Marketing on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter is almost an obligation for any brand that wants to attract at least users for generations like Millennials. Social media has become part of life. Life is reflected in social media, and there are more and more people unable to spend a single day without a connection.
This wide use is important for different social networks. In recent years one of the most popular social networks is Instagram. Due to this popularity and demand, several brands have decided to develop marketing campaigns on Instagram.
Nowadays, Instagram has over 1 billion active users, and a lot of companies are using it to gain awareness and achieve their goals. It is a tool that can bring benefits to companies since Instagram offers elements that are highly appreciated by users.
● Short texts.
● The potential of visual elements, such as images and videos.
12 steps to create an effective Instagram marketing campaign:
So it is logical to see more and more brands that activate marketing strategies on Instagram, but how to create a successful marketing campaign on Instagram? Below we identify 12 tips that can help you in your Instagram marketing strategy:
- Take care of your content: One of the aspects that Instagram users most appreciate is that it is a visual social network. For this reason, you must take care of all the content you upload. Try to generate valuable images or videos, something that catches the user’s attention. Of course, never forget the touch linked to your brand.
- Optimize your profile: It is important to have a profile that perfectly identifies your brand and makes it unique. So, try to include an image of your logo, a simple explanation of what you do, and don’t forget a link to your site. It will be the only link from which you can derive traffic to your site.
- Do not focus only on advertising: Advertising is not everything, even if the goal of your Instagram account is advertising. You must perform this activity without the user realizing it. So try to publish photographs that have to do with your brand, but it is not necessary for your logo to always appear.
- Use hashtags: Hashtags are really powerful tools in different social networks. If you use the hashtags correctly, you can get popularity on the concepts by binding them to your brand. Hashtags are the soul of your company on Instagram, so it is a good idea to have your hashtags. This will make it your aspect. Also, you can use hashtags like:
a. Places: #NewYork, #Rome, #LosAngeles
b. Products : #travel, # drinks #food
c. Activities: #Guiding, #Singing, # Dancing
d. Industrial sectors : #marketing, # fashion
- Promote Participation: There are thousands of ways to engage your users. You can organize contests, games, draws. An easy way to create contests is through hashtags. This way, users have the opportunity to upload photos and tag them with the hashtag they have chosen to participate in the competition or game. This is one of the best ways to get in touch with users by increasing the level of engagement.
- Show customer experiences: One customer will attract other customers. Simple as true. Users always trust the experiences of other customers who show the use of your products. So try to make customers who have tried your products or services and share their experience. This is why it is best to find a customer who has tried something of your own. Following the logic, if the experience was positive, it is very interesting to capture moments in photographs using your products or services by showing them to the rest of the users to convince them.
- Take advantage of Instagram for events: If your company organizes events now and then, this social network is ideal for showing users what you have done. Instagram allows you to play a lot with different videos and images. You can also convince your users to participate and upload photos by tagging them with the hashtag you have decided to use.
- Publish regularly: Always try to publish content regularly as otherwise, the user will lose interest and stop following the account. So publish attentively but always within the limits of an appropriate frequency and buy Instagram followers and likes. Instagram doesn’t host too much daily information like Facebook. So look for a balance. Generally, one photo per day or 5 per week is sufficient.
- Always listen: Don’t forget to listen to your users. Try to know what kind of comments they leave on your brand or what conversations they have about it. Likewise, you must always have feedback from your users. Try to answer their doubts, questions, or comments as soon as possible.
- Bring innovative elements: Try to show users that following your Instagram account, they will have access to exclusive elements. This is feasible through images, exclusive videos, special greetings, etc. In a nutshell, try to show a more personal and alternative side.
- Get in touch with other social networks: Instagram allows you to connect to other social networks such as Facebook or Twitter. If you connect them, you can make a selection of what you want to publish simultaneously on the various social networks.
- Measure actions: You must measure the actions of your marketing campaigns on Instagram. Only then will you understand the effectiveness of any published content. This will help you know which content works best and which video is most successful.
- Buy Followers: Final step, after all doing above mentioned, don’t forget to buy Instagram followers from trusted suppliers. You can get real followers in just a few dollars.
Successful marketing campaigns on Instagram:
1. – UNICEF: “#donomifoto”
In 2011 Unicef launched a campaign with the hashtag “donomifoto” on Instagram. The campaign was aimed at social users and proposed to donate the best photos for a good cause to fight against child malnutrition.
In this way, users could tag their photos and donate them to Unicef so that the association could sell them. The best 50 photos were sold, and the proceeds helped hundreds of children.
2. – Heineken: “Crack_the_us_open”
Another magnificent campaign was that Heineken made by taking advantage of the US Tennis Open in the United States. The beer brand asked for user collaboration on Instagram but not for uploading photos, asking for help, and looking for people in the audience.
The company created the Instagram account “Crack_the_us_open” and uploaded a photo of the current tennis matches. The brand has created a sort of ‘treasure hunt.’
About 1,500 people followed the clues, and the winner was the first person to respond correctly using the brand’s hashtag. Through this campaign, Heineken has increased its community on Instagram by 20%.
3. – Birds Eye: “#BirdsEyeInspirations.”
The frozen food company Birds Eye launched this campaign in 2014 intending to popularize its new “Inspiration” line. The campaign was run in three British restaurants in the cities of London, Leeds, and Manchester between May and June.
The goal was to pay with photos of the dishes posted on Instagram. This is why diners had to ask for products from the promoted line. Users had to take photos of the product, upload them to Instagram with the hashtag #BirdsEyeInspiration “to use the promotion, and get a free meal. They also had the opportunity to participate in a photo contest, in which the three winners could have participated in a food photography course.
As we have seen, creating marketing campaigns on Instagram offers many possibilities to advertise products visually. In addition, Instagram allows you to establish a direct connection with the user and enable you to engage customers to be part of the campaign.