There are millions of businesses using Instagram as a primary marketing channel, some of these businesses are in your industry so you’ll discover marketing is competitive if you’re already using Instagram.

Many users are choosing a random Instagram growth service to make a remarkable growth but only a few are doing it properly. The good thing is, a lot of businesses marketing on Instagram are doing it wrong, so you don’t need complex tools to win, here are four Instagram marketing tips that can help fuel your small business growth:

1. Choose Hashtags Wisely

Hashtags are a way to connect with others in your community who have similar interests so you need to make sure you’re using only the best hashtags.

When you search for a hashtag on Instagram using the tags tab, you’ll see tags with small, medium and large followings.

If you sell running shoes on Instagram, you’ll discover that #runningshoesmurah is less competitive than #runningshoes.

The former is also a niche tag and that’s the kind of hashtag you should be targeting, one that’s segmented yet popular. Here are some tips you can use when choosing hashtags:

1. Don’t Use Irrelevant Hashtags

The hashtag #followmeback is an example of this as most of the followers you’ll get from using that tag won’t be interested in your content.

Also, a lot of people use the “Don’t show for this hashtag” feature for a lot of irrelevant tags so using them will reduce your post’s reach.

2. Create Brand Hashtags

Nike does this so well with a lot of their products.

If you create a branded hashtag and it gains traction, posts for that hashtag will revolve around your brand. The trick with them is to keep it short so it’s easier for your followers to remember.

3. Use Relatable Popular Hashtags

You should definitely keep your use of popular hashtags per post at a low level but some popular tags gel well with all types of content.

Use #TBT or #ThrowbackThursday if you’re sharing a memory, #ManicMonday to show what’s keeping you busy in the new week and #WisdomWednesday to share a quote your followers will benefit from. We recommend that you try Task Ant or any similar service if you want help finding quality hashtags.

2. Make Your Posts Shoppable

In the past, you had just one link spot on your bio your followers could click on to get to your landing page, it’s different today and here’s how you can use Instagram for a large part of your transactions:

1. Host Your Store On Instagram

You can place products on your Instagram business account, making your posts appear under the “shop” tab.

People who click on each post will then be able to click on “view products” which will direct them to a page with pricing information and a link to your checkout page. You can easily make a post with Adobe’s Instagram post generator.

2. Pay Shoppable Influencers

This is the most advanced shoppable feature on Instagram as it allows you to pay without leaving your Instagram page but it’s currently available to only a few influencers like Kim Kardashian and Selena Gomez.

It’s still in its early days but Instagram is expected to release this feature to a wider number of influencers very soon so it’s one you should watch out.

3. Offering Instagram Only Promotions

Offering Instagram-exclusive offers is a good way to grow your business and your account.

A good strategy to use with this is promoting the exclusive offer on your other social media handles, people will have to check your Instagram page to get the deal and they’ll be driven to follow so they don’t miss out on future offers.

3. Be Strategic With Influencers

People buy and receive advice from people they trust, that’s why Instagram influencer marketing works, you need to be strategic when doing this and here are a few tips you can use:

1. Verify Engagement

Buying fake followers on Instagram is a thing and many influencers do this to boost their credibility.

You can check this by using an auditing service like Phlanx, it provides you with engagement data for an account when you search.

The account in the screenshot has a 2.8% engagement rate but when you see that it translates into 5 million+ likes and over 25,000 comments, it provides proof that for some accounts, 2.8% is a good number.

2. Work With Micro-Influencers

A micro-influencer is anyone with 1,000- 100,000 followers. Influencers in this group tend to have a tighter relationship with their audience.

They’re the group you want to meet if you’re a small business because they’re cheaper than macro-influencers and do better with niche-product promotions.

3. Partner With Influencers On Your Offers

Influencers can struggle with coming up with content that will fit your brand so you can do that part of the job by partnering with them when you’re promoting a contest, giveaway or an offer.

Give them a special link to use on the offer as it helps drive their followers to take up your offer and you can also use the link to check out engagement rates to help you decide on future partnerships.

4. Market your collaborations

Flaunt your creative, collaborative influencer content creation on the Instagram wall through digital screens at product launch events, work conferences, or lobbies, as this can benefit your brand in innovatively sharing information and attract your partner influencer’s loyal community towards your brand.

4. Use Stories To Interact And Sell

More than 500 million people use Stories daily so it’s become a platform you can use to interact with your audience and recent features now make it possible for you to sell.

Here’s how you can take advantage of this:

1. Use Story Questions

There are many questions common in your industry, you can get some of them and provide answers in your Stories.

It can be a way to build a relationship with your audience and establish your business as an authority on a topic.

2. Announce New Arrivals

If you have a new stock you’ve added to your inventory or other announcements you think will be important to your followers, doing it on your Stories is the way to go.

3. Story Polls

You can run polls on Instagram Stories, it’s a way to understand how your audience feels about certain topics.

You should use polls strategically, to generate feedback on your products to see areas where you can improve, and you can also use them on trendy topics.

4. Share Clickable Links

You can share links on your Stories with a business account or an account with more than 10,000 followers.

You can spot these links with the little white arrow at the bottom of a story and you should edit them by including an inviting call-to-action (CTA).

The CTA in the screenshot is “See More” but you know something like “Swipe Up To Get This Shoe” will be better.

Conclusion

Millions of people use Instagram daily, for most businesses, that’s an audience you can’t ignore. Instagram modifies its algorithm several times a year so marketing is getting increasingly difficult by the day, you can use the techniques in this post to grow your instagram followers and get those customers.

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