Instagram Marketing in 2017 - Tips & Tricks
Instagram: the social media platform for happy-snappers, budding photographers, selfie-addicts and just about everyone else in-between. With an astounding 700 million monthly users (that's risen a huge amount since we last touched on this subject a couple of years ago), Instagram is the perfect platform to market your company, brand, product or service. Due to the platform largely developing with new features over the last two years, we thought we'd bring you an update on ways to use Instagram for marketing.
Do a little research
It's important to know your audience and potential clients down to a T. Take a look at what's already being said, shared and posted about your company on the app by searching for relevant hashtags and locations. If you get a new follower, take a look at their profile, learn their interests and note what hashtags they use - this way you can learn how to market to your specific audience.
Also, scope out the competition and see if their Insta-marketing techniques are successful or not - be sure not to copy your competitors' strategy; it's better to take inspiration from a few sources and find a method that works for you (and more effectively than theirs, hopefully). The main aim is to stand out from your competitors by doing it your own way.
Engagement is key
Encourage engagement through posting things that followers can interact and get involved with. For example, run competitions, offer discount codes or offers for when you hit a certain amount of followers, and ask questions in your captions. If you get comments and queries on your posts, reply swiftly through commenting back, or direct messaging, starting a conversation.
If someone tags you in a post, be sure to show acknowledgement through liking, commenting or even re-posting - giving credit of course. This is a fantastic way to boost recognition and share with followers your success and progress as a company, as well as showing appreciation for the tag and mention.
Explore all features of the app
As we mentioned, Instagram has grown hugely with the addition of new features - here's how to use them.
Instagram Live - Live-streaming is having a bit of a moment, being popular across Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and of course, Instagram. This as-it-happens broadcasting is useful for a number of purposes and can be used effectively in marketing.
Try live-streaming events associated with your company that you may be attending or taking part in, and switch it up by perhaps doing less formal question-and-answer live streams to chat and engage with your followers. Be sure to post when you're going to live-stream before you do to let people know and build hype.
Stories - Instagram Stories is also a hugely popular feature on the app, with 250 million users updating their stories every day. Perhaps use Stories to share less-serious goings-on like what's going on in your office that day, throwing in a lunch-time selfie etc. The more light-hearted posts can allow you to connect with your followers and break up the formal posts.
Add hashtags or location tags to your Stories, which may end up on the Hashtag or Location Stories, potentially boosting your reach even further. Stories also allow you to add links, easily accessible to view in the app by swiping upwards on the story; this is convenient and an easy way to get your event page, website or similar out there.
Ads - If there's something you really want to push - an announcement, new product, a special offer - using Ads can really get your message out there. Investing in promoting posts can pay off, as your ad will likely reach further than your current follower-base. Ensure what you're promoting is the best it can be; while you may want to share lots of information and include loads of text, take a leaf out of Facebook's book and ensure text takes up no more than 20% of the ad image for best results.
Hashtags - Hashtags are a fundamental part of marketing, making it easy to explore other posts with a similar theme. Consider creating a hashtag for your company, and explore what hashtags related to your industry are popular.
Instagram is a fun platform which can be extremely powerful for marketing to a wide range of audiences, which is why so many companies use the app for marketing purposes. Use trial and error to find what features work best for you and keep posts varied, relevant and engaging for the best results.
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Instagram Marketing in 2017 - Tips & Tricks
Reviewed by Unknown
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Tuesday, September 19, 2017
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Reviewed by Unknown
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Tuesday, September 19, 2017
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