9 Powerful Tips For Your Instagram Marketing Strategy

On average user spends 53 minutes per day on Instagram which makes the platform the second most visited platform after Facebook.

And that’s how the platform offers dramatic reach for brands and this reach is increasing day by day.

The potential reach of Instagram has also been enhanced this year.

Also, you will be shocked to know that 90% of Instagram users follow at least one business. When it comes to research about new products or services, more than 36% of B2B decision-makers utilize Instagram.

So, just imagine how beneficial it is going to be if you use Instagram marketing strategies for your business.

But of course, you might be wondering, I don’t know how to use Instagram for marketing.

Don’t worry! I am here to help you.

In this blog, I am going to provide you with some brilliant Instagram marketing tips that will eventually help you with generating high and quality leads.

Trust me when I say that the Instagram marketing tips I’m about to offer you will be practical and excellent, and you’ll learn something.

So, put your reading glasses on and get ready to dive into this amazing journey!

Related: Social Media Engagement: Factors That Influence It And How To Do It Well

Tips For Creating Instagram Marketing Strategy

Before we get started on the advice, I’d like to address a concern that many people have. Do most people think that why should I use Instagram when I can use any other social media platform like Facebook, especially when I can use it for retargeting?

Well, I also have an answer for that. You must market on Instagram due to following reasons

– 80% of users follow a business on Instagram.

– 800 million people use Instagram every month.

– 49% of brands use Instagram.

– The engagement rate on Instagram is 10 times higher than on Facebook.

– Every 3rd user on Instagram is an online shopper.

This data should be enough to tell you why you must market on Instagram.

Here are the 9 most effective and practical Instagram marketing tips you will ever get. 

Optimize Your Instagram Profile

This is one of the most important things before you even start your marketing campaign. Many people out there just want to know some magic tricks that will eventually enhance their followers and leads but they just forgot to optimize their profile.

If you are somewhat related to digital marketing or SEO, you must have some idea of how much optimization is worth. Without optimization, you can’t even rank a website on SERP so, how would you be able to create Instagram marketing strategies without optimization?

I am going to show you some tricks that are going to help you in the optimization of your profile.

Choose A Quality Profile That Reflects Your Brand

Do I need to elaborate on why a Quality profile is important? I guess, no! Your Instagram photo reflects who you are! If you have a brand, choose the brand logo as a profile picture.

However, if you are an influencer or vlogger, choose a picture of yourself that represents what you do.

Let me give you an example of my own brand.
This is the screenshot of my brand’s Instagram handle.

You can clearly see that I have used the logo of my brand as the profile picture.

Also, make sure the profile picture has high quality, is not pixelated and looks good on any device. The Instagram dimensions that Instagram allows for profile pictures on mobile are 110*100 pixels. The profile photos on the desktops are bigger. Upload a larger picture which Instagram will eventually resize.

Related: Everything You Need To Know About Image Optimization

Add Keywords With Your Brand Name

As you can see in the image below, I have added some magical words. I call Instagram keywords “magical words”. The reason why I do so is that these words ensure people can find you.

Not necessarily the people who search for you on Instagram will use your brand name. They might search for you with the keyword related to your niche or industry.

For example, Incrementors is a digital marketing company, so people might search with the keyword “digital marketing” or “digital marketer”

That’s why I used keywords like, “digital marketing” two times in my bio and “digital marketers” one time. Putting keywords in your bio can double your searchability. Don’t worry even if your brand name doesn’t contain the magical word aka “keywords”. People can still find you if you have put the keywords correctly.

To find better keywords for your brand, Consider the target keywords your prospective followers would use to locate inspirational accounts, cool hashtags, or specific areas to follow when choosing keywords for your name.

Add A CTA

Instagram doesn’t allow you to share links with the post. It only allows you to share the link in the bio and then, once you have 10k followers it allows you to have a swipe-up story link.
Like this,

But to achieve this, you need to have minimum followers of 10k. If you have over 10k followers, you can easily put the link in the stories and drive traffic to your Instagram account.

But of course, what if you don’t have this many followers? Don’t worry! We also have a solution for that.

You still have an option to paste a link and create a CTA button. Your Instagram bio is your sole chance to attract visitors to your website or special offer naturally.

Let me elaborate to you some steps on how you can easily put your website link or youtube link in bio.

Click the Edit Profile button and type your URL in the Website form to add a link to your bio. If you have lots of links that you want to present to your visitors, you can use a tool, Linktree which allows you to add multiple links to your Instagram profile.

Related: What Is A Call To Action: 9 Killer Tips To Create CTA To Boost Your Leads

Use Custom Fonts And Emojis To Your Bio

After you have worked on the fundamentals of the profiles like, URL, keywords, and cross-promoted hashtags, add some emoji personality to your bio as a final touch.

Like what we have done in my Instagram bio.

Let me show you an example, a fitness influencer, Emily Skye from Australia runs three accounts on Instagram. One for her newborn baby, another one for fitness, and the other one for makeup tutorial.

The emoji that appears before each account link graphically displays the account’s emphasis.

See.. optimizing the Instagram profile is that easy!

And this isn’t finished yet. It is just starting! We have many more tips to go with Instagram marketing.

Create Appealing Content

After you have optimized your profile. The next thing which is extremely important is creating appealing content for the visitors. After all, the visitors on your Instagram profile are visiting to see some appealing and useful content. So, what’s the point of having an account if you don’t create appealing content?

Now, I am going to give you some tips to create nice content and boost your Instagram marketing.

Use Templates

There are plenty of tools out there that can help you get the free templates for your Instagram posts. So, don’t worry if you don’t know how to use photoshop. Tools like canva and adobe can be extremely useful when it comes to creating an incredible post.

No matter what type of post you want to create, you can use the ready-to-use template. Whether you want to create a post o promote a special offer or to announce the new opening timing for your business.

Whatever the message that you want to send, you can easily do that with the help of a template.

Get High-Quality Images

High-quality images are extremely important when it comes to creating social media posts and especially, on Instagram. You can visit Unsplash or Stocksnap.io.

They offer a range of images for free and you can find the images suitable for you.

If you can afford a budget, you can go with Stocksy. With this software, you would get a higher quality of images.

But you must consider the image size while purchasing the images.

Use Reels

Instagram created this feature, once TikTok was banned across the globe. Instagram saw this as an opportunity and got started with Instagram reels.

One of the best things about Reels is that it has high reach than IGTV.

So, you cannot just underestimate the power of reels. Try such posts while trying to target the audience and followers.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Digital Marketing || SEO (@incrementors.com_)

Share memes

Humanizing and humorizing your brand by sharing memes that resonate with your audience could help you.

When done well, it can boost brand awareness and enhance customer engagement. Because when you share memes, you connect with your audience on an emotional level.

Try to keep them funny. Who knows your post goes viral.

Post Save The Date Post

If you are going to host an event or going to go live on the platform, you can post such posts that ask the audience to save the date.

The benefit is, people can save such posts to remember the dates.

Share Testimonials

You can also share the testimonials as your Instagram posts. This is one of the best Instagram marketing strategies to go with.  This enhances its credibility as a brand.

Of course, people want to know everything before spending their hard-earned money. So you must give them reasons to spend their money on your brand. And what could be better than the testimonials?

The Power Of Hashtags

If you are working on an Instagram marketing strategy and don’t have any idea about how to use Hashtags, believe me, you are already missing lots of opportunities.

The reason why I am saying so is that Instagram is the full game of hashtags. Hashtags are the base of its algorithm.

Without hashtags, your post is never going to get high reach. Even if you are making mistakes in choosing the right hashtags for your posts, it has no benefit at all.

So, better you must learn the way to use hashtags.

You will be shocked to know that posts with 1 hashtag will have 12.6% more engagement than a post without a hashtag.

Basically, it helps organize and categorize content which helps in content discovery.

Let me explain how you can use hashtags:

– Instagram allows you to use only 30 hashtags per post. I would recommend you use 27 or 29 hashtags per post.

– Use just 11 hashtags if you are a beginner.

– Use relevant hashtags. Don’t use spammy hashtags.

– Give credit to the content you have taken from others.

Types of hashtags you can use:

Now, I am going to explain the types of hashtags that you can use per post.

5 hashtags – used in million posts

4 hashtags – used in 500k-million posts

2-3 hashtags – used in 20k-100k posts

You can check the reach of the hashtags from here:

And don’t encourage follow or like swapping( #like4like  #follow2follow #followforfollow)

 Engagement Is Important 

If you want engagement on your posts. You will have to engage with others’ pages and your audience as well. Posting great and quality content is good but it will be of no use if you avoid the comments in your posts. Your page is going to exist alone.

Engagement is quite important along with your Instagram marketing strategies. Instagram marketing tips are of no use without engagement.

At a minimum level, at least try to respond to the comments user make on your posts.

Also, seek out popular accounts in your niche, follow them, and like and comment on their posts. Make yourself visible in a non-promotional way.

If you see someone has tagged you in a post, check out and interact with them. Find as many opportunities for engagement you can find. See if you can re-share any post or story in your feed.

Pining comments from your biggest followers, or simply comments that are likely to start a conversation, is a great method to get more people to interact with your articles.

You’ll have a better chance of responding to actual individuals rather than bots or trolls, making it more enjoyable (and productive) for you to participate.

But don’t overdo it. You must know your limits otherwise your account will get suspended.

Here are your Instagram limits

Likes: 120 per hour, or 300-500 per day

Comments: 200 per day

Follow accounts: About 10 follows per hour and 100-150 per day

Unfollow accounts: Unfollow 60 per hour and Unfollow about 150 per day

Direct Message limits: 50-70 per day

Instagram posts limits: Instagram hasn’t revealed a limit

Tagging limits: For a single post: 20 people per post and for a carousel post: 35 people per post

Hashtags limits: 30 hashtags per post

Deleting posts limits: At the moment there is no limit on how many posts you can delete in one go.

The Importance Of IG Stories

According to Mediakix, “there are 2 times more stories posted by brands on Instagram than on Snapchat. This means that marketers are already favoring Instagram as their major marketing channel and at the same time, that there’s a wider audience on it.”

According to the same report, at least half of the firms active on Instagram have shared at least one story in a single month.

I know you might be wondering now what should you post on the story?

Well, don’t worry! I have an answer for that.

I am going to give you lots of ideas about what you can post on an Instagram story.

Product Based Content

Online stores and product producers might take advantage of Instagram Stories by interspersing some of their special offers throughout their slides. Here’s an example of smart wordplay and a simple yet successful narrative from “The North Face” that encourages its supporters to buy for their bags:

User Generated Content

Depending on the size of your fan following, you may challenge them to post on your behalf to raise even more exposure.

You may either request that they submit you their photos so that you can construct the tales around them, or you can request that they publish their own stories. Branded hashtags, product photographs, service mentions, and so on are examples of their contributions.
See some examples:

Polls

Polls are one of the simplest and most successful methods to generate engagement, sales, and brand exposure. You may use basic and uncomplicated polls to ask people questions and allow them to respond within the slides of your narrative.

In this scenario, a nice example comes from walmart, an ecommerce company asks its followers a question and provided two replies, both of which lead to a prospective purchase choice.

Mentions

You may also employ influencer marketing to gain a broader audience’s attention. They may either mention your company or take over your tales and provide your and their fans behind-the-scenes access to unique content.

Here’s an example from Maybelline New York, a cosmetics company that utilized Jordyn Jones to promote one of their commercials.

These are some of the best examples of how you can use Ig stories and boost your Instagram marketing strategy and believe me this is not finished yet. There are many more features on Instagram that you can use in Ig stories. 

Posting Time Matters

According to Later’s research of 35 million worldwide Instagram posts, the optimum time to publish on Instagram (in local time) is 6 a.m.

Saturday and Sunday are the best days to post on Instagram, with the highest average engagement for posts published at 6 a.m. on Sunday.

On the other hand, posts published between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Wednesday and 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Thursday earn the lowest engagement rates, making them the worst days to post on Instagram.

Each Day’s Best Instagram Posting Time

According to 35 million worldwide Instagram posts, the top times to post on Instagram every day are:

Monday: 5 AM

Tuesday: 6AM

Wednesday: 6AM

Thursday: 5AM

Friday: 6AM

Saturday: 6AM

Sunday: 6AM

So, next time you go to post on Instagram. Don’t forget to post as per the time recommended.

Go With Influencer Marketing

I know you might be wondering that we were discussing an Instagram marketing strategy, so why are we discussing Influencer marketing.

Yes, you can choose Instagram for influencer marketing. Also, there’s a reason why I am asking you to go with influencer marketing on Instagram. 90% of our survey respondents believe influencer marketing to be an effective form of marketing.

Also, Businesses are making $5.20 for every $1 spent on influencer marketing.

Then, the next question arises is, if we are focusing on Influencer marketing, then why should we be focused on Instagram only and not on other platforms like Facebook?
Well, let me show you a graph.

Instagram is a wonderful medium for marketers to reach their target demographic, with 1.3 billion monthly active users. Although the user base isn’t as vast as Facebook’s, it is far more engaged, making it a more effective means for marketers to get their word out.

Isn’t this effective?

So, go with it!

Go Live

Instagram Live allows users to broadcast live videos to their Instagram followers via their Stories. It’s excellent for increasing user interaction, communicating with them directly, providing news, and creating your brand.

If you are thinking live stream videos are not that effective, let me show you some data.

– A live stream is preferred by 80% of viewers over reading a blog post.

– A live stream is preferred by 82 percent of viewers over a social media post.

– 67 percent of viewers who viewed a live stream purchased a ticket to a comparable event the next time it was held.

The question that might be buzzing in your mind is, what kind of content would I create through a Live stream?

Don’t worry! I will give you some ideas for live stream:

1. Collaborate with a thought leader in your field.

2. Participate in a live event

3. Provide a tutorial or workshop

4. Participate in a Q&A session

5. Conduct an interview with a coworker

6. Speak with a client

7. Review

Launch An Instagram Shop

After reading this title, you might be wondering, is it really effective to launch an Instagram shop?

Well, if you are a product-based company, you must launch an Instagram shop. You will be shocked to know that many big brands like Sony and H&M are already using the Instagram shop.

They give you the opportunity to post a photo and then tag a few products within that photo.

Here is the list of benefits that you are going to get:

1. Products are easily discovered

2. Quicker and simpler buying experience

3. You can tap into impulse buying

4. Opportunities for influencer marketing

5. Business-to-consumer marketing (B2C)

So, must go with Instagram shop.

Bonus Tip

I would like to introduce a tool to you which will help you get a free audit of your business account i.e., Iconosquare

The audit looks at your previous 30 days of postings, your overall profile performance, and offers suggestions for areas where you might improve. Iconosquare’s premium solutions, in addition to the audit, offer statistics and schedules, although solely for Instagram and Facebook.

Conclusion

In the above blog, we have discussed some of the best 9 tips for an Instagram marketing strategy that are eventually going to help you in brand awareness, high leads, high engagement, and more followers.

If you properly use those tactics, nothing can stop you build a big brand. However, if you have any doubts or queries, you can just comment it down below in the comment section and I will reply for sure!

For more marketing tips and services, you can schedule a free-of-cost 30-Minute Strategy session with our experts. In this call, our experts would discuss your business and provide you with the free strategies that you can use to boost your sales and revenue.

FAQs

1. What are the biggest Instagram marketing mistakes to avoid in 2022?

Social Media Marketing Mistakes To Avoid In 2022

– Not thinking from the mobile users’ perspective

– Not focusing on SEO and only checking social media metrics

– Posting the same content for all social media platforms

– Not delivering as per the audiences’ needs

2. What is the best strategy for affiliates on Instagram?

Top 8 Strategies for Affiliate Marketing:

– Select the right affiliates

– Optimize your platforms

– Diversify your affiliate program

– Partner with an influencer

– Leverage coupon deals

– Initiate brand-to-brand partnerships

– Use affiliate marketing software

– Build your own affiliate program

3. What is the best Instagram marketing course in 2022?

Top 7 Best Instagram Marketing Courses & Classes 2022

1. Instagram Marketing: How to Cash in on Your Passion (Skillshare)

2. A Simple Instagram Marketing Growth Strategy (Tools, Hacks & What they Don’t Tell You) (Skillshare)

3. Marketing On Instagram (LinkedIn Learning)

4. InstaFamous – Instagram Marketing 2020 – Followers to Profit (Skillshare)

5. Instagram Marketing 2020 | Grow Organic Followers Naturally! (Udemy)

6. Instagram Marketing: How to Easily Edit Stunning Photos & Videos and Tips to Grow Your Following Now (Skillshare)

7. Instagram Marketing 2020: Hashtags, Live, Stories, Ads & more (Udemy)

4. How do you attract brands on Instagram?

Ways To Get Noticed By Brands On Instagram To Grow Your Blog

Create High-Quality Content

Engage With Others In Your Niche

Work With Brands

Be Honest

Tag Your Favorite Brands

Maintain a personal and professional profile

Reach Out To Them

5. Do Instagram users get paid?

Instagram allows you to earn money with the help of IGTV Ads, Branded Content, Badges, Shopping, and Affiliate Marketing. But creators can also earn from sponsored content, fan membership, licensing the content they produce, and also by becoming a consultant.