With more than 1 billion active monthly users, Instagram is a great place to curate an audience for your brand and connect with potential leads. Instagram marketing will allow you to develop your brand and reach new users worldwide. By optimizing quality content within your niche, you can target potential leads and leverage a significant social media following.
Below, we’ll give a brief introduction to Instagram, break down how to use Instagram marketing to bolster your brand, and tell you the secret to the Instagram algorithms.
A Brief Intro to Instagram
Instagram is a social media platform where users can create long or short videos, post pictures, share to Instagram stories, and even live stream. It’s a hub for creative expression that encourages users to engage with the content itself and with each other.
Why is Instagram Good for Marketing?
Instagram is good for marketing because it allows your brand to engage with users in a more personal way.
Social media allows you to market and express yourself. You can showcase your products and services while giving consumers a peek at your brand’s personality. This added layer of intimacy is what makes social media marketing so successful.
The world of mainstream marketing is shifting away from traditional advertising methods. Gen Z is the emerging generation of consumers, and meeting them where they are means taking your marketing to social media.
The Foundation of an Instagram Marketing Strategy: Instagram Business Account
When you create your Instagram account, distinguish your profile as a business. Not only does this tell the platform itself that you plan to use the account for marketing, but the account type includes valuable Instagram marketing tools.
Instagram Marketing Tools: Audience Insights
Instagram insights is a highly beneficial Instagram marketing tool. This analytical extension gives you live feedback on your profile and posts. You can see how many people your account reaches and engages, and within those two pieces of data, you can get demographic information about the users:
- Top cities
- Top countries
- Top age ranges
- Gender
Instagram Marketing Tools: The Boost Feature & Instagram Ads
An Instagram Business Account also allows you to promote posts. You can create a traditional ad campaign or use the Instagram Boost feature to optimize an existing post.
While Instagram ads are a more streamlined way to reach your target audience, the Boost feature allows you to create ‘ads that aren’t ads’. Boosted posts are great for building brand awareness and generating new leads.
When creating an Instagram ad or Boosted post, you can also fill out details about:
- The ad goal
- The target audience
- The ad budget
- The ad duration
These are just the two primary benefits of an Instagram business account. For a detailed breakdown of Instagram Business Account features, click here.
How to Use Instagram Marketing for Your Brand: High-Quality Content
The heart of your Instagram marketing strategy should be streamlining frequent and effective content. Post photos, videos, reels, Instagram stories, and Instagram lives.
Posting a variety of content will increase your profile’s appeal and visibility.
Instagram Marketing Tools: A Brief Guide to Instagram Algorithms
In simple terms, an algorithm is basically a set of instructions/rules for a program. There are multiple algorithms within Instagram.
The primary Instagram algorithm functions around the rule that content that garners more/longer attention is “good” content. Good content is circulated more in hopes that it’ll get and keep other users’ attention.
Among the other Instagram algorithms are three primary ones. Below, we break down what each of them is and how you can post accordingly.
Home Page/Instagram Feed
The first Instagram algorithm is the Instagram feed. The Instagram feed showcases content posted by users and hashtags you follow, with some ads and suggested posts thrown in.
As a brand, your goal is to create posts that’ll appeal to your followers first. As people like, comment, and share your posts, the algorithm will see that your content is engaging. And, as the rule states, engaging content gets pushed by the algorithm.
Content Tips
- Post consistently. Posting 1-3 times a day is recommended. The more content you produce, the more opportunity your account has for engagement.
- Encourage people to like, comment, share, or save based on the nature of the post.
Instagram Discover Page
The Discover page automatically populates with posts Instagram thinks the user will like (based on content they’ve engaged with and searched in the past).
Reach your target audience faster by optimizing your content. Use industry keywords to take advantage of image alt text, caption wording, and hashtags to make sure your posts gain visibility in the right spaces.
Instagram Reels
While regular posting adheres to the general rule (engagement equals worth and then the algorithm will push the content) Instagram Reels deviate.
Instagram created Reels as a way to compete with the short-form video platform, TikTok. Reels have become an easy way to create viral content and gain new attention for your brand’s profile.
As a brand, there’s a lot you can do with short-form videos, like Instagram Reels and TikToks, to promote, grow your audience, and generate leads.
In our article, Build Your Brand With TikTok Marketing, we share easy tips for making the most of short-form video content. These tips apply to Instagram Reels as well!
Now that you know what constitutes quality content and how to appeal to the Instagram algorithms, there’s another valuable tactic you can use to bolster the impact of your posts. Advertise through Instagram Influencers.
Influencer Marketing on Instagram
Instagram influencer marketing is a great way to generate leads. The right partnership can be especially beneficial as your brand breaks into the platform. A collaboration is a definitive way to promote your products and services while building trust through an influencer advocate.
Start by searching for existing content within your niche. See what influencers are popular among your target audience and how they talk about products and services similar to yours. If you see a space for your brand in their content, it’s time to reach out!
How to Build Your Brand with Instagram Marketing: Checklist
Instagram is good for marketing because you can connect with and grow your brand’s audience. As a platform that encourages creative expression, you can also expand your brand as you discover new ways to showcase your products and services.
Build your brand with our Instagram marketing checklist:
- Create an Instagram Business Account
- Optimize profile and link in profile with industry-related keywords
- Feed the Instagram algorithms by creating content across all available mediums (photos, videos, reels, Instagram stories, and Instagram lives)
- Give & Get: engage with your audience and encourage them to engage with you by liking, commenting on, sharing, and saving your posts
- Take advantage of Instagram Business Account features like Instagram ads, Boost posts, and audience insights
- Build brand awareness and advertise through Instagram influencers
If you’re ready to partner with experienced influencers and take your brand to the next level, connect with Sway Group. We are a full-service influencer marketing agency. Build brand awareness, increase sales, and find the perfect influencer to represent your products!
