Marketing Tactics for an Effective Instagram Campaign
With 600 million unique monthly users worldwide, Instagram marketing can be an incredibly valuable tool in your social media marketing. But you have to be strategic to make a real impact, grow your followers, and benefit your business.
Here are 5 Instagram marketing tips to create a successful campaign:
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Increase Your Followers With an Actionable Hashtag
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Hashtags are excellent tools across multiple social media networks, and Instagram marketing is no exception. They are valuable for brand engagement, particularly when you make them actionable. You can promote product launches, special offers, holiday events, and more. For example, if you sell apparel and accessories and have just released a new scarf line, you could use #chooseyourcolor to entice comments from customers and even propel them to post pictures of their own with the new scarf.
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Don’t Oversaturate Your Instagram Feed
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Yes, content is king — but bad content can be a real joker. It is important to be active but don’t clutter up your feed with random photos just to post something. Stay true to your brand objectives and always post quality images. If you are not getting the engagement you desire on Instagram and other channels, consider hiring a social media agency to maximize your impact and grow your business.
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Use Image Themes to Create Social Awareness
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What social causes do you care about? Do you want to promote environmental consciousness, disaster relief, or other worthy cause? Using visual images for social awareness is a powerful tool with many benefits which shows your company’s dedication to helping the world and its future generations. Whether you post images promoting recycling or ones sending supplies to victims of a natural disaster, you can create a real emotional connection with your customers.
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Launch a Creative Photo Contest on Instagram
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This type of Instagram marketing can be a lot of fun for your audience and generate excitement to grow your followers. Be creative, though. Don’t make it too similar to other contests — particularly if they are competitors. You can offer your latest hot products and/or services for prizes. Silly can be great, but definitely launch a contest that is relatable and not too obscure. This will maximize interest. Pets, food, clothes, and families are all relatable subjects that can be utilized to connect with most people.
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Ask Your Audience to Caption a Photo
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People LOVE to caption photos. This type of interaction hits the real “sweet spot” of the intention of social media. Put a product in a weird or precarious place. Have a model or a spokesperson (or even better a celebrity) to make a funny face. Participate in an activity that has gone viral and take a photo of it. Can you imagine how many water bottle-flipping photos and videos are out there? You can still use some fun and representative hashtags, but leave the caption blank and watch the comments fly down your feed.
The intricacies of each social media channel can be challenging, but with the right techniques, you can grow your customer base and strengthen your business. Be strategic and true to your brand, and your fans on Instagram will love and support you for the long haul.