Since its launch on the 6th of October 2010, Instagram has come on leaps & bounds transforming from a photo-sharing app to one of the most powerful business tools in the world. 

From a survey run in 2022 by software company Hubspot, over 1,000 marketers revealed that Instagram was the most effective social media platform for business, against competitors such as Facebook & TikTok.

However, when marketing on the platform for the first time it can often be pretty daunting due to its many features & its ever-changing algorithm. With this in mind, today we will be sharing how you best utilise the platform & grow your business to greater heights.

Create valuable content

Due to its visual nature, the key to promoting through the app is creating high-quality, well-thought-out content. You want to attract your audience & engage them at the same time, with the end goal of creating a purchase or other conversion (such as an account follow).

You must also consider how you can delight your audience. Will this be through humour (if this suits your brand) or through a beautifully shot reel & video? The whole point here is to bring greatness to the Instagram community as this is how you will turn over a great following.

Be consistent with your theme

Consistency on Instagram isn’t just about publishing regularly, but also creating a good flow with your content.

First of all, find your niche & roll with it, you don’t want to confuse your following & you also want your feed to look visually appealing. Think about your colour palette, what type of images you will use (graphics or real-life) & what filters you may want to use. 

After solidifying your visuals, you next want to think about your captions & hashtags as these are equally important to projecting the tone of your business.

Engage with your audience 

Great engagement is hugely important when wanting to grow a social media following, as this helps to make your audience feel valued & more connected to your business. 

There are many ways of actioning this practice, from replying to comments, using the polls feature on Instagram Stories & running contests or giveaways – the most popular example of this being ‘tag a friend’ giveaways.

Utilise influencer marketing 

If you’re an active user of Instagram, you’re sure to have come into interaction with an influencer & their ads. 

As the marketing trend that offered the highest ROI in 2021, the power of influencer marketing is staggering. By opting to partner with a trusted source of information & who is already authentically connected with their audience you’re able to drive sales & spread brand awareness. 

By opting to use this method you’re also able to use a smaller amount of your marketing budget whilst achieving great results AS LONG as you find the correct pool of influencers to suit your niche. 

Make your posts shoppable

As we touched on earlier, Instagram has transformed from a simple photo-sharing app to one of the world’s most popular shopping hubs due to its e-commerce features. 

Through shoppable posts, you’re granted the ability to create posts & tag your products/or services to create an easy breezy shopping experience straight through the app. By utilising this great feature, you’re bound to turn your followers into customers through the touch of a button.

Build a paid ads campaign

When it comes to wanting to build brand awareness & increase sales, we strongly encourage utilising paid advertising. 

To begin with, you want to focus on one single goal when promoting this way, whether it be encouraging your audience to purchase a product through your website. From here you can then begin to design your ad creatives & the content to accompany this. 

As leading digital marketing specialists, we at Myk Baxter Marketing have unparalleled knowledge of creating & managing results-driven paid ad campaigns for leading brands. 

Reach out to us today for more information! 

www.mykbaxtermarketing.com

Telephone number: 01325 939 838

Address:  2 Peel Court, St Cuthberts Way, Darlington, County Durham, DL1 1GB