5 Impactful Instagram Marketing Strategy Tips

From compelling captions and witty hashtags to entertaining reels and narrative carousels, Instagram has not only transformed the way people socialize but also how businesses increase their footprint. By crafting an Instagram marketing strategy, you too can amplify your business’s impact and drive sales.

With over 1.44 billion monthly active users as of August 2022, Instagram is a powerhouse in social media marketing. Some 95 million photos and videos are shared daily. So how do you develop and implement a social media content plan to shape your brand’s story and generate content that resonates with your audience? How do you ensure your content stands out among the 95 million other posts?

The team at Big Storm has five tips for implementing an effective Instagram marketing strategy that will take your brand to the next level.

1. Set Your Goals

Before building an effective Instagram marketing strategy, you first need to determine your goals. Concrete goals serve as a compass by giving your business clear direction. Without direction, your Instagram social media marketing could prove to be a fruitless endeavor that consumes valuable time and resources. Start by asking, “What do we want to achieve?”

Common Instagram business goals include:

• Create brand awareness
• Showcase company culture and values
• Generate more sales
• Build a community
• Drive traffic to your website

2. Define Your Target Audience

Your Instagram follower count—no matter how impressive—means nothing unless you turn those users into actual customers. That’s why it’s important to find, reach, and attract your target market with your social media content creation. If you’re unsure who your target audience is, start by looking at who is engaging with your product, your brand, and your marketing. Here are some suggestions:

• Look at your customer demographics – Noticing trends in age/generation, gender, ethnicity, education, marital status, income, and location will help direct your marketing strategies toward the right people.
• Audit your social followers – Taking a closer look at the composition of your followers will clue you into how many fake followers you have (we recommend removing these!), your followers’ demographics and interests, and how many influencers are following you (partnering with influencers can help you boost your brand’s impact!).
• Dig into your website visitors – These are most likely the same people following your social media accounts (or could be soon), so their demographics give insights into creating the right content for the right audience. Take a look at which visitors are just visiting, which are making purchases, and which are filling out contact forms to tailor your content for each type of customer.
• Check out your competitors – Analyzing your competitors will help identify content gaps in your Instagram marketing strategy and level the playing field so you can reach your goals. Scrutinize your competitors’ followers, top posts, hashtags, and publishing behavior to see how you can maximize the impact of your own Instagram platform.

3. Develop Your Content and Content Plan

A common mistake among many businesses is sharing content with no plan or thought process behind it. Instead of posting content randomly and hoping something sticks, a social media content plan will help you determine a cohesive aesthetic and style for your posts. Even better, it will help you maintain a consistent publishing schedule and attract your target audience. When crafting your content and plan, keep these things in mind:

• Establish your visual identity – Do this by developing a consistent and signature color palette, logo(s), typography, and image presets. Instagram users gravitate toward brands with distinctive, pleasant-looking content and messaging.
• Determine a posting schedule – This allows you to reach your target audience at the times they’re online and ensure you always have an active Instagram presence.
• Showcase your creativity – Post a variety of mediums, such as reels, guides, stories, and live videos, to capture a wider audience and appeal to each demographic’s viewing preferences.
• Craft compelling captions – Write authentic captions that provide context, add personality, and inspire your followers to take action.
• Use popular hashtags – Research trending and relevant hashtags to increase your reach, amplify your brand, and get your content to people who need to see it.

4. Engage with Your Community

At its core, Instagram is a social media platform, so learn to socialize with your audience! If someone takes the time to share their thoughts or pose a question via comments or messages, it’s important to respond and show that you are listening and appreciate their input. While new follows and likes suggest users like your products or mission, comments and messages help you actually engage with customers and gain more detailed information. Interacting with your followers also adds a more personal and authentic touch to your page, and can actually make people more likely to buy your products or use your services.

5. Analyze Your Results

To boost your Instagram presence, you need to analyze your content to determine what works best for your business. Cue Instagram Insights. This in-house analytics tool provides data on content, follower demographics, and engagement. This information lets you track and measure your Instagram marketing efforts to see if there’s something you should do differently, like target a different audience, post at a certain time of day, or experiment with a new content format. To access Instagram Insights, go to your profile and tap the Insights action button. Next, tap the metrics under the overview section or specific content you’ve shared for a more detailed breakdown.

Let’s Set Your Insta Up for Success

Regardless of your business goals, Instagram marketing is the secret weapon you might be missing. If after reading this you’re still looking for more clarity around your social media content creation strategy, get in touch with Big Storm. Our team is composed of passionate marketing experts who can help narrow down your goals and create an Instagram marketing strategy that will help you achieve them. For a consultation, fill out our contact form today; we look forward to speaking with you!