15 Powerful Instagram Marketing Tips That Actually Work

I've spent a lot of time creating content on Instagram and building my account to over 27,000 followers. I also use Instagram to grow my email list and make money online. Since a few of our members asked me how I manage to succeed on Instagram — I decided to write a post with the 10 most effective Instagram marketing tips that have worked for me.

Why Instagram marketing?

Instagram is popular, and it’s easy to see why. With over a billion monthly active users and an average user age of around 30 years old, Instagram has the kind of engaged user base that brands can only dream of. This means that your posts will reach more people than ever before, giving you access to a highly relevant audience that is ready to engage with your brand.

But there are other reasons why Instagram marketing works so well too:

• It's visual-first: Images have been proven time and time again as one of the most effective types of content on social media (especially when used alongside video). They give us something interesting to look at without having any text getting in the way, which helps us digest information quickly while also creating an emotional connection with whatever we're seeing or hearing in them—which makes them perfect for engagement!
• It's easy to set up ads: There are so many benefits but one thing I love about Instagram ads is how quick and easy they are set up compared with other platforms like Facebook Ads Manager which requires quite a bit more work upfront before being able to create campaigns.* The targeting options available can be tailored towards specific audiences based on location (geo), demographics such as gender/age group(s), interests such as travel related topics etc., making sure only relevant people see my content rather than wasting money by advertising something inappropriate or unwanted.* Changes made during ad creation include adjusting budget amounts per campaign (if needed) along with adding targeting parameters which include location criteria like country flag icons; demographic filters such as age range bands listed beneath each icon; interest categories including keywords linked directly inside parentheses after each icon – these specify what type

How to do Instagram marketing correctly

• Use Instagram's native analytics tool, Instagram Insights.
• Use a third-party analytics tool, like Sprout Social.
• Understand the difference between vanity metrics and actionable metrics.
• Set up a dashboard to track your progress

Understand your audience.

• Understand your audience.
• Know who your audience is and what they want.

Create an editorial calendar.

An editorial calendar is a tool that can help you plan out your Instagram posts in advance. This allows you to organize your images according to the types of photos, hashtags and captions you want to use for each one.

As part of this process, it’s important to look at what other businesses in your niche are doing and see if there are any patterns or tips you can use as inspiration. You also want to make sure that every post on your feed fits into a cohesive theme so that it feels like a unified brand experience for any potential customers who visit.

Aim for the 3-second rule.

The brain processes visuals 60,000 times faster than text. So what does this mean for your Instagram marketing? It's simple: you need to make an impression on your audience in 3 seconds or less. If you don't, they'll move on to the next thing—and you can't blame them!

In fact, research from Consumer Insights shows that people only watch an average of 10% of an online video before they decide whether or not they want to continue watching it. But there's some good news here: according to research by Hubspot and Animoto (an online video creator), the first three seconds of a video are considered “critical.” In those first three seconds, viewers have already decided if they’re going to keep watching or move on—so giving them something interesting makes all the difference!

Leverage popular hashtags.

Hashtags are a way of organizing and linking conversations on Instagram. They're also an excellent tool for getting your posts in front of a wider audience. To use hashtags, simply type the tag into the search bar at the top-right corner of your screen, then press enter to open up a list of popular tags related to your post. You can also see which hashtags have been used most frequently by clicking on “See Posts Tagged” in the left column while viewing any profile or hashtag page.

Once you've found some hashtags that relate to your business or brand, add those keywords to your caption or story description so other users will be able to find them easily when they search for that word or phrase!

Find influencers to promote your products.

Influencers are important to any marketing campaign because they have an engaged audience that is relevant to your business. You can find influencers by using Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other social media platforms. Look for influencers who are not only relevant but also have an engaged audience that is relevant to your business.

Once you identify potential digital influencers, contact them and pitch them on promoting the product. Get their approval before sending out the promotional content on their behalf! Make sure that you give them enough time to plan their content strategy and post it in a timely fashion so as not to lose momentum with your followers or followers of those who've shared it already (and don’t forget about hashtags!).

Get featured on Instagram shoutout pages.

Shoutout pages are a great way to get your brand noticed. To find them, do a Google search for “Instagram shoutouts” or “Instagram shoutout page” and browse the results. If you have time, take note of the number of followers each page has. You can also look at their posts to see what kind of content they use—it might help you come up with ideas for your own campaign!

It's important to remember that not all shoutout pages offer the same price or value. Some will ask for $5-$10 per post; others may require an ad spend in exchange for featured posts on their account. It's up to you which option works best for your budget and goals—but make sure that whatever fee is agreed upon is clearly stated before you accept it as part of your contract!

Once everything has been settled between yourself and person running this particular Instagram account (which we'll call Shouty McShouterface), be sure not just any old photo will suffice here: make sure yours really stands out from all other submissions by making it something special–like showing off new products/services used by paying customers who love those products/services so much they took photos using them while using them together.”

Use a consistent color scheme for your images and videos.

It’s important to choose a color scheme for your images and videos that fits your brand. It can be as simple as using the same color, like all of your images being black and white. Or it could be as complex as choosing an overall feel and then matching certain hues to each piece of content, like a teal background with a pink logo or yellow text. The best part is that consistency is key here—you want people to instantly recognize your Instagram account when they see it in their feed, so pick one color and stick with it! You can also use this opportunity to match the colors of different types of posts together if you have multiple accounts (for example: if you have both a personal account and a professional account).

For example:

• If I sell muffins online, maybe I'll choose blue because it stands out against other food products on Instagram.
• If I'm selling photography services online, maybe I'll choose purple because it's dark enough for my nighttime photos but still has some warmth at night time when people tend not look their best!

Use Instagram Stories to introduce a new product or service.

Instagram Stories is a great way to introduce a new product or service to your audience. It's an excellent opportunity to show off the features of something you've created, or give people a glimpse into what goes on behind the scenes. You could even use it as an opportunity for customer engagement; if you're launching something new, invite people to ask questions and share their ideas with you!

When it comes down to actually creating the story itself, there are plenty of ways you can go about doing this. Using video footage is probably the most obvious approach, but if that doesn't sit well with your brand identity then maybe photos will be better suited for your needs (or vice versa). The important thing here is that whatever medium suits best becomes part of an overall strategy aimed at driving sales—and when it comes time

to promote those stories across other social networks like Twitter and Facebook, making sure they're visible no matter where they're posted might mean using hashtags like #newproductlaunch or #launchingsoon

Use Instagram Live to connect with followers in real-time.

Instagram Live is a great tool for real-time engagement with your followers. You can use it to give them insights into what you’re doing, or just show them a glimpse of your daily life. Using Instagram Live also gives you an opportunity to show your human side, which is something brands should strive for.

You can easily schedule an Instagram Live broadcast by clicking the red camera icon at the top of your profile page, or by visiting (https://instagramlive.com/). The latter option will allow you to save broadcasts that have already been recorded so they don’t get lost if they go over their allotted time limit or get interrupted by someone else signing in on another device while yours is still broadcasting live!

When scheduling an Instagram Live video with Buffer, there are two important settings we recommend making sure are enabled: “Auto Publish from Camera Roll” and “Automatically Reshare Posts from Camera Roll.” Auto publishing allows us to automatically publish new content from our feed whenever it's published (which occurs every hour). Automatically resharing posts means that all posts created within Buffer will be saved as drafts so they may be shared again later without having to create them again from scratch!

Host an Instagram Contest.

Hosting an Instagram contest is a great way to get people excited about your brand. You can do this by making something simple and fun, like asking them to create their own photo or video with your product, which you'll then post on your Instagram page.

When hosting an Instagram contest, make sure you clearly explain what the rules of the contest are and how participants can enter. Make sure that there's only one entry per person (and no exceptions). Also keep in mind that there are other ways for people to win besides submitting a photo or video: they could gain bonus points if they share the contest on Facebook or Twitter or follow your company's social media accounts on those platforms, or if they're already following you on Instagram but haven't entered yet—this is called “double-dipping.”

Add Instagram to your other marketing channels.

One of the best ways to make sure your Instagram marketing efforts are successful is to integrate them into your overall marketing strategy. This means making sure that every piece of content you publish on your website, social media, and email marketing includes a link back to your Instagram account. You may have heard about this before as it’s called link building, but here we’re talking about specific links to specific pieces of content.

When someone clicks on one of these links from another platform (like Facebook), they will be sent directly over to Instagram where they can find out more information about what they just clicked on or follow you if they like what you do!

Track your success with Instagram Insights.

Tracking your success with Instagram Insights is an integral part of any successful Instagram marketing strategy. When you set up your account, you'll be asked to connect it to a Facebook account so that Instagram can import some of the data. This will help you understand how many people you reached, influenced, and engaged with your content.

Use this information to track the following:

• How many likes did your posts get? How does this compare with previous posts? Is it trending up or down?
• What are people saying about the images in comments or elsewhere on social media? Did anyone share them on their own accounts? What links were included in those shares? Did they send traffic directly from their feeds back through yours? Were there any links shared from other websites that linked back through yours (in which case, congratulations!) Or was there no actionable traffic at all–just a bunch of noise that didn't result in conversions for either party involved (and thus also not something worthy of celebration).

Include user-generated content in your feed (and even ads).

User-generated content (UGC) is a powerful way to build trust with your followers and customers. It’s also a great way to get free marketing tools, like images and videos that you can use in your ads. When you use UGC in your Instagram feed, it says “Hey guys! I care about you and I want my followers to know how much I appreciate them!”

Take advantage of this opportunity by asking for user-generated content on your Instagram bio or in posts. You can also offer incentives if they share their photos with you—perhaps they could even win something cool from the prize closet! The more UGC people post on your page, the better it looks for new users who visit it (and even existing ones). And if some of these photos or videos are really good quality? Repost them as paid ads instead!

Consistency and quality is key but don’t be afraid to try out new ideas, test different approaches, use hashtags, and of course post regularly!

If you want to get the most out of your Instagram marketing campaign, consistency and quality are key. Don’t be afraid to try out new ideas, test different approaches, use hashtags, and of course post regularly!

If you keep things fresh and share content that is relevant to your audience you are more likely to grow your following.

Conclusion

Hopefully, you now have a better understanding of how to use Instagram as a marketing tool. If not, don't worry; just keep experimenting and trying new things. There are an endless number of ways that you can use Instagram to market your business or product—the only limit is your creativity!