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Instagram Marketing Strategy for Small Businesses

Instagram marketing services are important for businesses building brand awareness or advertising their products or services.

Instagram Marketing Strategy for Small Businesses

Instagram has become a hotspot for digital marketing. It is the second most accessed network behind Facebook. Instagram marketing services are important for businesses building brand awareness and care valuable to people advertising products or services. You want to take advantage of the chance to reach your target market on this popular social media platform. Keep reading for the best practice of Instagram content, growth, and eCommerce strategy. Brands are skyrocketing on the Instagram platform because of these statistics:

1 billion active monthly users and 500 million daily Instagram Stories
The 2nd most accessed social media platform
71% of US businesses use Instagram
Over 2 billion active users on the app each month

If your small business is looking for a way to connect with your audience and reach more people, the Instagram app is a great way to start. It is a global platform that continues to grow and offers many opportunities to promote your business.

Create Your Instagram Goals

To start on Instagram you need to set your goals and strategize how to reach them. Why are you on Instagram specifically? Who are you trying to reach? You must have a purpose and goals so that you justify your time and energy on the monetary investment. Next, work on constructing your business account strategy and design. Think of what you would like to offer followers and your target audience on the platform. There are many strategies to choose from once you have determined your goals. If you do not have the time or resources to do this, consider hiring social media management from an agency.

Conduct a Competitive Analysis

After determining your Instagram audience, create a competitive analysis to see what other marketers are doing in your industry. If you know the competitors, analyze their accounts or search for key terms related to your company and industry to find similar accounts. Analyze, assess, then implement the knowledge into your own strategy. It is wise to know the market and what works and what does not while planning.

Instagram Strategies

There are different ways to implement your Instagram strategy. Choose which posts or ads work best for your industry and business.

Organic content: Photo, Video, or Carousel Posts, Reels, and Stories

- Paid content: Instagram ads, Story ads, Shopping ads, and more

Influencer marketing

Shopping Tools: Shop tab, Product tags, and a Catalog, Live shopping, Instagram checkout, Shopping ads.

Create an Instagram Business Account

When you have your strategy and goals for your Instagram growth strategy, you must construct the correct account to implement it. Creating an Instagram Business account is the first step to advertising and promoting on the app. It is free and you can create a brand new one or convert a personal one to a business account. Steps:

1. Download Instagram
2. Create a Personal account: Create a new account & follow the prompts
3. Switch your account into a business profile
  1. Go to your profile
  2. Open the menu
  3. Go to settings
  4. Choose Switch to a professional account
  5. Select “Business” as the account type
  6. Follow prompts

Apply for Instagram Verification Not every account has a verification and you do not need the blue checkmark to be successful. Although, it does not hurt to gain credibility and stand out to your followers. Steps:

Click Settings
Then Account
Then Request Verification
Then fill out the form

Once the request is submitted, Instagram will notify you within a week. They will never email you, ask for a payment, or contact you in any other way. If it is unsuccessful, you can reapply in 30 days.

Post Instagram Ads

While posting organically regularly is important, expanding your Instagram eCommerce strategy with ads can have a big impact on your small company. Even simple ads can lead to ROI and results, it is worth it for you to try. Simple ads can earn results – even a campaign that lasts only for a few days. For example, a promotional sale that lasts over the weekend. By creating ads or “boosting” posts, you have expanded your reach.

Boost Post

The easiest way to advertise on Instagram is to “boost” a post. You take an Instagram post and click the Boost Post button. You must have a business or creator account to do this. Facebook has a similar feature. Since Meta owns both companies, you will need to connect these accounts on the Meta Business Suite if it is relevant to you. Once you click Boost Post, you will follow the prompts and pick the budget, set the duration, narrow the target audience, and then have an Instagram ad. You can customize the target options or have the app do so for you. This is a great way to try advertising on the app if you have never done so before.

Launching a Full Instagram Ad Campaign

To launch a full campaign, you must log in to Meta Business Suite to set this up. The steps are as follows:

Log into Meta Business Suite
Click Ads then Create Ad in the top right
Choose a goal
Create your ads
Define your audience
1. Advantage audience
2. People you choose
3. People who’ve previously engaged with your posts or ads
4. Page Likes
5. Page Likes and similar
Set your budget
Launch

Add Instagram Shop

Instagram Shopping tools are a must for eCommerce businesses 44% of Instagram users shop weekly. On the app, 1 in 2 people uses the app to find new brands. The Shop tab allows you to create a fully shoppable product catalog directly on Instagram then tag and link those products to your Stories, and more.

Make sure you meet Instagram Shopping requirements
Sign up for Meta Commerce Manager: Through your eCommerce platform or manually through commerce manager.
Wait for approval

The Instagram Shopping tool has been known to boost sales by 300%. 44% of Instagram users shop weekly on the platform and reports have shown that people spend 30 minutes or more on Instagram per day. It is a valuable tool that is not worth missing out on for your small business and brand.

Create an Editorial Calendar

Putting together an editorial calendar will help you save time and properly organize your Instagram presence. This is a great place to record your work or any key events to highlight on your account. You can detect real-time opportunities instead of writing last-minute posts. The team can better execute by utilizing the editorial calendar as well.

Instagram Pro Tips!

While utilizing Instagram marketing tools, remember to consider the following secrets:

Videos are top-performing posts (preferably Reels)
Be consistent with your posting
Post Stories (even repost a regular post to the Story)
Ask questions and conduct polls
Keep up with hashtags (hide them in your captions)
Use the “Link in bio” tool

How Rise Marketing Group Can Help You

Are you interested in creating an Instagram marketing strategy for your small business but do not have the time to create or manage it? Contact us today to help you! We will create your account, map out a marketing plan, and assist you in the community management it takes to run a successful account. We are here to help you stay ahead of the game!