Instagram is more than a fun, photo-based social network. It can help you promote your products or services, social media marketing campaigns get more leads and generate conversions.In this article I’ll explain how to use Instagram to drive big results for your business. Cross-promote whenever you can! The trend on Instagram now is to share the love, so to speak, by tagging others or even by outright promoting other companies, products and services.ocally we have restaurants that serve beer from the many craft brewers in the area. Both the brewers and the restaurants take full advantage of Instagram by tagging each other. The brewers also support one another with tap takeovers, which are rich grounds for Instagram photos and tags. The results are threefold: higher recognition for everyone involved, increased followers (who in turn tag the businesses during visits) and increased traffic and sales for the local businesses.Users can now use Instagram’s Explore feature to find posts related to trending hashtags such as LoveWins, CanadaDay and FullMoon.If these trending tags are relevant to your brand, include them in timely posts to aid discovery.On the topic of search, Instagram also introduced the ability to search by emoji. If emojis make sense for your brand’s strategy, be sure you’re thinking about how they can be a great channel-appropriate way to convey what copy can’t, but also how they can aid in discovery.
For most brands, getting a follow on Instagram is important, but it’s just one step in the overall marketing funnel. social media marketing service To move your users further down the funnel, you should consider identifying ways to capture your followers’ email. One of the best ways to capture your followers’ email is to ask for it.Share an image with a call to action in both the caption and visual telling users to click the link in your bio to download an ebook or sign up for a newsletter. Once the user takes this action, you’ll have the ability to engage with him or her on a one-to-one basis and take your connection to the next level. To do this effectively, you should create a targeted landing page tailored directly to your Instagram following. Use messaging that references Instagram and shares a similar look and feel as your brand on this channel.From there, engage with your email subscribers by delivering them valuable and relevant information that will help move them down the funnel. Drive them to your blog posts and other social channels and keep them up to date with your product or service. My hottest Instagram marketing tip is to mix up your posting strategy by including videos in addition to photos.
Instead of listing the full URL, get a Bitly or goo.gl link that allows you to track clicks. effective social media marketing Considering that a video can generate three times more inbound links than written posts, it’s a valuable tool that can be used to engage fans, grow your following and drive traffic.As marketers, we all know that Instagram is about visual storytelling, but with a video you can actually bring your story to life.For example, take a look at Oreo or McDonald’s and you’ll see awesome examples of stop motion videos that feature a product at the center of the video, without coming across as a sales pitch. The videos are fun, shareable and engaging, and with Instagram’s video editing features they’re super-easy to create. Simply hold down the Record button and pause when you want to shoot a different scene. Or you can upload a pre-made video. And if you don’t want to include your product, you don’t have to. Encourage your fans to create their own videos and collect them on your page like GoPro does. Or check out the most-followed brand Nike to see plenty of effective videos. This is a brand that has a really good grasp of what Instagram is all about: inspiring viewers by using powerful visuals that focus on the audience, not the product.
For me, one of the hottest marketing tips for Instagram right now would be to watch for access to the ever-growing paid feature on the platform. social media marketing pricing Sponsored ads on Instagram are becoming a regular occurrence on people’s timelines, whether it’s one ad or multiple ads using the carousel element.This is giving brands a whole new dimension to target their audience. Before, only people following the account would see photo updates, whereas now brands can promote these to anyone within their target audience. These features are still in their infancy and only select brands working in partnership with Instagram are using them, but I expect this to take off dramatically with other brands.Marketers must be ready with content that is both engaging and created with a particular target demographic in mind. You’ll also want to have multiple posts ready to target to different audiences. While Instagram now allows advertisers the ability to add clickable links in their carousel posts, URLs still aren’t clickable in photo descriptions.Fortunately, there’s a way to get around this so marketers can direct followers to their most valuable content. Just utilize the link section of your Instagram account’s bio.
For most brands, getting a follow on Instagram is important, but it’s just one step in the overall marketing funnel. social media marketing service To move your users further down the funnel, you should consider identifying ways to capture your followers’ email. One of the best ways to capture your followers’ email is to ask for it.Share an image with a call to action in both the caption and visual telling users to click the link in your bio to download an ebook or sign up for a newsletter. Once the user takes this action, you’ll have the ability to engage with him or her on a one-to-one basis and take your connection to the next level. To do this effectively, you should create a targeted landing page tailored directly to your Instagram following. Use messaging that references Instagram and shares a similar look and feel as your brand on this channel.From there, engage with your email subscribers by delivering them valuable and relevant information that will help move them down the funnel. Drive them to your blog posts and other social channels and keep them up to date with your product or service. My hottest Instagram marketing tip is to mix up your posting strategy by including videos in addition to photos.
Add a Link to Your Instagram Profile
The only place where you can put a clickable link on Instagram is in your profile, social media marketing conference below your bio description.If you’re going to see any success with Instagram, you must use this link effectively. The good news is that you can change this URL as often as you like. The most important thing to link to is your website URL. This could be your blog page, your product page, a custom landing page, a lead generation page or any other page on your website.Want people to go to a specific product page for two weeks and then change it to a new product page after that? Just change the link. If you’re running a contest and want people to opt in or register on your website, make this page the link in your Instagram profile. Then change it back to your default page when the contest is over. Google Analytics won’t recognize mobile traffic that comes from Instagram. It has to do with the process of having to select a browser when navigating away from Instagram. Therefore, when someone clicks on the link in your Instagram bio, Google Analytics records the traffic as direct, not a referral from Instagram.This can cause confusion when you check analytics.Use a trackable link for each of your Instagram URLs. That way, you can check the analytics for that specific link and get a real assessment of how much traffic you’re actually driving to your website from Instagram.The best fix is to use a trackable link in your Instagram profile.Instead of listing the full URL, get a Bitly or goo.gl link that allows you to track clicks. effective social media marketing Considering that a video can generate three times more inbound links than written posts, it’s a valuable tool that can be used to engage fans, grow your following and drive traffic.As marketers, we all know that Instagram is about visual storytelling, but with a video you can actually bring your story to life.For example, take a look at Oreo or McDonald’s and you’ll see awesome examples of stop motion videos that feature a product at the center of the video, without coming across as a sales pitch. The videos are fun, shareable and engaging, and with Instagram’s video editing features they’re super-easy to create. Simply hold down the Record button and pause when you want to shoot a different scene. Or you can upload a pre-made video. And if you don’t want to include your product, you don’t have to. Encourage your fans to create their own videos and collect them on your page like GoPro does. Or check out the most-followed brand Nike to see plenty of effective videos. This is a brand that has a really good grasp of what Instagram is all about: inspiring viewers by using powerful visuals that focus on the audience, not the product.
Showcase Products and Services
Put your products and services in context so your audience connects with them. social media as a marketing tool An image of a new necklace on a counter doesn’t convey the same feeling as a photo of someone wearing that same necklace with a coordinated, styled outfit. Take it a step further: put that person in an environment, such as at a party, with family, in a park or all of the above.Michael Kors does an excellent job of showcasing their products. It doesn’t matter what they’re selling—whether it’s a watch or a purse—they put their products in a familiar environment with someone wearing them. Also, if your customers post photos with your products, share them as user-generated content (UGC). A reposting app will allow you to give the original user credit, while showing your audience how others enjoy your product. This use of UGC on Instagram is very powerful and rewarding.Companies that don’t have tangible products to sell can still use Instagram to showcase their services. Take photos and videos of key employees, customer interactions or other related actions such as navigating your website. If you travel for work, visit different branches of your company or even interact with people around town, and take photos of real-life encounters to showcase who you are. Ask questions of the locals to increase engagement too.For me, one of the hottest marketing tips for Instagram right now would be to watch for access to the ever-growing paid feature on the platform. social media marketing pricing Sponsored ads on Instagram are becoming a regular occurrence on people’s timelines, whether it’s one ad or multiple ads using the carousel element.This is giving brands a whole new dimension to target their audience. Before, only people following the account would see photo updates, whereas now brands can promote these to anyone within their target audience. These features are still in their infancy and only select brands working in partnership with Instagram are using them, but I expect this to take off dramatically with other brands.Marketers must be ready with content that is both engaging and created with a particular target demographic in mind. You’ll also want to have multiple posts ready to target to different audiences. While Instagram now allows advertisers the ability to add clickable links in their carousel posts, URLs still aren’t clickable in photo descriptions.Fortunately, there’s a way to get around this so marketers can direct followers to their most valuable content. Just utilize the link section of your Instagram account’s bio.
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