Social media platforms have become indispensable resources for companies looking to engage with their target markets. Instagram in particular, with its large user base and user-friendly features, has become a potent marketing tool. Around 80% of South African businesses are already utilising it for marketing!
Instagram’s potential as a digital marketing channel cannot be underestimated as it offers a proven way to increase your online visibility and reach. With more than 1 billion monthly active users worldwide, it provides businesses with a large audience base to interact with.
Its visual format makes it perfect for showcasing your goods, services and brand. Businesses can make use of distinctive marketing methods thanks to its user-friendly interface, interactive features, like stories and reels, and its broad reach across various demographics. So how should you get started?
Creating a business account on Instagram
The first thing to do is register for a business account on Instagram to utilise it to its fullest. Follow these steps:
- Install the Instagram app on your phone and register with a work email address.
- Select the business profile type for the account.
- Choose a username that is consistent with your brand and a profile image that will help you maximise your profile. Companies often use their logo as their profile pic, which is perfectly fine.
- Create an engaging bio that incorporates pertinent keywords and highlights the distinctive value proposition of your brand.
Developing a successful Instagram marketing strategy
A carefully considered marketing approach is necessary if you want to succeed on Instagram. Start by determining your objectives and intended audience. Recognise your goals and the people you wish to interact with. These should be your ideal customers and the people that you will target going forward.
Next, create a content plan that is consistent with the voice and values of your brand. Building brand loyalty requires consistency and a regular schedule of useful content. Remember, if your brand has nothing useful to offer, it won’t make an impact on social media. Modern users look for informative, helpful or fun content that’s worth seeing on their feeds.
In order to highlight visual aesthetics, keep your brand image constant. To keep your audience interested, use a mixture of stories, reels, videos and high-quality photos. All of these visual elements should stick to a brand guideline and, where possible, use the brand’s colour palette.
Instagram users are quick to unfollow brands that clutter their feeds with adverts, so be sure to keep the ‘selling’ to a minimum and instead, offer unique photos and videos with clever captions or useful information. It’s not all about sales, it’s also about interacting with your audience and building relationships.
Maximising interaction and reach
Gaining more followers and interaction calls for a deliberate strategy. If you follow the steps outlined above, you’re off to a great start. In addition, make use of trending and pertinent hashtags to improve discoverability and visibility. Find the most appropriate hashtags for your target market and industry by doing some research.
To keep your audience interested and involved, switch up your material and try out various formats. You might find that videos bring in more followers and invite more comments. Once you’ve worked out what formats are the best for your business, include more in your strategy.
Lastly, use Instagram insights and analytics to monitor the performance of your content and to spot trends. These tools give you valuable insights into how your audience interacts with your content, so you can use it to inform and adjust your approach as necessary.
Influencer marketing and Instagram advertising
Instagram provides a range of advertising choices to assist companies in expanding their customer base. Firstly, carousel ads and sponsored posts are great ways to present your goods or services to a specific audience. You choose who you want to target by selecting an age range, a location and other details for your audience. Your ads will only be shown to people who match this criteria, so consider it carefully.
Another method to use is Instagram influencer marketing, which has grown to be a potent tool for co-promotion. To improve brand visibility, find relevant influencers in your niche and form partnerships with them. They could be expert reviewers, filmmakers, fashion bloggers or simply charismatic people with a large following.
Interacting with the community
Developing deep relationships with your followers is essential to your long-term success. Be sure to interact with your audience by quickly answering direct messages and comments. Be genuinely interested in others and add value to their lives in any way you can.
It’s crucial to listen to others. Keep an eye on discussions about your company and the sector to learn more and respond to consumer concerns. Also remember to be genuine and human – some of the most successful brands on social media use a real person’s voice and some colloquial language. This humanises your brand and shows your audience that you’re a robot.
Measuring ROI and success
To assess the success of your Instagram marketing campaigns, there are a few metrics that you need to track. Start with the growth of followers; track your number of followers on a monthly basis to evaluate the popularity and reach of your brand.
Also look at engagement rate. Calculate the number of likes, comments and shares on your posts to get a sense of how well your material is received by readers. A low engagement rate is indicative that something is amiss with your content.
Lastly, track your conversion rate. Keep tabs on how many leads or sales your Instagram marketing efforts produce. This may require third-party software if the leads are going to your website, but Instagram can track how many people click on your ad links and go through to your website.
Instagram has revolutionised the field of digital marketing by providing South African companies with previously unheard-of chances to engage with their target market and generate leads. Mobimeme is a seasoned digital marketing agency that is familiar with the nuances of Instagram as a tool for marketing.
We can assist you in developing and executing customised tactics that have a successful track record. Reach out to us right now to discover Instagram’s full business potential. Please contact us today for an assessment or to get started with your digital marketing journey.
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Mobimeme offers various digital services, including content marketing, SEO, analytics, social media management and expert direction in the digital sphere. Building and growing online audiences for your business is what we do best. For more insights, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.