Instagram is one of the fastest growing social media platforms with more than one billion active users every month. The platform has more than 140 million in the U.S, 12% of the total number of Instagram users. Instagram is a social media platform believed to having one of the highest engagements in social networking. This is the reason why it is ideal for marketing managers.

What is Instagram Marketing?

It is a type of social media marketing strategy used by companies to promote their brands on Instagram platform. The two major tactics used in this process include;

Paid tactics:

Paid tactics include advertising and use of influencers (famous personalities with a massive following on Instagram).

Unpaid tactics:

Unpaid tactics involves creating organic content (posts, Instagram stories, comments and other forms of engagement).

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The primary goal of marketing on Instagram include;

-       Making sales of your products

-       Increasing the number of followers and engagement rate

-       Building stakeholder relationships

-       Boosting brand reputation

 

Marketing On Instagram (The Algorithm)

Understanding the basic functioning of the Instagram algorithm allows marketers to design strategies that are most effective in reaching out to their target audience. It means that the algorithm is focused on delivering the most relevant, engaging and entertaining content to the users.

Thus, algorithms seek to analyze the activities and behavior of Instagram users to make informed guesses on what these users would love to see when browsing through the news feed. The content creator should use this knowledge to design the content that will attract the highest engagement rate from the target audience. Before starting to advertise on Instagram, you will need an Instagram business profile.

How to Create Instagram Business Profile

Harmer (2015) states that two things are required when creating a business profile;

1.      An Instagram account: it can be an existing individual account or a new one if the company is not yet on Instagram. It is important to use company details for creating the account.

2.     A Facebookpage for the business. It is necessary for verification process.

You can follow the following steps toget a business account

1.      Log into the company account and go direct to settings.

2.     Scroll down the settings section to find “Switch to Business Profile” option.

3.     Instagram will then prompt you to connect your company’s Facebook page to edit your contact information that will be displayed in your profile section.

How to Market on Instagram

Just like any other marketing strategy, using Instagram requires a clear definition of goals and objectives. Singh (2020) insists that you should choose SMART goals during this process.

-       The goals to be achieved should specified and well defined.

-       You should be able to track and measure the goals using analytics and available insights.

-       Set realistic goals that can be achieved within the reasonable time frame.

-       The goals should remain relevant to the business and aligned with the industry or business outlook.

-       Define timelines for accomplishing each goal and objective.

Startworking on Your Content Strategy

At this level you need to understand your goal of marketing on Instagram and the nature of your audience. Thus, you will need to;

-       Make posts in line with your branding consistency

-       Make decisions based in market data (customers and competitors)

-       Use Instagram insights to make necessary improvements

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Photo Courtesy

Instagram is continuously introducing new features to improve user experience on the platform. Examples include the use of hashtags, Instagram stories and live features. Companies can make use of these elements to achieve the highest engagement rates from their content which will then convert to sales and business growth.

 

Sources

Singh, M. (2020). Instagram Marketing—The Ultimate Marketing Strategy. Adv. Innov. Res, 7, 379.

Harmer M. (2015). Instagram for Marketing. Retried from: https://www.communityliteracyofontario.ca/wp/wp-content/uploads/smm/Instagram-for-Marketing.pdf

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Social media marketing
Digital marketing