Develop a Killer Instagram Marketing Strategy to Get Followers
Instagram has millions of active daily users, making it an incredibly bustling social networking site. Because Instagram is so incredibly popular, the competition can be tight for up and coming influencers and marketers.
Instagrammers need to develop an Instagram marketing strategy in order to stand out from the competition and draw attention from the right kind of followers. This article is going to be a thorough look at Instagram marketing which will bring in more followers, likes, comments, views, and everything else Instagram has to offer.
Setting up an account for a killer Instagram marketing strategy
Businesses can get away with a personal account if they have less than 10,000 followers. While this may sound like a cheaper Instagram marketing alternative, it isn't conducive to growth in the long run. Setting up an Instagram business account is free, and recommended for influencers, with the only difference being that it allows access to features such as:
- Instagram Ads
- Analytics
- Store hours being displayed
- Adding links to Instagram Stories
- Multiple accounts linked to one Facebook account
A personal account can also be converted into a business account should the need arise. The largest brands and influencers should also look at getting verified. Verified accounts have a blue checkmark next to their name in their profile and on all posts:
Seeing all of these benefits, it would be foolish not to consider switching to a business account, and trying to get verified. It is the first real step in creating an Instagram marketing strategy thanks to the analytics accessed through a business account.
Developing content for a successful Instagram marketing strategy
With access to analytics to properly measure performance, it’s time to create content. With Instagram being such a highly visual platform, the choice of what is to be photographed is important. Every account has options for this:
- Lawn care businesses can do before and after shots.
- Personal trainers can do short videos which lead to clients wanting complete routines.
- Restaurants can skip the food shots and do customer profiles.
- Clothing stores can take shots of average customers wearing their clothing.
- Anyone can use Instagram Stories to create quick, low-quality content with high engagement.
Options need to be explored, and a consistent strategy needs to be put in place. Taking any random photo that comes along will not result in consistency, and consistency is key to any marketing strategy.
Nike have been at the top of the marketing world in nearly every way imaginable for decades. Their marketing strategy for their Nike Basketball account focuses on lifestyle rather than sneakers.
When they’re not doing lifestyle shoots, they featuring their star athletes. They don’t focus on the shoe, they focus on the moments and the excitement of the sport:
A lifestyle approach of some sort always plays well on Instagram. The goal of a successful Instagram marketing strategy usually centres around showing people what they can have from the product, or showing people a life they aspire to have.
An Instagram marketing strategy to attract followers
Starting an Instagram account is one thing, but sustaining growth on the platform is quite another. Aside from constantly uploading content, users also need to launch native campaigns to get more followers.
There are a number of ways users can attract more followers on Instagram regularly:
- User uploaded content: Customers and fans can be brand evangelists that can drive their followers to the Instagram account of those they enjoy. Instagrammers should encourage and incentivize others to upload photos of themselves depicting how they can benefit from a product, service, or offering from a host account.
- Instagram competitions: Contests and giveaways are growth hacking techniques that can engage existing followers and bring a brand closer to brand new followers. Brands need to come up with prizes that will add value to the lives of their target followers to gain their attention.
- Using hashtags: Hashtags can help followers find new accounts to follow based on their interests. It is also an opportunity to create a story which is tracked by the hashtag.
- Giveaways and contests: A sure way to make an account more valuable is to literally add value to it with a contest or giveaway. Be sure to follow the Instagram contest rules on their website before proceeding. Pick something that the followers of the account would actually want. With time, the account will be thought of as valuable and people will frequently visit it to see what’s being given away next.
- Follow back strategy: This is a low-yield strategy wherein multiple accounts are followed in hopes they’ll follow back. This is better done with a plan centered on gaining the attention of influencers in a niche, and goes beyond just following them. It involves engaging with them by liking and commenting on their content until a relationship is built. To get over the struggle of appearing worth their time, with low and unimpressive follower numbers, an Instagram follower service can be the perfect solution.
Each of these strategies should be done with the goal of attracting more followers. It’s easy to participate in any one of them, but it’s quite another to actually use them in an effective manner for attracting followers.
Building your Instagram marketing for likes and comments
This subheading is here under the one above as they are both all about engagement. Highlighting a drive for likes and comments should emphasise the importance of these metrics.
Instagram takes all activity into account when choosing content for the Explore page. More likes and comments leads to better chances of content being seen, which is obviously an important aspect of any marketing campaign. Here are ways to drive more engagement:
- Make calls to action which push people to like content, such as “If you enjoyed this video, hit the like button and let us know.”
- Create a contest where liking the post is a requirement of entry.
- Create a contest where commenting is a requirement.
- To really drive follower growth, create a campaign where @tagging one, or multiple, friends is a requirement of entry.
- @Tag a friend who would ______ with you is a very popular engagement driver.
- Ask question in your posts of a general nature to get responses.
- Post controversial topics related to the account which will spur people to talk. Toilet paper: Underhand or overhand?
Every chance there is to push for more likes and comments is a chance which should be taken. This doesn’t have to be complicated; Talk to the audience as if they’re real people… Which they are!
The end goal is to create an engaged community of followers who become self-sustaining as they interact with one another, and with the prompts coming from the account. Helping this engagement along with an Instagram likes service can prove to be beneficial immediately, and in the long-term.
Tools to track and improve an Instagram marketing strategy
Figuring out what does and does not work for an account doesn’t have to be a guessing game. It can be found out with the right tools which track and store data for analysis. There are three Instagram-specific tools which professionals turn to:
- Instagram Insights: This is the native analytics tool to the platform, and comes with any business account. It is a perfect beginners tool, and can still help those with more advanced needs in some cases. As discussed above, you need an Instagram business account for this to work.
- Hootsuite: This tool is mostly know for its Twitter marketing, but everything it can do for Twitter applies directly to Instagram. This includes the powerful ability to track link clicks precisely, and by campaign. Being able to schedule posts in advance is also helpful. For those making their Instagram marketing part of a larger social media marketing campaign, or who manage multiple Instagram accounts, Hootsuite will be the perfect tool to manage all of them from one dashboard.
- IconoSquare: The most common use for this tool is for power users to keep track of their competitors. There is also the option of being able to draft and preview posts before they are published. For those who like to talk, comments and conversations are organized in an easier to follow format. Facebook, the owner of Instagram, is also part of their dashboard.
There are other options to choose from, but these three represent the most commonly used tools. Learning how to use them properly, and sticking with one tool to really get to know it, should be another goal for developing a perfect Instagram marketing campaign.
Instagram marketing tactics which work
With its focus firmly on visual content, both photo and video, Instagram is an exciting place to build a social presence. While it is fast-moving, it is also predictable enough that account managers can plan well in advance, and react to data gathered by the right tools. This can lead to more likes and shares on a routine basis, and grow follower numbers.
With all of the great tactics above, the success of any marketing campaign on Instagram comes down to the quality of the content. Monitoring successful content and creating more of it, and minimizing content which is a #TotalFail, is an ongoing effort. With consistent work, not only will follower numbers grow, but so will all other aspects of the Instagram account and what it connects to.
Date: May 15, 2018 / Author: Rich Drees