social media marketing on Instagram takes a lot more than just setting up an account and sharing images from time to time. Below are six ways to supercharge your Instagram marketing:
1. Start Making Videos
Good news—a recent Instagram update now allows 60-second videos, which means you’ll have more time to get your message across.
Of course, video content has already been gaining ground in digital marketing. Statistics show that 92% of mobile video viewers share what they watch through social media. Despite these numbers, you may be reluctant to include them in your strategy, especially if you don’t think you have the skills necessary to produce shareworthy videos.
Fortunately, there are now plenty of apps you can use to create professional-looking, DIY videos on Instagram. The built-in video recorder is also useful if you want to shoot quick videos and apply some filters. All you need is a good idea and, in some cases, a great script that will hook your audience from start to finish. Some examples are product reveal videos, behind-the-scenes videos, and seasonal greetings.
2. Use CTAs to Inspire Interaction
Ultimately, Instagram is a social media network. That means your brand needs to actually socialize with the audience to reap the full benefits of the platform. And no, this doesn’t always have to lean towards selling.
For example, if your company sells pizzas, a simple strategy is to include a CTA such as “tag a friend who thinks pineapples go with pizzas” or something similar. It’s all about being a part of the conversation, you just need to provide the right content that will get their attention.
Don’t forget to add the mandatory “follow us” CTAs in your posts and their descriptions. You shouldn’t worry about scaring users away by making the CTA too obvious. After all, users already know there’s a CTA coming from a brand’s social media page.
3. Run Instagram Contests
Instagram is highly effective when it comes to fishing for user-generated content or UGC. These are posts submitted by your target audience that mentions or includes your brand.
Statistics show that 93% of consumers trust UGC for their purchasing decisions. It shows that other people are already having positive experiences with your brand, thus, boosting their confidence and encouraging them to convert.
If your company has an official hashtag, then it should be easy to spot UGC on Instagram. You can then quickly re-share the posts and tag the uploader to leverage their social reach. However, a more effective way of obtaining UGC is to run social media contests.
An Instagram contest’s mechanics don’t have to be complicated. For example, you can require contest participants to post a wacky picture with your product and an official contest hashtag. To attract more participants, keep things simple and offer a valuable prize. You can refer to this post for more success tips on hosting a contest on social media.
Once you have UGC, you can feature them in your blog or even your upcoming ads. Just remember to obtain your audience’s permission first. Aside from UGC, you can also leverage your follower base itself as social proof. For this, you can use a live follower counter like Gramblast and use the built-in tweet function to showcase your popularity.
4. Leverage Listening Tools
Monitoring your Instagram isn’t the only way to listen to your followers. You can also leverage third-party social media listening tools that will help you tune in to conversations.
A social media listening tool’s main purpose is to notify you whenever someone mentions your brand, allowing you to easily connect with prospective leads or clear any misinformation spread by competitors. Instagram users in particular are highly interactive with brands, so you should be all ears.
If you want to monitor your social media presence across different networks, then you can use a cross-platform tool like Mention and Sprout Social. These tools allow you to receive real-time notifications whenever someone mentions your brand. They also help you manage ongoing conversations to ensure each of them end on a positive note.
5. Prepare Your Site for Mobile Traffic
It’s no secret that more Instagram users are on mobile devices. And if you want your audience to engage your brand all the way to your website, you need to make sure everything back there is prepared for mobile viewing.
The current norm for mobile-friendliness is to make your website responsive, meaning page elements will automatically adjust to fit smaller displays. Site builders like WordPress and Wix already feature themes that are responsive by design. But since there’s no one-size-fits-all solution in web development, you should use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to obtain insights tailored to your site.
You can also up your game and turn your site into a full-fledged progressive web app or PWA. This is a website that utilize app-like features such as push notifications, home screen icons, and offline accessibility. You can refer to this post to learn more about PWAs and how to boost the experience of your mobile users.
6. Let Someone Take Over
Hosting an Instagram takeover is not a new tactic, but it still works. Basically, you allow an employee, blogger, or influential customer to take over your Instagram account—giving them full control over your posts and interactions for a specific time period.
The tricky part of Instagram takeovers is picking the right candidate. Remember that you need someone trustworthy—someone with an existing relationship with your brand. You should also be familiar with their brand voice to see if they’re a good fit for your followers. That’s why social media marketing involves forging relationships with influencers and potential brand ambassadors.
Lastly, Instagram takeovers are only meaningful if your chosen candidate has an established following. Fortunately, there’s a good chance that your employees have significantly more social reach than your brand’s account. This means you don’t have to look far if you need candidates for your Instagram takeover.
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