Until a few years ago, companies hesitated to launch a marketing operation on Instagram and preferred to turn to the social media giants Facebook and Twitter. But today, the question no longer arises: Instagram has become essential. The proof is that 90% of major international brands have an Instagram account, and over 10,000 followers follow 80%. In less than ten years, Instagram’s popularity has grown steadily.
Today, we are talking about more than 500 million active users per month, and statistics show that this platform represents a tremendous marketing opportunity. Indeed, one out of two Instagram users goes online to shop. Internet users interact ten times more with brands on Instagram than on Facebook’s number 1 social network. So, you understand the whole point of attracting Instagram users. Therefore, the question we address in this article is how to create your first marketing campaign on Instagram.
Set Goals
Before creating an Instagram account, ask yourself why you want to launch a marketing campaign on this platform. Is it to promote your brand, promote a new product (or service), or build your email list? By knowing your objectives, you can adopt the best marketing approach.
Determine Your Target Audience
Determining and knowing your target audience is essential to offer them relevant content. And the best way to know your future customers is to follow them on Instagram. This way, you will know what types of publications interest them. In addition, you can also use the functions suggested by Instagram to find your target customers.
Create Your Instagram Account
The idea is to create a personal brand: we talk about personal branding. The goal is to stand out by caring for your personal and professional image. To do this, download the application, choose an easy-to-remember username and an exciting profile picture, and fill out your profile with as much information as possible. As for the description, it must be clear and concise. Another tip: if you have accounts on other social networks, don’t forget to mention them.
Create A Base Of Followers
Once you have created your Instagram account, you must gather your first followers. You can ask acquaintances to follow you. And if that’s not enough, know that there are several free tips to achieve this. In particular, you can use well-known hashtags, promote your Instagram account on your other social network accounts, like and comment on other users’ photos, or even publish photos on Sundays (the number of publications being lower compared to other days). , your images will benefit from better visibility).
Make A Plan
Post Regularly
If you want to attract as many Instagram followers as possible, you have to be particularly active. It’s best to post once a day to keep your audience engaged. If you miss the call occasionally, it’s not a big deal, but avoid “going away” for several days in a row. Also, be careful not to fall into the opposite effect at the risk of tiring your audience.
And if, for some reason, you can’t post photos every day, consider setting set days (there’s nothing worse than random posts). Our advice: prefer Monday and Thursday. According to a study by CoSchedule, these are the best days to post on Instagram.
Choose The Right Time Slot.
Regarding timings, the best times of day to post content are between 8am and 9am and between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.
Choose Your Photos And Hashtags Carefully
To increase your followers’ engagement, you must post quality photos. Don’t worry; you don’t have to hire a professional photographer. You can do it without anyone’s help if you figure out the fundamentals. Additionally, you can use Instagram’s filters and creative tools to edit your photos as needed. As for hashtags, they are handy for describing your publications, but not only that.
Being visible to everyone, including users not part of your network, allows you to extend your reach by reaching all users interested in the keyword or phrase in your hashtag. And for your information, know that you can use up to 30 hashtags per post or comment. As soon as you have the opportunity, do not hesitate to identify your publications with a place or a city. Posts tagged with a location have been proven to generate 79% higher engagement than those without.
Bet On Influencer Marketing
Currently, consumers no longer trust the acceptable words of marketers and prefer to rely on the recommendations of a third party to make their purchasing decisions. Hence, the interest in collaborating with influencers or bloggers. Advantages? Here they are :
- You benefit from a new audience (theirs);
- Influencers and bloggers drive traffic to your website;
- they can become true ambassadors of your brand. Result: your sales increase thanks to their recommendations.
Now that you know what to do, consider posting relevant and entertaining content to captivate and maintain your followers’ attention.
In Conclusion
You knew that digital was not going to stagnate and that, inevitably, you would have to tame new technologies and concepts. Today is the time to tame Instagram and take advantage of this windfall. The beginnings may be tricky, but you will see that you just have to get started by following these few steps to get there and reap the rewards.
