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Instagram is a powerful tool to increase a company’s visibility. The leading brands as well as influencers have fully understood this. As well as website creation, there are more and more companies that integrate Instagram into their digital marketing and community management strategy.
Not only it is about attracting followers, but also building your branding through a qualified and regular community.
How to manage to do it without slashing your marketing budget?
Here are the 10 most effective tips to promote your company on Instagram. You will get results later, but they perfectly suit to a long-term and strong branding construction.
If you want to promote your company on Instagram, you must do it purposefully. Then, you will be able to build your community management and marketing strategy on Instagram on this objective.
The visitors of your profile must know exactly what you are talking about. For example, if you sell organic products, you can focus your communication on the benefits of organic food or a better consumption.
Your objective can be summarized in a single question: what message would you like to convey to your customers/potential customers through the image conveyed and the communication used on Instagram?
Hashtags are a powerful tool to increase your visibility on Instagram without spend money on the ad. However, you must know how to use them.
When an Internet user does a search per hashtag on Instagram, the results are displayed in two ways:
The 9 posts with the strongest potential according to the Instagram algorithm are shown first, that is to say the posts that create the most qualified commitment. It is not necessarily the posts with the most likes or comments. For example, a photo with just a few feedbacks will be able to be displayed first because there is an important influencer among them.
Don’t rank on the most competitive hashtags. If you rank on a hashtag widely used, indeed your post may appear on the first page just a few minutes. When you choose a hashtag for your post (typing # and then the chosen keyword), Instagram shows the number of existing posts on this same keyword. In this way, avoid the generic hashtags with millions of posts such as, for example #cat, #kitchen, #marketing, etc. Choose the targeted hashtags such as longer “niche” keywords. For example, for the keyword “marketing”, you can target “marketingonline”, “marketingstrategy” and also “marketingagency”. You can also create your own hashtag your community then will be able to use when she posts photos or videos linked with your company: #yourcorporatename.
The objective doesn’t consist in adding a 2000-word text to describe your photo, but adding a photo (or a video) that recounts a story!
Contrary to generally accepted ideas, the photos and videos on Instagram don’t need to be perfect to go viral. They must arouse an emotion, recount a story, convey a clear message. One of the tips that better works, especially for products, is depicting what you are selling, that is to say storytelling.
For example, if you sell food products, take a photo of a dish cooked with this food. If you sell gardening tools, take a photo of someone using them on a day-to-day basis.
In the same way, if you sell a service, depict what this service brings to one of its users. For example, if you offer a carpool service, you can depict people who are travelling together.
Video remains the most searched and visited way by Internet users and not only on YouTube. Even if, in the beginning, Instagram is a type of photographic kingdom, video remains the most effective way to boost your brand image on the social network.
There is no better way to show all your product/service aspects concretely than a video. The same goes for conveying a clear message and informing people about the use of a product or service, etc.
The only constraint is that all the videos have a (very) short format on Instagram, and in general, they last no more than 20 seconds. However, it is possible to broadcast longer videos but avoid exceeding 1 minute.
Do you know stories you find especially on Facebook and Instagram? It is either a very short video (around 8 seconds) or a slideshow of several photos or pictures. They are a huge success since their launch in 2016.
Stories enable the display of a very short format that is fast and easy to assimilate for the consumer. They are highlighted by appearing directly at the top of your profile, just under your company’s name. In this way, visibility is maximal!
You can use them for a special offer, the launch of a new product/service or to recount your company’s story. If stories are well-used, they are a powerful tool to increase your visibility and improve your branding.
Community managers also use visual quotes a lot to gain visibility. They are sentences added to a picture, in general a photo or a single plain background.
These quotes are sometimes funny, inspiring or both and arouse a strong commitment. Internet users share them a lot. Obviously, they must be linked to your company and what you are selling.
For example, if you offer marketing training course to companies, you can use inspiring quotes on personal development. If you sell entertainment products, your community will probably like funny quotes.
Visual quotes are very effective to gather your community. They enable the people to identify with your brand, the message it conveys and the products/services you offer more easily.
Instagram influencer has become a real job for some people. Brands use them more and more as they have also built a strong community on their favourite theme. When an influencer highlights a product/service, their followers buy more easily. Today, influencers are such a success that now agencies get them in touch with brands.
However, it is also possible to call on the least well-known influencers. They will have a significant impact as their community will be more committed.
It will enable you to increase your visibility gradually without ruining your budget. Even better, by highlighting a product or service you sell, you will have a much higher return on investment than with classic ad campaigns.
So, don’t hesitate to get in touch with the least well-known influencers who have between 50 000 and 500 000 followers. Prices and types of partnerships can vary and be negotiated, especially within the framework of a first contact and even more if you deal with a “beginner” influencer.
The more active and committed your community is, the more visibility you will have on Instagram. So, when you start having a broad community, don’t hesitate to get your followers involved in your content.
For example, you can organize a photo contest by inviting your followers to send photos of themselves using your product. Drawing lots (or the photo that is the greater success) can choose one or several winners.
It is a method that enables to promote your company effectively. It will also encourage the participants to tag their friends in order that they will also participate in your contest.
There are many other ways to get your followers involved. Be creative as the objective is asking them to perform a simple action (voting for a content, responding to a short survey, etc.) that will optimize your visibility and reputation.
Do you remember the much-vaunted hashtags (tip n.°2)? They can also enable you to find posts of your community that are linked with your company, especially if you have created your own hashtag.
It is also possible that a follower tags your company in his/her post, for example if he/she posts a photo of him/her using your product (@yourcompany). Be that as it may, don’t hesitate to react!
Like, comment and even better share these posts on your professional account. In this way, your followers will feel brought out as they will know that they represent more than just mere potential customers or common consumers for you.
To retain a community, involve her in your company and its values in everyday life, and thus promote your company effectively, two-way exchange and sharing must go. Don’t hesitate to do regular monitoring of your followers’ posts. Some of them could be (or become) influencers!
It is useless to post 15 contents each day to be visible and present on Instagram. The secret is regularity. Right from the start, define a regular publication rhythm you can reach and respect in the long term.
Create an editorial calendar and plan your posts in advance if necessary (there are many tools such as, for example, Buffer or Hootsuite). Whether you are posting three times a day or once a week, it doesn’t matter because the most important thing is regularity. You can also inform your followers of your publication dates. In this way, they will know exactly when they hear from your company. You will remain in their memory before, during and after.
To promote your company on Instagram, with little or no budget, the possibilities are numerous and the tools are varied. However, with a well-defined objective and a long-term and coherent strategy, you will get strong and lasting results.
In this way, you will be able to build a real, regular and committed community who will enable your brand to be part of the digital scene definitively.
Last update: February 08, 2023
