Did you know that Instagram has a total of more than 800 million users? The platform has become a creative content hub that has a potential for social media marketing, as it generates conversions, enhances customer happiness and creates brand awareness. Despite the increasing popularity of the network, there are various businesses who are still do not know how to use Instagram to promote their brand. Hence here is our guide to help you get started with Instagram marketing. From acquiring followers to building brand loyalty to converting into customers, we have covered everything you need to know.

Step 1: Getting Followers

As a business owner, you must be looking to have a large following on Instagram. A greater number of followers makes your Instagram profile look more credible and worth-following. The easiest way to acquire followers is to Buy Real Instagram Followers. However, if you do not have the budget, you can gain followers organically, which mean attracting followers over time through your content. Here is how you can grow your following organically:

·         Post consistently with at least one post per day

·         Share a variety of content, including videos, live videos and stories

·         Identify and use high-quality trending hashtags

·         Post user-generated content once in a while

·         Collaborate with well-known influencers in your industry

·         Share content at the optimal times

·         Use analytics to measure performance

·         Interact with fans by responding to their comments and messages

·         Host contests and giveaways

·         Use cross-posting to share content on all social media networks

Also Read: A 3-Step Guide To Getting Started With Instagram Marketing

Step 2: Building Brand Loyalty

It is easy to get users to hit the follow button, the real challenge is to prevent them from tapping on the unfollow button. This is why you need to share excellent quality content that could make the followers stay and give them a reason to keep following you. Use Instagram to introduce new products that you have not released on other platforms. Also, you can announce exclusive offers, like promotional discounts and coupons, on your Instagram profile. This will make your followers feel like a special group and make them loyal to your brand. In addition to this, pay special attention to the quality of the visuals you are sharing. Instagram is a visual platform that people use to look at meaningful and aesthetically pleasing high-quality images and videos. Think about the angles the photo can be taken from and your position in relation to the camera. Consider the lighting and composition when clicking an image or recording a video. Be as creative as you can and post images that are unique and intriguing enough to make users stop scrolling and look at your content. Make sure the colors you use are neither too bright, nor too dull and pick a good combination that is consistent with your brand. Speaking of consistency, pick an aesthetic theme for your posts and stick to it. Study the color psychology to generate emotional responses from your target audience. If the followers are pleased with the content you are posting, they will start liking your posts and become loyal followers.

Step 3: Converting into Customers

Now that you have enough loyal followers, it is time to convert these followers into customers. One of Instagram’s latest feature is Shoppable posts. Previously, when customers liked a product on Instagram, they had to close the app, open the browser and visit your website to make the purchase. With Shoppable Posts, users can make the purchase within the app. This decreased the chances of users converting because a number of people do not make the effort to browse your website. Every ecommerce brand should use this feature to make buying easier for customers and increase sales. It is very simple and straightforward to set up Shoppable posts. You simply need to connect your account with your product catalog. After this, you can simply tag your products whenever you make a post. The feature provides great opportunities to convert followers into customers.

In the June of this year, Instagram hit one billion monthly active users, which is almost equivalent to one-eighth of the world’s population. The platform, initially introduced as just a visual network, has now become a great place for business as well. Businesses can not only build an online presence on Instagram, but also build a stronger followership, convert users into followers and followers into buyers and generate more sales. Speaking of followership, you can also Buy Real Instagram Followers. Nonetheless, here is how you get started with social selling

Switch to Business Account

Even though it is pretty obvious, a number of small business owners start selling from their personal account. However, converting a personal profile to a business profile provides you access to a plenty of useful selling and reporting options. Here are some of the features available only for business accounts:

• Instagram Insights: similar to Facebook’s insights, this tool allows you to obtain information about your followers, including their interests, behaviors and demographics. The tool compiles and aggregates the data to present it using charts.
• CTA Button: this button appears on the top of a business profile under the bio. It gives visitors the option to email, call or get directions to your location.
• Story Links: the platform does not allow Instagrammers to include clickable links in a post; they can only be added in the bio. However, by converting to a business profile, you can include links in Instagram Stories through which users will be able to directly visit your landing pages or website.

Also Read: How To Improve Your Instagram Business Profile?

Use More Hashtags

Hashtags are one of the best ways to make an impact with your organic campaigns on Instagram. Use a combination of hashtags that are frequently used and have a high posting volume. Here are some dos and don’ts of using hashtags on Instagram:

• Make sure the hashtag is relevant to the content you are sharing
• Do not use too many hashtags; a good number is nine hashtags per post
• Try to use specific or niche hashtags more
• Don’t just use the popular hashtags to get more attention
• Do some research to confirm that the hashtag means what you think it means
• Save your hashtags so you can use them later
• Give more importance to using branded hashtags
• Keep branded hashtags short and unique, but simple and easy to remember
• Don’t be afraid to experiment with emoji hashtags

Run Paid Ads

Brand owners, especially with small businesses, often talk about having a low marketing budget and making the most of it. This is why they do not invest on advertising assuming it to be quite costly. However, the truth is if you create and optimize an ad campaign effectively, you are likely to receive more money. You can opt for low-budget paid Instagram campaigns that have the potential for a great ROI. The key is to carefully set up the ad and select an appropriate target audience, and you will receive your money with plenty of interest.

Work with Influencers

Influencer marketing has become quite popular on Instagram, especially as a means to promote physical goods. This is because when an influencer shares a picture or video of them using your product, it improves the credibility of the product. There are a number of millennial Instagram influencers who are actively reviewing brands and maintaining a loyal following. One of the reasons why influencer marketing is widely used is that it is different than traditional marketing strategies and is not pushy. Adding influencer marketing to your marketing strategy can help you reach the target audience more quickly. This eventually helps you to increase brand awareness as well as generate leads. In addition to this, influencer marketing helps build customer’ trust and is also good for getting conversions.

Just like files and folders on your computer, we have hashtags on social media. For instance, if you are looking for a particular document on your system, you can reach it through the folder it is placed in. Similarly, hashtags are used to reach to particular content. However, on social media, a piece of content can belong to several categories, that is, several hashtags. Hence, it is important to include hashtags in your Instagram posts so that they can be easily found. Moreover, hashtags also allow people who are not your followers to view your content. In fact, it is one of the primary methods to get followers directly. Another method is to Buy Real Instagram Followers. There are various types of hashtags and as a social media expert, you should know when to use which type, because each type serves a specific purpose.

Industry Tags

These tags are high-level tags that you can use to reach people who are doubtful and unsure about the brand, service or a product they are searching for. These are very general and used a lot. Examples of industry tags include: #RealEstate, #Blogger, #Restaurant, #DigitalMarketing etc.

Also Read: How To Effectively Use Hashtags On Instagram?

Niche Tags

Unlike industry tags, niche tags are used to reach people who know precisely what they are looking for. As the name suggests, these tags are niche-specific and not general. To come up with a niche hashtag for you brand, you need to determine what your niche is. Some of the very common niche tags on Instagram are: #IndianFood, #HighendFurniture, #WellnessBlogger, #LuxuryHomes.

Branded Tags

This is usually name of the company, but you can also use your brand’s name or name of a product or service that you offer. In fact, branded hashtags can also be created especially for a contest, a brand event or any other term that is specific to the brand. Before you use a branded hashtag, do some research to make sure people actually understand the tag and relate it to you. For example, Audi used the hashtag #WantAnR8 to promote their newly launched car R8.

Community Tags

People often search for these tags when they want to feel like a part of something. As a marketer, you should think what communities your target audience belong to and create posts around these communities. For instance, you can choose to target people from non-profit communities with hashtags like #BigBrothers and #ScoutsofAmerica. Moreover, a business can also be a community. If your post is related to a particular business or job role, you can add hashtags like #NorthsideHospitalAtlanta and #Girlboss. If your target audience are sports fans, you can use community hashtags, e.g.: #GoHawks, to get noticed by these people.

Location tags

As it is understood from the name, location hashtags are used to target users searching for a specific location. A location could be the entire metro area or a neighborhood.

Event Tags

Are you hosting an event? Or did you recently attend an event? Either way, you can create a hashtag for it. In fact, for the events you attend or have attended, you can even use their official hashtags to increase visibility. However, make your post is relevant to the tag you have used. If there are multiple hashtags for an event, be selective to avoid spamming. Even though Instagram allows for 30 hashtags to be added to a post, you should not add more than 10 tags. In fact, studies show that posts with an average of five hashtags receive more engagement as compared to posts with too many tags. Some popular event tags include: #AnnualConference2018 #TCAwards #RoboticsSeminar.