Marketing through Instagram

Instagram is one of the most popular social media applications, and small businesses can consider using it as this platform can boost your sales. From gathering insights to selling products. You can also have visibility of what’s trending in terms of business.

Can we advertise using Instagram?

Like all other Social Media, businesses can use Instagram to advertise. There are three types of advertising. 

  • Photo Ads: These look like a regular photo post, but the difference is it has a “Sponsored” label on top of the image. It also has the “Learn More” button that can route your audience to your business website. 
  • Video Ads: These look like a regular video post, but like Photo Ads, it also has the “Sponsored” label on top of the video.
  • Carousel Ads: This advertisement is identical to the Photo Ads, but this type is featuring multiple images that users can swipe through.

These ads support objectives like video views, click-thru to your website, mobile app installations, and mass awareness. 

Best Ways To Use Instagram for Businesses

I’ll discuss what you need to do to make Instagram work for your small business, and show you how to develop a content strategy that highlights your business and helps build your brand. 

Instagram Post

Instagram is a visual social media platform nowadays. That only means that to make your Instagram successful and engaging in its audience, you have to make it stand out visually. 

Shoppable Posts

Small Businesses can take advantage of Shoppable Posts to sell products via Instagram. A business creates a product catalog connected to their account. Then you tag the product, similar to how you tag a person/individual in a post. To create a shoppable post, you must have a business account, and you must sell physical goods that comply with Instagram’s merchant agreement and commerce policies. You can create your catalog through Facebook, Shopify, or BigCommerce.

Interact with other Instagram users

Like all other Social Media platforms, communication is essential so you can personally engage with your clients/customers. 

One of the elements for communication is the direct message (dm). Here, you can send private instant messages, photos, and videos to other users. This way, you’ll have a chance to increase sales for your business.

Facebook, who owns Instagram, is planning to integrate Facebook Messenger, Instagram direct messages, and WhatsApp platform to create one messaging application, according to a January 2019 New York Times article. Once it’s developed, you’ll be able to connect with your followers on Facebook and Instagram through one application, so it will be easy for you to manage Instagram Business Communication.

Benefits

Here are the following significant benefits of Instagram Marketing. 

Connect with customers across different channels:

Using Instagram on your site allows you to connect with clients across different channels and increase cross-channel engagement.

Work smart, not harder.

We all devour for time, but using Instagram photos in your eCommerce marketing plan allows you to work smarter, not harder.

Build a community that comes back time and time again.

Another benefit of using Instagram photos is that traffic that comes from these photos is super-engaged.

Instagram drives engaged traffic than any other social channel. Research shows that when differentiating time-on-site from various social platforms, Instagram subdues other sites like Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, Reddit, and more.

Know how content will perform ahead of time.

You want to be smart about investing resources and time into Instagram. Luckily, on Instagram, you already have feedback about how your audience will react to content by checking their responses such as comments, likes, and reactions before you take up valuable real estate on your website or shell out money for Instagram ads.  It’s guaranteed worth paying for.

If you haven’t started doing business on Instagram, relax.

With an active, growing user base, Instagram proves itself as a reliable platform for business marketing. Brands with a visual story to tell and a desire to grow a tribe of dedicated followers and consumers, there’s still a place waiting for you on the platform.

If you need assistance in developing your digital marketing plan and strategy, we are here to help.