Instagram Growth Guide For Businesses - 1Digital®
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Instagram is one of the most popular and highly used social media platforms around, with roughly one billion active users every single month. With that many users actively scrolling through their feeds and interacting with the app, there is no reason why you shouldn’t be utilizing Instagram for your business.

Since the beginning of Instagram in 2010, businesses have taken advantage of the platform as a way to market their brand. Instagram has steadily grown to be one of the most popular and effective channels through which a business can gain brand recognition, awareness, and new engagement. Instagram can help expand the online presence of your business while facilitating interaction with your followers and potential customers.

There is power in numbers, especially when it comes to Instagram. The opportunities for growth through social media, particularly with this platform, are endless.

Here’s a guide to help you and your business get started on the journey to steady Instagram growth.

Instagram Growth Techniques

Why Your Business Needs to be on Instagram

Signing up for an Instagram account is as simple as entering in a few pieces of information. Once you’re all set up, it’s how you manage the account that really matters. Followers aren’t just going to flock to your new Instagram account. Some work needs to be done in order to grow your account and gain recognition.

While this can be a process, it will be worth it in the long run when you have a loyal following with high engagement that can lead to more sales on your eCommerce website. Here’s why you should start an account ASAP.

Brand Awareness

Brand awareness is one of the most important aspects of using social media. You could have the best products in your industry, but if no one knows about your brand, there’s no point. Don’t let the size of your business hold you back from being present on Instagram. Businesses of all sizes can gain a meaningful following on the app.

Being present online all has to do with how much awareness is surrounded by your brand. Overall awareness of your brand, your products and services, and your business will follow with many positive outcomes. By fostering brand awareness, you can expand your digital reach by gaining new followers, which could turn into new customers and thus potentially increase leads and sales.

By keeping an active and consistent presence on Instagram, it allows current and potential customers and followers to keep up to date on what you’re selling, certain promotions you’re running at the time, or any updates regarding your business. Being able to tap into the personal side of your business by using Instagram to connect with your customers is the best way to keep a loyal customer and follower base.

Customers and followers want to feel like they’re a part of your business journey, so by actively following, commenting, liking, and otherwise engaging with your posts, your followers feel more connected to your business and brand as a whole.

Keeping a semi-transparent relationship with your business’s followers shows that you truly care about what you do and that the opinions and feedback from your customers are being taken into consideration. The best way to further connect with your followers is to take advantage of many of the great features that Instagram has.

Other than posting normal content such as product photos, you can appear as relatable as you want by posting video Reels, Instagram stories, and even going live to interact one on one with your followers.

Earn Money and New Sales Directly from Instagram

More recently, users on Instagram are primarily using the app as a way to search for businesses, products, and other services. Over some time, Instagram has become increasingly eCommerce friendly, allowing online businesses of all sizes to market and sell their products.

With features like Instagram Shopping, any eCommerce business can let their followers buy their products directly from Instagram through an in-app browser without even having to leave the app itself.

eCommerce accounts also can promote “shoppable posts” which allow businesses to add certain product tags to the corresponding items being presented in an Instagram post. When you reach 10,000 followers, you can then add links to your website via Instagram stories.

This is quite an effective eCommerce marketing strategy, as you’re authorized to tag up to 5 different prices for five different products in one photo or story, allowing you to promote multiple products from just one post. This can be a simple way to promote certain products, show what you’re selling online, and give your followers easy and direct access to purchase your products.

Tips for Organic Instagram Growth

Growing your Instagram account can seem like a daunting task, but by implementing solid and consistent strategies, you’re more likely to steadily grow your account. You don’t need to have a huge following from the jump to gain an active and loyal following, here are a few steps to get you there organically.

Implement Social Media Strategies

Flesh out what you want to prioritize and what you want to accomplish with your business’s Instagram account. Whether you want to gain a hefty amount of followers, gain a tightly knit group of loyal and consistent customers, or primarily use the platform as a way to market your products or services, then there are different strategies you can use to get there.

Create a Content Calendar

No matter why you’ve decided to get your business on Instagram, you should always start out with a social media content calendar. Posting consistently and frequently is the best way to get started on the road to success on Instagram. Depending on the size of your business, the content you already have ready to post, and how you create your brand voice, will determine the road you need to take with your content calendar.

Decide how frequently you want to post your content, what kind of content you want to post and when, and what products you plan to try to sell on the app. Keeping a fleshed-out Instagram content calendar will ensure you keep organized and never stray from the voice you want your business to maintain online.

Measure Key Performance Indicators

KPIs or key performance indicators are a tactic to measure performance. In this case, KPIs are used to measure the performance of social media progress. By implementing certain performance indicators, you can closely track the progress you’re making on your Instagram account.

Tracking these metrics over time can show you a bigger picture of how your content is performing, what is working and what’s not working, and if there’s anything you need to improve on with your social media campaigns.

While there are many different KPIs that you can implement into your social media strategy, you should be smart and deliberate with what performance metrics you’re actually tracking. Think about the short and long-term goals you have for your business and how your social media accounts play into that.

Once you’ve set out which KPIs you want to focus on, don’t go tracking them willy nilly. Determine the timeline and start tracking the progress every few weeks or every month, whatever you think will work best for you. While it may take a while, after a few months, you’ll slowly start to see some progress and you can keep doing what you’re doing if it’s working. If any metrics are regressing, then that’s the time to tweak your strategy to see if something new will work better.

Social media is ever-changing and your social media strategy should reflect those changes whenever they arise.

Remain Active on Your Account

Posting once a week to your Instagram account will not do much for the Instagram growth of your account. Remaining an active participant of your Instagram account will not only boost your overall engagement but will encourage your followers to interact more with the content.

Engage with comments and support from followers. This will show them that you’re actively listening to their concerns, which shows that you truly care about your business. Now more than ever, Instagram and other social media are being used as customer service platforms. Answer questions or solve any problems any followers may bring to your attention regarding a certain issue they’re experiencing.

It might seem silly, but responding to every comment, positive or negative, is a good way for customers to see that you’re remaining present and are actively looking for feedback. It lets your followers know that you care about their opinions and what they have to say.

When posting content to your page, it’s also crucial to use relevant hashtags. Hashtags that pertain to your business and the type of content you’re posting will reach more users and also
attract similar businesses to yours.

You can even create a branded hashtag that is unique to your business. This encourages your followers to use this exact hashtag whenever or if they post about your product to their personal accounts. Then, you’re able to interact with your customers directly, using this unique branded hashtag.

A good note to remember is to always keep it cool. No one likes seeing a business being unprofessional, especially on social media. Everyone will have some sort of opinion or feedback regarding your business.

Whether someone has a bad experience with a certain product and voices their opinion on your Instagram, it’s within the best practice to listen to their concerns and respond accordingly. A defensive and unprofessional business owner puts a bad taste in people’s mouths and can lead to unfollows and less engagement.

Use your best judgment when it comes to rowdy commenters or rude customers. The key is to remain calm and collected and monitor, while also trying your best to maintain the integrity of your brand and business’s appearance online.

Boost Instagram Growth With Paid Ads

Have you tried to maintain steady, organic Instagram growth and aren’t seeing the results you’d like? Utilizing paid ads is another great way to grow your Instagram following and engagement, but it works differently than trying to do so organically.

Paid ads, otherwise known as PPC or pay-per-click advertising, are another great digital marketing tactic that can help boost your engagement and followers. Businesses that use PPC pay a certain amount every time a visitor or potential customer clicks on their ads.

This marketing strategy is unique because rather than organically gaining followers and potential customers slowly over time, it allows advertisers to pay for those visits to their website or in this case, their Instagram. There is a significant advantage that paid advertising can bring to your business and to your Instagram page, since you are able to take advantage of highly refined targeting and in-depth metrics that can help you find the perfect customers and scale your business accordingly.

Businesses can pay to have their advertisements embedded in social media feeds, which gives your business a higher chance of new customers and viewers on your Instagram account. With PPC, there’s a hope that whenever a user clicks on your ad, it will lead them to a landing page advertising a certain product, encouraging them to buy that product.

With the goal of Instagram growth, doing so organically is a long and steady process. When trying to do so with paid ads, it generates a quick turnaround and big jumps of higher traffic. Both organic and paid methods are effective and can lead to more conversions and long-term growth of your business, it’s all about what you think would work best for your business in terms of using Instagram as a marketing platform.

Social Media Management With 1Digital

Social media marketing, especially on Instagram, is a constant back and forth battle. However, it is one of the most effective ways to gain an active presence online, which can be especially beneficial for an eCommerce business. Whether you’re trying to gain Instagram growth organically or through paid ads, the team at 1Digital will be here to help you every step of the way.

A successful social media campaign takes a lot of patience and monitoring. As a business owner, you might not have the time to scroll through media metrics and closely track progress. Instead, the diligent team of marketing experts at 1Digital can do all the dirty work for you.

To learn more about our social media management services, PPC services, or any of our other comprehensive digital marketing services, feel free to reach out to our digital marketing experts at 888.982.8269 or at info@1DigitalAgency.com.

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Digital Marketing

Emma Kuliczkowski

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