Instagram is a wonderful social channel, which lets the users snap and share photos and short videos. You can add some creative filters also to get admired by the followers. In fact, photos can be shared on other social channels too like Facebook, but Instagram has its unique share of users interested in sharing photos and videos.

If you are planning to make use of Instagram as an effective business marketing platform to build your brand, here, we will discuss some tips to help you out in becoming an Instagram business marketing expert.

Getting started with Instagram

1. Think and plan before you leap. You need to ask the following questions yourself and get satisfactorily answered.

• What is your objective of using Instagram?
• What message, style, and tone you want to portray through Instagram images you share?

2. First, become a loyal user. To become an expert, it is always ideal to that you become a regular user of Instagram first to understand how others are using it. Gain a better understanding of the platform.
3. Consider your product. What are you trying to sell or promote through social media? In fact, the concept of using Instagram for business is not to find it as a promotional platform, but to provide engaging content to the users to value your product or services. Instagram is primarily about everyday pictures taken by everyday people.
4. Derive an ideal customer profile. Business brands can establish a customer profile by monitoring the content types posted by followers. Say, for example, you may notice that the fact that most of the followers post images of shoes or handbags, etc.
5. Coordinate all other social media campaigns. You may use Instagram well in conjunction with other existing social media channels like Twitter or Facebook.
6. Plan your posts strategically. Instagram is actually a series of visuals, which you have to strategically decide as to what to post and when to post.
7. Select your username and handle it diligently. While setting up an Instagram account, you may use the same username as that of the Twitter account. So, while your gets tagged or shared on Twitter with the @username, it links to the Twitter bio automatically.

Selection of right content

8. Its best to show sneak peeks of your product before launch. Fashion brands to media houses checking out how to use Instagram for business 2019 all are trying to promote their new products with such “sneak previews” before the launch date.
9. Cuteness sells. It is a known factor that people tend to like funny quotes with cute animals featuring photographs on platforms like Instagram. You may try to create a visceral reaction with your images for better reach.
10. Brands can try and promote your culture. You may announce the new hires and try to discuss your culture through such platforms. Instagram is an ideal place to share the profile of your staff, fun at work, and promote your business as a fun place to be at.
11. Showcase the services and customers. You can see the example of how Virgin America does it well by giving their users a real taste of their brand through Instagram. They showcase all the fun things to the customers to make them feel how they are trying to make the in-flight experience of their customers more enjoyable.

Using filters

12. You need to take a very thoughtful approach to choose filters. There are many in-built options at Instagram itself, and you can use third-party photo editors too to create effects. Using the right filter over another can create a noticeable shift in the engagement. Studies show that you can increase engagement by 60% by using the right filter.
13. Consider the location. Instagram is found to be a great place to make standard scenery shots more appealing. You may do a bit of editing to intensify the color by using Hefe or other filters, which will turn an average sunset to something mind-boggling.
14. Include a sense of style. Remember, an image will not look good after using a photo filter if it doesn’t look good before applying the filter. The role of Instagram filters is to help a great photo to be artsier and attain a professional finish.

More random tips

15. Follow a definitive thee. When you represent a brand at Instagram, try to follow a particular theme which is relevant to what you are offering. It is far better to make posts as part of a collection than posting standalone photos.
16. Reflect your brand personality online. The business users of Instagram should look for ways to get the best benefits out of it. Maintain a fine balance between sharing engaging content by showing the brand personality along with giving enough information to the followers about your brand.
17. Don’t advertise. Instagram is not advertising space. It is, of course, a great platform to showcase your products and services. But, apart from that, you shouldn’t try to convert your feeds into display ads. Try to find a creative way to showcase your brand and products in terms of images which people would want to see and share.
18. Include calls to action. In fact, you need to be afraid of adding a call to action to Instagram. The users may quickly scroll the messages buried in comments, but you may effectively place your call to action as an in-image text to get it noticed.
19. Try the 80-20 rule. While putting pictures on the products or happy customers, follow the 80-20 rule. This doesn’t mean 80% share for you, but it is for others like photos of other people, things, and scenarios. Approximately 20% is allotted for you to try and promote yourself.
20. Scrutinize the feedback. You can definitely learn a lot about customer perception about your business from their feedback and comments. Keep a close eye on these, and you will know how you do in the market, and what all changes are needed.

Apart from these top twenty, you may also try to invite some guest contributors, use appropriate hashtags, take the assistance of influencers etc. to perform well on Instagram. Whatever strategy you use, ensure that you do it a balanced way in order to reach to maximum users, engage them, and convert them to loyal followers.

Author Bio

Walter Moore is a notable management consultant and digital marketing expert. He is an experienced digital marketer and has helped e-commerce businesses in all niches gain with his effective marketing strategies and guidance.