Do your Instagram posts help you achieve your business objectives?

Are you looking for a more effective way to market your business on Instagram?

This article will teach you how to improve your marketing by implementing eight actions that will help you achieve your business goals.

1. Plan your Instagram posts in accordance with your marketing strategy and objectives.

Instagram should be an important part of your company’s marketing strategy, working in tandem with your content, email, and other social media marketing efforts.

Begin by reviewing your company’s marketing calendar.

Brainstorm relevant Instagram content for each initiative to develop an effective Instagram marketing strategy.

 

Are you organizing a seasonal event or launching a new product?

Plan out your Instagram content for each stage of the process, from teasers to announcements to collaborations.

You can create an Instagram calendar on a whiteboard, spreadsheet, or collaborative platform that works best for your team.

Make a note of the goal for each post as you add content ideas to your marketing calendar.

This way, you can ensure that your Instagram strategy is in line with your marketing objectives.

Your objectives could, for example, be as follows:

• Increasing awareness of your company or its products or services
• Increasing the number of people who interact with your content
• Increasing website traffic from your bio or Instagram stories
• Selling items through your Instagram shop or website

2. As You Grow, Change Your Instagram Posting Schedule

Should you post every day, a few times per day, or only a few times per week?

The frequency with which you post on Instagram is critical to your Instagram strategy.

Naturally, you want to post enough content to generate results while not overwhelming your audience or receiving negative feedback.

According to Later’s research, the size of your account determines the appropriate posting frequency.

In general, small accounts should publish a couple of times per day, while large accounts with 250,000 followers or more should post about once per week.

The timing of when you publish content is also important.

When you post content while your audience is online, they are more likely to see and interact with it.

To see when your followers are online, go to Instagram Insights and select Total Followers.

Scroll down to see what day of the week and time of day your followers are most likely to be online.

 

After that, incorporate those times into your regular posting schedule.

 

3. Modify Your Organic Content Mix to Reflect Your Audience’s Demographics and Preferences

Once you’ve decided on the type of content to post, the next step is to figure out how to effectively position it on Instagram.

To achieve your objectives, you must ensure that the content you post resonates with your target audience.

To learn more about your audience, open the Instagram app, tap the Insights dashboard, and then select Total Followers.

 

You can see breakdowns by gender, age range, city, and country, giving you a complete picture of your account’s demographics

If you’ve already posted some content on Instagram, you can look at the Insights dashboard to see who has seen your posts in their feed.

Tap Accounts Reached for a demographic breakdown and a better understanding of who you’re reaching out to.

Even if you’re looking for new content ideas, you can look back at previous posts to see what worked well in the past and what to avoid in the future.

Scroll to the bottom to see the most popular content. Then, tap Accounts Engaged and scroll down to see the top content based on likes and replies.

Make a list of the posts that performed the best.

Do you think your target audience prefers lifestyle or product photography?

Were they more receptive to feed posts or stories? What type of copy received the most likes and comments?

These are questions you should ask yourself.

Instagram may have begun as a photo-sharing platform, but the social media app is much more than just feed posts.

When it comes to maximizing your Instagram reach and optimizing your results, it’s critical to investigate all of the options Instagram provides.

Include the following types of content in your Instagram strategy:

• Photos: From single images to carousels with up to ten images, you can create visually appealing feed posts.
• Videos: With the demise of IGTV, you can now upload videos to your feed that range in length from a few seconds to 60 minutes.
• Reels: As Instagram’s short-form video option, reels are ideal for sharing authentic content to a dedicated tab in your profile.
• Live: You can go live from the Instagram app or schedule a live event up to 90 days in advance to communicate directly with your audience.
• Stories: Although they only last 24 hours, they are ideal for sharing exclusive behind-the-scenes content or reposts from your followers.

Keep your style consistent as your content mix changes

Because Instagram is a photo and video-based social media platform, business accounts must develop a visual style.

A consistent style, in addition to defining your brand, makes it simple for followers to identify and engage with your company’s content.

There’s no need to create an entirely new look for Instagram. Instead, your brand’s Instagram style should be consistent with your visual identity on your website and other marketing materials.

Your Instagram style, for example, may include a specific set of fonts, colours, perspectives, or aesthetics.

For consistency, you can even apply the same filter to your content.

The Instagram account, as shown in the example below, has a distinct graphic style.

From photos to videos to reels, all content features bright colours and branded fonts. The posts are easily distinguishable.

 

4. Your Instagram copy should have a clear end goal in mind

Whatever type of content you post, the visual aspect is only one component of the equation.

Effective captions, text overlays, and live scripts are required to compel your audience to act after viewing your content.

The way you write Instagram copy is determined by your target audience, your company’s style guide, and your objectives.

Consider how your followers sound, how your brand voice sounds, and what you hope to achieve.

Calls to action (CTAs) in Instagram copy can be used to prompt your audience to:

• Leave a comment to get to know your followers and start building a community.
• To aid your market research, get your viewers to answer a question about their preferences.
• Swipe left to view all of your carousel’s photos or videos.
• Browse or buy tagged products from your Instagram shop.
• Visit your website or eCommerce shop by clicking the link in your bio or story.

For example, the caption and a hand icon in the Instagram post below encourage followers to swipe left to see highlights from the email marketing platform’s Black Friday report.

The caption also encourages followers to access the full report by tapping the link in the account’s bio.

 

5. Increase Instagram reach with hashtags

Hashtags are essential for driving discovery and increasing the reach of your Instagram content.

Users on Instagram can follow hashtags to see specific interests, and they can also find your content by searching for hashtags.

You can use up to 20 hashtags in feed posts and reels, and up to 10 in stories, giving you a plethora of options.

However, the fewer and specific, the better.

So, where do you begin?

Make it a habit to include at least one branded hashtag in each post to help your account gain traction.

Then, include any relevant campaign hashtags as well as a mix of industry, descriptive, location, and viral hashtags.

For best results, abide by Instagram’s recommendation which is, to keep your Instagram hashtags to 5 or 6 at most.

You may locate hashtags to use by putting keywords into the Instagram search bar and browsing through the results.

The program instantly counts the total number of times the hashtag has been used, allowing you to quickly determine if the hashtag is popular or obscure.

6. Use content generated by influencers and users to amplify your organic Instagram content

You may be able to create the majority of your brand’s Instagram content in-house.

However, you are not required to create everything.

Instead, you may be able to obtain high-quality images and videos from other creators, such as customers and influencers.

User-generated content (UGC) and influencer content can both improve a brand’s Instagram content strategy.

In fact, these content types may be more effective than the images and videos created by your team.

For many consumers, user-generated content (UGC) is an important factor in their purchasing decisions.

That means incorporating user-generated content (UGC) into your content strategy could completely transform your Instagram results.

If you want to include user-generated content (UGC) in your Instagram feed, you’ll need a simple workflow for collecting and crediting UGC.

For example, you can find UGC by monitoring branded hashtags and mentions and then DMing the original creators to obtain permission to share their content.

You can also share fan-created posts, stories, and reels directly to Instagram Stories while crediting the original creator.

Use Instagram’s Paid Partnership tool to establish official business relationships with influential customers.

This tool allows your brand and the influencers with whom you collaborate to disclose their relationship, and it allows approved partners to tag your account in branded content.

7. Utilize Instagram Ads to Accelerate Results

In some cases, you might be able to achieve your Instagram marketing objectives solely through organic content.

However, if you want to quickly build your brand and generate revenue, Instagram advertising is a good option.

Begin by directly boosting top-performing content from the Instagram app.

Use Instagram Insights to find your best content and then tap Boost Post to expand its reach.

Then, select from goals such as more profile visits, more website visits, or more messages.

Then create a target audience and set a budget.

 

For more complex objectives like generating leads or eCommerce sales, use Facebook Ads Manager to create a campaign.

If you’re new to Instagram ads, start with a low budget—say $100.

Start a test campaign to determine the average cost per thousand impressions (CPM), cost per click (CPC), and cost per result.

Use these preliminary results as a starting point.

And then experiment with new creatives, audiences, or placements to see what you can achieve with a larger budget.

8. Use Instagram shopping tools to make consumer purchases easier

If your company does eCommerce, then you should also incorporate Instagram’s shopping tools into your content.

To use them, link your brand’s Facebook profile and upload a product catalogue to Facebook Commerce Manager.

Then, on the Instagram app, go to Account Settings and select Business.

To finish setting up, tap Set Up Instagram Shopping.

After you enable this option, customers will be able to visit your eCommerce catalogue using the View Shop button in your Instagram profile.

You may also tag things in your images and story, allowing customers to begin shopping right away.

Do you want to encourage your followers to buy from your company but don’t have an eCommerce platform?

In addition to including a clickable link in your bio. You can add a link to your Stories.

Create a story and use a link sticker from the sticker tray to complete it.

Then, to boost clicks, use the text customization option to add a CTA to the sticker.

 

Final words

Whether you want to focus on organic or paid results, a well-thought-out Instagram content strategy is essential for achieving your marketing objectives. You can establish a successful Instagram strategy for your business by following these steps, which include arranging your schedule, selecting the correct content, and budgeting for ads.