instagram marketing company
Disclaimer
This e-book has been written for information
purposes only. Every effort has been made to make this ebook as complete and
accurate as possible. However, there may be mistakes in typography or content.
Also, this e-book provides information only up to the publishing date.
Therefore, this ebook should be used as a guide - not as the ultimate source.
The purpose of this ebook is to
educate. The author and the publisher do not warrant that the information
contained in this ebook is fully complete and shall not be responsible for any
errors or omissions. The author and publisher shall have neither liability
Introduction
At this point, it is now common knowledge that
Instagram should not be thought of as an ancillary social media platform: that
it is in fact one of the biggest and most important social networks for any
internet marketer to consider.
Right now, Instagram has over 1 billion active users
– which is an insane number when you consider there are only 7.53 people on Earth. That accounts for 60% of all
adults using the internet, as well as 25 million businesses.
This is a gigantic audience then, and it’s one that
is constantly growing. Whereas Facebook (which owns Instagram) has been slowing
down slightly in the past few years (not to mention facing numerous
high-profile scandals), Instagram has been going from strength to strength.
One of the biggest reasons that many marketers overlook the importance of Instagram, is that they assume it is less flexible due to its purely visual nature. How can you sell something with just a picture?
In fact though, the opposite is true: Instagram’s
visual nature is what makes it so
valuable. Due to this fact, Instagram allows creators to minimize the amount of
work and time they put into projects.
It takes only a matter of minutes in some cases to
snap a great photo – a few more if you’re going to edit it – as opposed to the
larger amount of time it takes to compose a message or think of something witty
to say. You can
easily take large batches of photographs and then
upload them on a schedule, or even use stock images and just add some kind of
inspiring quote on top.
The point is that the amount of time and effort you
invest into your account is relatively low, considering the amount of value you
will get out of it. It has a great
ROI.
There are other unique advantages to choosing
Instagram over another platform too that we will get into more in a moment. But
suffice to say that choosing Instagram over other options will give you a
platform that can build a HUGE amount of engagement and turn your followers
into real fans who are willing to buy
the items you recommend, or just keep coming back to your site time and time
again.
Instagram is a tool that will allow you to build
brand awareness and brand loyalty in a manner that other channels just can’t
match.
Instagram should be considered an absolute focus for
any marketing strategy then, but it
becomes even more powerful when you
combine it with a general marketing plan that incorporates other platforms and
forms of media.
In short, Instagram could well be the missing piece
of the puzzle for your online marketing strategy. If you have already conquered
Facebook and Twitter, then Instagram may well be final frontier. Alternatively,
many companies that have struggled to make a success of marketing on other
platforms, may find that Instagram is the place where they have runaway success
– and there are many factors that make this more likely.
In this book, you will learn how to do all of that
and how to absolutely maximize the potential of Instagram as a marketing tool.
You will learn:
• The
unique advantages of choosing Instagram for your marketing
• How
to set up an Instagram account
• How
to create a business account
• How
to create consistent, high quality content that will build loyal followers
• How
to use tags, timing, and other strategies to accelerate your growth
• How
to create a strong brand and mission statement for your account and your
business
• How
to utilize tools and advanced features
• How
to take amazing photos
• How
to run an Instagram account with no photography
necessary!
• Monetization
for your account
• How
to use video, Instagram Live, stories and more
• Advertising
for Instagram
• How
to become an internet celebrity leveraging the power of Instagram •
And much more!
If you’re looking for a way to gain more visitors,
build more engagement, and increase your profits… then Instagram is the answer.
Chapter 1. The Value of
Instagram
In this chapter, you will learn a little about what
makes Instagram tick. Why are people drawn to Instagram? What are its unique
selling points? By understanding this, you will better be able to thrive on the
platform and reach the fullest potential for your audience.
Knowing the Instagram
Audience
While Instagram’s visual nature is in some ways one
of its biggest advantages, this also changes the game for creators. That’s
because it will force them to think in a different way, and to change their
approach. It also affects who will be the most engaged by this type of content,
and which types of products it will lend itself to most.
For example, did you know that 80% of Instagram’s
audience is based outside of the US? This makes it a fantastic choice for any
business that is looking to increase its scope, or that commonly sells outside
of the country.
At the same time, Instagram has an audience that is
famously more female (39% vs 30% with the rest being undisclosed) and a little
younger than many of the other platforms. It is thought of as being more
‘trendy’ than the likes of Facebook, which has become overrun by Mums and
Grandmas at this point.
Knowing Your Niche and Value Proposition
It should come as no big surprise to learn the top
niches on Instagram:
• Health
and fitness
• Beauty
• Travel
• Business/Making
money online
• Fashion
• Luxury/Lifestyle
• Animals
• Relationships
• Gaming
• Family/Parenting
• Food
These niches are all – with the possible exception
of making money online – particularly visual in manner. They all lend
themselves very well to photography, and eye-catching imagery.
But there is something else that all these concepts
have in common, and that also helps to explain the popularity of the cultures
we’ve seen emerge on the platform: they all have a very clear value proposition.
Or to put this another way, they all very clearly
sell a dream.
While it’s easy to point a finger at Instagram and
blame it for a more shallow generation, obsessed with food, good looks, abs,
and fake Rolexes, the truth is that this is simply a reflection of what most of
us want.
And this is the crux of all business.
The saying goes that you don’t sell hats, you sell
warm heads. What that means, is that no one buys a product for its physical
properties. You don’t buy a computer for its weight in plastic and
silicon.
But likewise, nor do you buy a computer for its
processing power and performance. Not really.
The real reason you might spend so much on a
computer – and the reason that Apple has enjoyed such phenomenal success – is
that you are interested in what that computer can do for you. How it can affect your life.
A powerful computer is a status symbol that you can
show off to friends. A great laptop is something you can feel cool about when
you bring it to Starbucks (especially if you snap a shot and share it to
Instagram).
Likewise, a computer lets you create art or be
productive: hopefully leading to more money and more respect.
The most successful products understand this. They
are marketed in a way that is aspirational.
They promise their buyers that they will help them to feel more successful,
wealthier, happier, sexier…
And this is what Instagram is so perfectly suited to doing. You can say
with a picture what would take a thousand words. If you are trying to build an
audience interested in fitness, then nothing is going to engage them and
mobilize them as well as a picture of someone in the gym with incredible abs,
looking focussed and determined.
This inspires
people. It makes them think: “If I buy that tshirt/supplement/training
program, then I could look and feel like that too.”
People like looking at this stuff because it makes
them feel excited for the future and encourages them to hit the gym. That’s why
they subscribe. And then they buy, because they are so motivated by the
emotions that have been stirred up.
This is what we’re going to try and accomplish with
your
Instagram account: getting people excited for the
value you offer. Helping them to feel inspired, and ultimately motivated into
making a purchase.
Identify your niche, and then ask how you can
communicate your value proposition in a manner that will appeal to your target
demographic within the larger audience of Instagram.
Chapter 2. Getting Set-Up
and Creating a Plan
So that’s the big picture, now let’s focus in on the
details. It’s time to actually build your Instagram account.
How to Set Up a Profile
First things first: decide if you want a personal
account or a business account. A personal account is useful if you plan on
building a personal brand.
In other words, if you have a personal blog where
you write about fitness and occasionally sell affiliate products, then you can
go ahead and create a personal account to begin with.
That said, the only drawback is that you can change
a personal account into a business account at any time, but not make the
transition the other way. So if you are on the fence for any reason, then
starting with a personal account might make more sense.
There’s very little difference in terms of what the
user sees between a business account and personal account, so for the remainder
of this section the assumption will be that you’re going with a business
account.
Getting set up is extremely easy. Download the app
on a phone or tablet (the iPad Instagram app is currently extremely lacking, as
is the website). Sign up using a business email to avoid linking your Instagram
with your personal Facebook account.
You will then be prompted to provide some details.
Where it says
‘Full Name’, enter the name of your business. This
is what will be displayed on your profile – and isn’t necessarily the same as
your account name.
The username on the other hand is what other accounts
might
search for, and what they will use to tag you using
@YourUsername.
For the sake of consistency, it’s a very good idea
to choose a username that matches your profile name, and ideally that also
matches your branding across the web. The aim is to try and make sure your
brand is everywhere. So someone can
enjoy your content on Facebook under one name, then visit your Facebook page
under the same name, and then see you on their Instagram feed under the same name. This looks more professional,
it avoids confusion, and it helps more people to find your content when they
are looking for it.
From here, you’ll also be able to add your bio and
your profile image. In both cases, the objective is to ensure that people know
from a glance exactly what you’re all about. You can include a link to your
website here too, and it’s a good idea to use a shortened URL from Goo.gl (https://goo.gl/)
or from Bitly (https://bitly.com)
so as not to use up too much of your 150 character limit. The profile picture
should be representative of the kinds of images you’ll be posting.
Switching to a Business
Account
At any time, you can switch to a business account.
To do so, hit the settings button in the top right of the UI while you are on
your own profile page (it is located in the hamburger menu). Now choose
‘Account’ and then ‘Switch to Business Account’. Here, you will be given the
scoop on what this means for your profile. Basically, you’ll be able to get
stats and metrics from your users, as well as using the promoted posts option.
You’ll be given the opportunity to pick a category for your business (for many
reading this, the answer will be ‘blogger’) and to choose your business name
and number. You can also connect to a Facebook page.
Request Authentication
If you’ve ever seen a celebrity or a notable brand
on Instagram, then you may have noticed a small blue icon next to their name.
This denotes that the account has been ‘verified’, which essentially means that
it is ‘really them’. This has several advantages, firstly allowing you to make
your account seem more professional, and secondly giving it a little extra
color to stand out in search.
This is very much worth applying for, as it will
give you a number of additional tools you can use in your marketing. You’ll
need a form of identification to do this, and of course some form of notoriety
in order for Instagram to grant you the badge.
Chapter 3. Gaining Traction
for Your Channel
Now you have an account, it’s time to start growing
it. You’ll begin with your very first post, and from there the most important
thing is consistency. If you go two weeks without posting a single thing to
your Instagram, then any momentum you build up will get lost. You’ll find that
your posts don’t show so highly, and that you lose the subscribers you had
previously gained.
How often you post is going to depend on your goals,
the nature of your content, and more. But the basic rule for this is to post pretty frequently. The ideal is one to
three times daily, and the average for most businesses comes in at 1.5 times
daily. You should consider the absolute minimum
to be twice weekly, but you should definitely aim to go higher.
In short, posting more frequently means creating
more opportunities for new followers to discover your page. Not only that, but
it means that your existing followers
will feel more engaged with your brand as they keep seeing it come up and keep
getting reminded that you exist. Engagement is absolutely critical to success when it comes to internet marketing.
Going much higher than three times daily though can
start to negatively impact on
your growth. That’s because some of your images will
inevitably be less successful and some of your visitors can end up feeling too
bombarded by content.
Choosing What You Want to Be
That is not all we mean by consistency though. Just
as important is being consistent in what you
upload. What kinds of videos and images? What is the theme? How will you make
them look?
Aim to have a consistent look AND a consistent tone.
One piece of advice that is shared fairly often, is
to try and make your images look as consistent as possible on your page. That
means that you should have a particular style that you stick with, and you
should aim not to vary too greatly from that.
Take a look at the feed of a particular photographer
that you like, or a fitness brand. What you’ll notice is that all their
pictures use a similar filter, that they are composed in a similar manner, and
that they’re on the same topic.
Sticking to just one topic is absolutely essential.
This is why it’s so important to have a business account that is separate from
your personal account. If you don’t, then people who follow you for your
fitness pictures/motivational quotes/business advice, will quickly get fed up
of seeing photos of you in the pub or photos of your dog. That will lead to
people unsubscribing.
This is somewhat acceptable for a personal brand. If
you have a very successful blog or YouTube channel and people are interested in
you personally, then occasionally showing
a little bit of your lifestyle and personality won’t hurt. On the whole though,
you should absolutely aim to post predominantly
on the precise topic you have chosen.
Think about your target audience – the demographic
you will ultimately be selling to. What are they interested in and what will
they respond well to?
And think about what you are passionate about.
There are lots of angles you can choose for most niches, so pick the one that
speaks to you AND your audience. Then stick with it.
Chapter 4. Growing Your
Audience – Best Practices, Tips, and Tricks
At this point, you should now have a business
account that you are posting high quality pictures to on a consistent basis.
Simply doing this will not guarantee success however, as at this point we still
aren’t really providing an audience with any way to find our page!
There are a few different tricks then that can help
you to ensure that your Instagram account isn’t just a great one, but one that
grows organically. We’ll talk more about promotions shortly, but for now these
are some easy things that you can do regularly to ensure you see consistent
growth.
Description
Instagram marketing is a form of content marketing.
For those not in the know, that means that it’s all about bringing more people
to your page by providing them with value. Typically, we think of content
marketing in relation to posting to a blog, but in fact it simply means
providing some kind of value via
content in order to encourage people to listen to you and to keep coming back.
Usually, that content is going to be advice, entertainment, news etc.
In the case of Instagram marketing, things get a
little different. That’s because the main value you provide is particularly
abstract: it’s ‘inspiration’. How can you quantify inspiration?
Keep in mind though, that this isn’t the only form of value you can provide
through Instagram. Just as important, is how you provide entertainment and
information – which you will do via the description.
The word limit for Instagram is huge: up to 2,200
characters! That means you can get away with writing a short essay or story.
The image in this case is the hook, and the text then provides information and
entertainment, along with context for the image that provides even more value.
A great example of an account that does this is
@LondonHistorian. As the name suggests, this is a
British account that posts historical content about London. A follower or user
might see a picture of London that catches their eye because they like history,
architecture, England, London etc. But they will then learn something by
reading the description, which will make them feel as though they got something
from the interaction.
Keep in mind too, that a lot of growth on Instagram
is the result of word of mouth.
So provide tips, information, stories, and more and
you will offer more value from your posts. You don’t need to write an essay
every time, but a hundred words is ample to get something of value across.
Oh and another tip: ask people to share, follow,
and subscribe. It costs nothing and if it leads to a few more actions, then
it’s more than worth it!
Mentions
Also: consider mentioning businesses and users in
your descriptions. You can do this as simply as using the @ symbol in your post
and typing the name out. If you trained at a particular gym, then mention the
Instagram account of that gym. If you went to a particular commercial location,
then mention that business too. This will potentially lead to a re-post or a
shout-out, either of which can be hugely beneficial! It also has the benefit of
creating an association between you and that brand in the eyes of your
followers and visitors.
Hashtags
So we’re halfway through the book and we’ve just
gotten to hashtags! That’s because it’s crucial to lay the groundwork, but as
you can imagine – hashtags are also a HUGE part of what will lead to your
success.
Hashtags are effectively search terms. By using a
hashtag, you can help more people to find your content, and quickly define what
your page is all about.
Hashtags help people find your images through
search, but also by looking at the suggested images provided by Instagram.
Instagram will base these on hashtags that are relevant to the user, as well as
the feedback from other similar users.
Here is a quick primer on what you need to know
about using hashtags:
• Use
lots – You are allowed up to 30 hashtags and each one of those could bring in a
new viewer searching for something. Think about it this way: each one of your
tags is like entering into a lottery. Why would you only enter once if you
could enter thirty times for free?
• Choose
a balance – The best hashtag is one that is popular, but not overwhelmingly so.
Post an image with the hashtag #babygirl and you’ll be going up against
59,533,397 public posts! That means that your image isn’t going to hang around
in the search results long at all, and will soon be drowned by the volume of new posts. On the other hand, a hashtag
with 10 public posts likely isn’t getting searched much. Something with 30,000
or so searches will hit that sweet spot of being popular, but also specific.
Note that you can see these numbers as soon as you start typing out the
hashtags when posting your image or video. Instagram will suggest relevant
terms and show you the volume of posts for each one.
• Use
a range – As well as having a balanced popularity for your tags, you should also
think about using a variety of tags. Including a few massively popular tags
won’t hurt and there’s always the odd chance one will go crazy. But by
including some smaller ones as well, you’ll
• Be
trendy – Think about trending topics (try Google trends at
trends.google.com/trends) and also about the most trendy subjects within your
niche. For example, fitness is popular all the time, but ‘functional fitness’
and ‘mobility’ are topics that are currently hot in this field. Likewise, food
is always a hit,
but ‘avocado’ is winning. There are also common
hashtags used within any niche that you can ‘borrow’ for your own purposes. Of
course if you can use a trending hashtag that is linked to something that’s
been in the news, or the cultural discourse, then even better!
• Be
consistent – Consistent use of the same hashtags is a good strategy for
communicating what your brand is about to Instagram’s algorithms.
• Don’t
use them in your bio – This won’t make your bio searchable through those
hashtags, so stick to using only your own branded hashtags here (if any).
Geotag
As well as using hashtags, you should also make sure
to use geotags. These of course tag the location that the photo was taken, and
that can help a lot of people to find them. To do this, just choose your photo
and then on the ‘New Post’ page, click ‘Add Location’. If lots of people attend
an event, then they might look to see other photos from that event and this
creates another new in-road for you.
Tagging People
You can also tag people, and this is a great way to
get their attention – and even to show up on high profile pages (your photo
will appear in a separate category on the users’ page. This is ideal if you
want to get the attention of a big channel or brand (along with their
audience), but it can also be extremely annoying and get you into trouble if
you abuse it.
The best advice then, is only to do this if you have
a very good reason. If you actually have a
photo with that person, then make sure you tag them in it. Meeting influencers
face to face as gigantic value for any brand or marketer.
Likewise, if you want to issue a challenge, a
response, or similar, then consider using the tag. But ONLY after you have
considered the spirit that it will be taken in. And only rarely.
Medium and Presentation
You may think that Instagram is all about the
pictures rather than the videos, but in fact video posts will receive 38% more
engagement than images! So you know what you need to do: get your camera out
and film!
Keep in mind that your videos will need to be short
(up to one minute, though you can link multiple together) and that you should
always choose a good thumbnail from the video that will help to communicate
instantly what it’s all about and get people excited to check it out.
Other specific formats also work really well. We’ll
get to memes and similar options later in this book, but one good example is
Boomerang – which creates a short ‘bouncing’ video that lasts just a couple of
seconds. You can download Boomerang from the Google Play Store or iOS App
Store.
If you’re going for arty, then you could consider
using a pictogram – a still image with just one element moving.
For images, consider using a collage. You can make
these using Instagram’s own tool (Layout From Instagram) or a third party
solution such as the excellent Pixlr.
Finally, keep in mind that when it comes to images,
taller tends to work better. That’s because the feed is vertical and by using a
taller image, you actually take up a larger proportion of the screen and stay on the screen for longer. All else being
equal, crop your photos to be tall and slim!
Timing
The time you post your images can have a
surprisingly big impact on their success. Research shows that the most popular
photographs go out between 10am-3pm during weekdays in their local region (why
aren’t people working?).
But if you’re aiming at a global audience, then the
most successful time is 6pm GMT+0 (11am PT). If you post twice a day, then aim
to post during each of these times.
Social
Remember: Instagram is a social media account. That means that it is a form of
communication, and it works best when you remember that. Follow accounts, like
them, comment on pictures, and be sure to
answer any messages or comments you receive.
Better yet, galvanize your audience into your own
marketing team by running competitions, or getting them to use set hashtags!
Chapter 5. Taking Beautiful
Pictures (And Other Options)
For all you can try and beat the system by
approaching Instagram marketing in a smart and logical manner, at the end of
the day there is simply no way to succeed without being able to create and
share images and videos that people want to see. So how do you go about doing
that?
Taking and Editing Better
Photos
We’ve already talked at length about the importance
of selling the value proposition with your content – of promoting the ‘dream’
that will mobilize your troops to buy and subscribe. So I won’t go into that in
depth here, other than to say that you should consider trying to tell a story
with your photos. Don’t just take a photo of a scene or an object, show it just
after it has been used, show it in action, or show it in a context that raises
questions.
Think about the Mona Lisa. People like it because
there’s a story behind it: the smile. Try and get your audience engaging with
your images through their thought processes and they will be more effective as
a result.
Related to this concept is trying to create more
dynamic compositions. Placing objects and subjects flat in the middle of a
frame can look boring and flat. Instead, get them to look off into the distance
at an angel, or use an upshot to make them look bigger and more dramatic. Think
as well about creating depth: is there something of interest in the foreground,
middle ground, and background? Where is the central focus point, and how does
the rest of the image lead the eye there?
Are there other objects are helping to provide a
sense of scale?
What is in the background, and what does it tell
people about the scene?
All these things have an impact whether you are
taking a photo of a pet dog, a computer, or an incredible vista from atop a
mountain.
Lighting is extremely important too. The best
lighting should ensure your subject is well lit, but also provide a little
extra dynamism by creating shadows and highlights. For people, ‘Rembrandt
Lighting’ means taking photos where light is coming from an angle from one
side. This helps to create a more flattering profile.
Don’t shoot directly into the light, and don’t let
your photos be over or under exposed.
This is where it can be useful to learn just a
little about the basics of photography, and the exposure triangle. You don’t
need to be an expert, but knowing your shutter speed from your aperture will
help you to create dramatic bokeh effects (a wide aperture and shallow depth of
field will let you focus on an item in the foreground with the background
blurred out nicely), to capture things moving quickly without too much blur
(using a faster shutter speed), and to avoid a picture looking too dark when
you shrink the aperture for landscape photography (which means tweaking the ISO
thus making the sensor more sensitive to light).
A camera’s ‘Auto Mode’ will do all this for you, but
as you advance, learning these basics will help a great deal. As will
experimenting with your camera.
Owning a good camera is of course a smart move. This
doesn’t need to be extremely expensive, but if you can find a high quality DSLR, then that will serve you well. That
said, the quality of phone cameras has increased these days to the point that
you can take some incredible photos that are perfect for Instagram.
As you develop, you may wish to invest in other
tools as well: such as RGB lighting sticks (which can create some amazing
possibilities), a white balance card, light boxes, back drops (particularly for
product shoots) etc.
Shooting Great Video
For the most part, all the same things apply when
creating the best videos. Video cameras likewise have options like ISO, shutter
speed, and aperture. At the same time, you’ll need to keep your subject
focussed in the shot as they move around, try to minimize shakes by using
optical or digital stabilization, etc.
You should also consider whether you need your
videos to be in 4K (which are more effort to work with and will only have a
benefit for a small subset of your audience), 25-60fps etc. Sound and lighting
also help to make your content more compelling.
Once more though, great video is more about the
composition, the lighting, the story telling etc. Even more so than with
photos, this is about what you film rather than how you film it. Editing will
play a big role here though too…
Smart Use of Filters
Filters are one of the key features of Instagram
that set it apart from other platforms and that helped it to grow in popularity
in the first place. These are effects that can be applied to photos or videos and quickly make them appear
more artistic.
The key to successfully using filters, is not to go
overboard. If you tap one of the filters and then hit it again, you can then
tone it down slightly by dragging to the left. This is generally advisable as
it means the photo won’t look artificial, but can still benefit from a little
extra style and punch.
Keep in mind that it is commonly advised that
profiles should aim to create content with a consistent look and that
translates to over 60% of businesses using just a single filter consistently
across all photos. This not only results in a more impactful profile page when
viewed as a whole, but also ensures that followers know precisely what to
expect.
How to Succeed on Instagram
Without Taking a Single Photo or Video
At this point, some marketers might be feeling
stressed.
If you are a good looking, trendy young person, who
is in amazing shape and has a natural charisma, then you might consider
yourself perfectly suited to creating fitness photos. You can take your high
quality camera to the gym with you, grab some shots, and be done with it.
But what if you aren’t so confident in your looks?
What if you’re not in good shape? Or if you aren’t confident with your camera?
In those cases, there are still ways you can generate content for your account.
Here are some examples:
Use Stock Footage
Head to a site like Envato Elements (https://elements.envato.com)
and you can download stock photos, video, and music – even Photoshop Plugins
and Actions.
From here, you can then make the photos unique by
applying an additional filter layer for example, or by adding text. A common
setup is to post images of people standing in exotic locales and then add text
on top that is inspiring or thought provoking. People love motivating content on Instagram!
Share Other Photos
Another option is to repost the content of others.
This way, they get a free shout-out and more exposure, and you gain access to a
free and steady supply of constant content! If you grow large enough, people
will fight to get on your page, using your hashtags copiously!
Photos that you have acquired can be used to create
an account as long as you ask permission or check the legality. This way, your
account becomes a kind of aggregator of the best stuff within a certain
niche.
Drawings
If you are an artist or designer, then you can
share your designs on Instagram. There’s also a thriving market for comics on
Instagram – one of the last few places where a web comic can be successful in
fact.
Chapter 6. Instagram Live,
Stories, and More
We’ve discussed in depth the best ways to go about
creating high quality images for your Instagram account. But Instagram has
grown a lot since its inception to now include videos, live streaming, and
stories. All these things provide new ways for you to interact with your
audience and can help you to grow
even faster.
We’ll tackle each of these features in turn:
Stories
Instagram stories are posts that aren’t shown on the
feed, but will appear at the top of the page next to a profile picture. Stories
will then be shown for up to 15 seconds before moving on to the next one. They
can’t be saved unless the user uses a screen capture, and they will only last
24 hours before they stop being available. Essentially, this was a response to
the success of Snapchat at the time – but has gone on to become successful in
its own right.
There are a number of unique advantages to using
stories. For one, they allow you to reach a larger audience. Because they
aren’t shown in the feed but at the top of the page, the engagement tends to be
fairly high. Moreover, if you
Another advantage of an Instagram story is that it
can include images and videos that are less presentable and might not belong on
your main feed. This is the perfect spot to show some of your daily life,
without ruining the theme and consistency of your feed. This nature also
If you haven’t posted a story in a while and you
post one, then your followers will receive a notification. This is another
great feature, as it means you can re-engage with followers who haven’t seen
any of your content in a while.
Finally, Instagram Stories give you the option to
add an action for swiping up – if you have over 10,000 followers, or if you
have a verified Instagram account. That will then take the visitors to a link
of your choosing. This of course has huge potential for directing traffic to a
website, or directly monetizing your Instagram following.
To post to your Instagram Story, tap the camera in
the upper left, tap ‘Your Story’ above the feed, or swipe right from anywhere
to access the camera. You can also share a photo from another app and choose to
share it to your Instagram Story rather than your feed.
You’ll be able to write on the image, to apply
filters and AR elements, and more.
Instagram Live
To use Instagram Live, you can access the camera as
before but then choose the Live Setting and clicking ‘Start Live Video’.
Anyone using the app at that moment who follows you
will then receive a notification to watch, which makes this an excellent way to
get eyeballs on your channel. They’ll be able to comment on your video too, or
react.
Live has a ton of unique benefits, allowing you to
share exciting moments with your viewers and to engage in a whole different
way. It’s also a great way to show your personality and to let your audience
feel as though they’re gaining unique insight that they wouldn’t get if they
weren’t following you on Instagram – they ultimately will feel as though they
know you a little better. Through Q&As you can answer questions about your
business or products and this is a brilliant way to build trust too.
Just make sure to use this relatively sparingly when
you have something genuinely interesting to share.
IGTV
IGTV is another new option from Instagram that
incorporates video. This essentially allows users to record video in a more
long-form format, lasting 15 seconds to 10 minutes. Verified accounts can run
much longer – up to hours in some cases.
The videos are all vertical in orientation and will
be viewable using the Instagram app or IGTV app. While this is a relatively
untested and young marketing tool, it has potential to grow – and the lack of
competition there right now makes it a great way to gain a foothold early on.
Promotions
Promotions on Instagram are another form of
advertising, and will allow you to reach a larger audience and convert that
audience into sales.
Promotions will appear very similar to organic posts
but are different in a couple of unique ways. For one, they will have the word
‘Sponsored’ beneath your username, which will tell people that the image is
paid. They also can include a call to action button, which means you can direct
your visitors straight to a checkout or sales page. Of course these posts will
also be given some additional ‘oomph’ to help them reach a wider audience than
a regular post.
To create a promoted post, you’ll need a business
account. You can then click on ‘Create Promotion’ which will take you to a page
where you can select one of your previous posts – one of these will ‘become’
your promoted post. Choose a post and click the right arrow at the top of the
screen. You can now choose a target audience and pay for your ad to remain
promoted for a set period of time. This is a very simple way to market to a
wider audience in just a few taps.
Ads
While you can use the new promoted posts option to
quickly get word out about your business, another option is to go through the
Facebook ads manager (www.facebook.com/adsmanager). This will let you create an
ad that will target an extremely specific audience and with a number of
controls.
Create an ad as you normally would on Facebook, and
then just choose Instagram as the location for it to be shown.
As with many other forms of marketing on the web,
Instagram ads are charged on a CPC (Cost Per Click) and CPM (Cost Per
Impressions) basis. You can set your max spend per click and in total, and you
will then be entered into a ‘bidding war’ with other advertisers any time an
appropriate slot becomes free. You can choose an even more precise target
audience for a Facebook ad this way and get a lot of useful data and
information back.
This is a more drawn-out process, but it gives you
more control – so whatever you decide, there are pros and cons.
It’s also worth noting that Instagram ads typically
cost a lot more than Facebook ads (as much as $3 per click!) but also have much higher engagement.
And keep in mind that if no one clicks the ad, then you’ll be gaining exposure
for your brand and not paying a cent.
Another Way to Promote
While you can pay Instagram to promote your products
and your page, another option is to pay other creators. Contact Instagram
influencers and request them to post a sponsored image with a shout-out, or
even an Instagram story. This can be an expensive strategy: reportedly the
going rate for these kinds of posts is $1,000 for every 100,000 followers. That
said, by choosing the right influencer, you have the potential to not only
reach a gigantic audience, but also to gain a large amount of good will. If
someone hangs off of every word their favorite content creator says, and that
creator then says how much they love your products or your brand, then this can
be huge for your business.
Better yet, why not approach a smaller creator and
agree to work together? Collaborate on a post or do an ‘ad swap’ (it’s like it
sounds) and you can each get a boost to your audience for free!
Chapter 7. Integrating
Instagram With Your Larger Marketing Strategy
The key to success when it comes to Instagram
marketing and indeed any social media campaign, is integration. That means that
you need to think about how all the difference facets of your business are
going to work together. In turn, that means thinking about your blog or
website, Facebook account, Twitter and more.
Because on its own, Instagram doesn’t typically make
much money. We’ll see some ways it can in a moment, but for the most part,
building an audience alone is not enough to run a business.
The true measure of success when it comes to your
Instagram account, is how many people you can direct from there to your online
store in order to sell to. This requires you to have a large enough audience,
but also an engaged audience filled with people who actually like your brand
and want to buy your products.
Therefore, you will at least need a website and
ideally a checkout in order to sell your products if you’re going to capitalize
on the traction you build via Instagram. You should make sure this uses a
consistent branding with the same name and logo as your social accounts. This
way, you’ll also be able to engage with the same audience between channels and
ensure that you are on their radar. The worst thing you can do is to be
forgotten for months at a time. Remember: the aim with social media marketing
is to be everywhere.
But at the same time, you can also use your website
to promote your Instagram, thereby cross-pollinating the two. One great way to
do this is by installing a widget on your website which will show your
Instagram feed in the sidebar on every page. This way, people who enjoy reading
your website regularly will be prompted to check out your Instagram and will be
able to see precisely the kind of thing you post there.
Linking your social accounts is a good idea too. You
can do this automatically with Facebook, seeing as Facebook actually owns
Instagram. But you can also automatically post your Instagram posts to Twitter
and other platforms using tools like IFTTT (If This Then That – ifttt.com).
This allows you to create relationships so that posting with a certain hashtag
for example will automatically post your Instagram images and text to other
accounts.
Again, this cross-pollination means that anyone who
adds you on one account is more
likely to see you on others – and therefore more likely to follow you in
multiple places and increase their engagement over time. This also maximizes
your output on each platform, while minimizing the amount of content you need
to create.
You can even try sharing short snippets from
YouTube videos on your Instagram if you have an account!
Chapter 8. Monetization
The last piece of the puzzle is to monetize
Instagram directly. As mentioned in the last chapter, the true barometer of
success on Instagram is profit. While that might sound a little cynical, this
is the truest indicator of real engagement, reach, AND persuasion.
And after all, if you are investing time and money
into your Instagram marketing, then it is only right that you get something
back. Here’s how.
Shopping on Instagram
Shopping on Instagram is a tool that will allow you
to tag items in your post with a price that will then link directly to your store. If a user clicks on that tag, then they’ll
be taken to a listing page where they can learn more or follow another link to
go ahead and buy. This is a relatively new feature and it is game changing for
Instagram marketers, as they no longer need to awkwardly direct buyers to their
bio, or get them to copy and paste URLs into their address bar (the limitation
being that there’s no way to add a live link to an Instagram post).
The rub is that your business will need to be
approved, and not all regions are viable (the US is good to go though!). To get
started, you’ll need an Instagram Business Account, you’ll need to connect your
Facebook Page with a Shop and Facebook Catalog. These can be created using the
Facebook manager, or via Shopify or Big Commerce. Your Instagram account also
needs to be primarily a business that sells goods in order to qualify – so
lifestyle bloggers aren’t quite catered to just yet.
Bio
For those not able to set up shopping yet – or who
aren’t selling physical goods – the other way to monetize your account or to
direct your traffic is to place a link in your bio using a URL shortener as
described in an earlier chapter.
Some creators will place links for their products in
their bios and constantly update these. Each new post then promotes a specific
item with the words ‘Link in the Bio’ in the text. Alternatively, this could
link to an online catalogue, which means you don’t need to constantly update
your link.
Another option is to sell a service this way. This
works extremely well for counsellors, coaches, personal trainers, website
designers and more. Show your ethos and your expertise in your posts and then
let visitors follow the link in your description to get buying!
Instagram Stories
As mentioned, you can also use an Instagram story to
link someone directly to a website, article, or product – as long as you have
10,000 subscribers or a verified account. This is another easy way to generate
direct traffic for a product, though it does of course have its limitations.
Sponsors
Finally, you can also make money from Instagram by
promoting sponsored goods. As mentioned, the going rate for this is $1,000 per
10,000 followers, meaning this has the potential to be extremely profitable.
For some, this is
the business model. There’s no need to create an additional website or to
sell a product – the aim is to become a successful Instagram celebrity and then
to make money by wearing nice clothes and getting paid to wear them. It’s a
dream for many, but it takes a long time and a lot of savvy marketing to
accomplish – hopefully this book has given you all the tools you need.
For the rest of us, it’s important to weigh up the
pros and cons of sponsored posts. While this is a useful additional source of
revenue, it also potentially means stabilizing your own sales with competing
services and products. What’s more, is that it could harm the trust you’ve
built in your audience if they think you have ‘sold out’.
Conclusion
So there it is: everything you need to know to get
started with Instagram marketing! There’s so much to unpack here that in all
likelihood, you’ll probably need to do some more reading and experimenting
before you find a set-up that works for you.
There are countless tools you can use to generate
more clicks. There’s lots more to unpack when it comes to ads and promoted
posts…
But the most important thing is your value
proposition and your brand. You need to be consistent with high quality images
that speak to your audience and that make them feel something. Aspirational,
inspirational, motivational, or moving content will speak for itself and if you
can get your audience to feel something with each picture – they’ll start to
follow you.
It's about what your images say then, moreso than how they look. You don’t really need the best
quality camera in the world, or even paid ads. You just need a message and a
strong brand identity. Couple that with consistency and patience and the
momentum will come with time.
From there, if you are consistently impressing with
your imagery and inspiring those followers, it will be relatively simple to
grow further, to convert your audience into paying customers, or to monetize
your page directly.
And the best part? It’s actually a very rewarding
and fun process! So get your camera out and ask: what inspires you?
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