How do i promote my business on instagram

How to Promote Your Instagram: 13 Ideas that Work

It’s time to rethink how to promote your Instagram account.

Why now? Because the platform’s rapid evolution and growth mean that what worked in the past isn’t going to score you the same sort of engagement today.

Based on recent Instagram stats, the visual space is becoming more and more crowded with brands fighting tooth and nail for more customers.

As a result, it quite literally pays for brands to have as many tactics as possible to promote Instagram to their target audience.

In this guide, we’ve broken down 13 totally actionable ways to do exactly that. From optimizing your posts and profile to rethinking your approach to content promotion, any combination of these tips are fair game when it comes to Instagram promotion.

13 Ways to promote your Instagram Page

1. Ramp up your content production

There’s no shortage of Instagram content you can publish to fill up your feed.

Customer photos. Memes. Bite-sized videos.

And that doesn’t even scratch the surface of what’s available to you.

To figure out what performs the best among your audience, you’re going to need to experiment. That means ramping up your content production and posting more frequently.

Publishing to Instagram at least once a day is within the platform’s best practices. Heck, major brands like TopShop and H&M post up to three times per day (if not more often).

As you roll out more content, it’s crucial to squeeze more engagement out of your following by understanding the best times to post on Instagram.

And speaking of which, that’s also why Instagram Stories are so valuable. Off-the-cuff content via Stories essentially allows you to “skip the line” and appear front-and-center in people’s feeds. Not only that, but you can freely post Story after Story without worrying about spamming your fans.

The takeaway here is that Instagram moves much quicker than it did a year or two ago in terms of content. Brands should ramp up if they want to keep up. To create content that your audience will love, make sure you have a comprehensive strategy in place and are using data to create more successful content. Download our Instagram marketing strategy guide to learn more.

2. Cross-promote your Instagram posts across other networks

The effort it takes to snag the perfect snapshot and craft a clever caption isn’t something that should go to waste.

Cross-posting your content to other social platforms is a no-brainer to get even more of an ROI out of your Instagram presence.

For example, you can promote your Instagram content across the likes of Facebook and Twitter to maximize your content’s reach.

Although cross-promotion is a smart move, bear in mind that each social platform has its own best practices. For example, Instagram tends to go heavier on the hashtags while you might want to craft a slightly different description for images posted to Facebook.

Sound time-consuming? It doesn’t have to be.

Sprout Social’s Asset Library enables you to store images, videos and text in a centralized location for use across multiple social networks. Quickly find, edit and publish directly from the Asset Library to deliver engaging posts that are tailored to whatever network you’re using.

And don’t forget to make your job even easier by using scheduling and publishing tools.

Ana Laura Montaño González
Community Manager

Sprout’s Optimal Send Times simplifies things further by scheduling content to post at the times most likely to generate engagement from your audience.

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3. Focus on people-centric content

Although Instagram is a place to score sales, it is still first and foremost a place to share experiences.

The popularity of selfies on Instagram speaks for itself, as does customer photos and pictures of people using products in real-world settings. Much of the appeal of Instagram is that brands are capable of advertising in a more human way without bombarding followers with messages that scream “BUY NOW!”

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A post shared by Penguin Books (@penguinbooks)

And on a related note, this is exactly why user-generated content such as customer photos are such a goldmine for brands. Not only do folks on the ‘gram love it when brands shout them out, but customer photos represent marketing firepower that proves that people dig your products.

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A post shared by Penguin Books (@penguinbooks)

But in order to spot and curate user-generated content for your feed, you’re going to need to understand how hashtags can help you promote your Instagram.

And that leads us to our next point.

4. Experiment with branded and industry hashtags

Brands both big and small should create a hashtag to encourage sharing and promotion on behalf of their followers. Doing so doesn’t have to be rocket science, either.

For example, Ernie Ball displays their #iplayslinky and #colorsofrocknroll hashtags loud and clear in their bio.

In turn, they use the tag to promote their own posts in addition to thousands of loyal fans promoting the brand organically.

See how that works?

Beyond your own hashtags, you should try to promote your Instagram using more general, community hashtags specific to your industry such as #6strings (music) or #unicornhair (beauty). Tacking on extra tags essentially makes your posts searchable by tag-followers and instantly increases your reach.

As noted in our guide detailing how to use hashtags across every social network, engagement peaks at approximately nine hashtags. Although you can certainly use less (or more), the takeaway here is that you should at the very least add something.

Don’t forget to take advantage of hashtag analytics tools. Sprout lets you track and analyze hashtag performance to find out what’s resonating with audiences and optimize usage.

And with Sprout’s Advanced Listening, you can move beyond quantitative data to find qualitative insights related to hashtags, allowing you to fully understand campaign performance and measure share of voice. Additionally, you can identify related hashtags to dive deeper into the brand-relevant conversations consumers are having on social.

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5. Tag brands, followers and locations whenever you can

Tagging is a surprisingly effective way to promote your Instagram.

And no, we’re not just talking about hashtags.

For example, you can tag other brands and accounts in hopes of a shout-out yourself. Given that notifications ping anyone who receives them, relevant tags are a subtle way to encourage promotion.

Likewise, it’s both courtesy and within Instagram’s best practices to tag anyone you might be regramming. Chances are they’ll be thrilled to be featured in your feed and will share the news with their own followers.

Don’t forget to tag locations, too! For example, if you have a physical location for your business or regularly attends events, location-specific posts allow you to explore new potential fans and followers.

6. Publish Instagram content on-site

When it comes to ads, what better billboards than your own customers?

Featuring Instagram content on-site is a brilliant way to increase conversions. Why? Because when people see purchased products in real-world settings, they know that the brand in question has satisfied customers. Consumers can better visualize and understand a product for themselves when they see it “in the wild.”

Thus the rise of lookbooks and brands featuring user-generated content on product pages. For example, Casper uses an Instagram slideshow on-site to show off their satisfied sleepers.

Of course, this all circles back to the need to promote your Instagram hashtag.

In addition to their Instagram bio, #TopShopStyle is plastered across the brand’s site and marketing emails to increase their tag’s exposure. The end result is more user-generated content and people promoting TopShop organically.

7. Carve out your creative trademark

Creativity counts on Instagram.

Having some sort of niche or theme is a great way to both inspire your Instagram content and make yourself stand out from the crowd.

For example, Yeti is known for its feed full of high-res photos of the outdoors featuring adventures enjoying their products.

Meanwhile, oVertone boasts a bold color-coded feed based on whichever shade of their product their currently promoting.

If you’re stumped as to what your creative trademark should be, don’t sweat it. There are tons of Instagram apps (such as VSCO) which can help you add some creative flair to your photos. By using consistent gradients, colors and filters, you can make your feed feel more, well, you.

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A post shared by VSCO (@vsco)

8. Work with influencers to extend your reach

As we mentioned earlier, Instagram benefits from being a platform where brands can essentially publish ads without shoving them in their followers’ faces.

Enter the rise of influencer marketing.

Simply put, influencer marketing entails a paid relationship with another Instagram account with a sizeable, engaged follower count. Influencers’ audiences should ideally mirror your own or allow you to tap into a new sect of users that you’re trying to reach.

Influencers are akin to ads in the sense that the relationship does indeed cost money. However, finding the right influencer can be an incredibly cost-effective way to both sell products and grow your following.

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A post shared by HELEN BERKUN (@helen_berkun)

Brands can spot influencers through hashtags and manual searching, or you can try Instagram analytics tools such as Tapinfluence or search an in-depth database related to your business.

Remember: when identifying influencers, just make sure they have a following that actually engages with their content. Engagement rate calculators such as this one from Phlanx can help give you peace of mind about any influencers in question.

9. Rethink how you present your products and promotions

This is a simple tip but is definitely something worth mentioning. And it relates to that other kind of Instagram promotion – the one with fun giveaways or sale items and can be incredibly valuable for your brand when done well.

So when you promote your Instagram in these instances, it’s crucial to present your content as must-see.

Instagram thrives on anything and everything “new.” Anything you can do to create a sense of hype is a major point in your favor.

For example, check out how Glossier hypes up their much-requested eye cream by surprising their followers a day before it drops.

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A post shared by Glossier (@glossier)

Uniqlo publishes hype-heavy Instagram promotions and content, including calls-to-action for followers to check out their exclusive merch.

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A post shared by UNIQLO Global (@uniqlo)

Pinup Girl also does a great job of highlighting why their products rock and allows their brand voice to shine through in the process.

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A post shared by Pinup Girl Clothing (@pinupgirlclothing)

As a rule of thumb, think “so what” before you hit “publish” for your promotions on Instagram. Doing so will ultimately encourage you to write more compelling captions.

10. Run a contest or giveaway

Here’s some food for thought: brands that run contests grow their followings 70% faster than those that don’t.

You might notice that many brands’ contest and giveaway-related posts receive insane amounts of engagement and that’s no accident. Done correctly, social media contests can result in followers and fans although they can also attract freebie-chasers. We recommend running a one-time contest promotion on Instagram to test the waters and determine whether or not contests are something you want to try for the long-term.

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A post shared by Birchbox US (@birchbox)

11. Optimize your profile for promotion

As you work through how to promote Instagram to new fans and followers, “looking the part” is essential.

This also applies to brands looking to attract more attention organically.

Let’s take a look at what makes an optimized Instagram profile. The good news is that there aren’t too many moving pieces of your profile itself to worry about.

Orlando’s East End Market is a prime example of a simple yet optimized profile. For starters, their username “eastendmkt” is short and sweet, all the while easy to find for locals searching for it.

Their bio also ticks the boxes of an optimized profile, including a clear profile picture, compelling bio, branding hashtag and trackable URL. Everything about this Instagram bio lets us know what to expect from their feed and likewise that we’re in the right place.

They also feature their email and phone number which is something to consider if you’re running a business account. East End also regularly tags other businesses and events to expand their profile’s reach. Oh, and not to mention their awesome visual content that their local followers love.

12. Take advantage of Instagram Stories and its latest features

Stories are by far Instagram’s most popular feature.

Used by over 500 million users daily, brands should take advantage of Stories as often as possible when promoting on Instagram. For many businesses, this means publishing user-generated photos and behind-the-scenes content. The beauty of Stories is that you don’t have to worry as much about your visuals being polished or “perfect.”

That said, creativity still counts when it comes to Stories. Among Instagram’s latest features, Stories are always at the center of them. For example, new interactive stickers such as the new Quiz sticker represent fresh ways that brands can engage with followers for a more unique and interactive type of Instagram promo.

Keeping up with Instagram means staying active and on top of its latest features. If you’re regularly publishing to Stories and watching what other brands are doing, you’ll always be in-the-know.

13. Consider running a paid campaign

Last but not least, don’t neglect the potential of paid promotion on Instagram.

After all, social media at large is becoming increasingly pay-to-play. As part of Facebook’s insanely in-depth ad platform, you can use Instagram’s eye-popping ad options to win over new customers.

There are plenty of Instagram success stories out there including this example from Dunkin which cleverly uses both Stories and video to grab the attention of users.

First familiarize yourself with today’s Instagram ad specs, then make sure you have the tools necessary to see how your paid efforts stack up against your organic Instagram presence.

Allison Gates
Creative Manager

Sprout’s paid tools for Instagram empower you to gain insight into the ROI of your overall strategy or compare the performance of individual campaigns to optimize appropriately. Easily highlight your top campaigns by video views, conversions, impressions, engagement and more.

And with that, we wrap up our guide!

More ways to expand your Instagram reach

Instagram offers brands plenty of routes for content discovery and connection with audiences. Make sure you’re covering the essential best practices with these guides:

Get more authentic Instagram followers with these 10 tips
9 Instagram post ideas to spice up your account
How to regram on Instagram
How to get more Instagram Likes
How to craft an impactful Instagram bio for business

So, how do you promote your Instagram?

When it comes to Instagram promotion, you have plenty of tactics to experiment with.

And hey, that’s a good thing.

Making sure that your feed stands out means understanding the platform’s best practices and evolving alongside Instagram itself. Sticking to the tips above, or developing new Instagram post ideas can help you maximize your engagement as you promote your Instagram to new followers and customers. Start a free trial of Sprout Social to test out our Instagram tools hands-on.

How to Promote Your Business on Instagram: 20 Expert Tips

Wondering how to promote on Instagram?

Look no further. I’m walking you through twenty steps to a successful Instagram strategy.

You can also watch this video if you like, where I talk about how I got my first 10,000 followers.

What We’ll Cover:

Create a business profile
Leverage hashtags
But don’t overuse them
Follow accounts relevant to your industry
Tell your brand’s story
Set a consistent posting schedule
Share Stories regularly
Use a mix of images and video
Relate to followers while staying on-brand
Share only quality posts
Find the best time to post for your brand
Promote everywhere
Trach and measure your efforts regularly

On the surface, Instagram may seem like the go-to app for sharing perfectly lit selfies, lifestyle photos, and laugh-out-loud memes.

However, since the photo and video-sharing platform launched in 2010, Instagram has become a goldmine for businesses of all shapes and sizes.

As Instagram continues to grow as a major player in the marketing world, brands across the board are taking notice. From community-building to social selling and everything in between, it’s no wonder consumers and businesses alike have adopted Instagram as one of their main revenue-generating tools.

And as a marketer, it’s more important than ever to be creative and learn how to promote your business on Instagram.

Instagram By the Numbers

As you continue to hone and refine your social media marketing strategy, one of the first steps you’ll need to take involves researching who’s already on each platform.

Just like you want to find out who is using your products and services, uncovering who’s on which network can help you make sound advertising and marketing decisions.

Are the users within your ideal target audience active participants on Instagram? If so, what type of content encourages engagement?

Social media demographics can teach you how to promote your business on Instagram and help you create marketing personas so you can better understand your audience in greater detail.

Here are some high-level Instagram statistics to keep on your radar:

Instagram has amassed over one billion active users since its founding, with over 1.3 million global active users today.
28.88% of all Internet users are on Instagram.
500 million daily active users log in at least once a day.
Over 500 million post to Instagram Stories daily.
43% of women use Instagram, while 31% of men use it.
India has the highest number of Instagram users at 230.25 million, followed by the US with 159.75 million users and Brazil with 119.45.
Over 100 million Instagram photos and videos are uploaded every day.
Today, Instagram has over two million advertisers and 200 million business profiles.
70% of shopping enthusiasts turn to Instagram for product discovery.
A third of the most viewed Instagram stories are from businesses.

Before promoting, know the stats about Instagram. Image courtesy of Sprout Social

Now that you have a grasp of just how influential Instagram is in the marketplace, we’re going to break down some of the top tips and strategies you can use to take your Instagram game to the next level and successfully grow your business online.

1. Create a Business Profile

Before you overhaul your feed entirely, you need to first convert your account into a business profile.

Doing so gives you access to a slew of handy tools, including the native analytics app, extended contact information, and click-to-buy buttons.

Plus, it gives users more information about your products or service.

With a business account, you can receive real-time metrics on how your promoted posts and Instagram stories perform within a time period. You can also gain insights into your followers and how they engage with your posts and stories.

Additionally, you even have the option to add information about your company, like business hours, location, and phone numbers.

2. Leverage Hashtag Campaigns

Hashtags have been instrumental in the social media ecosystem.

To use hashtags effectively and efficiently, you need to conduct the proper research, as it involves much more than just adding a pound sign in front of words or phrases that merely seem relevant.

It’s easy to add a hashtag to your posts, but it’s far more difficult to create one that drives new customers and boosts your brand’s awareness.

A good place to start is by analyzing your competitor’s strategy and learning about trending topics in your industry. From there, you can start brainstorming ideas after looking at the traction of existing hashtags on Instagram.

You’ll also want to enlist the aid of some hashtag-specific tools like Hashtagify to help uncover the most popular hashtags in each industry.

Use a tool like Hashtagify to get information on hashtags

While a winning hashtag varies from industry to industry, a universal rule of thumb is to keep it short and sweet, preferably three words or less. It’s tough enough to type on a tiny smartphone keyboard, and a longer hashtag is far more susceptible to misspellings.

The great thing about hashtags is that they appear across other social networks like Twitter and Facebook.

3. Don’t Overuse Hashtags

Too much of anything is too much. And that’s true for hashtags.

So don’t go overboard. Doing so can be detrimental to your hashtag strategy.

Reports show you should limit hashtags to 11 per post. Using excessive hashtags will backfire and lead to varying degrees in audience engagement.

With Instagram becoming an increasingly crowded social media platform, keep in mind that one of the best ways to cut through the noise is by artfully curating and creating branded hashtags to increase your reach.

4. Follow Accounts That Are Relevant to Your Industry

Your target audience is likely already active on Instagram–you just have to know where to find them.

One way to do that is by engaging with the very people they’re already following.

Think about the businesses in your industry that have an established presence on the platform and begin your search. Follow their accounts and interact with relevant posts by liking them or adding a comment.

These accounts may follow you back and help you define your initial audience.

5. Tell Your Brand’s Story

Because Instagram is a visual medium that boasts features such as Instagram Stories, Instagram Live, and video uploads, it provides the perfect opportunity for your business to convey a clear voice and connect with your target audience.

Start by crafting a killer Instagram bio. From there, you need to build a strategy based on telling your brand’s story.

Not sure how to do that? Look at this article for a little inspiration.

The part of your brand’s story you want to share and the format you choose to share it in is up to you. But, to stand out from the competition, the more creative you can be, the better.

Don’t be afraid to be bold and make a statement. However, your storyshould be cohesive from post to post.

Choose and theme and aesthetic that represents your brand. Source.

6. Share Posts on Instagram Consistently

Domination Media CEO Johnathan Long, notes that “you want to post often enough that your brand stays relevant,” while also advising, “you don’t want to post so frequently that you overwhelm your followers and they unfollow your account.”

One of the most frequently asked questions about Instagram is how often a brand should post new content. The Instagram algorithm is ever-changing.

Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri recommends “a couple of feeds a week, a couple Stories per day,” he said.

I recommend starting small and increasing to posting 3x/week, with an emphasis on Stories. If engagement rates stay high, and you have the time and resources, post more often, and monitor results. If engagement drops off, you’ll know it’s time to back off.

7. Use the Instagram Stories Feature Regularly

Stories began as a novelty, and have since morphed into a staple on Instagram. Now, there are a variety of ways to promote your brand via Instagram Stories.

Think of Stories as a type of secondary, select feed of content for your most dedicated followers. Unique elements such as creative captions and overlays make Stories completely different from traditional posts.

When establishing how to promote on Instagram using Stories, consider integrating static content that you may find on your camera roll with in-the-moment content.

You can also use strategies like joining forces with other Instagram accounts and taking over their stories to reach a wider audience.

For more on how to effectively use Stories in your Instagram strategy, check out this article.

8. Use Both Images and Video Content

As a marketer, you don’t want your users just to be active—you want them to be engaged.

One way to ensure that they remain loyal followers and customers is to include both video and images in your content marketing strategy.

Hootsuite’s Dara Fontein recently shared that “Instagram videos see twice the engagement rate of photos,” revealing that video content is a smart investment for brands looking to capture the attention of their audience.

As consumers become increasingly digitally savvy, Instagram users are looking for authentic posts from brands. Try to avoid posting blatant advertisements and instead work on capturing your company culture with lifestyle shots and behind-the-scenes videos.

Sharing images or videos that inspire users to tag their friends is a key element to driving engagement and building a devoted following.

9. Relate to Your Followers While Staying True to Your Brand

Having an Instagram feed that accurately reflects the image and purpose of your brand is vital.

At the same time, you always want to put yourself in the mindset of your target consumers. By this point, you’ve likely already established a few buyer personas and have a clear idea of who your audience is. But take some time to consider why they’re on Instagram and how you can improve their experience on the platform.

By showing people using, trying, and enjoying your product or service, your brand comes across as human and relatable.

10. Share Quality Content Consistently

When posting your content, your target audience and buyer personas should be top of mind.

What types of content do they want to see? What kind of posts tend to generate the most engagement? How will your brand solve a problem for them?

Granted, coming up with new concepts and finding the right visuals to accompany your content is easier said than done. But the good news is that it doesn’t have to be as time-consuming as you think.

You can easily create your own Instagram content using templates and branded hashtags. It doesn’t all have to be 100% original, either. Feel free to repost content from other brands within your niche.

If you notice something isn’t working, don’t be afraid to go back to the drawing board. Social media allows you the opportunity to experiment and figure out what works and what doesn’t.

11. Know When to Post

Unlike Instagram’s predecessor Facebook, where posts can hang around and show up days or weeks later, the Instagram algorithm favors timely posts.

This means that your Instagram posts have a finite shelf life, and knowing when to share is critical for success.

Generally speaking, the best days to post are Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. By Wednesday, people are seeking a virtual escape from their workweek, and they often turn to social media.

This may explain why the latter half of the week is the most popular time for scrolling through Instagram. During the weekend, users tend to avert their attention towards spending time with family and unwinding.

The most popular times to post on Instagram. Source: Sprout Social

12. Promote Instagram Everywhere

Instagram may be one of the newer social channels, but you need to leverage this platform in the same way you do your other social networks.

For instance, do you have social icons on your homepage or product pages that connect visitors to your social channels? If it’s not there already, an Instagram icon needs to be added as well.

When creating your Instagram account, you should first connect with Facebook to attract your friends.

Start running Instagram campaigns across your social networks and sending reminders to employees, brand ambassadors, and anyone else who’s established a positive relationship with your brand.

Encourage them to use branded hashtags, as well as other hashtags that are relevant to the marketing campaign you’re currently running.

13. Track and Measure Your Efforts Constantly

Consumer attitudes and behaviors change on the regular, which means that your Instagram followers are prone to alter their preferences.

Pay close attention to the content that yields the highest results and investigate why sudden surges in likes, comments, and shares occurred.

Metrics to keep an eye out for include engagements per follower, follower growth, comments received, reach, most engaged hashtags, and referral traffic.

14. Use Reels and Live

If businesses want to learn how to promote a business on Instagram, Instagram Reels and Live are equally important to use as they gain more exposure.

Instagram Reels enable users to create fun and engaging videos that are up to 60 seconds long. You can create videos using edited videos or photo sets and add music to them.

Reels offer a great way to incorporate video content into the Instagram experience. They give businesses the ability to be more creative and go beyond traditional Instagram posts with visually engaging content.

What separates Reels from other Instagram content is that users see Reels from every Instagram account via the Reels tab, as opposed to only Reels from accounts they follow.

In addition to Reels, consider using Instagram Live. This feature gets you in front of many people through live streaming content.

15. Appel to the Instagram Algorithm

The Instagram algorithm determines which content experiences the highest level of visibility on the platform. Instagram actually uses a combination of multiple algorithms, processes, and classifiers to help choose which content people see.

Ultimately, the algorithm helps decide which posts appear at the tops of newsfeeds and their corresponding rankings, which posts show up in the Explorers tab, and the rankings for Stories, Reels, and Live videos in people’s feeds.

In appealing to Instagram’s algorithm, there are some steps you should take.

First, it’s important to respect Instagram’s community guidelines, as the platform restricts the visibility of content that violates them. This means you should avoid posting any political or otherwise controversial content, and only upload high-resolution media.

Again, Reels are an invaluable asset if you want the algorithms to favor you. Instagram is still promoting Reels, meaning that you can maximize your visibility by making use of them.

Another way to get the algorithm to benefit you is to time your posts just right. By scheduling your posts to appear in front of the right people at the right time, you’ll make sure people see you.

These are just some ways to get Instagram to place your content above competitors.

16. Share YouTube Videos on Instagram

YouTube videos are a staple for video marketing. You can get even more from your videos by integrating them into your Instagram experience.

If you don’t have a copy of your video saved, you can start by downloading your YouTube video using a YouTube video downloader, which will enable you to download videos to your iPhone, Android or desktop.

You can then optimize your video to prepare it for Instagram by making sure it’s under 60 seconds.

To connect Instagram with your YouTube profile, you should also link to your original upload to drive traffic to it. Your Instagram videos would then function as previews that encourage more people to view your YouTube videos.

17. Run Ads

Like any other social media platform, you should run ads on Instagram.

One way to get the most from your ads is to add the text “Follow @AccountName” at the beginning of the ad’s text in a post. People will then click on your profile and follow it.

This is a great way to boost more traffic to your profile and increase your following.

18. Create Engaging Content

The content you post should always be highly engaging to connect with audiences.

You can create content that engages users in several ways, such as:

Asking questions inside of text
Using Stories
Continually engaging with audiences
Posting multiple Stories per day

These are just a few of the ways you can consistently engage audiences and keep them invested in your brand.

19. Run a Contest

Running a contest is another way to get people more involved with your brand.

By running a contest, you’ll drive engagement while further encouraging people to follow your profile.

There are many ways to use contests. For example, the steps for entering a contest may include liking your initial post, following your profile, and performing another action to enter the contest such as creating another post with a contest-exclusive hashtag.

20. Use Influencers

Influencers offer the chance for brands to expose themselves to even larger audiences.

For anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, you can get influencers to give you a shoutout on their channels.

When people see that shoutout, that influencer’s audience is likely to visit your account and follow it.

After gaining some traction with your influencer campaigns, you can stop them and allow for more organic results.

Final Thoughts

So, there you have it! Now you have 20different strategies you can start using right away to promote your Instagram account.

Keep in mind—that the main goal of Instagram is to entertain, educate, and keep users happy.

And these days, there’s no shortage of ideas you can come up with to create great experiences for your followers—which will benefit your business tremendously.

How to use Instagram to promote your business: 13 practical tips

Instagram is one of the most promising social platforms for business promotion. First, the popularity of this network is steadily growing. At the same time, Instagram users demonstrate high involvement in interaction with each other and with brands. Secondly, Instagram allows you to publish and consume visual content that is perceived by users tens of thousands of times faster than text content. Add to this the ability to use Instagram literally on the go using mobile gadgets. It turns out almost an ideal social platform for a modern person living at a frantic pace. Third, unlike traditional social media, visual content sharing platforms are successful at generating immediate conversions.

After reading this article, you will no longer doubt the effectiveness of promotion on Instagram. You will also learn how to promote projects using Instagram.

“I ate a man on promoting a business using Instagram.” Everyone can use this network

Why a business needs Instagram

You can answer this question with the help of statistics. According to the Pew Research Center, 17% of total social media users over the age of 18 check their Instagram account daily. The core audience of this social network is represented by young people aged 18 to 29years. We are talking about the generation of millennials, who often make buying decisions under the influence of social platforms. Gender-wise, Instagram is dominated by women. Instagram users are very active on this network. 57% of owners check their account at least once a day, and 35% do it several times a day.

Instagram users are engaged

Pinterest vs. Instagram: which of these platforms is better to use in online marketing

Hopes & Fears gives a simple and clear argument for using Instagram to promote your business in RuNet:

Haute Future online clothing store attracts about 80% of customers using Instagram.
Buy-by-me resale store attracts 65% of customers using Instagram.
Hand made goods store Lapatanova, represented by the founder Katya Kotova, attracts customers exclusively through Instagram.

Of course, these figures are not derived from a study with a representative sample. Rather, we are talking about examples that confirm the possibility of effectively using Instagram to promote a business in RuNet.

Free social media audit

Drawing of 3 places until 24.08. The rest of the participants of the drawing - 50% discount

Practical Tips for Using Instagram to Promote Your Business

If you sell services such as endowment life insurance, online trading or laptop repair, look for customers on Facebook and other traditional social networks. Visual social platforms, including Instagram, are more suitable for selling products. Clothing, cosmetics, DIY and handmade products, photographs, decorative items are some of the categories of products that can be promoted on Instagram.

The following practical tips will help you attract clients in practice:

1. Subscribe to Instagram for business blog updates

On the Instagram for business blog you will find recommendations on how to use this network to promote projects. You will also be able to receive notifications about new features and examples of successful use of Instagram by established brands.

In our Instagram, we publish news from the world of Internet marketing and follow the innovations in the social network.

2. Optimize your company profile on Instagram

Optimization will make your company profile visible to search engine users. In addition, the optimized profile will not let them get lost after landing. To optimize your profile, do the following:

Set your company logo as your profile photo. If you don't have a logo, use an image of one of your products.
Use the name of your company and/or words that express the essence of the business as a nickname.
Briefly describe the nature of your proposal. Users want to know what you are selling.
Include your contact information, including the website URL, in the description.

Pay attention to your privacy settings. Your photos must be available to all users.

Website promotion in search engines: 55 steps that will allow you to reach the top

3. Post photos of your products

Turn your Instagram account into a storefront. Invest in professional photography. When you photograph a homemade cake with a digital camera, it looks beautiful. When the photo is taken by a professional, the cake looks so delicious that people want to buy it.

4. Add hashtags to your photos

Hashtags help your target audience find your products. According to the marketing company TrackMaven, 4-5 tags under the photo are enough.

6. Periodically post entertaining photos

Try to give your audience a reason to smile. It's good if funny photos are related to your business. Did the customer support manager spill coffee on the keyboard? Show users that company employees try not to ignore a single request, so they cannot go to the buffet even for 5 minutes.

If your colleague spills coffee on the keyboard, you have a good Instagram story in your pocket

6. Attract followers

The effectiveness of using Instagram directly depends on the number of followers of your account. To increase the number of followers, follow these recommendations:

Connect your Instagram account to your Facebook timeline.
Tag your published photos with popular hashtags.
Subscribe to updates from other users, comment and mark your favorite photos.

Cross-posting photos to Facebook is a very effective way to get the attention of your friends on the world's largest social network who don't yet know about your Instagram account.

7. Post videos

Since mid-2013, Instagram users have been able to create and post 15-second videos. Share videos with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, include them in email newsletters. Don't forget about the ability to embed Instagram videos on your blog or website pages.

Does Instagram advertising work for bloggers?

8. Use Filters

According to TrackMaven, Mayfair, Normal and Inkwell are the most effective filters for photo processing. They most often generate user response. According to market research firm Simply Measured, brands most commonly use Lo-fi, Valencia, Rise and Amaro filters.

9. Invite the audience to participate in contests

Winning contests that offer valuable prizes effectively stimulate user activity. Use this tool to attract additional subscribers and get feedback from the audience. Offer contestants the conditions of the competition, excluding cheating. For example, announce that the best photo will be selected by a jury that includes you, your cat, and a canary. Or promise to determine the winner by drawing lots.

10. Offer your subscribers discounts and bonuses

According to the University of Massachusetts Darmouth, 64% of Facebook users follow brands to receive discounts. Instagram users will also follow your account more actively if you promise them bonuses. Don't just give away coupons. Ask the subscriber to leave a few comments, repost your photos, etc.

11. Show the kitchen of your business

Commissioning of equipment, opening of a new office, weekly meeting - use such information occasions to highlight the activities of the project. Post photos of employees at work. Customers want to know they are talking to real people, not a faceless company X.

12. Show your product's capabilities

Stimulate demand by showing your product's capabilities. Show how high foam the coffee machine makes, let customers evaluate clothes not on hangers, but on models, demonstrate the speed of the vegetable cutter, show hairstyles and makeup that you can do in your beauty salon.

13. Measure the effectiveness of business promotion on Instagram

Focus on standard social media marketing performance metrics: the number of likes, comments, shares, clicks to the company's website, leads and conversions. Use analytics services to evaluate the performance of notes with visual content.

Evaluate an effective communication channel

Try to interact with your audience through Instagram. You will be able to attract customers if you sell clothes, handmade goods, decor items, beauty and body care services. Optimize your profile, post photos of your products, tag them with hashtags, run contests, and offer discounts to your customers.

And if you don't have the opportunity to promote your business on social networks, contact TexTerra. We will provide an integrated approach, a strong detuning from competitors and a direct hit on your target audience.

How to promote a business on Instagram and where to start

Our article will help you learn how to promote a business account on Instagram* from scratch: about different methods of promotion, how to use them for business and measure effectiveness.

How to promote a business on Instagram* using gray methods

Let me tell you right away: Instagram* algorithms are struggling with gray methods of promotion - there is always a risk of blocking your account. In addition, they are essentially useless: fake subscribers and activity will not bring real benefits to the business, but even harm.

If you have a lot of followers, but they do not respond to your posts, the social network algorithms will stop suggesting your content in the feed of real followers - Instagram* will consider that your posts are not interesting. And with bursts of inflated activity, it is difficult to see true statistics. It is important in order to make timely changes to the promotion strategy and increase business efficiency.

But you need to talk about gray methods at least in order to know what it is when they are offered to you.

Mass following and mass liking . Mass following is an automatic mass subscription to Instagram users * and the issuance of likes. This is done by special services according to the settings specified by the user. The calculation is that the user will be interested in your account and subscribe in response. Such promotion is not safe for the account - Instagram* prohibits the use of third-party services, so you can easily get banned. They can be banned, for example, for exceeding the limits on likes and comments. You should not expect fantastic results from mass liking and mass following - it is better to use them in combination with other methods, if you still decide that you need it.

Examples of services: Instaplus.pro, SocialKit, SMM Code.

Ruble offers . A quick alternative to mass following is buying offers. You place an ad on the exchange about the purchase of real users, set the cost and wait for the result. The price per subscriber is on average 1-2 rubles, but the minus of the method is that new subscribers are not the target audience. Yes, the figure of 10,000 subscribers will flaunt in the profile header, but these people do not need your products and services. They will not be interested in brand news, like posts, and even more so buy, which means they will promote the brand page. This will not increase activity in the account, and real users will doubt whether it is worth trusting a brand with inflated followers.

Examples of exchanges : LikeMe, Bosslike, VkTarget.

Comment spam . Spam - automatic distribution of comments according to the specified settings: hashtags, geotags or a collected list of target users. Users are skeptical about spam, but in this way you can send news about discounts in your account or praise readers' photos on your own and for free. The task is to draw the attention of the user so that he looks at your profile and stays with you.

How to start promoting a business on Instagram* Examples of spam that does not bother the user

How to promote a business on Instagram* using white methods

Targeted advertising on Instagram* . Targeted ads can only be run by business account holders. You can connect a business profile via Facebook*, and if you haven't done it yet, we recommend that you fix this shortcoming - then you will be able to view account statistics and run ads via Instagram* or Facebook*. Statistics show the number of impressions, reach, and other indicators of publications on the page. There is also useful information about subscribers: gender, age, geography.

Targeted advertising allows you to show advertising posts in the Instagram feed* and in Stories. You can choose the parameters of the audience to which the advertisement will be shown: gender, age, interests, location. For step-by-step instructions for self-targeting from scratch, read our article "How to run official advertising on Instagram *". Targeted advertising is not free, but it is much safer to promote a brand page on a social network.

Benefits of targeted advertising:

Quick setup , if you understand this, of course. Click the button under the publication, specify the target parameters and launch. You can set up targeting yourself, but it will take longer than if you entrust the matter to specialists.
You control the coverage of advertising and its cost. The higher the percentage of the audience to which the ad is shown, the higher the cost.
Detailed statistics . Analyzing the received data will help you understand the results of the campaign and launch the next one with more precise settings.
Choose the audience yourself . You can segment your audience by gender, age, location, interests, even behavior.

Advertising account on Facebook*

Seeding advertising from bloggers . Together with other promotion methods, you can use opinion leaders and buy ads from them. Many people trust the opinions of those they follow on Instagram*, and these ads often look like honest reviews. Bloggers can be searched for through recommendations, manually through Instagram search*, and on special exchanges like Epicstars and Getblogger. A convenient tool for finding influencers is the Livedune service. It searches for bloggers according to given characteristics and analyzes their social networks.

Step-by-step action plan when choosing a blogger:

Select accounts with similar topics.
View his account statistics (via Livedune or Epicdetect) or request screenshots with reach and impressions from the blogger. Caution, beware of screenshots where the numbers are drawn in Photoshop.
Examine the ratio of actions and subscribers. The optimal ratio is 10-15% of likes from the number of subscribers.
Look at the relevance of comments. A bunch of emoticons and the same type of comments? Most likely, the comments are bought or cheated through activity chats, where a company of novice bloggers exchange activities in each other's accounts.

Gamification . The gamification method helps to bring new subscribers - draws, contests, marathons and other activities.

Give away a valuable prize among subscribers for their subscription or repost mentioning your account.
Think of an educational or gaming marathon - a community of subscribers united by the goal of learning something or coping with a problem. You can teach users to write stories, take care of their health, apply makeup, or grant their wishes. Become a marathon organizer yourself or join other organizers as a sponsor. They will tell the participants of the marathon about you, and you will present valuable prizes.

Sample marathons

Subscriber only promotions . Subscriber-only promotion for a limited time, attracting new users and increasing the engagement of existing ones. An exclusive sale using urgency and FOMO marketing tactics. FOMO (Fear Of Mussing Out) - the fear of missing out. It's a psychological trigger, a missed opportunity syndrome that many consumers can't quite resist.

Launch a countdown sticker in your stories - it will hurry up those who are a little hesitant about signing up to participate. More:

Show that the product is popular . A growing number of people who have already bought a product will show a potential client that the product is actively sold, which means that it will be useful to him.
Show how much product is left in stock . Or places in a marathon, or prizes for a subscription. Scarcity is another incentive to subscribe to a closed profile or purchase a product that may soon disappear.
Highlight opportunities that may be missed . Focus on the possibility of missing out on a great offer.

If the target audience for the promotion is chosen correctly and the campaign runs smoothly, such a sale can significantly increase the number of your subscribers.

Mutual PR. How to promote a business on Instagram* for free? For example.

Selling cool coffee makers? Find a brand that offers coffee. Agree on mutual posts, promotions or live broadcasts. This can bring a new audience to both you and your partner.

Of course, you shouldn't interact with direct competitors in this way - attract businesses from an adjacent niche to cooperation.

Hashtags . Don't forget about them - this is a good way to show your content on Instagram * for user requests in search.

A few tips:

Create your own hashtag. Share your branded unique hashtag with your community. When people use your product or enter a contest, they tag their posts with your hashtag. Such posts are seen by friends of the participants and, perhaps, the content can encourage them to join.

Follow the current hashtags . Hashtags don't have to be brand related. There are holidays, high-profile events, popular TV shows. Don't spam with irrelevant hashtags, but if you have a suitable image, use relevant hashtags.

Think of things people like to make or buy . Whenever possible, use popular hashtags on Instagram*, such as #food, #shoes, #cats. But keep in mind that content with popular hashtags does not remain in the top for long.

Make your account public if you rely on hashtags. Private accounts have their advantages, but privacy limits the effectiveness of hashtags. If you have a closed account with 50 followers, only those 50 people will see your posts. If the account is public, hundreds and thousands of people will be able to find the post.

How to measure the effectiveness of promotion

The effectiveness of any activity must be measured. Think in advance how you will track the effectiveness of advertising channels and provide conditions for this:

If an ad leads a user to a website or lead collection form, test the form on all possible devices and browsers.
Are you collecting applications in direct? Be prepared to process incoming requests promptly.
Bought an ad from a blogger? Track comments after the post is published and answer questions from the audience.

Performance indicators . They are thought out in advance, depending on the initial goals and objectives of the advertising campaign. If you want to increase audience reach, the number of subscribers and improve audience engagement, then consider the following indicators:

Audience coverage.
Number of subscribers, number of unsubscribes.
Audience growth rate: number of subscriptions / number of unsubscribes * 100%.
The level of attractiveness of the post or account as a whole: likes / followers * 100%.
Engagement rate: number of actions of followers / number of followers * 100%.

If it is important to evaluate traffic and conversions, arm yourself with the following metrics:

Website traffic from social networks, if you have web analytics systems configured.
CTR (click through rate): Divide the number of clicks on the link by the number of impressions of the post and multiply by 100. site transitions.
Number of leads and CPL (price per lead): Divide the amount of advertising costs by the number of leads from the channel.

How to draw the right conclusions from the received figures, read the article "How to evaluate the effectiveness of advertising on Instagram*: metrics and tools".

To summarize

It is impossible to say unequivocally which method of promotion is better. It all depends on the business area, goals and promotion, and the current situation: the quality of the product, the relevance and quality of the content, the budget for promotion.

Do not forget about the content plan and regular posting. People who subscribe to a brand page expect regular, interesting content. Use tools that make your job easier, like SMMplanner, an automatic posting service.