With its 1.393 billion monthly users (Digi mind), Instagram is one of the most used social networks in the world, behind Facebook and YouTube. Since its creation in 2010 and its entry into the large Meta group (formerly Facebook) in 2012, Instagram has continued to evolve. It is no longer just a platform for sharing photos with friends. It is no longer intended to publish your most beautiful travel photos or family photos on Christmas Eve. This communication channel can turn out to be a real digital showcase for companies looking for visibility. But how to use Instagram for its brand? Why choose this social network for your business? Let’s see together the potential of this platform and the actions to be taken to grow your business.
1. Define your marketing strategy and use Instagram for your brand
70% of online shoppers use Instagram to discover products (Agora Pulse). This number is generating interest, but creating an account and randomly publishing posts on the News Feed is not enough to use Instagram as a springboard for your brand. To develop your account and create an engaged community of prospects, establishing a content marketing strategy is essential. This is when your brain kicks in. To create your strategy, you need to answer a number of questions.
- Who is your ideal target/audience? You must guide your editorial line and your content creation taking this into account. Attention! Make sure your target is on that social network by the social media verification agency. If not, Instagram won’t help you grow your brand.
- What are your goals? They will be the common thread of your content creation. They are not to be lost sight of. Your posts, your videos, your stories must be oriented towards your goals. To determine them more easily, you can also ask yourself: why did you choose this social network to communicate your offers?
- Do you have a brand image? The colors, typography, elements, tone that you will use must correlate with those used on your other media. If your brand is about to be born, you must define a brand board or get help from professionals in the sector.
- How will you interact with your audience? Are you going to show yourself in stories, organize lives?
Establishing a solid strategy allows you to put the odds on your side to propel your brand using this social network.
⇒ Here are additional tips for a successful Instagram strategy.
2. Offer relevant and informative content to your audience
Instagram lets you opt for a strategy called inbound marketing. It involves attracting customers through content creation. This social network is a vast playground thanks to its multiple types of constantly evolving content: post, carousel, story, video, reels, IGTV and live.
After defining your Instagram marketing strategy, the content creation stage takes place. Creating on this platform allows you to offer free information on your theme and your sector of activity. The interest is to retain your community, strengthen your credibility and gain visibility.
To do this, you can:
- ask questions to your audience to find out their needs and issues;
- deal with the questions of your ideal client;
- carry out case studies;
- offer a step-by-step guide to a solution for your target;
- present the processes of creation of your product or the processes of your services.
Your content should be useful, relevant, informative and entertaining. You must bring interest to your community and information with high added value.
Every item you post should provide answers to your audience. You must be a solution. To help you, you can ask yourself some questions.
- Why should your subscribers choose you and not your competitors?
- Does your content bring new and interesting information to your ideal customer?
- What will he remember from the content you offer?
⇒ 10 tips to promote your content on social networks.
3. Make your account the showcase of your brand
Instagram has not stopped evolving since its creation in 2010. However, it remains a visual social network. To increase your notoriety, your audience and your interactions, aesthetic and relevant content is essential. Users of this platform must be attracted by your visuals and your brand image. On average, they use the social network for thirty minutes a day (Statista). You must arouse interest and create desire quickly. To do this, take advantage of Instagram to showcase your business.
Show behind the scenes of your business
Internet users, and human beings in general, are very curious. Depending on your interests, you can quickly be captivated by:
- your favorite entrepreneur’s organization system;
- the stages of designing an object that makes you dream;
- or even the coaching processes that you want to offer yourself.
Going behind the scenes of your business allows you to tell a story to your community. She should feel closer to you and your universe. You will naturally attract people who share your values, your vision and your areas of interest.
Showcase your products or services
Instagram has developed a shopping feature. In this part of your account, you can display your products and services, and insert a link leading directly to your site or your e-commerce.
You can also create posts or use other formats to prove the quality and benefits of your offer. Topics that work:
- headline story crash tests;
- the detailed before/after in a post in carousel format;
- involve “beta testers” live;
- demonstration videos in real.
4. Strengthen your customer relationship by using this social network for your business
As you have understood, Instagram is a platform that puts the visual at the center of its policy. The social aspect is also the foundation of this network. Engaging with a community and growing an audience allows you to use Instagram as a springboard for your brand.
Social networks are perfect for chatting with your subscribers, responding to their comments, strengthening the bond that unites you.
Depending on the content you share, you will build a committed community around common values and shared interest. It is important to be approachable, accessible, attentive to your subscribers so that they can show a strong commitment:
- reply to all their comments;
- ask them questions;
- start discussions in private message;
- welcome newcomers.
With Instagram, you can interact with your ideal customer. This allows you to refine your offers, understand the needs and problems encountered, or even provide solutions.
There it is, the wealth of Instagram and the propellant lever for your business! No other social network allows you to be so close to your prospects and customers. It allows you to create a unique link to retain them over the long term.
5. Master the algorithms and follow the novelties
Like search engines and all social networks, algorithms are the masters of the game. With good monitoring, you can master them and use them wisely!
The official Instagram account is often used by the group’s marketing and communication team to present upcoming news. It will be very useful to you in your monitoring.
To find news from the social network, you can also subscribe to specialized accounts on the subject. Community managers and social media managers are people who are very informed about the latest trends on the platform.
Analyzing your statistics is a very important action during your monitoring, to define the relevance of your content. To do this, you can use the tools: Agora Pulse, Icon square, or even the data provided directly by Instagram.
In 2021 and 2022, the video format is very popular with the platform and Internet users. Some content is favored by algorithms. Test, try, try new types of visuals, new content. Define what works for you, your business and above all, your target.
