Instagram a Positive Method for Marketing?

Is Using Instagram a Positive Method for Marketing your Brand?

A decade ago eCommerce was responsible for just over 7% of all retail sales in the US. Fast forward eight years and online sales accounted for twice as much at just over 14% and then in 2020 the world suffered from the coronavirus pandemic.

Instead of the pandemic damaging eCommerce it was instead partly responsible for an incredible 44% growth from 2019’s figures. This meant it accounted for over $860 billion in US online retail sales. Ecommerce now accounts for over 21% of the total US retail market and is expected to grow further.

The popularity of online retail therapy for consumers is clear but for retailers, it means the competition is getting fiercer as brands develop their online presence and fight to retain a high level of visibility on the net.

One way that you can use to help market your brand and gain your share of the eCommerce market is to use social media marketing. Instagram in particular is one popular method to increase brand awareness. 

What type of Instagram account do you need?

Instagram has three different types of accounts available; personal, business, and creator. Personal accounts are for regular users, creator accounts are for influencers, and business accounts are for, well…businesses.

One of the first things you will need to do is to convert your standard account to a business account if you don’t already have one. Unless of course, your brand is you, then you will probably want a creator account. These were created especially for influencers as they fall somewhere between regular users and businesses and need access to some extra features but not all. 

Why should you switch to a business account?

Instagram business accounts give you access to three key areas that can help you with marketing and increasing your following; calls-to-action, Instagram analytics, and advertising.

One of the reasons that Instagram is great for marketing is that there are 25 million active business accounts. This means that there are plenty of consumers online interested in brands promoting on Instagram. You can also follow and be followed by relevant and like-minded businesses. 

What are the three benefits of an Instagram business account? 

Call-to-Action buttons

These are very useful as they allow your followers to interact with your brand without leaving the app. Many users don’t wish to jump from Instagram to another website and call-to-action buttons allow your followers to start orders or reserve items while still in the Instagram app. 

Instagram adverts

As part of your marketing strategy, you will no doubt want to advertise on Instagram, and switching to a business account lets you set targeted adverts on both Instagram and Facebook. This can raise brand awareness, gain new followers, and improve conversion rates.

Many Instagram marketing success stories including big brands such as Gatorade, Qantas, and smaller businesses such as Jelly Skateboards. These companies all used Instagram and advertising to grow their brands. 

Instagram analytics

Much like Google Analytics, this tool is essential for helping you with your marketing strategy and can show you what your demographic is, how many visitors you are getting, and how many new followers joined you.

Keeping an eye on the demographic of your followers and how many are joining you each week is important. Without followers, your brand will lack visibility. 

How to gain Instagram followers

You first need to optimize your Instagram bio or profile. Make sure your intended followers can find you with an identifiable username.

You will need to post unique and relevant content at regular times. One of the questions people ask is how frequently should you post to Instagram? There is no definite answer but a good idea would be to post regularly, at consistent periods, and with quality content. Don’t leave it a week between posts and then spam your audience with 20 posts in a day. A few a day is probably enough.

Use unique hashtags that are relevant to your brand and catchy. Use them on special offers, promotions, new releases, and anything else you want to put a spotlight on.

Use an organic growth service. When it comes to increasing your following on Instagram many short-cuts often backfire. Fortunately, there are also legitimate growth services such as Growthoid that can help you increase your followers organically.

You will still have to do some work though, these services won’t provide content or post for you. What they will do is to engage with like-minded accounts and attract genuine followers to your account. There are no bots and no automated tools used, just a real-life account manager who looks after the boring stuff while you create interesting posts for your brand. 

Summary

In 2018 the average user spent just under an hour on Instagram, every day. This means there is an audience willing to spend time browsing, reading, interacting, and sharing posts. By using Instagram to market your brand you can generate more followers, create awareness, instill trust, and make sales.