How to Build Your Instagram Marketing Strategy

Nowadays, many small and big businesses feel pressured to be present on every social media platform and they forget about strategy. Don’t make this mistake. Since Instagram is very different from other popular social sites, it requires a distinct marketing strategy. Start here to develop your brand’s own unique style.

Set your goals:

Before you start posting, ask yourself one thing: Why are you on Instagram? As popular as the platform is, your answer shouldn't be, "... because everyone else is." To be successful on Instagram in the long run, you must have a set purpose and goals so you can justify your time, energy, and monetary investment.

There's no right or wrong answer here.

Would you like to use your Instagram feed to post and sell your products to customers?

Are you leveraging Instagram to share portfolio content so followers can see your product (or service) in action?

Are you on Instagram to simply build brand awareness by posting motivational quotes and fun visuals?

Or, would you like to use Instagram to share user-generated content so that followers can see real people using your product or service?

Whatever the reason, be sure to define your Instagram goals first thing and your Instagram can have multiple goals

Determine your target audience.

Determine the target audience before you begin marketing on Instagram. If you have other marketing strategies in place, draw from those to keep your efforts consistent. Don’t forget to consider factors like age, location, gender, income, interests, motivations, and pain points. Monitor popular events and interest hashtags related to your business. See who’s using and engaging with these hashtags and check out their profiles. You can also take a look at your competitor’s followers.

Conduct a competitive analysis.

After you determine your Instagram audience, do a competitive analysis to see what other marketers in your field are posting. Start by reviewing their Instagram profiles. Conduct a quick audit of related accounts to see what posts are getting the highest engagement, what popular hashtags they’re using, what their captions are, how often they post, and how quickly they’re growing. This information can serve as a benchmark as you start growing your own account.

While auditing your competitors’ content, take note of any opportunities they might’ve missed. Adding unique content into the mix will help your business to stand out from the rest.

Configure an editorial calendar.

Creating an editorial calendar can help you save time and manage your Instagram presence. Fill in your calendar with some Instagram post types and plan your captions, hashtags, and posting times in advance.

Build a consistent brand on Instagram.

Random content confuses your audience and can cause you to lose followers. To prevent this, maintain a consistent brand aesthetic on your Instagram account. Think about your brand personality, and brand values. How would your customers and employees define your brand?

Once you determine your brand personality, refine your content to match. This can even apply to the colour palette used in your photos.

Grow your Instagram follower base.

Growing your following takes time and energy. You may be tempted to take the easy way out and buy followers … don’t do this!

Here’s what you can focus on to build a following the right way.

• Make sure your username is recognizable and searchable. If people can’t find you, they can’t follow you! Fill out your bio.
• Once your profile is optimized, start posting. It’s a good idea to populate your feed with ten to 15 high-quality postsbefore you really start engaging people. If users visit your profile and find it empty, they probably won’t follow you.
• Then, start following accounts that interest you and relate to your business.
• After you follow an account, interact with their content.
• Encourage others to share your content. Invite brand ambassadors to share your account or collaborate with similar accounts.