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The Basics: Marketing on Instagram
DIY Sprocket Solutions
This article has been updated on 8/2/2022 with the article entitled “Instagram Is Necessary to Your Business Success. (Or is it?)”
Let me start by saying –not every business needs to be on Instagram. I think we have a tendency nowadays, with all of these different social networks, to try to be everywhere, everyone, and everything. Instagram is slightly different than your average social media platform and, when used for marketing, it’s really used to show your business’ creativeness, humor, passion, etc. If you’re considering an Instagram account as a marketing tool for your business, ask yourself if your target audience is active on Instagram and, if so, have any of your competitors been successful with it? If so, then you should definitely jump in. There are a few basics that you should be sure to check on your list. Like any social platform used for marketing –you’ll have to take a step back and work out a plan, understand there is going to be some sort of testing and tracking phase, and expect a few kinks as you’re learning your way.
The Basics:
- It’s Not All About Selling:
This is hard to get your head around because you are wanting marketing dollars to equal dollar dollars, but Instagram is not just about selling. It’s easy to move on once you think a platform isn’t making you money, but remember that not all marketing efforts need to get back cold hard cash. Be clear about who your brand is, but don’t just use your account as a platform to promote your product only. People aren’t on Instagram to be sold to. It has to feel fluid. You can feature your product here or there, but focus more on being social, creating a personality, and connecting with your target market.
- Fill out Bio and Link Your Social Channels:
At the top of your profile page, you’ll have a bio section. Be sure to take your time when filling this out. This is the information that a new visitor is going to see when they view your account for the first time. Make sure you take advantage of that and fill out your description fully and with a little personality. Also, Instagram makes it easy to embed photos and videos from Instagram into a blog, Facebook page, etc. so that your followers on another social channel can easily connect with you.
- Use #Hashtags to Your Advantage
By now, you should know what a hashtag is. If you don’t, maybe you’re not ready for Instagram… basically, you hashtag an image for searchability. You want to set hashtags that are 1) industry – related words that will be searched for and can link to your product/service 2) trending topics that will have heavy traffic and get you some increased visibility 3) hashtags that you’ve used in other areas of your business or on other social platforms so that you can keep the trend going. Try to keep your hashtags clear and relevant. As far as numbers go, it’s said that brands who use five hashtags have the most interaction.
- Find a Sweet Spot for Posting
Try to post at peak times (the times of day that your followers seem to interact the most with your posts). Also, be aware of the frequency that you are posting things. You don’t want to be that annoying brand who is just flooding people’s newsfeeds with post after post (to the point that you get unfollowed), but you also don’t want people to forget that you even have an account.
Don’t take Instagram too seriously. Find a personality for your brand and let that personality come out to play. Interact with people, be available, show your sense of humor and just have fun with it.
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Breanne Bannon
Breanne is a Content Writer, Social Media Marketeer, and Sales Associate for Sprocket Websites.
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