Instagram marketing 101: Powerful tips to grow your brand on social media

Instagram is huge these days, attracting over 1 billion active users every month. So huge that it is the second most used social media network after Facebook. Everybody and their pets (literally) are on Instagram. Everybody posts and talks about the posts they see on Instagram, and then they share them with their friends. So, in terms of marketing and engagement, the social media network brings a lot of opportunities for brands.

But, let’s be honest. Social media marketing can be challenging. From attracting followers to retaining, engaging them, and ultimately convert them into buyers is a long and complex process.

We have a few powerful tips that can help you grow your brand on Instagram and attract more followers. Keep reading below to find out more!

Get a business account.

If you haven’t done this by now, you need to do it ASAP!

Not having a business account on Instagram for your brand is like you’re simply not taking advantage of all the marketing opportunities this app offers on purpose. So, if you’re still using a personal account for your brand, switch to a business one as soon as you finish reading this article.

There are so many benefits that come with a business account that actually make a massive difference for your brand’s popularity on the network. More precisely, a business account comes with great premium features like:

analytics (which are a must to make informed Instagram marketing decisions).
Boost post feature.
Company info and a contact button.
The “swipe up” feature for your Insta stories.

Know your audience inside out.

Every marketer knows that understanding the target audience is of utmost importance no matter what you are promoting. When it comes to your Instagram audience, this is no exception to the rule: you need to know who you’re creating content for.

Knowing your audience inside out is all about knowing what type of content speaks directly to the people you’re trying to attract and keep loyal. So, know everything about the people that follow you and you want to attract, from age to gender, interests, type of content they like best, what other businesses they follow on Instagram, and so on. You need to know literally everything that data can tell you.

Now, knowing your audience inside out isn’t good enough. It’s only the first step into creating content that actually engages and hopefully converts if that’s your goal. This is where the analytics feature that comes with having a business account takes center stage. Insights, as the feature can be found in the Instagram app, can tell you a detailed report about pretty much you do on Instagram and what results it has, including what the people following you want for your posts.

More precisely, with the Insights feature, you can learn things like:

Best times to post for best engagement
The exact posts that brought the most engagement, likes, comments
How many visits you get
How many times Instagram users have clicked on your website link
Top locations of your followers (both countries and cities)
How many people followed you, and how many unfollowed you

These are all stats that can help you tailor your content and post it when the time is right to get the results you want.

Be consistent.

As a general rule, consistency is vital in marketing, no matter where you’re trying to promote your brand or products/ services. That’s because consistency leads to engagement.

Think about it: if your followers see one post from your page every month, it’s very likely they don’t really keep your name in their minds. On the flip side, if they see at least one post from your account daily, they will definitely remain engaged with your brand.

Studies suggest that the sweet spot when it comes to consistency in posting on Instagram is 1-2 posts daily. Data shows that this is the best way to maintain a fresh and relevant feed and to attract more looks to your content.

Manage ghost followers.

Many brands wrongfully associate big numbers of followers with success with their marketing strategy. Yet, at the end of the day, the numbers of likes, comments, and, most importantly, sales don’t reflect the same success. Why is that happening? Because of ghost followers.

Ghost followers are basically those accounts that are inactive, bots, or accounts that don’t engage with your posts at all. Why is that a problem? Because you’re wasting resources on promoting to accounts that aren’t real or will never actually buy from you.

Sure, it makes perfect sense to buy Instagram followers to make sure that your page attracts more attention and looks legit to other Instagram users. However, make sure that you buy real followers that will help you get the exposure you wish for your brand to have.

Tell stories using the story feature.

Using the Story feature on Instagram is a must if you want to stay on people’s minds.

This feature is particularly useful for marketing because they are really engaging. Don’t believe us? Find out that data shows that 500+ million people use this feature daily. What’s more, one-third of the most-viewed stories on the social media app are those posted by brands.

What makes Insta Stories so great for your marketing strategy? The fact that they basically help you “skip the line” in your followers’ feeds and appear directly on top of their screen when they open the app. In other words, you don’t have to “fight” with other brands on whose post gets seen by followers because, in the Story feature, you’re sure that your followers will see your post.

Write compelling captions.

Instagram is a visual medium, so there’s no other way to get attention than to have photos and videos that look fantastic. However, besides having a visually appealing and fresh feed, you also need to make sure you don’t neglect your captions. Most of your brand’s voice is transmitted via your posts’ captions. So, it only makes sense to also pay attention to the words you are saying to your followers.

The social media app allows you to write captions as long as up to 2,200 characters. This should be enough for a quick storytelling strategy. However, keep in mind that only the two lines from your content will appear without Instagram users having to tap the “more” button. So, make sure you write the most critical information in those first two lines.

Also, don’t forget about call-to-actions! Include them everywhere, both in your captions and your visual posts or stories.

*This is a featured post.