The key to success on Instagram is a strong marketing strategy. Every post should have an intention and be in alignment with the overall business goals. Without a proper strategy, there’s no clear path forward in the pursuit of optimizing this powerful revenue-boosting channel.

Fortunately, there are many actions a business can take to implement a strong Instagram marketing strategy. Here are four starting points for developing an effective plan to achieve your business goals.

Create Consistent Branding

One of the most integral aspects of capitalizing on this channel is to use consistent branding. It’s this aspect of Instagram marketing that will help your leads and customers connect with the business in a powerful way.

The branding you use on Instagram should be consistent with your other channels. Consider everything from the tone you use to the overarching style considerations. All of these considerations should stem from what your ideal customer wants to see.

For example, if your company targets professional women and female entrepreneurs looking to expand their business, the branding will be different than a company that sells apparel to Gen Z men.

Either try to apply an organic Instagram growth tool or enhance your branding by developing a brand hashtag that your audience can use to connect with your Instagram. This hashtag will be a powerful tool for social listening, collecting user-generated content (UGC), and tracking your content over time. You’ll also want to define your Instagram aesthetic by considering the colors and filters you use when creating content.

With these simple tips, you will build brand recognition. Someone scrolling through their Instagram feed will come to recognize you by how your content looks.

Partner with an Influencer

Partnering with an influencer is a fantastic way to extend your reach and build your audience. This strategy can also be used to directly increase conversions during new product or service launch periods.

When searching for an influencer, look for someone whose values are in alignment with your brand. For example, if you’re selling sustainable homewares, you’ll likely look for someone who promotes eco-conscious behavior.

It’s also worth considering micro or nano influencers for your partnership. Influencers with fewer followers tend to have higher engagement rates. For conversion-based goals, this can help improve the number of conversions during a campaign. Working with small-scale influencers also tends to be more affordable than influencers with hundreds of thousands of followers.

When working with an influencer, put a partnership agreement in place that outlines the core values of your brand and how you expect to be portrayed. Give your influencer plenty of room to add their spin on your product post, as it’s their creativity that made them successful in the first place. Successful influencers know the right captions and effective self portrait hashtags to post with their sponsored selfies— give them the creative freedom to connect with their audience on your behalf.

Write Compelling Captions

Captions also play an integral role in the success of your Instagram posts. This space is prime real estate for telling a story that connects with your audience. Furthermore, one of Instagram’s key engagement metrics is the amount of time spent on a single post— ideally, three seconds or longer. Thus, by creating a longer caption that viewers want to read, you can optimize your content for the Instagram algorithm.

When creating long-form posts, use a line break app to include ample white space. This simple hack will make your posts easier to read. You can also use Emojis and bullet points for list-style posts that have high sharing and saving potential.

Track Your Metrics

Finally, taking the time to analyze and understand your content’s performance metrics is a must when implementing a strategy. Otherwise, you won’t fully understand what efforts were effective with your audience.

Some important metrics to consider include the:

• follower count
• engagement rate
• click-through rate
• preferred user days and times

While your follower count is a key indicator of whether your brand awareness goals are being met, engagement is often viewed as a better indicator of overall success. This metric speaks to a deeper connection with your audience and showcases that your content is resonating.

The click-through rate shows whether your audience is compelled to take action from your posts. This metric is of particular importance during promotional periods.

Finally, monitoring the days and times when your audience is the most active is an effective way to get your content in front of as many people as possible. Scheduling your content for these time slots will give you a higher ROI for your resources.

Final Thoughts

With these four tips, you can develop an effective Instagram strategy that helps you grow your audience, improve your business, and resonate with your customers.

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