Instagram is a widely recognized social media platform with a global presence. It boasts of a user base exceeding one billion, offering a massive audience for your brand’s content to potentially transform into loyal brand ambassadors, influencers, and customers. With unlimited possibilities, Instagram is a popular online platform that marketers utilize to attract followers. In this regard, let’s explore the top Instagram marketing trends that businesses are using to expand their reach.
Latest Trends In Instagram Marketing
1. Instagram Stories
By enabling companies to share alluring content that remains visible for 24 hours to their audience, this feature serves as a brilliant tool for displaying exclusive behind-the-scenes footage, advertising limited-time promotions, and engaging in real-time interactions with their followers.
2. Influencer Marketing
As the popularity of Instagram continues to grow, brands are leveraging the power of individuals with significant and dedicated followings on the platform. These influencers are uniquely positioned to showcase the products and services offered by the brands they partner with to their loyal audience, ultimately granting greater exposure and a boost in credibility for the companies.
3. Instagram Shopping
With this feature, Instagram has evolved into a formidable retail platform, providing businesses with a direct channel to promote their products through the app. Shopping has been simplified for users, who can browse and purchase products with just a few taps.
4. Reels
In response to the surging trend of short video content, Instagram has launched Reels, which empowers businesses to display their creative ingenuity and engage users with enjoyable, brief video snippets.
5. Use of AR Filters
The utilization of Augmented Reality (AR) filters is becoming a progressively favored strategy for brands to enhance their customer engagement and promote their offerings in a lively and captivating way.
Top Tips to Increase Followers on Instagram
1. Take Advantage of Your Bio
When visitors land on your Instagram page, the first thing they’ll see is your bio. This brief introduction serves as the virtual front door to your brand and gives viewers a glimpse into what you stand for. To make a good first impression, your bio should contain a link to your website or most recent content, as well as any relevant hashtags to pique interest. Crafting a well-written and engaging bio is essential to capturing potential customers’ attention.
2. Use Relevant Hashtags for Your Content
Utilizing hashtags is a strategic approach to attract a new audience for your content. Incorporating brand-specific hashtags, uniquely tied to your brand, and relevant hashtags targeting your intended audience can increase the likelihood of drawing in more pertinent users. The more appropriate users that encounter your hashtags, the greater the possibility they will become loyal to your brand.
3. Post Your Content at the Right Time
Expanding the reach of your brand is also possible. Sprout Social’s research revealed that pre-COVID, the optimal timing for Instagram content uploads were Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at 11 am, as well as Tuesdays at 2-3 pm.
4. Attract Your Competitor’s Followers
To attract a wider audience, engage with potential brand ambassadors by interacting with your rivals’ followers. Despite being loyal to your competitors, these users can still be enticed to become followers of your brand. Take the time to follow, like, and comment on their content, building relationships that increase your brand’s visibility and appeal. The more effort you put into engaging with your target audience, the greater your chances of success in building your brand.
5. Pay for Sponsored Posts and Product Reviews
To expand your audience reach, it is imperative to identify key influencers within your industry. Consider targeting influencers with over 10,000 subscribers who have included their email address in their bio, as they may be open to collaborating with your brand. For those with unique products, offering influencers a sample for testing and sharing can also be a compelling strategy.
6. Use Geotags for Local Discoverability
By tagging your location in your content or stories, you enable interested parties to find your material, potentially boosting visibility for your local business amongst relevant audiences. Moreover, you may also share content and stories pertaining to the location, contributing to a greater sense of community engagement.
7. Use Instagram Stories
By sharing Stories on Instagram, you have the potential to expand your followers and audience, as well as bolster the credibility of your brand. Moreover, this tool provides an opportunity to deepen engagement and provide followers with an insider perspective on your brand. Additionally, you can promote your blog, posts, and relevant industry content to enhance your reach and influence.
8. Highlight Important Stories
The Stories feature’s highlight functionality provides an opportunity for you to effectively narrate your brand’s story. Since stories have a limited lifespan, highlighting them can give your content a new lease on life and stimulate users to remain engaged with your brand. Furthermore, stories are organized as an archive, making them easily accessible.
9. Ask For Followers
While your audience may find value in your content, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are loyal to your brand. A gentle nudge in the right direction could help. Encourage users to follow your brand by incorporating calls to action in your captions and comments section on your website, inviting them to engage with and follow your brand.
10. Stay Updated With Latest Trends
Staying on top of trends is a proven method for boosting your engagement and visibility. To align with relevant trends, it’s important to tailor your content and hashtags accordingly. However, it’s equally important to deliver your content in a meaningful manner that piques your audience’s interest.
11. Run Contests and Giveaways
Through the implementation of contests and prize incentives on your page, you can effectively attract a larger audience. These methods may involve prompting users to share, like, or comment, utilizing a fitting hashtag, or even encouraging the tagging of a friend. The possibilities are endless.
