What is The Best Instagram Marketing Strategy To Ensure Success?

Do you want to use Instagram marketing to grow your business in 2023? Since its launch in October 2010, Instagram has grown into the leading platform for sharing photos and videos. SocialPilot recently revealed that Instagram has a total of 1.22 billion monthly active users. Plus, there’s also a large segment of influencers on the site with significant followers. And who knows, you can be one of them someday. Find out the most effective Instagram marketing strategy to grow your business.

1. Switch to an Instagram business profile.

The first step towards a winning Instagram marketing strategy is to have an Instagram Professional Account. Head to the site’s help section for an easy-to-follow tutorial on switching your personal profile to a business account. Go to your settings, click “Account,” then “Switch to Professional Account” to get started.

The benefits of having a business account are access to free business tools, including:

• View insights to help you understand who engages with your business on Instagram.
• Access the Professional Dashboard, which allows you to monitor your performance, access and discover professional tools, and explore educational information curated by Instagram.
• Option to display or hide your contact information and business category on your profile.

2. Set SMART social media goals. 

Yes, you read it right! You must set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals. Before diving into this marketing strategy, ask yourself – What do you want your Instagram account to do for your business? The most common answers are: 

• Lead generation
• Brand awareness
• Recruitment

The bottomline is that you must learn to set practical social media goals relevant to your marketing strategy. 

3. Optimize your profile

Optimizing your Instagram professional profile entails a lot of legwork. At the minimum, you may implement the following:

• Create an intriguing Instagram bio that represents your brand.
• Include a call to action to click your bio link.
• Add a high-quality profile photo, either a headshot or logo.
• Have well-designed covers and story highlights.

If you are starting, don’t worry too much about making the perfect Instagram profile. You can continuously improve it later. Remember that it is what’s inside that counts the most. That is your actual Instagram post content.

4. Promote user-generated content

The best way to grow your Instagram for free is through user-generated content. Encourage your followers to share photos or videos of your products. Not every shot will be Insta-worthy, but you can’t beat the originality of real client photos and stories. The good news is Instagram makes strategy simple with the “Tagged tab” that displays all the posts other users tag you in.

5. Spice up your graphics. 

Instagram is a visual-intensive social media. While nobody is expecting a small business to have the same resources as a big corporation, you still need to curate eye-catching posts that attract your audience and future customers.

Aside from hiring a professional photographer to take your product shots, it would help if you tried the following:

• Sourcing inclusive stock photography
• Try a Reels template to start with Instagram Reels.
• Use graphic templates to enhance your style without spending a lot. You may hire a designer to make them for you or use an app like Adobe Express.

6. Develop a brand style. 

Speaking of style, you must have a unique one. While your audience isn’t going to spend solely due to aesthetics, make an effort to create a good-looking profile. It’s because people will notice one of your posts in their Instagram feed, and they’ll know it’s from you, even before visiting the account name. They’ll recognize your style, and that’s branding in the making. 

7. However, don’t be too focused on aesthetics.

While a recognizable look helps you attract the target audience, style without substance isn’t a strategy. More than 50% of Instagram users say they like it more when brands share raw, candid content. Do not let the fear of your content not looking pretty enough intervene with your Instagram marketing strategy. Post it anyway!

8. Develop a unique brand personality. 

To succeed as an Instagram marketer, you must have a distinctive brand voice. Your voice generally comes through everything you communicate, including:

• Post captions
• How you come across on video
• Key terms you often use 
• How people speak in front of the camera when representing your company
• Your bio copy
• Text in videos or Reels 

9. Use Instagram Stories

Reels may have been introduced recently, but Instagram Stories are going nowhere. Famous for more informal content, IG Stories enable you to nurture good relationships with your audience in a unique way. It only takes a bit more work to see a significant effect. A year-long study showed that when companies shared one Story daily, it resulted in a 100% retention rate.

10. Create valuable Stories highlights.

Stories only last 24 hours. Your Stories highlights, on the other hand, can live on forever. Highlights are excellent for communicating information efficiently in the format most people prefer these days: short video. 61% of Gen Z and Millennials enjoy videos under 1 minute long. Including Stories and highlights repurposes your Story content and keeps it working (and earning). 

Try using a temporary highlight for a new product launch or event. Leave up always-relevant ones like FAQs or ordering information.

For compelling Stories highlights, ensure you have short but clear titles and relevant cover designs. More importantly, add only your best content featured in them. 

Conclusion

There are a lot more tips for successful Instagram marketing. We’ve featured the easiest and most actionable ones. So, switch to Instagram Professional Account and achieve your goals, one Instagram marketing strategy at a time.