The dynamic growth of visuals in online marketing today cannot be underestimated. The use of visual storytelling and content is increasingly dramatically, and this is one trend you’ll need to embrace to stay ahead of your competition.
Don’t believe it? Take a look at these stats…
- 37% of marketers said visual marketing was the single most important form of content for their business.
- Infographics are ‘liked’ and shared on social media three times more than any other type of content.
- Studies show that when images are relevant, online readers spend more time viewing and engaging with those images than they do reading text on the page.
These statistics and others show the power of visuals for online marketers today. So how can you join the trend?
With over 300 million daily active users, and the power of Facebook behind it, Instagram is the social media platform to use to help drive this growth and establish a stronger brand identity for your company. As we posted recently, the power of Instagram marketing lies in its ability to share engaging images that translate into more followers, and ultimately, more sales.
In this article, we’ll show you five ways to use this powerful tool to get your brand and products seen by more people, and help generate instant viral marketing success for your growing business.
Build up Your Follower Base
Success with Instagram is not just about adding followers, it’s about adding engaged followers. You want people that will act as brand advocates, and you want to give them a reason to help grow your community. Get in touch with all your contacts, and let them know you’re on Instagram. And once you’re there, use the right (trending) hashtags and filters, and post regularly. You could even take a look at those that are following others in your industry, and then start engaging with them directly to help build your own business. And remember, there’s an entire community of Fiverr experts ready to help you get off the ground and make your Instagram marketing plan a success.
Let Your Photos Shine
Instagram is all about imagery, so you’ll need to make sure your photos stand out and help clearly show what you do and what you have to offer. Try using cool angles, lighting, and other effects to really enhance your photos and your brand. Tag your photos using hashtags also, and add tags that encourage interest and clicks. Remember, Instagram will market you using the tags that you use with your photos. You can also consider sharing your Instagram photos on other social media platforms as well – such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and others.
Offer Promotions
People love giveaways and discounts. Boost your Instagram followers’ feeds with special offers, bonuses, and other promotions, and you could have tons of new fans and followers before you know it. Use incentives that are related to your product or service, and focus on your target market as much as possible. For example, if your target audience is business travelers, you may want to make your incentives related to the types of amenities and perks they’d want when they travel.
Text overlays in Instagram are another cool feature you can utilize. These overlays give you the ability to include your promotion to the right of your photo, enabling a sleek, visual way to announce sales, discounts, and other incentives.
Curate User-Generated Content
We recently discussed how valuable Instagram is for curating content, showing you how Instagram helps highlight how your product works as part of a larger lifestyle, and how you can position your products in photos to help complete your target audience’s ‘idealized life’.
You can even take this a step further by curating content from your fans that share their own content featuring your products and services. This enables you to enhance the engagement and shareability of your posts even more, by creating an incentive for your fans to share their own creative ways of interacting with your brand.
When It’s All Said and Done, Measure What You’ve Done
Your Instagram efforts won’t be worth much if you can’t measure the results. Whether it’s seeing how many comments you’ve received or tracking how many followers you’ve gained, you’ll want to constantly monitor your numbers and check your progress. There are some great free Instagram analytics tools out there – such as Instagram Insights and others – to help get you on your way to making the most out of your posts. This valuable data will ultimately help you determine your next steps, and let you know how to create even more Instagram marketing success going forward.
Have other ideas for using Instagram to grow your brand? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
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