Why you should consider Instagram for Brand Promotion.
The number of accounts and active users on social media networks is rapidly growing, as more and more persons join, so do marketers want to promote their brands in the platforms that their target audience uses.
Instagram is the third most used social media network currently, with 1000M monthly active users (2020, Statista) Statistics have shown that people ahead of Instagram, only Youtube and Facebook.
Brand promotion on Instagram is much easier since you can accurately target and communicate to a particular audience.
This will allow you to reach out to the right people, and you will eventually end up increasing sales. Sounds good, right?
Here we are going to show you how can you efficiently use Instagram for Brand Promotion. Using the right techniques will ensure you keep reaching out to the shoppers out there looking out for your brand. Instagram is one of the best platforms to attract and retain customers as the users are highly engaged.
New to Instagram and brand promotion? No worries, we will guide you through the way to do it right and get profitable returns.
Get Started on Instagram.
If you already have an Instagram Account you can advance to Promote your brand through Instagram Posts. If you want to review the basics of setting up an account on Instagram just continue to browse normally.
Set your Business Account.
The first and foremost step to getting started is to have an Instagram account. What if you already have one? You can never use your personal Instagram account to promote your brand.
To look professional and promote your brand right, the first step is to set up a business account. When you go forward to create an Instagram account, you need to choose whether you need it for personal or professional use.
The first step is to create your business account, so you are ready to move ahead. While creating your account, these are the few things you must keep in your mind.
Match your Brand Name with Instagram Account.
While choosing the username for your account, you must select the name that speaks for your business. If your company already has a robust online presence other than social networks, then make sure you use the same name here.
Maintain Consistency across social media networks, If you keep changing the name and the display picture, your audience will get confused, and you will fail to gain their trust. Think it through and choose the name and image. Make sure you do not change it except in unavoidable situations.
Source: Instagram Log-in / Sign-up Module – October 2020
Link your Website to Instagram.
Instagram gives you the option of adding the link to your website on your profile. Once you reach out to your audience through Instagram, they can easily find your website link on your profile. This ensures you generate the right traffic to your site with bare minimum efforts. Go through your Instagram bio, and you will get the option of adding your website link.
Instagram Bio.
Instagram Bio is the perfect place to promote your brand. It must instantly arouse the curiosity of the readers so that they go through your profile. Don’t use a salesman tone while writing your bio. The objective is to provide information to your community and to-be-customers about your business.
If something exciting is coming up, such as an event, lauching, programme, (…) you can also use instagram bio to communicate it to your audience.
Promote Your Brand Through Instagram Posts.
The reason why so different social media platforms have success is because of the content and format of content that’s on them.
If they all had the same type of content and format caeteris paribus, they would cannibalize each other and/or the biggest network would eventually attract the users from the smaller. This is not the case as all successful networks have something different and unique.
Instagram is no exception if you want to efficiently use Instagram for brand promotion you need to build your content specifically for this platform. The more adapted to the platform “rules” the more success.
Table of Content:
Build Creative Instagram Posts.
Being creative and innovative always pays off.
If customers find your posts visually attractive, they will undoubtedly want to know more. Post pictures of your products along with a strong message for convincing buyers of their statement, reliability and charisma. But never push this hard.
The majority of Instagram users goes on Instagram to see “extraordinary” pictures, videos and “realities”. Success depends on how successfully you can convey that. You can argue and say, well, but wasn’t that always a thing, even before social media? Not really, No. Instagram is known by that feature and its users expect that and nothing else.
Build Instagram Specific Content even if you don’t make instant sales, you will build an audience of engaged, motivated individuals and sooner or later that will reflect into your sales report.
Keep updating your followers of the latest trends. Once they develop trust in you, as soon as they require a relevant product you are dealing in, they will surely come forward. Keep interacting with them and answer their queries. Also, mention your products’ unique selling proposition to lure in buyers.
Post Consistently.
Consistency is the key to driving in more traffic to your site. It is also an essential factor in gaining recognition.
If you post something today and then post another after a month, your followers will most probably forget you exist. It is not essential to post three times a day but make sure you at least post twice a week. In this manner, you will keep on reminding your existing followers and drive in more traffic to your site.
He who is not seen, its not remembered, especially nowadays where users are contantly feed by new and “fresh” content.
Along with posting consistently, make sure you are not posting merely pictures of your products like previously covered. The objective is to indirectly display the advantages and benefits of your brand and products, not to bluntly promote them.
Photo by Olya Kobruseva from Pexels
Post in Peak Times.
To maximize the success and spread of your Instagram posts you need to post when your audience is most likely to be browsing through Instagram.
Making a post at 5 AM of your targets audience time might make a lot of sense or no sense at all. If you’re in finance or high-end goods, this might be the best time to actually post something, as it will be seen by a lot of key c-level executives that normally look for information about this sort of products, but if you’re selling skateboards and sports shoes, maybe something around 10 AM could suit better the consumers of such goods.
Match your Instagram postings with your audience time preference and grant a bigger reach, interaction and conversions.
Photo by Olya Kobruseva from Pexels
Make Instagram Exclusive Offers.
The best way to get your audience’s attention and promote your brand on Instagram is by giving them offers.
On a special occasion, provide them discounts or announce giveaways exclusively on Instagram. The engaged customers, they already go to your website and buy your products, you can give them a present by newsletter and/or in the products they already buy. Leverage Instagram ability to promote your brand and reach new audiences, using this strategy can be highly rewarding.
Users that are already fans and engaged but didn’t convert (bought any product/service) can see it as an amazing opportunity to do so. They will seize this offer and probably also buy the goods that originally attracted them. Once they develop brand loyalty, they will keep coming back. This is one of the best methods to activate passive audiences of fans and also, of retaining current customers.
Pro tip: Use apps like Phonto to directly write your offer on your images instead of writing them just in your caption. The first and foremost thing Instagram users notice is the images, this will catch their attention and arouse curiosity. Describe the offer in detail in the caption.
Do not stuff your entire content with hashtags. Using more than 4 to 5 hashtags will only reduce engagement.
The hashtags you will use in Instagram to promote your brand should reflect the topic of the posting and what the audience mostly research. Keep in mind that the point is to reach out to new potential fans and buyers.
The trending hashtags are the ones that are often used by most of the businesses in your niche. You can easily find the number of times it’s been used under the hashtag.
Be Specific.
Instead of using generic terms, target more specific keywords. For example, “clothing” involve huge content relating to both male and female clothing, with all sort of accessories. If you sell man suits you can for instance use #suits #tailormade #formalclothing (…)
Being specific will make it much easier for the users to find you.
#YourBrand.
This article covers Instagram for brand promotion, and a great way of promoting your brand is through mixing your own brand hashtag with other popular tags that are relevant to the content shared by your brand and fans on Instagram. To boost the potential of this feature, launch contests and give prizes setting as terms the usage of your own brand hashtag.
Engage with your Instagram Followers.
Engage as much as possible with your followers to develop healthy relationships.
Humans are gregarious beings, we are sociable by default, it’s encoded in our basic behaviour, we seek other people, we seek approval, we like to communicate, to be heard, to be part of a group. Companies are not abstract entities, they’re made of people, and having a human, caring, warm relationship with other people that appreciate what we produce and present to the market is an achievement a company can be proud about.
Engaging and establishing a connection through social media is an important catalyst for the sustainability of the company, to increase overall sales in volume and value, reputation, reach and awareness. Burger King is a great example of success in this field.
If your existing followers feel valued and appreciated, they will surely send your profile to their friends and publicly advocate for your brand. Treating your fans and customers with care is rewarded in the long run, you will grow your customer base.
The more importance you give to your followers, the better your relationship with them gets.
Building Engagement.
If you don’t have any engagement coming from your fans you can try to build your own. Some ways of building engagement in Instagram from zero are;
- Commenting on photos/videos that display your brand.
- Asking your audience a question in your posts.
- Organizing live streamings.
- Interacting with similar content pages.
- Launching a contest.
- Contracting Instagram influencers.
- …
Instagram is the #1 Social Media in terms of engagement. User is used to, and like to participate. Take the most out of this to promote your brand. According to Instagram’s algorithm, the posts that get most likes, comments, and shares appear on top on the explore page. To make that happen, you must to have an active engagement approach.
Interactions between brands and customers don’t need to be strictly commercial and formal, it can be relaxed and more close. . Photo by Jorge Alvarez Lecaros from Pexels
Instagram Key Performance Index – KPI.
Do not just keep posting content, Keep track of your performance. Analyze which posts get maximum engagement and try to create similar content in the future.
“What can’t be measured, can’t be managed” – Lord Kelvin
Bellow, you will find a List of Instagram KPIs
Try your best to reach out to the audience in your niche and interact with them. The more awareness you create for your brand, the more sales you get. For your audience to purchase, they must be aware you exist. There are various apps available that could help you track your progress. Use them to keep a check on the following areas:
- The followers who are actively interacting with your posts. This includes likes, comments, and sharing the same. These consistent followers should be your primary target and make sure you are in touch with them.
- Keep track of the time during which you get the most engagement. During this time, post relevant content on your account.
- Always be consistent with posting content and see what gets the most engagement
Make it a point to go for paid promotion for the posts that receive maximum engagement from your existing followers. These are the posts that the audience in your niche will engage with. Paid promotions are the best source to reach out to a broad audience in a short period. But knowing which posts to promote is an essential step to making the most out of it. The more appealing your paid promotion posts are, the more profile visits you will get.
Portrait of William Thomson, a Scottish physicist also known as Lord Kelvin is the author of the famous adapted quote “What cannot be measured, cannot be managed” that is largely attributed to Peter Drucker.
According to the Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety, by Jeanne Mager Stellman (page 1992), Lord Kelvin said in his May 3, 1883, lecture on “Electrical Units of Measurement” (Popular Lectures, Vol. 1, page 73): “I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind; it may be the beginning of knowledge, but you have scarcely, in your thoughts, advanced to the stage of science, whatever the matter may be.”
Measuring is the first step for an efficient management and objective achievement.
Some Instagram Key Performance Index – KPI
Views
- Reach
- Impressions
Engagement
- Likes
- Comments
- Mentions
- Messages
- Saves
- Story Replies
- Profile Clicks
- Hashtag tags
Followers
- Gained
- Lost
Referral
- From Instagram Profile
- From Instagram Stories
The Metrics will allow you to track your performance, establish objectives and accurately discern upon results. Don’t overvalue the metrics, they are and represent what they are and solely that. Also, remember that their values and references are dependent on your industry and audience. So, don’t try to measure your success on generic results or results from other industries.
Closing Statement.
These were some of the main points you need to keep in mind while promoting your brand through Instagram.
Don’t avoid promotion since it’s the ever-growing social media platform with huge engagement.
Keep an eye on the posts that get maximum engagement and go for their paid promotion.
No matter how popular Instagram is for brand promotion, doing it right is essential.
The initial stage is challenging since you do not have a strong following, but with time and effort, you will grow. If you already have an established name in the market, it won’t be tough here but if not then get ready to put some efforts.
There’s no Golden Rule in using Instagram for Brand Promotion. Follow our tips and guidelines and success is more likely. At the end, each case is independent and needs to be followed individually to maximize its performance.
