Did you know that 1 billion people use Instagram each month? Second to Facebook, Instagram is one of the most used social media apps, with people logging in six times per day on average. 

With these numbers in mind, it’s clear that your business has great potential to reach many consumers. But, just like posting to Facebook or Twitter, you need a great marketing strategy or else your posts will go unnoticed or ignored.

What can you do to better market your business and your products or services on Instagram? Keep reading to find out!

Instagram is constantly changing, check out this blog to learn more about recent updates and announcements that have come from the platform.

1. Decide what you want to post and how you'll post it on Instagram.

Before you start building an Instagram marketing strategy, you need to ask yourself the following questions:

• Who is your Instagram audience?
• What is the message that you want to convey?
• What is the content that you want your customers to see?
• How do you want your customers to see the content?

Once you answer these questions, you can then decide how you want to share your content.

Right now, the options available on Instagram are posting pictures, videos, Instagram Stories and live video, and each option will have a different outcome than the other. For example, videos currently gain 38 percent more engagement than image posts on Instagram. So, think about the importance of this for your page based on the different questions above.

Another thing to think about is the popularity of Instagram Stories. Five hundred million people use Instagram Stories daily, so your business should be posting to Stories daily. Because Stories disappear after 24 hours, this gives consumers a short amount of time to take action and engage with your post. However, some content is better left for photo or video that will always stay on your profile, so keep that in mind. 

For example, if you're having a temporary weekend sale, your sale items will make perfect ephemeral content for your Instagram Stories. But, more permanent content such as photos of your store layout or employee shout-outs should stay on your profile. 

To summarize, your business can see positive results from all four of the options to promote on Instagram, and some methods may be better for your business than others. The trick is to see what works and what doesn’t. Fortunately, there are many analytics tools to determine that, as well as track your overall progress. Here are some:

• Instagram Insights
• Simply Measured
• Keyhole

2. Consistency in Instagram marketing is key.

When people search for your business, they want to see the most relevant result.

The same goes for your Instagram feed. In fact, big brands on Instagram tend to use the same filter on their posts, and this helps with relevancy, as well as solidifying the brand’s identity with customers.

While this may be the case, this doesn't necessarily mean that your business must use the same filter for all of your posts. However, it’s crucial that the content that you publish stays relevant and consistently matches your brand’s voice.

How often you post to Instagram is equally important. People across the Internet argue that the amount ranges from three to ten posts per day, but as a small business, you can keep it to about one to two posts per day. If you’re worried about your posting frequency, or if you think you could post a little more than two posts, just remember to keep it consistent.

3. Always use hashtags on Instagram.

If you post to Instagram, you must use hashtags, period. Even with just one hashtag, your post could see a 12.6 percent increase in engagement. Hashtags serve to categorize posts and allow users to view the content that they truly want to see.

If you own a local coffee shop, tagging your posts with #coffee is a no-brainer. However, you’ll want to aim for 11 hashtags (if possible), and you'll also want to research which hashtags are getting the most traffic. RiteTag is a great research tool to discover the best hashtags to use for your posts. 

But, make sure these hashtags are relevant to your posts and, most importantly, your company’s brand voice.

Final Thoughts

With the rising popularity of Instagram, your business can reach many new customers. However, you must have a solid plan to reach, and more importantly, retain these new customers. 

The most important takeaways to tell your Instagram story and build the best strategy are:

1. Know your Instagram audience and how you want to reach them.
2. Keep your Instagram posts relevant and consistent.
3. Back up your Instagram posts with the best hashtags to generate the most traffic. 

Are you interested in learning more? Check out the ways that RevLocal can help build your online presence!