Being an entrepreneur is hard. Establishing a small business is even harder. You and your team, especially when it is only you, do everything you could to make the most of your available resources.
And the need to squeeze every drop of juice out of every resource certainly applies to your marketing efforts. No matter how much you do, there is always this feeling that something is lacking and you could be doing more.
So, how do know that whatever you are doing to get your small business in front of potential customers is working?
A recent study by Campaign Monitor brought some interesting facts. When the marketing teams of around 1,000 small business owners were asked, where their most significant opportunity lies, when it comes to brand awareness, their response was unanimous- Social Media, especially- Instagram for marketing.
On further asking 73% of the respondents reported that they would increase spending on social media channels like YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. While many have already established a substantial brand presence on both YouTube and Facebook, most of them are still finding that their target audience has switched over to Instagram for their daily dose of social media.
Over 800 million monthly active users are on Instagram. Each day, more than 60 million images are posted, and 1.6 billion daily ‘likes’ are given on those photos.
Why? Instagram is easy to use with its scrolling feature, reels, videos and photos that are far more digestible by consumers.
What is Instagram Marketing?
Instagram Marketing is the new-age marketing strategy that allows businesses to interact with their target audience, at a more personalized level. What makes it a more powerful medium is that many are finding that they can implement influencer marketing to help their business reach a wider audience.
Is using Instagram for Marketing worth the time and resources?
From celebrities to sportspersons, politicians to businesses, everyone is on Instagram. And with millions of people joining in and spending at least once a day, with the right marketing strategy it could be beneficial for both big brands as well as startups who want to reach out to a wider audience.
There is a massive amount of followers and a large number of influencers too. This means that with the right plan, you can become an influential brand too.
Here are 5 powerful Instagram Marketing strategies that work and tip that are worth all your time and efforts:
- Switch to a Business Profile
If you haven`t already, you need to do this ASAP. Before you start thinking about making a strategy or a plan, you must have an Instagram Business Account. If you already have a personal account, you can easily switch to the business one, by going into the settings.
Why? Firstly, followers can call you directly, just like they would from your business website. Secondly, a business profile allows you to create posts and ads without needing to use any other marketing tools. Lastly, along with some perks, you also get access to Instagram analytics tools that provide statistics about the reach of your posts.
- Compelling Product Teasers that will urge people to buy
Ever thought that you could sell your products merely by posting product teasers on Instagram? Well, now you can!
Instagram is an amazing platform to advertise your products. And if you know how to utilize this platform creatively, you will roll!
Maintaining a balance between informing your customers and suffocating them is one of the most essential marketing strategies for Instagram. Customers these days are quite often bombarded with advertisements. So if you come out to be too pushy, followers will fly away. But by posting product teasers you can simply build up an air of curiosity and excitement without coming out too desperate.
Hence, on Instagram, if you play your cards right, you can gain new customers without annoying them off.
- Create Sponsored ads
Another brilliant tip that you can use on Instagram for marketing purpose is creating sponsored ads. We all must have come across Instagram ads while scrolling through our feeds. They have become quite common on this platform. Many brands are using this feature to expand their audience reach. Do you know the best part? You can control exactly how much you would like to spend on an ad by setting a budget.
You can create one ad or multiple ads with the carousel feature.
Sponsored ads give brands a whole new opportunity to target their audience. Before this feature was introduced, only your followers could see the updates and photos.
Now, every business can promote its products to its target audience by using engaging content and demographic information.
- Instagram Stories for Leads
The end goal of any business is to generate revenue. That comes from leads. And if you want to generate quality leads, Instagram Stories are here to help.
Instagram stories come in a “slideshow” format and are life for only 24 hours. However, they can be saved to any of your devices and can be reused later at any given point. Once a user clicks on your photo at the top, a window will pop up where they can watch your story.
You can use this feature to create stories with concepts that are not so common to attract your potential customers.
- Make the most of Free Instagram Tools
Business profiles on Instagram are more or less similar to Facebook business profiles. However, you can view impressions, reach, and engagement data along with a breakdown of the demographics of your followers including the information on their gender, age, location, and most active hours.
These insights are not generalized. You can get specific insights on posts for the week that show you how many impressions you have gained for the period.
Though these tools are free, they are priceless. You can use them to understand exactly how users are getting engaged with your content.
By using our effective Instagram Marketing strategies, you can establish your brand. If you want to know more about how to expand your business, you can take our ‘Everything about Entrepreneurship’ course.
