How to Establish an Effective Instagram Marketing Strategy?

With over 1 billion monthly active users, Instagram is an absolute goldmine for businesses of all sizes. From community management to social selling and loads more, there’s a reason why Instagram is the biggest social media network on the planet amongst consumers and business. Because of this, you can’t afford to use Instagram and just hope for the best. You need a well thought out and refined social strategy. It’s for this reason that we have decided to put together this post. Below, we have broken down the various factors that you need to take into consideration to get started on the platform. If, however, this post leaves you scratching your head. And, you feel like you need further assistance with your Instagram strategy; we recommend getting in touch with a social media marketing agency. 

Define Your Instagram Marketing Goals

This might seem like an obvious thing to kick off with, but you need accurately answer why you want to use Instagram for your business. Do you want to generate leads or simply build a community? It’s these questions that you must answer before you start posting because it will, in turn, help you come up with a content strategy. 

Set Up Your Profile

When you open the app, you will have 2 options for creating a profile; log in with Facebook or sign up with a phone number of email. Make sure that you set up the profile using a business-related email so that your profile isn’t linked to your personal Facebook account. 

Convert to a Business Profile

Once you have set up your profile, make sure that you switch over to business account. By doing so, will allow you to highlight additional business information such as your location, phone number and email address as part of your bio. This will help users identify exactly who you are before they explore your content. 

Identify Hashtags That Are Relevant to Your Business

Identifying the right hashtags that are relevant to your business and the industry you are positioned in it crucial when it comes to engagement and social monitoring. And, luckily, there are many tools available online to help you find hashtags such as RiteTag, Hashtagify, and Twitonomy. 

Look at Your Competitors

Market research is absolutely crucial for determining your target audience. When creating and defining your Instagram marketing strategy, identify the key players within your industry to see what they are doing and how you can do it even better. Remember that their target audience is your target audience. 

Establish Your Brand Guidelines

It’s vital to establish your brand guidelines when creating an Instagram marketing strategy. This is particularly important if you have a large team that is going to manage the company’s Instagram. You need to get down in the detail so that all team members know exactly how your Instagram should be managed and how it should look. 

Create a Content Calendar

On average, businesses post six times a week on Instagram, which is a staggering 300+ posts per annum. At this frequency, it can be incredibly difficult to keep track of what you need to post and what you have already posted. The solution is to create a content calendar that saves you time. It is also a great way to note any key events that are relevant to your business that you should post about. A well-managed content calendar will help you keep an eye out for opportunities instead of scrambling for content at the last minute. 

Promote Your Account for The Long Term

No matter what strategy you experiment with, the majority of engagement ultimately depends on how you promote your account. Followers don’t appear out of anywhere. You need to cross-promote your Instagram across your other digital marketing channels. A good example would be to include an element of your account on your website. Whether it’s a clickable social button that links through to your Instagram or a live feed that appears below the fold; your customers and website visitors must know that you have an active account. 

Track Your Progress

Lastly, the most important thing to remember is that with Instagram marketing, you are always learning, testing and optimising your content. Because of this, there isn’t any point spending time and valuable resources on social content that doesn’t help you achieve your goals. When crafting your Instagram marketing strategy, ensure that you are dedicating your time to track important metrics that will help you determine what content works best for the long term.