In this day and age, your business needs to be on Instagram, if it isn’t, what’s your excuse? If you have a store, sell any type of physical product or want people to identify your brand, it’s time to open an account.

Social media is popular and widespread and something that you shouldn’t ignore. Every second of the day, your buyers will have your brand in their hands, via their phones, everywhere they go.

Social media has become so pervasive and a part of our lives. When it comes to businesses, there is no question – it’s vital.

If you are a business who needs Instagram, you also need an Instagram marketing strategy and a good one.

Here are strategies to make use of that will help you stand out and crush your competition:

1. Hashtags should rank high in your plan

Other than the image, your post’s next most key element is hashtags. Captions help weave a beautiful story behind your image; hashtags help people from outside your current sphere to see your caption and picture.

In other words, hashtags help categorize and organize content so that it can be easily found. Tagging an image makes it easy for others to find.

When users are looking for industry-related hashtags, you want your posts to show up. If not, well your competitors’ posts will, helping them grow their followers and increasing their influence. You don’t want that do you?

Tip: Ensure you include popular hashtags which people tend to search for such as #vacation #love #tbt etc. Or, you can use highly-relevant hashtags which are less popular. This will help drive a fewer number but a targeted audience to your post.

Regardless of the strategy you choose, ensure you make use of at least one hashtag in every post. Don’t worry, according to research you can use up to 11 hashtags.

Did you know that as of 2017, #love was the most used hashtag?

In hashtags, you have two kinds:

• • General hashtags
  • Branded hashtags

1. General Hashtags

Anyone can use this type of hashtag which is based on the image’s context such as #foodie #sunset or #shopping. These tags are so broad that using them to get noticed will be hard. How about you find niche hashtags instead? This will help in attracting the right audience to your post. A quick search on Google will help you find niche hashtags. Soldsie and Postplanner both have good lists.

You could also peek into your competitors’ page and see what hashtags they are using to appeal to their followers.

2. Branded hashtags

Branded hashtags are specific tags which apply only to your brand. It could be the name of your brand, product’s name, person’s name or something related to a campaign you created.
For brands that are launching an Instagram campaign, branded hashtags are essential. These hashtags are applicable to contests, new product launches, influencer shoutouts, etc.

Since these hashtags speak solely about your brand, they’re easy to track and remains one of the top Instagram Marketing Strategies to follow.

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2. Know when to post on Instagram

According to a recent poll, the best time to post on Instagram is from 7 pm until 9 pm. It seems like that’s when they are really engaged.

If it seems too straightforward, it is. There is no one size fits all when it comes to posting. You need to do your research and find out when your followers are engaged. Post content at that time so that you can capture the full attention of your target audience.

A social listening tool will come in handy. This tool monitors Instagram engagement by tracking your posts and analyzing which one performed the best depending on time and date.

For a simpler approach,

• • Aim for non-working hours (lunch break and after working hours)
  • If you are a B2C company, target weekends. Weekdays work better for B2B companies

Ultimately, with a little research, you will figure out what works best for you.

Keep in mind that the frequency of the posts is up to you, however, keep it maintainable. Say you have content for 10 posts, instead of posting all your content in the first 12 days of the month and leaving your profile high and dry for the remainder of the month, space your posts out and post every three days.

When it comes to posting frequency, without hesitation, push the envelope. Initially start with once a day and gradually increase the frequency. If you hit a point where your engagement rates begin to drop, scale back slightly until you arrive at the optimal level. Timing is one of the most important and top Instagram Marketing Strategies.

3. Content scheduling for Instagram

Unlike previously, Instagram’s feed no longer uses the chronological method. Instead, engagement is rewarded. A user’s feed is based on content from accounts they often interact with.

Once you have your content strategy fleshed out, you need to fix a content schedule. Consistently posting surges the visibility of your posts, giving your followers more opportunities for engagement. Plus, you will continually have fresh content which helps lure new people to follow you.

Apps such as Later give content creator’s some room to breathe by helping with scheduling your posts in advance. Last minute photos or editing is out of the question. You can plan your content plan for a particular day in advance.

Tip: For those small businesses it’s incredibly arduous to remain active on Instagram. For those who do not have a dedicated social media manager, this can prove useful.

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4. Boost visibility with Instagram Stories

Of late, Instagram Stories has gained a lot of traction. This interactive feature allows you to share photos and videos with your followers which will disappear after 24 hours. It’s basically in-the-moment content. It’s location on the top of your feed catches the attention of the user, boost visibility and generates higher levels of engagement than regular posts.

With stories you can insert hashtags over the photo, create polls which your followers can interact with, add emojis and pre-made stickers and draw on your photos. These features come together and allow you to unleash your creativity in a manner which is not possible with regular photos.

Users cannot comment on Instagram Stories. Stories invite users to direct message, which is an excellent way for brands to develop personal relationships with its customers.

As a business, you needn’t just stick to capturing and sharing what’s happening at that moment.

Here’s some inspiration:

Take all this into account and start creating eye-catching Instagram Stories.

5. Post a variety of engaging photos and videos

Not just Instagram, but this is the case with all other social media platforms. As a content creator, you can get hung up on posting the same content repeatedly. Of course, your repertoire can certainly contain a bunch of selfies and product shots, but as a suggestion we recommend that you continually change your strategy. You can monitor the formats which get higher levels of engagement and use that often.

Here are a few ideas you can include:

• • Behind-the-scenes photos of your employees or workspace
  • User-submitted photos
  • Images with quotes
  • Sneak peeks of new products
  • Tutorials or demos
  • Themed images and videos

While all these sound interesting, it’s also important to consider the strategies that will get likes, comments and engagement; and also remains top Instagram Marketing Strategies to grow your audiences. This is one of the top Instagram Marketing Strategies To Decimate Your Competitors.

6. Growing your followers is an art and a science – learn how to do it

Your efforts on Instagram will be fruitless if you do not have a solid base of followers. Fortunately, the little birdie says that increasing your followers is rather simple – long-lasting engagement is the key to gaining followers. In other words, as long as you carry on posting relevant and engaging imagines, the number of followers will organically grow. Here are a few strategies that will speed up the process:

• • Without a second thought, quality beats quantity. There is no use of posting thousands of pointless images or random shots. Your account should only include the best ones.
  • A relevant caption goes a long way. Especially asking a question in your captions is known to drive engagement.
  • Consistently post. Know who your target audience and the purpose of posting.
  • Engage with both your photos and other photos. As people see you regularly interacting, they are expected to follow you.
  • Promote your Instagram account. Whether it’s in an emailer, brochure, marketing material or to other followers, get your brand out there.

7. Know the purpose of your marketing strategy for Instagram

An Instagram marketing strategy will work for your business only if the objectives are clear-cut. Your first step should be to determine your core purpose if you want to get the most out Instagram.

8. What are you using Instagram for?

Focus on an explicit goal that you want to accomplish with Instagram’s help. Without clarity, your marketing strategy will lead to a dead end. Whether you are a new brand or a long-standing one, this rule applies to everyone.
So ask yourself these questions before jumping the gun and achieving no results.

• • As compared to other social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, how will Instagram impact your overall marketing plan?
  • Instagram is all about visual content, so, does visual content go well with your brand’s image or is it vital to your online marketing efforts?
  • Who is your target audience and are they active on Instagram?
  • A majority of Instagram’s users are millennial. Does your business cater to them?
  • With Instagram do you want to generate more sales or increase brand awareness or both?

There is a great deal of motives for businesses to use Instagram. At the end of the day, the fundamental agenda remains unchanged: connect with their audience with the help of visual content.

You can post product photos or user-generated content, eventually, it’s about aligning your brand with visual content which will appeal to your audience.

A modern online clothing store, Spell & the Gypsy, gained popularity after using Instagram to connect with their targeted audience. Their well-defined Instagram profile features plenty of feminine clothing which touches the right chord with their followers. Ultimately, this results in sales.

People use Instagram to capture what’s happening in the moment and instantly share it with their audience. As a brand, you need to understand this; focus on and create visuals which are spontaneous and natural. This way you will form a real connection with your followers.

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9. Analyze your success and build on it

For being successful on social media, you need to take a step back and analyze what you

worked on and if it worked or didn’t. Marketing isn’t a guessing game. Truth be told, you can read multiple articles on posting frequency or the best practices, but only once you start, you’ll know what works for you and what doesn’t.

With the help of social media tools, you can schedule posts, measure their success, check engagement and clicks and also refine your strategy. This is one of the top Instagram Marketing Strategies To Decimate Your Competitors.

Final thoughts

Don’t hesitate to try new things or think outside the box. Social media’s news-feed algorithm nearly changes every hour. So following what worked for you last week, may not perform so well this week.

Hence, continue experimenting with new ideas. If they do well, that’s great, else try something new.

There are some things that are unavoidable like top-quality images, on-brand content, friendly and engaging posts, user-generated content and trending topics.

Keep everything you read in mind, and your brand will be ready to shine.

Image credit- Canva