For businesses to be competitive and stay relevant to their customers, it is no longer enough to connect with websites and email. Social media is now a force to be reckoned with due to its widespread popularity. Instagram, in particular, has emerged as one of the top social media platforms for businesses to engage with their target audiences to increase brand reach and boost loyalty. It can help a lot to know how you can extract the best out of your Instagram marketing campaigns. Some of the best practices of Instagram marketing to enable you to grow the number of your followers:
Post High-Quality and Engaging ContentÂ
One of the main reasons why Instagram has become so popular with both users and businesses is that it is visually centered. If you scroll through some of the most popular accounts of Instagram, you will understand both the diversity and quality of the content that act to drive engagement. With over a billion monthly active users, Instagram is a vast repository of outstanding content. According to research findings released by Shopify, 93% attributed visual appearance as the principal reason for making purchases. Moreover, 85% of the respondents said color played the main reason for buying something. Putting aside everything else, it needs to be appreciated that your Instagram content should incorporate color in the best possible way. You can make your posts distinctive by incorporating your brand colors in the color scheme and also by using filters. Depending on how much you can afford, you can either hire a professional design team to develop a template for your Instagram posts or you can tinker with a photo-editing software tool to get what you want. For your content to engage Instagram users, it has not only to be relevant to them but also be high-quality, original, up-to-date, value-added, and above all, entertaining.
Stay Up-To-Date with Instagram Updates and Trends
Instagram has been growing very fast and also launching a slew of new features to make the platform user-friendly and more business-friendly. In the recent past, it has added features like Stories, Shoppable posts, Instagram Live, Reels, and more to its armory. Because of the fast pace of addition of new features and emerging customer trends, it can be a big challenge for you to keep up. However, since the competition, as well as influencers, will be trying to outdo each other, there is no way you would want to be left behind and be perceived as a lazy or behind-the-times brand. Also, users searching for new experiences will flock to those accounts that are showcasing their content with the new features. Even though Instagram features as Stories and Reels work brilliantly in engaging users, you should never try to implement them in your content strategy without understanding thoroughly how they work and when you should ideally be publishing your content. Also, by spotting and following emerging Instagram trends, you can stay ahead of the competition. You can also demonstrate you are flexible enough to adapt to change and cater to the new preferences of your audience. By allowing your knowledge of trends to influence your data-driven marketing decisions, you can get a big advantage on Instagram. If you believe that your engagement is less than optimal, you can buy Instagram likes from a reputed social media marketing agency.
Understand the Needs and Wants of Your Target AudienceÂ
According to research, Instagram has one of the highest rates of engagement among all social media platforms. With this kind of potential waiting to be unlocked, having a vibrant presence on Instagram is no longer an option for brands. However, for you to be able to engage your audience with your content, you need to be able to understand what they need and desire. You can research to find out the profile and persona of your target audiences, including their demographics and buying behavior. Undertaking competitor research, asking your followers insightful questions, social listening, and monitoring emerging trends can lead to a better understanding of the audience. With these insights, you will be able to engage them better with more appealing content. Among the top methods of getting to know the audience better is content that encourages their participation. For example, you can hold contests that are not only fun for users but help to engage better, gain new followers, and aid in building customer loyalty. The more unique your contests are, and the better the perceived value of the rewards, the more the participation. It can especially help if the contest involves users sharing images or videos with the specified branded hashtag. You can also ask for users to share their experiences in the form of user-generated content that again acts to provide vital social proof and recognizes participants for their efforts. This public acknowledgment is also a big incentive for others to participate, thus giving your campaign more momentum. Another very effective way is to ask questions in the form of opinion polls that reveal details about what followers think about various things allowing you to tailor your content appropriately.
Post When Your Audience Is the Most ActiveÂ
There is no use in creating and posting high-quality and engaging content if it is not seen by your target audience. Not only will you need to make your posts visually distinctive so that they stand out from the clutter of the feed of users but also you must post when your audience is most likely to view them. The best time for posting is early in the day, according to Forbes. However, it varies a lot between industries. You should not, therefore, take these studies at face value but instead find out for yourself when you receive the maximum engagement by posting content at different times and days. Once you have established the results, you can use an Instagram content scheduler to post your content automatically at the times you have set it up for.
ConclusionÂ
Growing the number of followers on Instagram remains a challenging proposition for all social media marketers, especially in the case of Instagram, one of the most popular and competitive social networks. As difficult as the task is, you can make it considerably easier by following the suggested tips.
