Instagram is the powerhouse for social media marketers and content creators to create visually appealing content, drive engagements, and flourish their brands. Today, Instagram is more than just a photo-sharing app. Businesses are moulding their strategies and leveraging Instagram to its fullest with its in-built features. Starting from IGTV, Reels, Stories, and Carousel Posts, Instagram is offering the best of visual worlds to its audience. 

Instagram marketing is one of the most popular ways of marketing that every small, medium and large enterprise has on their priority to get their hands on. It is a platform that can bring brand awareness, bring in huge engagements and sales if a proper Instagram strategy is applied. 

To give you a fair idea about its growing popularity and the hype it has created over the years, you might want to look at these statistics accumulated by Hubspot:-

> About 90% of Instagram users at least follow one business account

> There are more than 1 Billion active monthly Instagram users

> More than 83% of Instagram users have been introduced to new product or service

We bet you didn’t know these insiders about the social media marketing giant, isn’t it? This is what Instagram does for your business. It introduces you to opportunities that you otherwise might have lost on or left undiscovered! 

Instagram’s algorithm is changing rapidly every once in a while, so a social media marketer has got to be on their toes and should never get too comfortable with their Instagram marketing tactics. Something that might work well for you today may not be tomorrow, especially when we are marketing on social media. 

So then what’s the way to go for it? The answer is simple here - posting consistency will help you unleash and discover the true potential of Instagram, given you stick to a strategy.

But being open to experimenting is the key to success, and last, but not least, an abundance of patience is something you cannot oversee. Once you are clear on these lines, there is no way your Instagram won’t work in favor of you! 

Why Should You Market Your Products and Services On Instagram? 

Social media is one of the most preferred means that marketers adopt to make their brand presence felt across a global footprint. Companies of all sizes have their social media presence, Instagram being the significant one. 

Today it’s more than just a visual representation platform. Instagram allows your followers to engage in conversations and you to show up on their feed every once in a while. And the potential of Instagram has opened doors for Influencer marketing for high-end brands to reach the masses and new brands in the market to make their presence felt. You can heed on to Neil Patel's Youtube video right here and check out how to start social media marketing in 4 simple steps! 

Your target audience is swirling out there! Why would you want to lose an opportunity to appear in front of your audience who are looking for you and want you! And so, marketing digitally and reaping its benefits through Instagram is a big YES! If you don’t have a business account on Instagram, take the first step today! 

What Makes Instagram A Great Marketing Tool and A Revenue Churning Machine?

There are tons of features and hacks on Instagram that can help your business grow organically. Given you make use of every format as it’s supposed to be, never stop experimenting, these are some very useful features that work and take your business closer to success. 

1. IG Stories

Probably the most leveraged feature you can see on Instagram. You need to make sure all your followers find it worthy enough to follow your account. Because when they follow you, they expect you to show up with what’s brewing in the backend of your company. So don’t hesitate to use IG stories to give your daily update because your followers won’t mind you doing so. 

Infact, what won't be fair is if they follow you and your Instagram is deserted with nothing new to share with them. It’s a powerful tool to collect data, get to know your audience’s likes and dislikes and create a virtual dialogue more than a monologue. 

2. IGTV

A longer video format allows brands, influencers, marketers to educate their followers about their products or services. It is not only restricted to market what you have to offer but also instills trust when you start a discussion about something important and talk in length about the topics that your audience wants to hear about.

Believe it or not, no one wants to engage with a brand that loses a human touch or is faceless. This feature can be used in the right way to spread awareness and reflect on yourself as an expert in a particular field that gives a positive impression about your brand. 

3. IG Reels

A short video format offered by Instagram that can be used for entertainment purposes and sharing knowledge is a tool that not only allows you to create a video but also boost awareness. We know micro-video formats are a huge hit among any audience given the attention span of people is too low these days. 

A lot of creators on social media use it to make memes, add value, share knowledge to give a message in the quickest way possible. This also allows the opportunity for the brands to get creative and try something they have never done before. 

4. IG Hashtags

Don’t just restrict yourself to your current follower base, grow your presence and attract more eyeballs by using appropriate hashtags for every post you upload. There is a specific strategy you need to apply when using hashtags. Most people feel using the trendiest ones works even if it’s unrelated to your post, these are a few hacks that may work and sometimes come crashing down leaving you with no real results.

So instead of falling for these quickies, make sure you use a maximum of 30 hashtags. The first 10 are related to the topic your post is about. The other 10 relate to your niche and the remaining 10 can be distributed among the related topic your post is based on. This way, you reach the maximum number of people who are from and within your industry. 

5. Instagram Built-In Statistics

This is the most favorite part of having a business account on Instagram. You can measure all your marketing efforts and predict the next steps based on the responses. You know exactly what you are doing right and areas you need to improve to make Instagram marketing work for you.

We love how with precision all your data is segregated and kept a track of. Starting from demographics, followers, and unfollowed count and the post which is getting the maximum traction is what modern businesses need to take accountability for. 

How Can You Set An Instagram Strategy To Improve Your Business Growth?

Now that you are well equipped with the rich features Instagram offers, it makes sense only when you follow a strategy that makes things work for your business. Now we are going to take you through the proven tips and tricks of increasing your followers, boost engagement and reach maximum people with your content. 

Now before we do so, we want to make sure that we do not want to share with you any black-hat Instagram growth strategies because of these 3 reasons:-

i) It can hamper your organic growth forever

ii) The statistics would get manipulated and no longer will give you the real picture of your marketing efforts. 

iii) Purchasing followers and adopting such ways will only work in the short run and can prove unsustainable for your business in the longer run. 

Now, white-hat Instagram growth tips, tricks, and techniques that can work like wonders!

1. Proper Usage And Placement Of Hashtags 

This might seem a contribution that may seem like a negligible growth to your Instagram growth strategy but plays the most crucial role whatsoever. Choosing the right hashtags based on their repute, your content, location and the core idea of the post lets others catch attention who might have not heard about your brand ever before.

Make sure to use a maximum of 30 hashtags when starting and you can reduce the hashtag count when your brand starts to get popular. 

2. Optimizing Your Instagram Bio 

The next big and crucial part of attracting quality followers and not bots is optimizing your Instagram bio. It should clearly mention your expertise, what you do, and the way you can help your customers' problems in the most effective manner.

It should be creatively written that it fits all your targeted keywords and is effortless to read and understand in one go. The point is, when anyone lands on your Instagram profile, they should know what you do and why following you will add to their benefit. 

3. Having A Proper Schedule When It Comes To Posting

Consistency is the key to successful Instagram marketing results. You need to post valuable, shareable, and relatable content consistently to leave your audience wanting more. There is a proper content strategy you need to have in place to make sure you never miss out on posting the content you create.

There are tons of social media management tools that can help you in keeping track of your posting such as Hootsuite and Creator Studio etc. 

4. Engaging With Your Audience And Creating Meaningful Connection

Posting and ghosting isn’t the most effective tactic you can leverage in the longer run. Sure people come to view your content, comment on it, save it, and even share it with their friends. But if they can take the effort to comment on something you have worked upon so hard, it does not take much time for you to revert.

This is a polite way of making your audience feel heard and that you care and see what they have been saying. And when we say engage with your followers, it's not just for the sake of it. You are a human, not a bot. So act like one even when on social media. 

5. Utilizing Every Feature That The Platform Offers

Leverage every feature to not leave any tables unturned when it comes to growing your business with Instagram. Make videos (reels and igtv), post stories, add value in the form of carousel posts, conduct Q/A’s, do polls, etc.

There are various tools available for creating impactful and aesthetically pleasing reels that you take advantage of. The most popular being InShot that all marketing professionals use to make their work easier. 

7. Don’t Overlook Influencer Marketing

It has great potential and is meant to stay. An Instagram influencer is a way to market your products and services through some of the known faces of Instagrams who have followers in thousands, millions, and billions (depending on your company’s budget of course).

But its impact is immense and vast that will expose your products and services to a new bunch of potential customers. You can use micro and nano influencers to create awareness about a new launch, spread awareness about marketing campaigns and even end up inducing sales once in a while. 

What Next!

We have shared with you all the secrets that you can start leveraging to grow your business. Go ahead and try these tips and tricks out for as long as you, because that’s going to bring you success.

And we will see you next time with our brand new blog post on digital marketing. Till then stay tuned!