Instagram marketing can be really powerful and produce high returns if you do it in the way you should. If you are new to it, then you should start from the basics. This will help you to create a better Instagram marketing strategy that will make your brand stand out from the Instagram crowd.
Since its launch, Instagram has only grown in popularity, and today it has become one of the most popular and ultimate platforms for sharing photos and videos, both for individuals as well as businesses. The good things about this platform are that:

  • It has more than a billion users currently
  • Nearly one-third of the businesses have an Instagram account to showcase their product
  • A significant part of the users are the youngsters
  • Most of the people follow at least one company or brand on this platform to look for more info and new launches
  • More than 100 million photos are posted on this platform every day which results in nearly two billion likes and most importantly
  • Most of the influencers, both macro and micro-influencers, are found on this platform

Therefore, it has all the ingredients which, when used correctly, can make your brand an influential one as well. Therefore, if you have not, switch to an Instagram business profile right now.

The look matters when Instagram marketing

Since Instagram is a video and picture-sharing platform, the look is very important. Decide on a perfect look and maintain it all through. This will not only enable you to keep the Instagram aesthetics but will also help you to maintain the visual consistency of your brand in your posts. This will, in turn, ensure that people will instantly recognize your brand without even looking at the logo or your company name.
Creating the perfect look will involve creating images that will have:

  • Proper colour scheme
  • A distinct style and
  • A story to tell

This will make your content stand out from the crowd and find the users you want to engage with. Follow a minimalist design highlighting more on your product when you create the image.  Also, use captions in your image. However, when you write these captions, make sure that they resonate with:

This will help your brand and the image to stay on top of the minds of your audience. It will also encourage them to relate to your product, urging them to get engaged with you. The relatable captions will give your posts some useful context, which will enable the followers to understand the voice of your brand.

Use sponsored ads

More and more companies are using ads for Instagram marketing. According to a recent report, there are more than two million monthly advertisers on Instagram. The reports also reveal some more exciting facts, such as:

  •  More than 200 million users visit their Instagram profiles every day
  • 50% of the users visit the Explore page monthly
  • 7 out of 10 hashtags used on Instagram are branded
  • The posts with a location generate 79% more engagement
  • More than 60% of users reported having found a new product on Instagram and
  • 70% of frequent shoppers visit this platform to try a new product

All these go on to show the popularity and effectiveness of Instagram as a powerful marketing tool and is certainly not going anywhere, sooner or later. Therefore, as a business owner, you must not ignore leveraging this to reach out to the target audience more efficiently and in a more cost-efficient way.
There are also a few other good reasons to leverage Instagram ads. These are:

  • You can use Facebook ads to target your Instagram audience in a much better way since these two are connected
  • You can manage everything from creating Instagram ads to budgeting with the help of the Facebook ad manager
  • Also, you will get a much higher conversion rate at a much lower cost because these ads are non-intrusive and more engaging
  • You can use your creative skill and imagination to the fullest while creating images and videos both for promoting your product and brand and
  • You can even conduct A/B split tests on the Instagram ads using the Facebook ad editor, which will increase the chances of getting a higher return on your investment.

Most importantly, these ads are very hard to miss because they will occupy the entire screen of the mobile device.

Use Instagram Stories

Instagram Stories will be very helpful when you use them just like a professional marketer like Blastup. This will generate more responses even though these are live for only 24 hours. Instagram Stories can be saved and reused later. The Instagram Stories feature is very similar to Snapchat Stories, but it does not appear in the story feed. Instead, it sounds like a small area just above it. When the viewer clicks on the photo at the top, they will see a space pop up where they can see your Story. The advantages of using Instagram Stories are many, which is why more and more brands are using these. To create a story, you can use and experiment with different elements, such as:

  • Photos
  • Live video
  • Short-lived video
  • Rewind video or
  • Boomerangs

Just make sure that the content of your Story aligns with the aesthetic of the Instagram page and relates to your brand.

Post reviews and customer testimonials

You will be better off when you post customer testimonials and reviews along with pictures of your product and brand influencers. This will create a different level of trust in your followers when they see that people with whom they can relate are speaking about your brand. The best part of posting customer reviews and testimonials is that you will have enough good content in your stock without having to work too hard to create them.
All these actionable steps will ensure that you get more UK followers, higher returns, more traffic, higher conversion, and more sales. This means that all your marketing purposes are solved.