Top Instagram Marketing Strategies For Businesses In 2021 (And Beyond)
Though Instagram has been around for some time now, it still reigns supreme as the number 1 social platform audience for customer cultivation. In terms of time needed to build a large following on Instagram, it’s a high cost. But there are actionable ways to get to a point where your Instagram can generate leads and ultimately revenue. It will require your utmost attention and dedication.
Why You Need An Instagram Marketing Strategy
You might think that Instagram is too mature and is far too saturated for you to grow your business in 2021, but there are several reasons as to why developing a marketing strategy for this platform remains of the utmost importance. Over 1 billion people use Instagram every month, making it the second-ranked social network in terms of active users behind Facebook. Being one of the big 3 social networks, Instagram has a lot of financial weight to improve the stat it cares about most: time spent on the app. What this also means is that Instagram will consistently push out new features that encourage users to spend more time in-app and they will reward users who can maintain the highest engagement time.
Ask Yourself This Question First: Who Am I Trying To Help?
Before you dive into Instagram, you have to ask yourself what type of content you’re going to create that will offer value to people. We often hear value being thrown around from content creators but what does it really mean? It means giving someone an opportunity to learn something new, particularly around a subject they have a passion for. Value is providing actionable steps towards achieving a goal, giving them the spark they need to move forward. That’s where you find your niche. Take a step back, assess your expertise, and deliver on content that you already know best. There are people out there that need to know what you know.
Focus On One Subject
It’s tempting to latch onto viral content in different categories, but you should remember that you can make your core content fit the virality. The reality: it’s much more efficient to focus on the one subject you have an expertise in (or are building an expertise on). If you’re all over the place with your content, it’ll be less likely that the person who followed your account in the first place will engage with content he/she’s not interested in.
Prioritize New Instagram Features
Instagram’s main goal is to increase user time on their app. Newer features like Instagram Reels, Instagram Guides, and Carousels support this effort as they go head to head with their competitors. As an Instagram marketer, it’s important to capitalize on new features as quickly as possible. Instagram will reward early adopters with early access to new features in the future, boosting your engagement in the process. Newer features will also take care of some of the creative process for you; they are equipped with tools to help create variety in the way you present your content.
Understand What Matters Most to Instagram
As much as you might want to go against the grain, content will still always be dictated by the algorithm. That doesn’t mean the algorithm is designed to thwart your success; it’s actually there to encourage good and engaging content. It rewards those who can capture engagements. Currently, Instagram prioritizes the following engagements from least to most important: Likes (it takes little time to like a post), Comments (users spend a little more time on your post doing so), Saves (this tells Instagram that your post is important), and Shares (the ultimate indicator for Instagram that this piece of content is a winner).
The Key To Developing Good Content
As a business on Instagram, you have the opportunity to offer far more than just a pretty picture of yourself. You have critical information and inspiration that can help others with their passions. Carousels are an effective way to pack in content with context. They allow you to hook your audience to an idea and then expand on it with supporting information. With Carousels, you can populate up to 10 slides; it is best to use all 10 if you can. If you create an engaging piece of content, your audience will swipe to view all 10 which is a strong indicator to Instagram that this piece of content rocks. To create engaging content that not only fits Carousels but all kinds of content veritcals, apply the AIDA structure:
A: Attention — why should your audience care, focus on them not you
I: Interest — capture, give your audience more
D: Desire — give your audience the details, educate or entertain
A: Action — call to actions
A tried and true way to instantly grab your audience’s attention is through the RTO method:
R: Result
T: Time
O: Objection
If you were to create a piece of content with text using the RTO method, it would look something like this:
“Learn how to speak Chinese in less than 2 weeks, even if you don’t know how to speak a foreign language.”
Boom, you’ve got your audience’s attention. But now it’s up to you to meet their high expectations. Apply this strategy to any piece of content you make, whether it be a Reel or Carousel.
Maintain Consistent Daily Tactics
Once you nail down the content you’re going to create, the next step is to apply consistency to posting and community engagement. Work on posting manually 2-5 times a day from 7am-2pm. Dedicate 1-2 hours per day responding to every comment and DM that comes through. You want to reward your audience for paying attention to you. These are the people you want to pay attention to the most because they offer the highest chance of conversion to paying customers.
Next, hashtags should be used passively and should include a healthy mix of low, medium and high hashtag counts. In the low to medium range, your goal should be to be in the top 9 in hashtag search. Appearing in the top 9 posts will immediately boost your organic reach because these posts are the first to be seen by people searching any hashtag.
Finally, dedicate an hour everyday to the explore feature and find accounts most related to your niche. Comment 10 times a day on posts from these accounts and really focus on offering a substantive opinion. You might get a reply from the account you’re commenting on, but the most important reward is the account’s audience. Because this audience is within your niche, they very well could see value in your opinion and ultimately visit your profile.
Offer Guest Posts to Micro-Influencers
Once you have a solid foundation of SEO content built out, you should take some time out of your busy schedule to design or write a piece of content for an account with a large following in your industry space. Spend some time on this one and make it super valuable. If they like it, they will post it on their feed for free. The key here is to already have a valuable content stream that followers from this large account would be compelled to follow.
Use IG Stories To Communicate With Your Audience
Instagram stories are a gold mine for engagement because it offers you several unproduced ways to connect with your audience at a deeper level than your posts do. Think of it this way: while your feed is where your best content lives, your stories are where you get to show some of the process towards creating that content. Your consumers crave a brand that shares transparency and personality. Also, think of stories as a 24/7 focus group space. You can easily gather information on what type of content your audience prefers and also get them to help you decide what to make! Use the poll and ask question features if you’re stumped on what to offer next.
Looking To Hire An Instagram Marketing Agency?
At Socialty Pro, we’re a different type of content marketing agency. Our mission is to take the tedious task of Instagram marketing and content marketing for you and turn it into an essential and fun asset that works for you 24/7! Our certified team of experts have years of experience with Instagram marketing and has taken businesses from zero to generating leads daily. We’re a team that is truly passionate about Instagram and digital marketing that knows exactly how to get you results. Contact us today for a free consultation to discuss how you can grow your business online.
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