How to reach your audience on Instagram

Did you know that we spend about 6 hours a day on the internet and almost 2 hours on social media? A fact that requires us not to underestimate the potential of Instagram Marketing .

67% of active online users are subscribed to Instagram (a figure that emerged in Digital 2021, the latest report by WeAreSocial and Hootsuite) and this highlights the strategic value it has for corporate marketing .

Every day the platform releases new updates and functions so as to make the work of social media managers a continuous challenge.

With some tests , precautions and constant analysis of one 's strategy , interacting with the community and publishing new and interesting content , it is possible to obtain excellent results in terms of business .

Here are some tips to make the most of Instagram Marketing

1. Use a business or creator account

It may seem trivial but there are many companies that have profiles that are not set up correctly. To switch from a personal profile to a corporate or creator type account , just go to the settings and change the type under the account item.

The main advantages of this type of profile are:

• the ability to access a whole range of statistics that a standard personal profile cannot display
• the ability to add contact information and a call to action
• the ability to create ads and configure shopping on the social network.

2. Set clear goals

Establish why you use social media and what results you want to achieve : awareness, establish a relationship with your current customers, look for potential customers, improve brand awareness, sell products.

In short, establish what are the real priorities and reasons why you want to use Instagram and make sure it is the right tool for what you want to achieve.

3. Study your target

Study your typical customer and do preliminary research to understand if you can reach that audience through the platform. Remember that Instagram, like other social networks, are tools and therefore must be implemented on the basis of business needs.

4. Optimize your profile and bio

The first thing a user does when they arrive on your company profile is read the bio .

Write an interesting text and remember to insert a call to action. Furthermore, the bio, at the moment, is the only space on Instagram where it is possible to insert links . Use this to your advantage by inserting a link that refers to the website or contact form.

Use the bio to explain the reasons why a person should follow you and optimize the description using keywords (famous Instagram SEO) related to your brand.

Configure the profile so that there are all company contacts and if you have one or more, write what the official hashtag of the brand is.

5. Use an impact profile photo

Size also matters on IG. Use a 320 x 320 pixel format to save your profile picture. If you work on a brand's instagram marketing, use the logo to make the page recognizable, safe and reliable.

6. Instagram Marketing: Create captivating visuals

Although Instagram, according to its head Adam Mosseri , is gradually becoming an entertainment and video-conscious app, the social network was born as an instant photo sharing network. Use social media to post visual content that is useful, valuable, and relevant to your target audience .

The platform prefers content that increases the time spent by users on the social network, therefore it publishes videos, carousels, reels, photos and animations. Use Instagram to build buzz around your brand, tell behind-the-scenes stories about your business, and build anticipation around the products and/or services you plan to promote.

7. Use all the elements that the social network makes available to you

Whenever it releases a new feature, Instagram tends to favor its views , partly to promote the new content , partly because it doesn't have enough material in its repertoire yet. Then take advantage of each app update to increase the visibility of your content and reach new audiences.

Use live broadcasts, reels, stories and posts to share tutorials, updates, news, collaborations and new product launches.

8. Be recognizable. Create your own unique style

Define the color palette and always use the same fonts . Remember that the image that the brand has on Instagram must be consistent with the rest of the brand's online and offline communication.

9. Use hashtags sparingly

The era of the endless series of hashtags is long gone. The platform allows you to use up to a maximum of 30 hashtags but it is recommended to use 5, maximum 9 since the social network could intercept the post as potential spam. For the choice of keywords you can use these parameters: relevance and specificity for your audience niche . Also, #s should not encourage #like4like and other pound signs on the app's ban list.

10. Engage with the community

Each social network is made up of a network of people . Publishing self-referential content without interacting with the community won't take your business far.

Comment on other users ' posts and always answer questions .

Create polls and polls to share with your followers to build and solidify the relationship.

11. Instagram Marketing Tips: Leverage Stories

Stories are a powerful way to promote newly published posts, engage with the community, and tell something about the brand. In stories it is possible to insert stickers, gifs, countdowns and other elements useful for narration and interaction with followers. For example, you can use Stories to survey your preferences regarding the color of a new product and/or answer questions about the services you offer. Take advantage of the highlights (highlights) to save the most significant stories grouped into useful categories. If you manage a restaurant, for example, you can insert the menu among the highlights.

12. Countdown

Use the countdown to create anticipation for a live broadcast or generate interest for launching a tutorial on using a new product or presenting a live show with an important guest. In short, experiment with all the functions at your disposal to increase engagement with the public.

13. Write long captions and captions optimized

The main goal of the social network is to keep people on the platform as much as possible . So using long descriptions in the post increases the user's time spent on the content. Enter the most relevant information in the first two lines of text and use emojis and spaces to divide the copy into many small paragraphs that have a title .

Instagram considers itself a social network attentive to inclusion, therefore it is good to remember to go to the advanced profile settings and write an alternative text to make the image understandable to those who do not have the opportunity to see it.

14. Post at the right time

Use insights to understand when are the best times to publish your content. They usually coincide with the times when your niche is most present on the social network. This data is different for each profile, so the advice is to plan a first test phase in which you experiment with different times and days of publication and then adapt the editorial calendar based on what comes out of the test.

15. Use ads

Well yes, social networks are not free.

You need to buy spaces of visibility that otherwise you wouldn't be able to reach organically. Therefore it is recommended to "push" posts by targeting ads based on:

• demographic data : gender, age, language;
• specific interests and behaviors on and off the app
• geolocation : city, province, region, state.
• placements in the app : explore section, stories, reels.

Thanks to ADS you have the possibility to show the content you post to new potentially interested audiences.

16. Use influencer partnerships

Intercept a shortlist of potential influencers to collaborate with and to test and review your product/service. There are many users who make a purchase after seeing a product promoted by an influencer they follow and trust, so why not take advantage of this to increase sales?

You can also use the sticker ( formerly swipe up ) to invite the current influencer to use a personalized link for the sale of the promoted product; in this way you will be able to monitor visits to the website and purchases generated by that specific campaign.

17. Start with the numbers. Analyze the profile, the insights and calibrate the shot

Always analyze your posts and review your strategy from time to time in the light of a few considerations: data extrapolated from insights, numbers relating to collaborations and specific KPIs for the goals you have set for yourself.