How to boost my instagram business page
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.
Start Your Free Trial
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 (@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 giveawayHere’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.
7 Ways to Boost Your Business Instagram Account
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Engagement on your Instagram business account should be at the center of your company's social media strategy. Here are seven ways to improve engagement and spread your reach to a wider audience.
By John Boitnott
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Instagram is one of the most important marketing platforms for brands in 2021. Because user engagement corresponds with a greater reach to your target audience, Instagram engagement should be the center of any growing business's social media marketing strategy.
Engagement is important because it is a key factor in Instagram's post prioritization algorithm. This means if you have a high level of engagement, your post is more likely to end up at the top of your followers' feeds — where they will actually see it.
Instagram engagement measures how involved your audience is with your content and is based on a combination of metrics such as comments, saves, shares, likes, view time and more. Here are a few simple steps that will improve your Instagram business account engagement and boost overall reach to your target audience.
Related: How to Avoid Social Media "Pods" and Still Build an Audience
1. Experiment with content
The best way to find out which marketing strategies work for your specific audience is to experiment.
Try posting videos, story quizzes, polls, carousels, IGTV and giveaways to see which tactics perform best with your following. Consider establishing relationships with appropriate influencers in your space and building content with them. Explore Instagram ads.
Even if you think you've already nailed down which content does best on your Instagram business profile, it is still a good idea to experiment with different kinds of posts to make sure your business isn't missing out on a valuable opportunity to expand or deepen its reach.
Related: 7 Marketing Tips to Help Grow Your Brand on Instagram
2. Analyze and track engagement
In order for your experiments to pay off, you need to analyze your engagement. As long as your page is set as a business profile, you'll have access to Instagram's free analytics tool (also referred to as Instagram Insights). This tool will let you see detailed interaction data on your posts such as the number of saves, comments, shares and total impressions your content receives.
These factors are important in determining your engagement score and will ultimately decide your place in Instagram's algorithm. Keep track of the hashtags you use, which posts or stories do best, and use that information to grow your marketing strategy moving forward
3. Pay attention to timing
An important yet simple thing to remember when creating your "Instagram for business" strategy is to think about the time of day you post. If most of your followers are living in Australia and your team is based in the U.S., you will want to make an effort to post later at night or early in the morning to reach those Instagram users when they are awake and using their phones.
Also, your Instagram audience might be more active on the weekend. See if this applies to your following, and make sure to incorporate that information into your posting schedule if they are more likely to engage with content on a Saturday or Sunday.
While posting regularly is shown to improve reach and engagement over time, try not to post at the same time every day as predictability can be damaging to engagement.
Related: Why You Should Actually Share Your Instagram Post on Your Instagram Story
4. Prioritize your captions
It only takes a split second to look at a post, but it could take four or five times as long to read a wordy caption. Rather than tacking on a string of emojis to your post, take the time to write long, captivating captions as a way to boost engagement on your business's Instagram feed.
Your image just needs to be interesting enough to get your viewer to check out the caption, which can be up to 2,200 characters long. Captions are where you really get your audience to spend more time viewing your post and should not be underestimated when trying to boost engagement.
Related: 3 Simple Things Businesses Need for Instagram Growth
5. Be authentic
Instagram audiences aren't interested in sterile marketing campaigns. Instead, your followers want to feel like insiders at your company. Showcase what goes on behind the scenes and be vulnerable.
Honesty and authenticity on your professional account will create a stronger connection with your followers and will help you reach a wider audience in the long run.
6. Utilize the power of videos
According to a 2019 study, videos get twice as many comments as a normal post and generate the highest engagement of any content on Instagram.
Although creating videos for your page may seem daunting, don't let the process scare you. You do not need fancy equipment or even a cohesive Instagram strategy (see above) to take advantage of the power of videos on your page. Candid behind-the-scenes footage shot on your iPhone could be enough to improve your Instagram marketing.
Related: 4 Reasons Why You Need to Be Making Instagram Reels in 2021
7. Create carousels
"Carousels" or "slideshows" are Instagram speak for posts with multiple images or videos. Users swipe left to view up to 10 squares of content. Hootsuite's recent analysis of carousel posts finds that they get over three times more engagement, on average than a regular post, explaining why slideshows have taken over Instagram in recent years.
Incorporating carousel posts into your marketing strategy will boost the amount of time your followers spend looking at your feed and improve your overall engagement score. Create an authentic carousel with videos and text and pair it with a long, captivating caption for a foolproof way to post engaging content on the Instagram app.
Your business the Instagram creator
These days you don't have to be highly experienced at social media management in order to become an effective Instagram creator for your company. By using analytics and other platform tools, and by following a few simple guidelines, you'll be well on your way towards boosting engagement and even sales of your product or service.
Related: Instagram Will Make it Easier to Monetize Your Content
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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. nine0003
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
More nine0008 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.
nine0003
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. nine0003
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.
nine0020 - 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: 69 steps to reach the top
3. Post photos of your products
Turn your Instagram account into a shop window. 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. nine0003
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. nine0003
If your colleague spills coffee on the keyboard, you have a good story for an Instagram post 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. nine0003
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. nine0003
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. nine0003
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. nine0003
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. nine0003
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.
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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. nine0003
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. nine0003 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. nine0003
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.
nine0020 - Choose the audience yourself . You can segment your audience by gender, age, location, interests, even behavior.
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. nine0003
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. nine0020
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. nine0020
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. nine0003
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. nine0003
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. nine0003
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".
