Planning The Best Instagram Marketing Strategy for Your Small Business

Instagram Marketing Strategy: Instagram has grown big. According to Statista, the highly visual social media platform has over 1 billion active monthly users, with about 500 Instagram stories every day. 

That has made Instagram the second most accessed social platform behind Facebook, with the average user browsing for about 53 minutes per day. It also ranks as one of the sites with the highest engagement.

Thus, Instagram is a great social platform for small businesses to meet potential customers and tell them more about their products and services. So if your business isn’t there yet, you might be missing big. 

You need to develop an Instagram marketing strategy that will help you drive brand awareness, brand engagement and promote your products with high-quality visual content without hard selling to your customers.

Of course, you may need funds to get your Instagram marketing strategy off the ground. The good news is, you can easily access affordable small business loans from a fintech lender to start and keep your Instagram marketing efforts running smoothly. 

Why run an Instagram marketing campaign?

One top advantage that gives Instagram an edge over other social media platforms is its highly visual nature. That makes it a great place for businesses to showcase their products through imagery, video, and illustrations. Instead of telling, you show. 

By establishing a business presence on Instagram, your marketing efforts can greatly benefit from the design of your products and quality product photographs. 

And with over 1 billion active monthly users, you are sure to have more eyeballs on your products, potential net customers and direct them to your website or storefront.

Key aspects of your Instagram marketing plan

If you’ve got a business presence on other social media platforms, you may be tempted to think that what worked on Facebook, or Pinterest, will work on Instagram. While that may be true, it’s not always the case. Each social site requires a distinct marketing strategy.

Here are the key aspects you need to understand before diving head over heels on Instagram.

• Set clear goals

Don’t just be on Instagram because everyone else is there. But before you post, you need to know why you share content on the platform. 

Do you want to sell products via the Instagram feed or build brand awareness by posting visual content?

Or you want to capitalize on the platform’s visual nature to share user-generated content and showcase real people using your products. Perhaps, you want to share portfolio content so that followers can see your products in action.

Whatever your goals, make them SMART. Thus, you’ll be able to take advantage of Instagram Analytics tools to measure your performance.

• Don’t try to sell to everyone

Nailing your target audience is an essential aspect of your Instagram strategy. The point is, you can’t sell to everyone, so you need to know who you’re trying to reach via Instagram before making your first post.

You borrow from your marketing strategies on other social media platforms to help define your audience and keep your marketing efforts consistent across all platforms.

Make sure that you narrow down your target audience using demographic factors like age, location, income, motivations, and their everyday pain points.

• Learn from your competitors

Conducting a competitive analysis is a top aspect of a successful Instagram strategy. The aim is to use what your competitors are doing right or wrong as a benchmark for growing your Instagram account.

If you already know your top competitors, go ahead and review their profiles. If you don’t, you can find similar accounts by searching for keywords related.

Look at the type of content they post, popular hashtags in your niche, and the types of posts that get the highest engagement. 

Make sure you spot any missed opportunities and integrate them into your content mix so that your business can stand out from the rest.

• Create an editorial calendar

Without a proper posting schedule, you may end up starving or stuffing your followers with content. It also results in posting random, inconsistent, and disjointed content that may confuse your audience. 

That’s where an editorial calendar can help you plan and manage your Instagram posts. With an editorial calendar, you’ll be able to plan your posts, hashtags, captions, and posting time early enough instead of opting for last-minute posts that may be prone to errors and inconsistency. 

You can also record important events like new product launches or promotional offers and make sure that you post at the right time.

• Have a budget for your Instagram strategy

It takes money to build a successful social media strategy, and you’ll need cash to create top-notch product designs, hire experts to run your campaigns, run contests, cover promoted posts & stories,  and partner with the right influencers. 

That’s where small business loans can help. If you don’t have enough cash flow, you can consider getting a small business loan from a reputable online lender. Most online lenders offer loan terms of 24-60 months, which is excellent for spreading your marketing costs over a longer period.

Instagram marketing tools to consider for your small business

Once you’ve nailed your Instagram strategy, the next point is to learn about the best social marketing tools to help you save time and manage your Instagram presence hassle-free.

Instagram marketing tools help you achieve your goals, from creating an editorial calendar, scheduling posts, automatic posting, measuring results, and learning more about your customer interests and motivations.

Top Instagram marketing tools for your brand include:

• SocialPilot
• Buffer
• Hootsuite
• AgoraPulse
• Sendible
• Sprout Social
• Socialinsider

Most of them offer pretty much similar capabilities, and you may want to experiment with a few to find the right one for you.

Instagram marketing ideas to apply for your small business

Since Instagram is more focused on visual content, there are unique marketing strategies that you can use to create posts that knock out of the pack. The top ones include:

• Create and share high-quality content: Take advantage of Instagram filters and visual effects to create and share high-quality content.
• Use tags and hashtags: They are great tools to convey your post and tag other businesses in your posts to connect with them and share your content with their followers.
• Be consistent: Share the correct information that reflects your brand values and ensure that your posts are compatible with your brand.
• Show, don’t tell: Use visuals, videos, and behind-the-scenes photos to showcase what your brand does.
• Partner with influencers: Find, follow, engage, and partner with industry influencers on Instagram.
• Use A/B tests: Use A/B tests to refine your strategy and get the most out of your Instagram campaigns.
• Use both the feed and Stories: Run your ads on the feed and Instagram stories to compliment our posts.

Fund your Instagram strategy with a small business loan

Not everyone can raise the upfront cost of an Instagram marketing strategy out of pocket. Don’t fuss; you can easily access an affordable small business loan from a fintech lender to get started.

Visit the link in the intro to see whether a small business loan will be right for you.

Also Read – Top Emerging Tech Trends for Every Product-Based Business in 2022