Make the Most of Instagram Marketing For Your Business

Instagram marketing has changed a lot since Instagram first graced screens around the world in 2010. What started off as a simple way to share photos with friends and family, exploded into an entire social media marketing industry complete with corporate businesses, influencers, and paid ads. If you’re someone who uses social media recreationally, it can be tough to get in the mindset to use Instagram as part of your small business marketing strategy.

Instagram and other social media platforms are one of the most powerful tools when it comes to cultivating customer relationships. As your potential customers see your products or services, the behind-the-scenes of your business, and relatable stories alongside the photos of their loved ones, they will instantly feel a stronger connection to your business. But finding Instagram success goes way beyond posting photos to your account and then waiting for engagement.

If you’ve been struggling to grow your Instagram as a business owner, prepare yourself (and your biz) as you dive into this in-depth guide to crafting an Instagram marketing strategy.

Crafting a Personalized Instagram Marketing Strategy

The first step to any marketing strategy is getting your exact goals and your audience clear. If you are a busy mom who is trying to stay healthy without disrupting your work-life balance, which Instagram bio would appeal more to you?

Vancouver-based health and fitness trainer helping everyone reach their fitness goals.
Vancouver local and fitness trainer passionate about helping overwhelmed mothers get their fitness goals under control.

If a person’s marketing speaks directly to you, you’re more likely to engage. Even if you think absolutely anybody can benefit from your business, when starting out it’s important to have a very clear vision of your ideal client. Everything from their age, their occupation, and their hobbies can play into how you’re going to go about marketing your small business on Instagram.

Why Instagram Is Good for Marketing Your Business

Before you get too deep into planning how to market on Instagram, you might be wondering if Instagram marketing is really for you. First off, it’s important to consider the audience that is already on Instagram. Seventy-one percent of eighteen to twenty-nine year olds use Instagram. This means that most users are Gen Z or Millennials. So if you’re marketing to retirees, Instagram might not be your best option.

On the other hand, if your ideal customer is in that age range, ride that Instagram train straight into the minds of your potential clients. People are more likely to buy something after a suggestion from their friend than from a corporation. Instagram helps personify your business by showing the people behind it and the care that goes into creating it.

It’s easier to feel connected to a business after seeing videos of the business owner packing orders, giving a tour of their workspace, or reading positive customer reviews than it is to connect with the same product just sitting on a shelf. You can use Instagram to connect with your current customers, expose your business to a larger audience, and build a strong brand reputation.

How to Set Instagram Marketing Goals

There are countless businesses that have seen the power of one viral video on Instagram. Truly unique and eye-catching products have the power to bring thousands of new customers to a business. But viral videos are not the only way to benefit from marketing on social media. If you’ve been unimpressed by your results on social media, it might have to do with the goals you’re setting.

For example, if you’re only chasing after views rather than meaningful engagement, you might be gaining followers but no sales. If you’re only focusing on nurturing the small audience you do have instead of making content that gets you more views, you’ll never grow your business. So it’s important to have specific goals that range across different categories.

You’ll want to set growth goals, which could include the total number of views, followers, or likes you want to achieve in a quarter. You should also create business-related goals like total sales, number of positive reviews, and website hits. Finally, you’ll want to set community goals like the amount of engagement on non-viral posts, how many story mentions and tags you got from creating shareable content, and how many direct messages (DMs) you receive.

Key Instagram Marketing Tips to Keep in Mind

At the end of the day, people don’t want to feel like you’re aggressively selling to them. You’d be hard pressed to find someone who would prefer to watch an hour of advertisements rather than a movie. Humans like to be entertained, educated, and engaged and your Instagram strategy should be trying to achieve all three.

How to Grow Your Audience on Instagram

When looking to grow your account, Instagram video content is one of the best ways to do so. Instagram is heavily pushing Reels and you’re more likely to appear on someone’s explore page through video content than photos.

Going viral on Instagram certainly has its benefits, but it’s not always what it is cracked up to be. It’s much better to have a video that only gets 3,000 views on a topic that’s related to your business with engaged comments and followers in your niche than 30,000 views on non-related business comment with unengaged or bot followers.

If you’re going for quantity over quality, the best ways to get views on Instagram is to use trending sounds, make short, witty videos, get inspired by other viral videos, and create content around subjects that are already trending.

Instagram has always been a very visual app. This means that the quality of the content you produce is very important. Pinterest-quality content with a touch of authenticity tends to perform well. This means good lighting, clear audio, and clear visuals. Try taking your photos or videos in a quiet space that is well-lit with natural light.

If you create high quality videos, you will get your video to reach new accounts eventually. But it’s also important to create content that will nurture the audience you already have.

How to Nurture Your Audience on Instagram

If you commit yourself to three months of creating quality content on Instagram, your account will grow. But taking care of the followers you do have is just as important as gaining followers. A community of 1,000 true fans is way more powerful than a community of 10,000 followers who just think your content is funny.

There are a lot of influencers who gain an empty audience by only posting trending videos that get them views but don’t actually allow their followers to get to know them or their business. You can nurture your audience in a few different ways.

First, you want your audience to feel connected to you and your business. Instagram stories are an incredible tool for this. Through Instagram stories, you can share your day-to-day as a business owner, behind the scenes, and even create polls and quizzes that your audience can engage with.

If you’re an interior designer, you can use Instagram stories to ask your audience which upholstery they prefer for a side chair or give them an in-process tour of a kitchen renovation before you post the final product to your feed. Getting a peek into your everyday life and getting to weigh in on business decisions—even if they don’t affect the final result—can help followers feel a stronger connection to you.

You should also focus on making videos and photo content that is educational, satisfying, funny, or story-based. Longer, non-trend based videos also have a capacity to go viral, but they are made with your current audience in mind. If you’re a business coach, these videos might include helpful business tips. If you’re a travel blogger, it might be a video about your favorite cafe in Tokyo.

Finally, you should make sure to respond to all of your comments and DMs, if possible. Your audience members want to feel heard and know that you care that they are there. If not, they can easily find another account to follow and engage with.

Defining Your Instagram Marketing Strategy

If you have a marketing budget to work with, there are also paid and gifted ways to grow your audience. Using tools like Instagram influencer marketing and affiliate marketing are two ways to use your community members to boost your business.

Understanding Influencer Marketing

Influencers are social media figures who have grown their audience using many of the Instagram marketing tips you’ve already learned about. They’re referred to as such because their opinion can have a large influence on their followers. Partnering with influencers means tapping into that influence, which can bring you sales as well as new followers.

With paid Instagram influencers, you send them products as well as payment for them to make a post to their feed or Instagram story. This usually requires some sort of contract and the influencer is posting specific previously agreed upon content about your business.

If you don’t have the budget, you can also try doing a gifted collaboration, where you send them content and they’ll make a post. Usually, the rules are less strict on gifted collaborations and the influencer isn’t always obligated to make a post, but likely will.

Utilizing Affiliate Marketing with Instagram

Another great option for when you don’t have a huge marketing budget is to use affiliate marketing. With affiliate marketing, influencers get a percentage of all of the sales they bring to your brand. This will cost your brand money, but it requires no upfront investment and will likely bring you in sales you wouldn’t have had without them.

Most larger influencers will expect payment in addition to getting paid for every sale they make. It’s important to tread carefully when asking for a collaboration. Since influencers cannot pay for their rent or bills with gifts or affiliate codes, they might prefer to spend their time on other paid opportunities.

You’re One Step Closer to Instagram Success

Growing your Instagram account is not something that will happen overnight, but it is something you can commit to knowing that some sort of positive results will come from it. This guide provides an overview of multiple different ways to grow on Instagram, but the best way to learn is to do it yourself. One of the biggest mistakes businesses make is waiting until everything is perfect to get started.

They want to get the highest quality camera, a huge tripod, and a ring light before getting started. Even though quality content is important for growth, so is understanding your audience and learning what works best for your business. If you have a smartphone, a desire to succeed, and a passion for your business, you’re ready to grow your audience on Instagram.

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Written By

Calli Zarpas

Producer & Writer by occupation. Ceramicist & Newsletter Editor by avocation.