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How do you get promotions on instagram


How do Instagram Promotions Work? (Explanation + Steps to Create Yours)

How do Instagram promotions work? And why would you use them instead of ads? Good questions. 

In this article, we’ll explore answers to these and other equally important topics related to Instagram promotions. We’ll also show you how to create your very own promotion. 

How do Instagram Promotions Work? (+ Steps to Create Yours):

  • Monetising Instagram
  • How do Instagram Promotions Work?
  • What do Promotions Look Like?
  • Where do Promotions Appear?
  • Why Your Promotions Have a Good Chance of Success
  • Are Instagram Promoted Posts, Stories and Highlights More Expensive or Cheaper Than Ads?
  • How to Create an Instagram Promotion
  • Accessing Promotion Insights

Monetising Instagram

Back in 2009, monetizing Instagram wasn’t a clear path for the photo app. In fact, while the idea was definitely on the table, the brand had to evolve into something with a stronger value proposition and product.  

Today, Instagram’s caught up to the rest. 80 per cent of accounts follow a business on Instagram. This means more people are interacting with brand pages and this level of engagement is just what Instagram needed to be able to broaden it’s advertising offerings. 

Source: statista.com

The photo-sharing app offers four advertising options in addition to promotion options. 

These include: 

Photos:

Image: Instagram

Video:

Image: Instagram

Carousel:

Image: Instagram

Ad in Instagram Story:

Image: Instagram

Collection Ads:

Image: Instagram

How do Instagram Promotions Work?

Instagram also offers promotion options. These are different from photo, video, carousel and story ads. Here’s what you have access to and how they work:

Promote a Post You've Shared 

Familiar with boosting a post on Facebook? Promoting a post on Instagram works the same way. If you have a picture or video that’s drummed up a fair amount of likes, comments and shares, you can promote it. 

This option is a great way for businesses to get extra awareness for content they publish. The extra awareness is reach that could help feed your marketing funnel.

Promote a Story From your Profile, Highlights, or Stories Archive

Also similar to boosting a Facebook post, you can promote stories. While limited to those taken with the Instagram camera or in a vertical format, the option is still very useful. 

Some creative elements (filters and stickers) are not accessible when promoting stories, however, this shouldn’t stop you from taking the opportunity to ‘capture authentic moments that speak to your business,’ as Instagram recommends.

Create a Promotion From the Promotions Button on Your Profile

If you’re looking for a quick and direct way of generating results, you can do so with a fresh new ad campaign. These can be created from your business profile. In the process, Instagram will recommend which posts they think will do well as advertisements. This option is best if you're unsure which post you'd like to promote.

So, to recap, the major difference between ads and promotions on Instagram is related to the way you use each option to engage your brand. 

Promotions are used to generate extra awareness and engagement from already successful posts and stories. Ads are used for unique campaigns and generally feature new content. 

What do Promotions Look Like?

While Instagram promotional posts, stories and highlights look similar to their original (organic) forms, they include additional elements. 

Post, stories and highlights all include the “Sponsored” label below the account posting the promotion. 

Image: Instagram

Image: Instagram

As promotions are intended to generate some result, they also come with calls to action. Here’s a list of the options available:

  • Learn More
  • Shop Now
  • Watch More
  • Contact Us
  • Book Now
  • Sign Up

Where do Promotions Appear?

Promotions appear as posts and can also appear in stories. If you’d like to isolate your promotion to appear in one place, you’ll need to create your promotion in Ads Manager. 

Why Your Promotions Have a Good Chance of Success

Algorithmic updates are generally not the easiest to track. In fact, while there are many digital and social marketing circles that constantly test content to generate the best possible results, much about the intricacies of how AI and machine learning influence ad placement, reach and overall campaign success is largely unknown.

There are, however, a couple of interesting ideas we think you should bear in mind when creating your promotions. 

Promotions are all About Reach

Whether testing to find the higher-converting ad or scaling to generate more of the results you’re after, all spend on paid media should be made to generate results. When it comes to what we know about promotions, Instagram recommends that you use “a post that your followers really enjoyed.”

This means using content that’s received its fair share of likes, comments, and shares.

Why would this matter and how can you use this information?

Ad Revenue and Engagement Fuel Instagram

Instagram, like all other social platforms, wants to create products that users constantly access. The more users using their app, the more ad revenue they are able to generate. 

Instagram also knows that when users show interest in a certain piece of content, there’s a higher probability of generating even more engagement from it if it’s shared with a larger audience. 

Your already successful posts, stories and highlights, therefore, stand a better chance of being more successful with a wider audience. While we’re not sure about the intricacies of their algorithms, this logic is pretty sound.

Are Instagram Promoted Posts, Stories and Highlights More Expensive or Cheaper Than Ads?

There isn’t any conclusive data that shows ads cost more or less than promotions. In a report, AdEspresso found that CPC values range between $.70 and $.80. This average was based on two demographics. Audiences between the ages of 25-34 years can cost as much as $1.23 per click, where a younger group, aged between 13-17 years, came in at $.47.

While we haven’t seen any data on promotion costs, they could be close to these figures considering that you’re still paying to reach the same audience.

How to Create an Instagram Promotion

Creating your promotion is relatively easy. In fact, most of the heavy lifting is done for you. For example, you don’t need to worry about which post to promote because you’ll have data that shows which post received the most engagement. 

Set up Your Instagram Business Profile

To get started (from your phone), open Instagram and visit your business profile. If you haven’t switched to a business page for you your company, you’ll need to make the change. 

Instagram business profiles are linked to Facebook pages. To switch to a business account, go to Settings > Switch to Business Profile.

Image: Instagram

Next, add custom buttons to your account. These can include: 

  • Contact Us
  • Message
  • Start Order
  • Book 
  • Reserve

Note: if you haven’t added a link to your website and a bio, nows a great opportunity to do so.

Create Your Promotion

With the setup of your business profile taken care of, it’s time to create your promotion post. 

Start by accessing the Promotions options via the Promotions button. Next, locate the post you’d like to promote. 

Image: Instagram

Note: if that if you’ve never posted any content to your business profile, you’ll first have to publish a post and then start the process over to promote it. Also, if you already have content posted, Instagram gives you the option of promoting posts directly from your business profile.  

Image: Instagram

Select Your Post

If you’re promoting a post from the Promotion button, you’ll then need to select a post to promote. 

Choose your post and it will open with the option to View Insights or click on the Promote button. Viewing insights will show you how well your organic post performed. This also helps you determine whether this is the post you should really be promoting. 

Image: Instagram

Set Your Goal

Next, select your goal. 

Do you want more profile visits, more website traffic or more promotional views?

Image: Instagram

Establish Your Target Audience

Having selected your goals, it’s time to select your target audience. Instagram makes the process of establishing your target audience easy.  Here are the three options available: 

  1. Automatic: Instagram will target people who are like your followers
  2. Local: target people in a specific location 
  3. Manual: select people, places or interest to target with your promotion

Image: Instagram

Set Your Budget and Promotion Duration

Setting your budget is just as easy as previous steps. Instagram provides a daily budget option along with a duration (in days). 

While setting both, you’re able to get a summary of the estimated profile visits and reach for your promotion. 

Image: Instagram

Review Your Promotion

The final step of the promotion creation process is a review. You’ll be able to see the following: 

  • The post you’ll be promoting
  • The destination all traffic will be sent to 
  • What your action button will say
  • How your audience will be targeted
  • Your budget and promotion duration 

Once reviewed, click on Create Promotion. 

Accessing Promotion Insights

It’s a good idea to keep tabs on how your promotion performs. This will help you determine whether to increase spend and duration or terminate the promotion altogether.

To view insights, open Instagram >  go to your business profile > select the post you'd like to view insights on > below the post's image, tap View Insights.

Clicking on View Insights will show you: 

  • How many people were shown your promotion (audience reach)
  • How many impressions your promotion received 
  • The number of clicks on your promotion
  • How much of your budget has been spent

Summary

Instagram Promotions are one of the simplest ways to engage and reach a larger audience. Promotions can be created from posts, stories and highlights. When created, they appear in audience feeds and stories. 

While there are creative limitations, using promotions is still valuable. They help brands connect with audiences using authentic creative content. Instagram’s budget and duration options make it easy to determine the spend and length of a promotion, and insights will give you information on how well your post is performing and how much money has been used.

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.

Start Your Free Trial

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!”

View this post on Instagram

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.

View this post on Instagram

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.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by VSCO | Photo & Video Editor (@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.

View this post on Instagram

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.

View this post on Instagram

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.

View this post on Instagram

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.

View this post on Instagram

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.

View this post on Instagram

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 Instagram * in 2023 - Marketing on vc.ru

Hello. Lyudmila is in touch, a marketer at Altcraft. Today you will learn how to promote Instagram * in 2023 using paid and free methods, as well as which methods should be abandoned.

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After blocking Instagram* in March 2022, the position of the social network became uncertain: the question arose whether it would “live” or not. According to a study by LiveDune, bloggers' story coverage has dipped (only 70% of January figures remained) and brands (by 20-45%). Not every user is ready to access their Instagram* profile via VPN, so the most loyal followers remain. This proves the increase in engagement: bloggers in some categories have plus 20%.

Now the situation is stable: there is an audience on Instagram* and it is quite active. Every fifth resident of Russia uses a VPN, and accessing blocked social networks is still legal, so Instagram * promotion is a hot topic.

Although targeted advertising does not work on the territory of the Russian Federation, there are other methods of promotion. There are also fewer competitors: some brands no longer maintain their accounts because they left the country.

Preparing an account for promotion

You can't start promoting on Instagram* with an empty profile. Users should immediately understand who you are, what you offer and what your advantage is.

Correct Instagram page* includes:

  • Avatar with a readable logo or photo, if the account is a blogger or expert.
  • Profile name that is related to the business, not a simple set of characters.
  • The name of the author or organization in the profile header in a special field. It also indicates the direction of the business.
  • Account description: what does the company/expert do, your USP (Unique Selling Proposition), what do you talk about if it is a blog on Instagram* of an individual.
  • A link to a website or other resource that represents your business or project.
  • Designed highlights (pinned stories under the description) with information that answers possible questions from customers. Indicate prices, how to find you, working and delivery conditions, tell us about your experience, and so on. Highlights sometimes add profile navigation.
  • Geolocation for offline businesses.

An example of a well designed profile

What else is important before starting the promotion:

  • Switch to a business account: then statistics will become available.
  • Purge profile from bots and inactive followers. For social network algorithms, a high percentage of subscribers who do not respond to your posts is a sign of uninteresting content. Such an account is not given additional coverage.
  • Analyze what an existing audience likes and create thoughtful content.

Reels

Instagram* is no longer a social network for pictures, but also a video platform for Reels short videos. Therefore, the question of how to promote Instagram * from scratch is more often answered about using this format. The social network is actively promoting Reels. Instagram marketing* has changed due to short videos: videos are shown primarily to external audiences in recommendations, and not to account followers. It used to be nearly impossible to get additional reach without ads. Also, the leadership of the social network said that the recommended content will soon become even more.

How to promote Instagram with Reels:

  • Post unique content that has never been seen before on Instagram*.
  • Study the rules and recommendations of the social network: non-compliance can be temporarily or permanently blocked.
  • Start an Instagram promotion* with an open account. Otherwise, only subscribers will see Reels.
  • Use thematic hashtags that work under videos in the same way as in posts (see details in the following paragraphs).
  • Release commercials regularly. This is important not for users, but for algorithms that quickly "forget" inactive authors. But do not bother subscribers: publish no more than two videos a day and three or four a week.

Important! Do not delete Reels that have not received coverage. Sometimes videos are unrolled after a while again and bring results.

How to get followers on Instagram* with Reels

People don't follow every account they see in recommendations. The competition in Reels is high, so it's not enough just to make a beautiful video.

Rules for Successful Reels

  • Don't make too long videos. Videos up to 90 seconds are allowed, but the algorithm takes into account inspections, so such Reels have less chances. Optimal - 5-15 second videos.
  • Arouse interest in the first seconds: by an action, an engaging phrase (“The secret of the right promotion ...”, “No one knew about this ...”, and so on). But do not fool users: if after an intriguing beginning there is nothing of value, the audience will not subscribe.

Engaging Start Roller

  • Add text to video because sometimes Reels are watched without sound. It also makes the content easier to read.
  • Use a CTA (call to action) in your video. Ask users to read the description, subscribe, leave a comment, and so on.
  • Make covers that show the essence of the video, preferably with a brief description. Reels has two options: choose a frame from a video or add a single photo.
  • Shoot videos related to the blog topic only.
  • Monitor the quality of the rollers. Meaning is more important, but a fuzzy picture and shooting with shaky hands are unlikely to please anyone. Sometimes Instagram itself "eats" the quality of the video.

Life hack. Turn off data saving to improve video quality: Settings —> Account —> Cellular data usage.

Where to get ideas for Reels

The first and easiest thing is to find a trend and adapt it to your account. But do not think too long, otherwise you will find yourself in the outsiders, because popular videos quickly lose their relevance. The second way is to shoot answers (possibly with humor) to questions and objections from users. Sometimes ideas are found in movies, ads or other platforms (TikTok, Youtube Shorts).

Advertising with bloggers

It is forbidden to pay for advertising by Instagram* itself in the Russian Federation, but this does not apply to bloggers. Influencers continue to maintain their pages on the social network, and the influence of microbloggers will grow next year. These include accounts from 10 to 200 thousand subscribers. The audience trusts microbloggers more than millionaires, and their advertising is cheaper.

But now it is not easy to order native advertising from opinion leaders, because since 2022 the law on advertising has changed in the Russian Federation, according to which any promotion on the Internet must be labeled and included in a single register. This means that data (including creatives and payment amount) about the campaign is available to all its participants: customers, agencies, bloggers. The information will also be received by the antimonopoly, tax services and Roskomnadzor. Even before the start of advertising, you need to upload information through advertising data operators, who assign tokens (codes from letters and numbers) to ads.

The blogger will have to specify the token in the ad or video, as well as write the word "ad" and information about the advertiser. After that, the campaigns upload a report to the ORD platform with acts, deadlines and the number of ads shown.

Not all bloggers follow these rules because we are in a transitional period. But advertisers (especially large ones) should take into account the requirements of the law.

Promotion through users

Users share content they like and thus attract new audiences with their accounts. People repost memes, inspirational posts, useful information and news. There is no unequivocal formula on how to promote an account on Instagram* through viral content. Therefore, watch successful examples, test options.

Sometimes asking users to recommend your post/account works. Loyal subscribers will do it just like that. You can offer a bonus: free material, discount. Reposts are the conditions of competitions held by companies and bloggers.

Hashtags and Geotagging

Hashtags are unlikely to bring thousands of subscribers, but a certain percentage of the audience will find your account by tags.

Important:

  • Add to publications only thematic hashtags that match the account. Use services for selection or search manually in the Instagram search *.
  • Do not put high-frequency tags for which there are more than 100 thousand publications in the search results - this is too much competition. Choose low-frequency (up to 50 thousand) and mid-frequency (50-100 thousand).

An example of high frequency hashtags that you don't want to use

Geotagging is also an additional way to expand your audience. Especially relevant for offline businesses.

How to attract followers on Instagram* through geotagging: motivate customers to tag the location of your establishment, store, salon or other business. Specify a place in your publications (posts, stories, Reels). Then other users will find reviews about the institution and your official account by the tag.

Cross promo

Promotion through cross-promotion is a collaboration of two accounts of businesses or bloggers with related topics. The authors jointly create content, for example, hold a webinar, live broadcast, create a creative video (or several) in Reels. Instagram* has a tagged collaborator feature that makes a post appear on both accounts.

Signature for Reels created by two authors

This promotion of an Instagram account* works when each participant already has an audience: preferably about the same number of subscribers as the collaboration partner.

Traffic from other platforms

After the “cancellation” of Meta* products, users were not banned from maintaining Instagram* accounts, but icons of her social networks online and offline should be removed from descriptions on other sites. Therefore, Instagram* marketing with the transfer of traffic from other sources has become a dubious way of promotion.

On the one hand, you can mention the social network, but with a note about the status of a banned organization (in free form, because there are no strict requirements).

On the other hand, supervisory authorities may still consider such links to be dissemination of materials from an extremist organization. Therefore, whether or not to attract traffic from Youtube, Telegram, VKontakte and other platforms is a moot point.

Summary

Despite the blocking, Instagram* works and continues to generate income for brands and bloggers. To promote your account on this social network, you should try Reels - short videos that are recommended to other users (not subscribers). Advertising by bloggers is relevant, but after changes are made to the law “On Advertising”, new rules will have to be taken into account: sending data about campaigns to the general registry and tagging ads.

Cross-promo is also used for promotion — the creation of joint content or projects with related accounts. Additional account promotion methods: hashtags, geotags (especially for offline businesses), users who recommend your content or account.

Transferring traffic from other social networks is an ambiguous way of promotion. Although there is no outright ban, links to Instagram* may be assessed by reviewing organizations as advertising for a banned organization.

*Instagram is a project of Meta Platforms Inc., whose activities are prohibited in the Russian Federation.

40 tips on how to promote your Instagram

1. Do not forget to put hashtags that will help increase the number of subscribers: #instafollow, #l4l (Like for like), #tagforlikes and #followback.

2. Like as much as possible. For every 100 likes you give to random photos, you will get an average of 6 new followers.

3. Run contest . The easiest way to do this is to post a themed picture and ask people to like it so they can participate.

4. Start promoting profile on your pages in other social networks. Write what your blog is about and why people should read it and invite them to join.

5. Be generous with likes and comments - this is the easiest way to attract new subscribers.

6. Use common hashtags so that your photos can be seen in the global search. Among the most popular are #love, #instagood, #fashion and #photooftheday.

@westwingde

7. Time matters. Research has shown that the best time to fast is between 2 pm and 5 pm.

8. Follow people who use popular hashtags (#followme, #likeforlike) because many of them will follow you back.

9. Remember, quality is important , not quantity. Monitor your profile and leave only beautiful and high-quality photos. Believe me, no one is interested in flipping through hundreds of photos of salads.

10. Love the Mayfair filter. Track Maven listed this filter on The Fortune 500 Instagram as the best choice for marketers.

11. Check that you have completed the biography section . Complete it with suitable words and hashtags, and also provide a link to your website. But remember: no spam! Otherwise, subscribers will lose interest in the profile.

12. Ask questions to subscribers. This is a great way to connect with your target audience.

13. Post on Sundays . It is on this day that people post photos a little, so your post will be seen by the maximum number of people.

@nastiapoberezhna

14. Be consistent with . Think about who and why you are doing this. The more clearly you answer these questions, the faster you will attract the right audience.

15. Call people to action. For example, ask them to write their opinion about your photo in the comments.

16. Don't be afraid to post often. It may seem that the more often the photos flash, the more indifferent the subscribers behave. But according to the Union Metrics program, there is no relationship between posting frequency and audience activity. At least negative.

17. Follow suggested users. Go to settings and select "Find and invite friends" and then "Recommended users".

18. Set geolocation to . This will be especially useful if you run an Instagram company. So you will have the opportunity to attract new subscribers-neighbors.

19. Schedule publications using the Later program. Consistency never hurt anyone.

20. Arrange with popular blogger to advertise your profile or product. So information about you will quickly scatter over the network.

21. Studies have shown that blue images get 24% more likes than orange or red images. Post something blue and see for yourself!

22. Let fasting on Wednesdays become your obligatory ritual. This is because posts get more attention and likes in the middle of the week.

23. Write the word "comment" more often in posts. This encourages your followers to share their opinions and be more willing to join the discussion.

24. Spread photo showing 's face. According to research, such publications are 35% more popular than others.

25. Tag in photos of people. Your post will also be seen by friends of friends.

26. Remember the rule: the more light , the better.

27. If you have a business account, create a branded hashtag . So users will be able to specify it when buying a product. And it will increase your visibility on Instagram several times over.

28. Share live photos. Show that behind the beautiful picture there is living person .

29. Business trick: share photos of your followers mentioning your brand or product. This pleasant step shows that you value each client. In return, they will definitely share your photos in their feed.

30. Brand yourself : Use your nickname for more than just your profile. A notebook, a case or a branded sticker on a car will surely attract the attention of potential subscribers.

@romantimo3

31. Invite Facebook friends to follow you. To do this, in the profile settings, select "Find friends on Facebook."

32. People love stories. Share your experiences and thoughts, so you will gain their trust and establish contact. Just remember that the post should be emotional and bright, not snot in sugar.

33. Tag people , even in stories, don't be lazy.

34. Feel free to post ask for likes . As practice has shown, such publications receive 89% more likes.

35. Plan ahead not only the time, but also the content. Prepare your materials and only then start filling out your feed. For example, write posts for a few days in advance, and then publish them gradually. The Instagram filling schedule will help you stay focused on the main topic of the blog.

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