Instagram Marketing.
Instagram is growing in popularity by the day, and with Instagram Marketing, this platform is becoming the primary social media platform used for selling a product. The platform is great for all industries. it allows a company to develop a strong customer base, relationships with customers, and so much more.
The Advantages of Instagram
Over 95 million photos and videos are uploaded to Instagram every day. Most of these are posted by casual users and influencers. However, social media has become a more popular way for consumers to get information and even influences what companies they choose to take their business to.
Because of this, companies are developing a more consistent social media presence, contributing to the millions of posts that circulate on Instagram daily. All of these photos and videos make up an Instagram user’s “Feed” and “Explore” page, and provide entertainment and social interaction for users.
This daily content, when coming from businesses, helps generate interest and attention from potential customers. The platform is great for visual storytelling and can provide customers with insights into the behind-the-scenes of a company, and shape the company’s brand image.
Instagram is also useful in advertising products and services. All of these advantages allow Instagram to be ideal for strengthening the relationship with customers by presenting the company authentically and in a way that resonates with the user.
Instagram’s audience
Advertising on Instagram
- Image ads
- Stories ads
- Video ads
- Carousel ads
- Collection ads
- Explore ads
- IGTV ads
- Shopping ads
- Reels ads
Making the Most of Your Instagram
While advertisements do provide a company with the ability to specifically target the customers they are trying to reach, having a well-established profile for your business is critical. This allows customers to have a place of reference for when they want to re-find your business, are trying to learn more, want to direct message you, and more.
This can be done through some key steps, each of which will be addressed when you decide to work with SDC. Through Instagram Marketing, we can help you focus on bringing in additional revenue, elevate your social media presence and brand awareness.
Defining Your Instagram Marketing Strategy.
Before setting up your account, there are some things to consider that will help dictate your overall presence and Instagram marketing strategy. First, you should set your goals for Instagram.
These goals should be aligned with your business goals and be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely). An example goal would be to increase brand awareness.
You will also need to determine posting frequency, posting times, content topics, and hashtags for your account. It is also important to develop special Instagram guidelines such as branding and how your account will respond to both positive and negative comments.
Rely on visual content
Due to the strong focus on visual content within the platform, you can use Instagram particularly well to visually showcase your company or brand.
All content should be self-explanatory and understandable without text. You should also determine which content your photos and videos will focus on, reflecting on the strategy you came up with earlier.
Your content can range from showcasing a product, presenting the company and company culture, and anything else that provides the audience with added value. Your overall Instagram profile’s design and content played should be working to achieve the defined SMART goals dictated earlier.
Post regularly
As with all social media platforms, you should post regularly, but not so much that you flood your followers’ Feeds and make them feel spammed. The typical rule is posting an average of 2-3 posts and 2-3 stories per week.
The posting time is determined by your target audience and is important to note in your overall Instagram Marketing Strategy. Studies show that postings that are posted during the week rather than the weekday have more interactions.
However, an individual test of the posting frequency and the time of publication is essential. To get a good overview of the postings, we recommend setting up an editorial calendar, something that our team at SDC can handle for you.
Hashtags
Hashtags are incredibly useful on Instagram. Instagram users often search for content using the search function and the results will correspond to hashtags used on specific photos.
For instance, if you were to post a picture of your product but did not use a hashtag to label it, the post would not pull up in a search of that product. Therefore, use hashtags for each post that are relevant to your company and the topic of the post.
It helps to use both highly popular and more niche hashtags. This is because hashtags with high popularity are typically what is being searched for or what is used to populate Explore pages. More niche, or less popular, hashtags are helpful as they provide an easy way for a customer to refind one of your posts and can reach your target group specifically.
Consistency for Branding on Instagram
Whether it’s imagery or text, consistency is important on Instagram too. One of the goals of your Instagram marketing strategy should be to create high recognition value. This is so that users associate posts directly with your brand.
For images, this can be achieved through uniform color schemes, or through the way the product is placed on the images themselves. The tone and voice of all text should also be consistent across all posts. This consistency also applies to the profile picture. A consistent image across all social media channels is crucial for customers to easily recognize the company across different social platforms.
Photo Specifics
Instagram was built on square images and photos, and while the platform does allow non-square Instagram posts now, there are still certain image size restrictions and recommendations for the platform.
The original platform only allowed for pictures that were 1:1, but now can support pictures that are 16:9 to 4:5! However, it is still recommended that pictures are a 1.91:1 ratio, max.
No matter which size, we do recommend uploading all pictures with maximum resolution as the social media platform will compress the image. Uploading with full resolution will make sure that the picture quality is still good.
For images with the best possible resolution, an image size of 1080px x 1080px is recommended. When choosing your images, you should also keep in mind that Instagram is a mobile-first platform. The selected image material should therefore also come into its own on a small screen. For this reason, images and videos must always be of high quality and high resolution.
It is also important to remember that vertical pictures will take up more space on your audience’s Feed, but will look cropped into a square on your personal page at first glance. Horizontal pictures will also be cropped on a personal page, when in grid view, but they do not take up more room on someone’s Instagram Feed.
Instagram Carousel Posts
Instagram also allows you to upload multiple photos and videos into one post. These can be any dimension, however, once you select the first photo or video, the rest will be cropped to a matching ratio. For example, if the first photo you pick is horizontal at 16:9 all of the following photos or videos will be cropped to 16:9.
Instagram Stories
Instagram Reels
Reels allows you to create short fun videos on Instagram. You can record and edit multi-clip videos within the app and adjust the audio, add effects, and more. Reels can be shared to your followers’ Feeds and can also be promoted to a larger audience through a space in the Explore Page. Having Reels in Explore provides the perfect stage to reach new audiences on a global stage.
Measure Success
To be able to draw meaning from posts that have been published and to keep an eye on the development of your Instagram profile, you should continuously analyze the performance of your posts. The “Statistics” or “Insights” tabs allow this when the profile is set as a business profile. Important key figures, such as reach and number of subscribers, are listed here.
Why Southern Digital Consulting for Your Instagram Needs?
At Southern Digital Consulting, we understand the importance of social media and know that Instagram is an ever-growing platform that can improve your brand presence and expand your business. We also know that it can be draining to maintain a strong social media presence while managing a business, so let us take something off of your plate with our social media services.
We are committed to growing your company and know that all businesses are different in their needs. We will cater to all the unique qualities of your business including (but not limited to) size, industry, budget, etc.
Contact Us Today!
Let us help you grow your business and reduce your stress by building your business a social media platform made for YOUR GOALS.
