In June 2018, Instagram celebrated an astonishing 1 billion monthly active users. This is partly because Instagram’s number of active monthly users grow at a faster rate than Facebook and Twitter, which means that the platform is a gold mine for potential clients.
Thankfully more and more companies are noticing the potential that Instagram has and are signing up for their own business account. Currently, there are at least 25 million business profiles worldwide on Instagram.
One of the most prominent reasons why Instagram is such a wonderful place for businesses is due to its engagement rate. Instagram users love interacting with businesses, this is why Instagram engagement rate beats every other social media channel and almost every other traffic source. But here’s the catch, Instagram users also stay on-site an average of 192 seconds, a little over 3 minutes, which is 62% longer than visitors from Pinterest, 45% longer than visitors from Facebook and 40% longer than visitors from Twitter.
According to Instagram’s own analytics, at least 200 million users visit at least one business profile each day and approximately 60% of users say that they’ve discovered a new product on Instagram per day.
However, it’s not all unicorns and butterflies on the platform, since a typical Instagram user can miss up to 70% of their feed due to Instagram’s own algorithm. Another important thing is that you cannot sell a product to people who don’t know you. It is therefore important to create a huge audience who love your info and are eager to buy from you. Once you have your audience you need to start your marketing activities.
To understand how to market on Instagram, I’ll discuss 5 simple ways that will help you connect with your audience and grow your revenue. Let’s jump right in!
Craft Better Images
As we know Instagram was built to share images, however, not all images are equal. Thus you need to be putting out high-quality images simply because images get 94% more views than text. Luckily, you don’t need to have a professional camera nor do you need expert photographer skills to take beautiful images because Most smartphones nowadays are equipped with cameras that have more than enough quality.
For your Instagram marketing endeavors, you’ll have to take a lot of pictures from different angles, post consistently and take advantage of good lighting. Enhancing with the right tools also help tremendously.
Run Contests
One great way to increase sales on Instagram is through contests. About 33. 75% of Instagram users get engaged with a company after seeing their post which means running a contest will result in engagement, brand recognition, and more followers.
The best way to run a contest is to request followers to submit a photo with a hashtag also known as Hashtag UGC.
Leverage Videos and Stories
Even though Instagram was built for images, videos also do very well on this platform. Statistics prove that video posts do 38% better than image posts. With the release of Instagram stories, you can now go live on Instagram. When you go live the video will show up in your Instagram stories and viewers will be able to interact with you in real-time. Turn this into a revenue-generating machine, by including your call to action.
Engage With Your Audience Always Respond to Comments
If having a trusted following that will not hesitate to purchase your products is what you desire then you have to engage with them on a regular basis.
One of the easiest ways to do this is to simply respond to their comments. But don’t just throw out a canned thanks and go about your day. No, you want to craft a thoughtful response. This doesn’t mean that your response should be paragraphs, however, they should be engaging and human.
Use More Hashtags and Emoji’s
Hashtags and emoji’s are the new ways of communicating an idea fast and with minimal effort. 36.2 percent of users use 1 to 3 hashtags per post, which means that Instagram users can’t get enough of them. Unlike Facebook and Twitter, the more hashtags you use on Instagram the more engagement you get.
However, it is never a good idea to just use hashtags randomly; you need to be sure that the hashtags and emoji’s you use will actually be relevant to your post. If you’re not sure which hashtag to use, look at which hashtag your competitor is using to see what’s popular in your niche.
Summing It Up
Instagram can be a lucrative platform to grow sales and gain more revenue as it has millions of users per day. However, it can also be daunting, but only if you don’t know what you’re doing. With these five simple tips, you’ll be well on your way to experience Instagram’s full potential.
