Creating a Powerful Instagram Marketing Strategy to Increase Sales and Website Traffic

May 08, 2021

Instagram is becoming an absolute treasure-trove for businesses of all sizes and shapes. From community-building to social selling and beyond, there is a reason why Instagram is booming equally among companies and buyers.

As there are over 1 billion users worldwide with over 8 million business profiles, you need to develop an effective Instagram marketing strategy to sell your products or services.

No matter who your audience is (and no matter the gender, age, occupation, etc.), you will be sure to reach them through Instagram. So the question is, how can your business stand out among the world-class brands and 8 million business profiles?

Don't worry! We are here to help you to fine-tune your Instagram marketing strategy. Whether you are new or want to double-check your priorities, our straightforward approach will help your brand tackle its objectives with a sense of purpose.

Let's dive into some killer IG Marketing Strategies.
 

1. Create an Instagram Business Account

To start marketing on the platform, you need an Instagram Business account. A business account offers access to features you are unable to enjoy with a personal account. These include:

  • Instagram Shopping 

  • Instagram Ads

  • Instagram Insights

  • Inboxes of primary & secondary messages 

  • A call-to-action button 

  • Contact details on your profile
     

2. Define Your Goals

Now you are ready to take your business account down a more tactical route. The platform is your marketing tool, and you can't use it efficiently unless you know what you're trying to achieve. 

Is your aim to raise brand awareness, convert warm leads, increase sales, or perhaps connect with customers to create an online presence for your business?

Your chief goal will inform your marketing strategy, and it will help your account stay focused on what you're ultimately trying to achieve. For example, if you want to spend a considerable amount of money raising your brand awareness, your strategy will likely be to run ads and target a net of influencers to get a wider reach.
 

3. Optimize Your Profile

Now it's time to choose the right logo or picture for your business profile. This is your first impression on new customers, so keep your image consistent with your branding and visual markers.

Next is your Instagram bio. In 150 characters, you can make a great first impression. Write a concise summary about your business and tell potential customers why people should follow you.

There are few other fields on your Instagram profile to showcase what your brand is all about. These include:

  • Your name and username

  • Your Website (a clickable URL)

  • Contact details: tell people where to find you

  • Choose your Category: mention the type of your business

  • Call-to-action button: it allows people to interact with you directly from your profile page. 
     

4. Content Is King

Potentially, the most fundamental part of your Instagram marketing strategy is creating the content to best showcase your brand and reach your business objectives.

Create attention-grabbing and shareable posts: The idea is to create content that is positively related to your audience's needs and encourages your followers to repost it. It will increase your post's impressions, and you'll be able to reach more people.  

Have a visually consistent feed: For Instagram, consistency is more important than frequency to develop a reliable relationship with your audience. Plan your content calendar according to the follower's most active hours during the week. The Instagram algorithm also favors an account that posts regularly over one that posts 2 times a week.

Video content takes the lead on Instagram: Videos have turned into the gold standard for content engagement. People love them because they are an easy-to-consume method of spreading your message.

Write longer captions: More extended captions get more user engagements. So instead of filling the captions with emojis, write complete sentences to increase the performance of your post. Of course, emojis can be effective when used properly.
 

5. Use Instagram Stories Highlights  

Brands are adding Stories to their catalog of Instagram marketing strategies like never before. Stories-style content is both can't-miss and interactive. Popping up first in followers' feeds can help your brand stay fresh in your audience's minds.

You can use this Instagram feature to share updates, packages, deals, or just plain playful content. Stories are something you should try to post daily.  
 

6. Use Hashtags Strategically

Hashtags are one of the most influential Instagram marketing strategy for small businesses. They make it possible for random Instagrammers to discover your content.

Experts suggest that using 7-30 hashtags per post performs best, and with a recently added feature, you can measure how effective your hashtags are at creating engagement. You can place all of your hashtags in the first comment immediately after posting; this will keep your captions clean and comfortable to read.
 

7. Run Ads to Get a Wider Reach 

Paid ads can help you gain more leads, conversions, followers, and engagements. You can also set up your Instagram Ads with Facebook Ads Manager, which offers a whole range of targeting options to choose from, such as video ads, image ads, collection ads, story ads, and much more.
 

8. Partner Up With Influencers

This Instagram marketing strategy emphasizes using the key leaders to drive your brand's message to the broader audience. This encourages their followers to check out your website and buy something for themselves because consumers are introduced to your products from a trusted source on a reliable and casual platform
 

9. Use Free Instagram Tools for Analytics

There are many online tools available, and these are priceless because you can view post statistics such as engagement, impressions, and lots more. Through insights, you can understand how users interact with your posts and how you can improve your content to boost engagements. 

These tools can also help you analyze your audience's demographics, including information about their location, gender, and most active hours.
 

10. Analyze Competitors' Content 

Search other businesses like yours on Instagram, and draw their ideas for inspiration. Take note of the visual language they use, the hashtags, and the kind of content they post. You can also check their followers and the engagement they get on their posts.

This will help you to understand how well their Instagram marketing strategy is working and its strengths and weaknesses.

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