More and more businesses are using the platform to reach new customers. Not only are foodies and hipsters active on Instagram, but businesses are using the platform to reach new customers as well.
You need to consider all the different opportunities you have to interact with your target market, across all platforms, if you want to do social media marketing.
Although Facebook and Twitter are good for posting updates about your company, Instagram is becoming a better solution for visually appealing to and engaging your audience.
Instagram is a great way for businesses to connect with their customers without spending money on advertising. With a smart social media strategy, businesses can connect with their customers, engage with them, and even convert them without spending a lot of money.
Let’s walk you through nine expert tips to increase your brand awareness on Instagram:
1. Craft a consistent brand personality and visual identity
Make sure your brand’s visual identity is a priority on Instagram.
A billion users visit the platform each month, so it’s important to have a strong visual identity to make your brand stand out and build trust with potential customers.
If you have a consistent look and feel to your Instagram content, users will begin to recognize your business on and off Instagram. The more familiar consumers are with your brand, the more likely they are to remember you when it comes time to make a purchase.
A well designed visual identity can communicate a lot about your business values and personality without much effort. This can be achieved through the use of colors, fonts and other graphic elements. Having a strong sense of identity is important for increasing brand awareness.
So, what does a strong visual identity look like on Instagram? Here are the key areas you need to focus on:
Your logo
This should be your profile image on Instagram for the best brand-building results.
Your brand colors
Post content on Instagram that uses the same colors for your brand to create a consistent look. You can use up to four colors.
Your brand fonts
Your brand’s fonts should be used throughout your Instagram graphics to help your content stand out.
Your graphic templates
If you want your content to have a memorable visual identity, you should use branded graphic templates for your feed posts and Instagram Stories. Templates will also help you create content for Instagram more quickly.
If you want your business to be successful on Instagram, you need to make sure it has a strong, branded visual identity. This will help it build value awareness and trust with users, and keep your brand top-of-mind with potential customers.
2. Optimize your Instagram Business profile for social SEO
You can use hashtags, keywords, and geo-tagging to ensure that your posts are being seen by people who are searching for them. Did you know that you can use Instagram to improve your business’s search engine optimization? Hashtags, keywords, and geo-tagging can help ensure that your posts are seen by people who are searching for them.
SEO hacks can help improve the visibility of your brand on Instagram. Although Instagram’s search engine works differently from other search engines, there are still ways to make your brand more visible.
If you want to increase the number of people who follow your business on Instagram, the most important place to focus your attention is your business profile. You can add strategic keywords here to help more users find and follow your brand.
Let’s run you through which sections of your Instagram profile you need to inject your SEO keywords into:
- Your username: this is how users will search for your Instagram account on Instagram and is known as your ‘@handle’. This username should clearly identify your business name, be easy to spell and not include tricky numbers or symbols that users might forget.
- Your account name:Â this is the name that appears in your Instagram bio. Here, you can strategically inject relevant keywords that are SEO-friendly and searchable (think of keywords related to the products you create, the services you offer or your industry).
- Your Instagram bio: in 150 characters, you have the chance to capture new users and build valuable brand awareness. Your Instagram bio should include:
- A one-liner that explains your business and what you do (including an SEO keyword).
- Your key products or services, spelt out using hashtags or SEO keywords.
- Your category or industry that best relates to your business (such as Shopping & Retail, Business Service, Restaurant etc).
These are some easy things you can do to make it more likely that new and relevant users will find and follow your brand on Instagram.
3. Craft a content strategy that speaks to your ideal customers
It’s not enough to just have a lot of followers on Instagram. To really succeed, you need to focus on a content marketing strategy that will reach and attract your ideal customers.
Focusing on getting in front of your target audience will help you see tangible ROI from your efforts, build brand awareness through high-value users, and convert them into shoppers.
This means that only a small number of people who use Instagram will be interested in what your business has to offer.
This is why it is important to have a clear understanding of your target audience and using this information to create a content strategy for Instagram.
Your key demographics are the people who make up your target audience. To craft an effective content strategy, you need to understand what their needs, goals, and challenges are. This will allow you to create content that is relevant and valuable to them, and that aligns with your brand voice.
To get you started, here are a few practical tactics to attract your ideal customers on Instagram:
- Tap into content pillars:Â every type of content you share on Instagram should be crafted to meet a brand or business objective. With content pillars, you can group your posts under themes or topics that are relevant to your audience and valuable to your business, such as:
- Content that educates and informs
- Content that inspires and entertains
- Content that engages and converts
- Focus on value-first content: when building brand awareness, you don’t want to focus on the hard sell. Instead, it’s important to design a content strategy that solves your audience’s problems, educates them and inspires them to trust and remember your brand.
- Design share-worthy content: the best way to build a loyal and engaged audience on Instagram is to inspire social sharing. So, inject a strategic call-to-action at the end of every caption that calls on your followers to share your posts with their own friends to boost your reach with high-value new audiences.
You can make sure that every Instagram post you share is tailored to reach and attract your ideal customers by putting some effort into thinking about it first.
4. Use the tools available
Are you looking to get the most out of your Instagram account? Why not utilize the tools and resources that Instagram has specifically designed for business users?
Although Instagram has only recently started to provide new tools for business users, many of these resources are similar to what is available on Facebook business Pages. For example, there is a contact call-to-action solution that lets users call, text, or email your business directly.
Business profiles on Instagram have access to analytics tools to help them track the success of their marketing strategies.
These “Insights” give you access to data on engagement and impressions, which should give you everything you need to make informed decisions about your future campaign efforts. The more you know about how users interact with your social content, the more precise your engagement efforts will be.
5. Find your personality and be consistent with it
Define your brand and what you want to be known for on Instagram. If you’re just starting out on Instagram, it can be tempting to post anything you think is pretty or interesting. However, if you want to be successful, you need to define your brand and what you want to be known for.
If you want to be successful on Instagram and have a lot of followers, you need to focus on building your brand. This means creating a strong identity and developing a clear voice that people will recognize and respond to. You also need to be active and engaging, posting interesting and relevant content on a regular basis. And finally, don’t forget to promote your account to get more people to follow you.
You need to be relatable to your followers so that they see you as another one of their peers. This involves showing your human side.
Your voice in text can help create a personality, but the images you share can also help shape that character.
For example, the pictures that you post might tell a story, or the type of imagery, colors, and filters you use might have a distinct atmosphere. Like this post from Magnum:
The design of the store reflects the luxurious and contemporary personality of the brand.
You also need to show that your personality is consistent.
Your followers will only associate certain characteristics with your brand if you show it to them in every post.
If an Instagram account only posted pictures of dogs, you would quickly come to associate the brand with your favorite four-legged friend.
6. Use hashtags ( but be STRICT )
If you’re looking to get more out of your Instagram account, utilizing hashtags is a great way to start. By using relevant hashtags, you can not only increase your reach, but also encourage more people to engage with your content. So, if you’re not using hashtags regularly, now is the time to start!
It’s easy to start using hashtags too much and become someone who has to use them to get their point across.
If you want to add something special to your Instagram campaigns, hashtags can be a great way to enhance your brand. However, make sure that you keep the rules of hashtag use in mind.
It’s all about being STRICT:
- Specific
- Targeted
- Relevant
- Innovative
- Concise
- Thoughtful
Don’t just randomly use hashtags – use them as they are intended, as a valuable tool.
7. Cross-promote your posts
If you want to be successful in your Instagram marketing, you should start by appealing to followers who already know and love your brand. You can do this by cross-promoting on your other social media platforms.
No matter what platform you are using – Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn – you can promote your content to your followers and have a good chance of getting their attention.
This means that they are already interested in your brand and are following you on one platform.
If you can’t transfer your entire Facebook following to your new Instagram account, copying and pasting could give your account the initial boost it needs.
We are more likely to follow social media groups that have a lot of followers because we think that the things that appeal to other people will also appeal to us.
You can share Instagram posts with followers on other social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter.
You can use this strategy to draw attention to key posts that might convince followers to join your fan base on other platforms.
It is worth noting that Instagram posts also perform well on Facebook because Instagram is owned by Facebook.
8. Find your community
After you have increased your Instagram followers, you can further your reach by searching for and participating in existing communities on the platform.
Groups on Instagram are a great way to connect with like-minded people who share your interests. Whether you’re interested in food, fashion, health, or technology, there’s sure to be a group for you.
Finding communities that are related to your brand can help you improve your chances of appealing to the right customers through your posts.
Pay attention to:
- The top influencers in your community
- The hashtags commonly used by your community
- The style of photos shared by the most popular accounts
- Tactics for engagement used within the community (i.e. question posts and competitions)
When you have started to become involved in the communities you have chosen, you will be able to get information that will help you plan your Instagram strategy.
9. Inspire and encourage user-generated content (UGC)
According to the stats, 79% of consumers say that user-generated content has a high impact on their purchasing decisions.
Even if they’re not ready to convert yet, user-generated content can be a powerful part of your business’s brand awareness strategy.
User-generated content (UGC) can be anything that your customers create about your brand, including reviews, social posts, and video testimonials.
- Run a competition:Â one of the most effective ways to encourage your customers to create UGC is to give them the chance to win a prize through a competition. Try running a monthly competition for UGC on your Instagram feed, using a branded hashtag to collate entries. With these pieces of UGC on hand, you now have a bank of valuable content you can easily repurpose on your Instagram feed, too.
- Offer incentives: similar to our last tip, giving your customers a reason to craft UGC is a great tactic to boost participation. It can be as simple as a discount code or even a chance to be featured on your Instagram feed.
- Host UGC challenges: if all else fails, another smart UGC tactic is to set regular challenges for your customers. Make the guidelines clear and easy to follow and use a branded hashtag to track every piece of content your challenge generates, too.
Filtering for success
When it comes to building brand awareness, Instagram is a powerful tool that can help your business stand out, reach new customers, and grow.
If you want to increase your number of followers on Instagram, attract valuable users, and gain the trust of your target market, then you need the right content strategy and influencer marketing tactics.