In today’s circumstances, you just can’t look past the “influence” of Instagram marketing, especially if you run an online business. Nowadays, it’s an imperative tool to create brand awareness.
So, how do you do it? Snap up a couple of high-quality images and post them on Instagram?
No, the art of creating brand awareness on Instagram is a bit more intricate. Before we jump onto the details, let me give you a hint regarding the must-have skill – the ability to think and feel from a common user’s perspective. Invest time to learn more about social media psychology.
You see, everyone knows about the basic steps of Instagram marketing. But not everyone can run Insta profile like Danielle Bernstein (WeWoreWhat) or Chiara Ferragni (chiaraferragni). They are making thousands of dollars per post on Instagram.
So, rather following the common and typical strategies, you need to be creative and find something unique that will make your brand a mile apart from the common ones.
Here’s how you can do so –
1. Don’t Just Build a Profile, Build a Community
Most of the suggestions on the internet will tell you to complete your Instagram profile and start posting interesting images and videos.
Yes, they are right, but there’s a “but.”
Almost all of the 1 billion accounts holders have a fully complete profile and regular posts. But you are not seeing them be an Influencer.
So, as you are trying to create a strong brand identity, you should try to bring all the like-minded people under one umbrella.
Your aim should be creating a community where everyone would feel like they belong there!
For example, if you are working on the pet niche, your followers should feel that they belong to a community of pet lovers. You need to give them a shared cause or vision.
In this case, you think of the BTS ARMY. The fans of this uber-famous K-pop share a strong sense of devotion to their idols. Such a strong shared ideology makes them one of the strongest online communities in the whole world.
The stronger community you can create, the more iconic your brand will become.
2. Create Contents that Stand Apart
Before you jump onto posting content on Instagram, you should first sit down with a notebook and a pen.
Instagram is a platform where content is the king. But what will make your content unique?
Try focusing on having a pattern that will make you identifiable.
How can you do so?
It’s simple! Imagine that you need to create content that your followers can identity without even looking at the Instagram handler name. You can also try creating a series of contents with a similar contextual vibe.
You can do so by creating a similar editing philosophy or thematic philosophy. Give an ample amount of thoughts to it.
If you have more than one idea on your mind, you can follow the A/B testing method to see which idea gets more popularity.
If any of your ideas doesn’t work, relax, and detoxify your plans. It’s just like marijuana cleanse method, click here to find more about it!
Oh, another thing!
People can take advantage of your new brand getting tractions from the followers and steal your brand image (or sabotage). You should invoke brand protection plans if such things happen.
3. Communication is the Key: Use Vigorous Engagement Tactics
After all, Instagram is a social media, and the aim of all the social media platforms is to celebrate the social engagement.
So, stick to the basics – engage with your followers.
One-way engagement (only posting contents) will make your profile look like a soulless corporate profile. More engagement will give your followers a sense of belonging to a social environment where the publisher is humble enough to socialize with them.
In different social media platforms, engagement begets more engagement.
This is a basic principle of creating a people-friendly brand.
4. Use Hashtags (Strategically)
The most fascinating branding tool for Instagram is Hashtags. If you use this simple tool efficiently, you will attract more and more people.
A lot of users try to manage their Instagram feed to see the content they love to see. So, they will use hashtags to find Instagram handles that they can relate to.
This is where your Hashtag strategy comes to play.
You can use 30 hashtags at max while publishing a post. But you should restrict your hashtag usage to 15 for every post. Stats suggest that over usage and under usage of hashtags bring negative impact.
So, you will follow a different path and go for a number that’s not too much or too little.
But don’t just use hashtags just for the sake of adding them.
Try to think from a user’s point of view. What would a common user search for? What are the trendiest hashtags on a particular niche?
Think, think, think …
You could also use various tools in this case.
5. Invent the Perfect Post Recipe for Your Brand
Yes, you need to post more and regularly.
It’s imperative!
However, your posts should have all the necessary ingredients to be called a perfect post. Try to have all of these traits for your post –
- A soothing story-telling style caption
- Properly researched hashtags
- A Call-to-Action (CTA) ending to every post
- Concise yet informative tone
- Quality visual content (the king)
As you can imagine, these basic requirements. You can add or cut off any of these traits to curate the perfect post design for your brand.
Invest time and research what your followers feel about your post design. You will have to tweak your strategy according to their feedbacks. This will take some time, but it will help you to create a stronger presence on Instagram.
Here are some tips to spice up your Instagram account.
Final Words
Remember, Instagram marketing is an art these days. Only the best artists can sustain in today’s highly competitive days. But you should never have fake or bought followers on your Instagram profile. Yes, the numbers will make you a sense of satisfaction at first. But it will not have any impact on your actual conversion rate and sales. On the other hand, if you can manage to have a true target audience on your relatively smaller fanbase, things will be completely different. You will see conversions rates and a number of leads going up.
Finally, try to be innovative and think out of the box. People are so bored with the typical marketing showdowns over these social media platforms. They will gladly welcome new ideas and creativity.
About the author
Kathrin Garner is an enthusiastic journalist and writes article on social issues. As an activist, she takes part in FV KASA program, which is a discussion platform on the relevant cannabis topics. Feel free to contact her over LinkedIn or mail her directly. Also, she is a volunteer at Marijuana Detox. She searches for current issues, and writes about it to a wide range of readers.
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