9 Effective Instagram Marketing Tips to Give a Try

By Val Razo

With its hyper-visual nature, Instagram remains popular among internet users and its community is growing year by year. Back in 2021, Instagram reached the milestone of 2 billion monthly users. 

The days when people used Instagram only to share their selfies are long gone. Today, users follow their favorite brands, learn more about products, or even buy products in-app. For businesses of all sizes and niches, this means a great opportunity to reach a target audience and turn these people into paying customers.

It's no wonder that Instagram has over 200,000 million business profiles and it can be hard to cut through the noise when you hope for the attention of the same target audience. Thus, it's important to improve your social media strategy and find out effective Instagram marketing tips that help to bring your business to the next level.

Are you ready to draw inspiration? Keep on reading this post.

 

1. Utilize Instagram Clickable Links for Maximum Impact

With the platform's potential and its variety of functions, there are many opportunities to grow your business with Instagram. You can even make good use of Instagram's user base and redirect followers to other channels where you can work with interested leads to turn them into paying customers outside of the platform.

The solution? Utilize Instagram clickable links!

You can add a link in the bio or add Story links to take your followers to the right landing pages and therefore provide people with additional information. 

When it comes to the bio section, you can add one link, but there are various tools like Linkin.bio or Smart.bio that allow you to create a custom URL and add links to your most important pages.

 

Here's how Nike uses this tool:

Once you tap on the link, you get access to the landing page where you can find the website or other social media platforms, just like in the example below:

If you use ephemeral content in your Instagram marketing strategy, you can also add Story links to take your viewers to the right pages, whether you want them to browse your website, watch a recent YouTube video, or read your CEO's interview. Make sure the branding on your Instagram and on your site matches. Use an online logo maker to create the banner for your Instagram and use the same logo on your website.

 

2. Turn Your Instagram Profile into a Storefront

With a strong focus on visual content, Instagram gives you an opportunity to turn your business profile into a storefront that markets your products and provides potential customers with additional information about them. 

Moreover, the popularity of Instagram shopping is on the rise. Around 83% of people discover new products or services on Instagram which means people are ready to buy products in-app.

One of the best Instagram marketing tips that helps companies drive sales is to turn your profile into a storefront. Here's what it can look like:

At first blush, it doesn't take much time or effort to create product images for e-commerce companies that sell clothes. No matter what your business niche is, you can sell your products on Instagram and Dyson is a great example of it:

Working with professionals, you can delegate content creation and get eye-grabbing images and videos to post on your profile.

 

3. Improve Instagram Presence with AI Tools

Using Instagram for business growth requires doing various repetitive tasks that can be time-consuming. From planning your content calendar to monitoring comments and DMs, Instagram marketers do many things daily to create a successful Instagram profile that grabs the attention of the target audience and helps to achieve business growth.

Luckily, you can bring your Instagram presence to the next level if you make good use of AI tools as artificial intelligence algorithms help to perform specific tasks and solve problems on autopilot. Here are several ideas on how to use AI tools on Instagram:

- Write AI-generated captions

- Enhance visuals

- Manage an Instagram profile (schedule and publish content)

- Monitor brand mentions and comments

- Analyze content performance

 

4. Reach a Wider Audience with Instagram Reels

In the last few years, the demand for Instagram videos has grown. Today, 91% of Instagram users watch videos weekly, so it's no wonder that Instagram pushes video content and it gets more exposure.

When you create Instagram Reels, the platform can offer your content to people who have an interest in similar content yet don't follow your profile. To reach a wider audience of potential customers and engage them, create Instagram Reels that represent your brand and products in a fun and engaging way. 

Check out how Lulus uses Instagram Reels to keep up with the trends and market its products without being too salesy:

 

5. Sponsor an Instagram Giveaway

Instagram giveaways have quickly gained in popularity among users as people love the idea of getting something valuable for free. For businesses, this means growth.

Whether you want to boost your following or collect feedback, Instagram giveaways allow companies to achieve their goals fast. When done right, giveaways can even help to master Instagram lead generation as you can collect prospects' contact information. 

Moreover, there's no need to host an Instagram giveaway on your profile; you can find other niche companies that have a similar audience and sponsor a contest to get in front of their communities.

For instance, Fabletics often organizes Instagram giveaways and the company seeks out relevant companies to give their prizes to the participants. The more prizes you offer, the more potential participants you can attract. 

 

6. Target Your Local Audience on Instagram

Instagram has a huge audience from all over the world. Although it has great potential for companies that sell goods internationally, it may not be the most obvious option for local businesses that operate within  a certain area.

But:

Knowing the basics of Instagram SEO, you can optimize your profile for local search and therefore get in front of your local communities who seek out services or products in a specific area.

For example, if you use Instagram for restaurant growth, it's important to optimize it for local search and add your location as well as keywords in the bio. Next, you need to explain about your business and brief and create a mouthwatering profile that creates craving and entices diners to book a restaurant table, just like in the example below:

 

 

7. Optimize Instagram for Customer Support

Instagram is one of the most popular social media networks, so it's no wonder that users spend a considerable amount of time on the platform. 

As the top platform for building relationships with brands, people also use Instagram for communication with companies and they reach out to businesses when they have questions or concerns. This means businesses should be ready to provide customer support in-app.

First, you need to explain to visitors how to get in touch with your team even if you don't provide Instagram customer care. Next, you should add various contact options in your bio: email address, phone number, and website.

Alternatively, you can create a separate Instagram profile for customer support. Here's what it can look like:

If your customers use Instagram to ask questions about their orders or share concerns, it's also important to monitor DMs and comments to keep track of all inquiries and provide solutions in a timely manner.

 

8. Run Instagram Partnership Ads

The idea of promoting your products or services with paid ads isn't new. Around 2 million advertisers create and run Instagram ad campaigns to cut through the noise and achieve their goals faster.

But if you want to make the most out of paid ads, consider using Instagram collaborations–a relatively new opportunity to promote Instagram creators' content. It gives businesses an opportunity to create authentic ad campaigns that help to increase reach and improve ad performance.

Let's take a look at the example below:

In partnership with Pretty Little Things, one lifestyle influencer Molly-Mae Hague made a series of photos wearing their products. For the company, it gives an opportunity to run ads with the creator and boost influencer's content to reach a wider audience of potential customers. Win-win for both parties.

 

9. Provide Followers with Social Proof

With a great variety of options on the market, customers always choose companies they trust. Thus, it's important to provide social proof and Instagram is a great place for featuring it.

Here are social proof ideas to publish on your Instagram profile:

- User-generated content (UGC)

- Customer reviews

- Success stories

- Influencer endorsements

Do you want to take your Instagram profile to the next level? Publish customer video testimonials to stand out from the crowd and wow your potential customers with video stories from your clients.

Moreover, you can draw inspiration from Keap and organize a contest to encourage customers to share their success stories online for a chance to win something valuable.

In a Word

With the great potential of the platform, Instagram marketing isn't going anywhere in the near future. Both big and small brands market their products and services on Instagram to reach potential customers, spark interest in the business, and even turn followers into customers.

If you have an Instagram presence these days, that's great. But if you want to stay competitive, you need to find effective Instagram marketing tips that work best for your company. We hope that the above-mentioned Instagram marketing tips can be handy in revamping your strategy.

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