Connect with us

MARKETING

Strategizing Your Instagram Marketing – DigitalMarketer

Published

on

Strategizing Your Instagram Marketing - DigitalMarketer

The social network landscape is constantly changing, and Instagram is currently the fastest growing social network. There are 1 billion active users on Instagram, so it’s no surprise that marketers should take part in this growing phenomenon.

While Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are still great ways to connect with customers and build relationships, Instagram is quickly becoming one of the most important social media channels for businesses.

Instagram is especially great for small businesses that want to increase their customer base without spending much money on advertising. It’s also an excellent platform for B2-B companies looking to reach potential customers in their industry.

With that in mind, we will go through eleven quick tips today that will help you improve your Instagram marketing. You will learn to write great captions, engage with your followers, and utilize other Instagram tools to grow your business.

Create An Instagram Business Account:

You probably already have a personal account, but you need to create a separate business account if you want to promote and sell products on the platform.

Advertisement

A business account gives you access to tools that make it easier to manage your profile, including analytics and insights that can help you grow your audience.

Additionally, you can use it to share photos with your customers and fans and engage with them more personally.

You can get one by following these steps:

  • Go to www.instagram.com/business/. Click on “Create an Account” in the top right corner of the page. 
  • Fill out all the required information on this page (e-mail address, username, and password).
  •  Select whether your business will be verified or unverified (verified accounts are recommended).
  • Choose whether you want to link your Facebook page with your new Instagram account (do this if you have one). 

Once all of these steps have been completed successfully, you’ll be able to log into your new business account.

Identify Your Ideal Audience:

The first step to any successful marketing campaign is knowing who you’re selling to. While Instagram’s user base is more prominent than ever before, it’s still a very niche platform. Determine who is most likely to buy from you and what they are looking for.

This can be done by looking at the demographics of your target customer base and identifying their interests and behaviors.

Strategizing Your Instagram Marketing DigitalMarketer

The above analytics shows everything age, gender, and most active times so businesses can engage with their audience more effectively.

And once you have identified your target audience, it’s time to tailor your content accordingly. This means creating content that appeals specifically to those users rather than posting the same thing across multiple platforms or accounts.

Advertisement

Tell A Compelling Story:

Storytelling is one of the most effective ways of connecting with people and building an emotional connection with them. It can be used in advertising campaigns, product descriptions, and even social media content.

The best brands on Instagram have a compelling story that speaks directly to their audience and makes them want to engage with the brand.

The key thing is knowing what kind of story will resonate with your target audience. Here is an example of @coastalcollectivemarketing agency:

1655516206 992 Strategizing Your Instagram Marketing DigitalMarketer

Coastalcollectivemarketing is a digital marketing agency. This brand sells various services to its clients. To make their audience engage with their brand on a personal level, they are sharing a back story on this post.

The story should be easy to understand and delivered in an interesting way that appeals to different kinds of people, including those who aren’t familiar with your industry or products yet.

Write A Bio:

Writing an Instagram bio can feel like a daunting task when you think about how many people will read it, but your bio is essential to creating a successful profile on Instagram.

Not only your Instagram bio is the place to make a great first impression, but it is also a place to appeal directly to your target audience and showcase your brand voice.

Advertisement

When you have a clear idea of why you’re using Instagram, it becomes easier to write a bio that communicates who you are, what you do, and why people should follow you.

You have 150 characters in your bio. To make it outstanding, try adding the following:

  1. Include a call-to-action (CTA) if possible
  2. Write short copy that’s easy for followers to read
  3. Be authentic and transparent with your brand voice
  4. Include relevant keywords to your industry
  5. Use hashtags

Here is an example of a Content Marketing Institute Instagram bio:

1655516206 456 Strategizing Your Instagram Marketing DigitalMarketer

As you see, the Content Marketing Institute community made it clear in just a few words who they are, what they do, and what benefit you will get from paying a visit to the site.

Write Great Captions:

One of the best ways to get more comments on Instagram is to write a good caption. Captions can be up to 2,200 characters long and include emojis and 30 hashtags. That’s a lot of space to work with!

However, writing a good Instagram caption can be challenging and tricky. After all, your followers are bombarded with posts from friends and family every day, so how can you make them stop and pay attention to what you have to say?

Here is a trick you can use to write an outstanding caption:

The first thing to consider when writing a caption is your audience. Who is going to read this caption? The caption should be catered towards them and what they will find interesting.

Advertisement

Here is a great example of @Whole30recipes:

1655516206 768 Strategizing Your Instagram Marketing DigitalMarketer

Take a look at the caption. It explains almost everything about the image you need to know. For example, it shares the ingredients and uses a convincing tone that makes you want to try this recipe out.

This is the amount of information that you should include in your caption section to engage your existing and new audiences.

Use Eye-Catching Images:

Some of the best Instagram accounts are those that use eye-catching images. This is especially true for accounts that post regularly and have a large following. Posts with images stand out from the crowd and attract more attention than those without them.

It’s because, before anything else, the audience will be looking at the image. And in that first split second, they decide whether they want to continue reading (scrolling) or move on.

To stop people from scrolling and get them to read your text and take action on it, you will need some attention-grabbing images that describe the business you are running.

Let’s take a look at an example:

Advertisement
1655516206 370 Strategizing Your Instagram Marketing DigitalMarketer

Here is an excellent example of all that I mentioned above. Travel & Food blog uses outstanding images describing the purpose of their Instagram blog. You don’t need to read any captions to understand that.

Use Related Hashtags:

Another easy way to increase Instagram’s audience is by using related hashtags.

Hashtags are used on Instagram to search for content and are critical to growing your account. In fact, posts with hashtags receive 12.6% more engagement than those without them.

Hashtags are words or phrases that describe a post. And since Instagram is a visually-driven platform, it makes sense that visual content like photos and videos would be categorized by hashtags.

By using relevant hashtags on your posts, you can reach new people who don’t follow you on Instagram yet but are interested in seeing content like yours.

The example of @dunkindonutsperu makes it easier to comprehend:

1655516206 733 Strategizing Your Instagram Marketing DigitalMarketer

Here are some effective ways to use hashtags for your business:

Related hashtags: Use hashtags that relate directly to your niche and expertise.

Advertisement

Specific hashtags: Be as clear as possible when using hashtags, especially if you’re in a crowded niche.

Branching out with geographical and lifestyle-based hashtags: Using these can help you reach new audiences by making your brand more relatable to people who aren’t already familiar with what you do.

Try looking at top Instagram blogs in your niche and see what kind of hashtags they use more often.

Geotag In Posts:

One of the things Instagram does, which is so great for travelers and photographers, is to allow you to Geotag your Instagram posts. Using geotags on Instagram is a great way to gain followers.

Because people are interested in what’s going on around them, they may search for posts in their area, and if you’re posting them, they will be able to see your content. This helps increase engagement with your content.

If you are on Instagram to help users find your business or brand, geotagging is also a great way!

Advertisement

Here is a great example by @GloriaJeans to look at:

1655516206 225 Strategizing Your Instagram Marketing DigitalMarketer

Gloria Jeans is an international coffee shop. Here in this post, you see they are using location tags to help visitors know where they can benefit from this fantastic offer!

How to geotag your Instagram post?

Step 1: On Instagram, click on the filter icon below the caption field. When you do, you will notice an option to add your location. Tap “Add Location” and type in the name of the area you want to geotag with.

Step 2: When choosing a location, make sure it is associated with your content. For example, if you post a photo of the Golden Gate Bridge, then tag that specific landmark or place.

Step 3: Once you save your image and post it, your Instagram followers can now see exactly where you are when they view your photos in their feeds.

Keep Your Audience Engaged:

Followers are important, but engagement is even more valuable. If you want people to take action on your posts, whether buying something or commenting on your content, you need to make sure they’re paying attention and are engaged with what you’re posting.

Advertisement

The best way to do this is by creating relevant and timely content. For example, if your brand is launching a new product, share the news immediately so that your followers will be notified. 

@MINISO is doing a great job over here:

1655516206 502 Strategizing Your Instagram Marketing DigitalMarketer

Get creative with your posts, and keep them fresh so that followers continue seeing value in what you have to say.

Another excellent way for brands to engage with their followers is through contests and giveaways.

Use Instagram Stories:

Instagram Stories are a way to share moments from your day in a slideshow format that disappears after 24 hours. They’re great for sharing short, quick moments of your life, such as what you’re doing or where you are.

You can use the Instagram story feature to enhance and add value to the content you wrote on Instagram. So, if you have recently published a post, it’s a good idea to share some key takeaways or behind-the-scenes footage of the piece being created as part of your Instagram story.

Here are three ways to create stories for your Instagram blog:

Advertisement
  1. Share The Main Points Of Your Post
  2. Create A Q&A Session
  3. Test Content Ideas

Build Relationships With Other Users:

Building an Instagram following takes time and dedication, but just like any other social network, it can be a great place to connect with people in your niche and build relationships with other users.

Here are some ways you can use to connect with users:

Follow people in your industry: 

This is a good way to build relationships on Instagram. Go ahead and follow people who are doing the same thing as you. If they don’t follow you back, that’s okay; it’s nothing personal!

Once they receive your follow request, they’ll likely visit your page and see what your account is all about. If they like what they see, they’ll probably follow you back.

Comment on others’ posts:

Commenting on others’ posts is an easy way to get noticed and show them that you care about their content. 

Advertisement

Make sure your comment isn’t generic and will stand out amongst the rest. For example, “Love this” or “Awesome photo” won’t help much.

Like other people’s photos:

Liking photos might seem like a simple task, but it can make a big difference in building relationships on Instagram. By leaving likes, you give them a reason to notice you and visit your account.

Conclusion

If I have not disclosed the fact already, there are many avenues above that you can take advantage of to market your business on Instagram. 

Hopefully, you got some insights from the tips above to help you further your Instagram marketing tactics.


What Does it Take to be the Head of Marketing



Source link

Keep an eye on what we are doing
Be the first to get latest updates and exclusive content straight to your email inbox.
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Invalid email address

MARKETING

How To Combine PR and Content Marketing Superpowers To Achieve Business Goals

Published

on

A figure pulls open a dress shirt to reveal the term PR on a Superman-like costume, reflecting the superpower resulting from combining content and PR.

A transformative shift is happening, and it’s not AI.

The aisle between public relations and content marketing is rapidly narrowing. If you’re smart about the convergence, you can forever enhance your brand’s storytelling.

The goals and roles of content marketing and PR overlap more and more. The job descriptions look awfully similar. Shrinking budgets and a shrewd eye for efficiency mean you and your PR pals could face the chopping block if you don’t streamline operations and deliver on the company’s goals (because marketing communications is always first to be axed, right?).

Yikes. Let’s take a big, deep breath. This is not a threat. It’s an opportunity.

Advertisement

Reach across the aisle to PR and streamline content creation, improve distribution strategies, and get back to the heart of what you both are meant to do: Build strong relationships and tell impactful stories.

So, before you panic-post that open-to-work banner on LinkedIn, consider these tips from content marketing, PR, and journalism pros who’ve figured out how to thrive in an increasingly narrowing content ecosystem.

1. See journalists as your audience

Savvy pros know the ability to tell an impactful story — and support it with publish-ready collateral — grounds successful media relationships. And as a content marketer, your skills in storytelling and connecting with audiences, including journalists, naturally support your PR pals’ media outreach.

Strategic storytelling creates content focused on what the audience needs and wants. Sharing content on your blog or social media builds relationships with journalists who source those channels for story ideas, event updates, and subject matter experts.

“Embedding PR strategies in your content marketing pieces informs your audience and can easily be picked up by media,” says Alex Sanchez, chief experience officer at BeWell, New Mexico’s Health Insurance Marketplace. “We have seen reporters do this many times, pulling stories from our blogs and putting them in the nightly news — most of the time without even reaching out to us.”

Acacia James, weekend producer/morning associate producer at WTOP radio in Washington, D.C., says blogs and social media posts are helpful to her work. “If I see a story idea, and I see that they’re willing to share information, it’s easier to contact them — and we can also backlink their content. It’s huge for us to be able to use every avenue.” 

Advertisement

Kirby Winn, manager of PR at ImpactLife, says reporters and assignment editors are key consumers of their content. “And I don’t mean a news release that just hit their inbox. They’re going to our blog and consuming our stories, just like any other audience member,” he says. “Our organization has put more focus into content marketing in the past few years — it supports a media pitch so well and highlights the stories we have to tell.”

Storytelling attracts earned media that might not pick up the generic news topic. “It’s one thing to pitch a general story about how we help consumers sign up for low-cost health insurance,” Alex says. “Now, imagine a single mom who just got a plan after years of thinking it was too expensive. She had a terrible car accident, and the $60,000 ER bill that would have ruined her financially was covered. Now that’s a story journalists will want to cover, and that will be relatable to their audience and ours.” 

2. Learn the media outlet’s audience

Seventy-three percent of reporters say one-fourth or less of the stories pitched are relevant to their audiences, according to Cision’s 2023 State of the Media Report (registration required).

PR pros are known for building relationships with journalists, while content marketers thrive in building communities around content. Merge these best practices to build desirable content that works for your target audience and the media’s audiences simultaneously.

WTOP’s Acacia James says sources who show they’re ready to share helpful, relevant content often win pitches for coverage. “In radio, we do a lot of research on who is listening to us, and we’re focused on a prototype called ‘Mike and Jen’ — normal, everyday people in Generation X … So when we get press releases and pitches, we ask, ‘How interested will Mike and Jen be in this story?’” 

3. Deliver the full content package (and make journalists’ jobs easier)

Cranking out content to their media outlet’s standards has never been tougher for journalists. Newsrooms are significantly understaffed, and anything you can do to make their lives easier will be appreciated and potentially rewarded with coverage. Content marketers are built to think about all the elements to tell the story through multiple mediums and channels.

Advertisement

“Today’s content marketing pretty much provides a package to the media outlet,” says So Young Pak, director of media relations at MedStar Washington Hospital Center. “PR is doing a lot of storytelling work in advance of media publication. We (and content marketing) work together to provide the elements to go with each story — photos, subject matter experts, patients, videos, and data points, if needed.”   

At WTOP, the successful content package includes audio. “As a radio station, we are focused on high-quality sound,” Acacia James says. “Savvy sources know to record and send us voice memos, and then we pull cuts from the audio … You will naturally want to do someone a favor if they did you one — like providing helpful soundbites, audio, and newsworthy stories.”  

While production value matters to some media, you shouldn’t stress about it. “In the past decade, how we work with reporters has changed. Back in the day, if they couldn’t be there in person, they weren’t going to interview your expert,” says Jason Carlton, an accredited PR professional and manager of marketing and communications at Intermountain Health. “During COVID, we had to switch to virtual interviewing. Now, many journalists are OK with running a Teams or Zoom interview they’ve done with an expert on the news.”

BeWell’s Alex Sanchez agrees. “I’ve heard old school PR folks cringe at the idea of putting up a Zoom video instead of getting traditional video interviews. It doesn’t really matter to consumers. Focus on the story, on the timeliness, and the relevance. Consumers want authenticity, not super stylized, stiff content.”

4. Unite great minds to maximize efficiency

Everyone needs to set aside the debate about which team — PR or content marketing — gets credit for the resulting media coverage.

At MedStar Washington Hospital Center, So Young and colleagues adopt a collaborative mindset on multichannel stories. “We can get the interview and gather information for all the different pieces — blog, audio, video, press release, internal newsletter, or magazine. That way, we’re not trying to figure things out individually, and the subject matter experts only have to have that conversation once,” she says.

Advertisement

Regular, cross-team meetings are essential to understand the best channels for reaching key audiences, including the media. A story that began life as a press release might reap SEO and earned media gold if it’s strategized as a blog, video, and media pitch.

“At Intermountain Health, we have individual teams for media relations, marketing, social media, and hospital communications. That setup works well because it allows us to bring in the people who are the given experts in those areas,” says Intermountain’s Jason Carlton. “Together, we decide if a story is best for the blog, a media pitch, or a mix of channels — that way, we avoid duplicating work and the risk of diluting the story’s impact.”

5. Measure what matters

Cutting through the noise to earn media mentions requires keen attention to metrics. Since content marketing and PR metrics overlap, synthesizing the data in your team meetings can save time while streamlining your storytelling efforts.

“For content marketers, using analytical tools such as GA4 can help measure the effectiveness of their content campaigns and landing pages to determine meaningful KPIs such as organic traffic, keyword rankings, lead generation, and conversion rates,” says John Martino, director of digital marketing for Visiting Angels. “PR teams can use media coverage and social interactions to assess user engagement and brand awareness. A unified and omnichannel approach can help both teams demonstrate their value in enhancing brand visibility, engagement, and overall business success.”

To track your shared goals, launch a shared dashboard that helps tell the combined “story of your stories” to internal and executive teams. Among the metrics to monitor:

  • Page views: Obviously, this queen of metrics continues to be important across PR and content marketing. Take your analysis to the next level by evaluating which niche audiences are contributing to these views to further hone your storytelling targets, including media outlets.
  • Earned media mentions: Through a media tracker service or good old Google Alerts, you can tally the echo of your content marketing and PR. Look at your site’s referral traffic report to identify media outlets that send traffic to your blog or other web pages.
  • Organic search queries: Dive into your analytics platform to surface organic search queries that lead to visitors. Build from those questions to develop stories that further resonate with your audience and your targeted media.
  • On-page actions: When visitors show up on your content, what are they doing? What do they click? Where do they go next? Building next-step pathways is your bread and butter in content marketing — and PR can use them as a natural pipeline for media to pick up more stories, angles, and quotes.

But perhaps the biggest metric to track is team satisfaction. Who on the collaborative team had the most fun writing blogs, producing videos, or calling the news stations? Lean into the natural skills and passions of your team members to distribute work properly, maximize the team output, and improve relationships with the media, your audience, and internal teams.

“It’s really trying to understand the problem to solve — the needle to move — and determining a plan that will help them achieve their goal,” Jason says. “If you don’t have those measurable objectives, you’re not going to know whether you made a difference.”

Advertisement

Don’t fear the merger

Whether you deliberately work together or not, content marketing and public relations are tied together. ImpactLife’s Kirby Winn explains, “As soon as we begin to talk about (ourselves) to a reporter who doesn’t know us, they are certainly going to check out our stories.”

But consciously uniting PR and content marketing will ease the challenges you both face. Working together allows you to save time, eliminate duplicate work, and gain free time to tell more stories and drive them into impactful media placements.

Register to attend Content Marketing World in San Diego. Use the code BLOG100 to save $100. Can’t attend in person this year? Check out the Digital Pass for access to on-demand session recordings from the live event through the end of the year.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT:

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

Source link

Advertisement
Keep an eye on what we are doing
Be the first to get latest updates and exclusive content straight to your email inbox.
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Invalid email address
Continue Reading

MARKETING

Trends in Content Localization – Moz

Published

on

Trends in Content Localization - Moz

Multinational fast food chains are one of the best-known examples of recognizing that product menus may sometimes have to change significantly to serve distinct audiences. The above video is just a short run-through of the same business selling smokehouse burgers, kofta, paneer, and rice bowls in an effort to appeal to people in a variety of places. I can’t personally judge the validity of these representations, but what I can see is that, in such cases, you don’t merely localize your content but the products on which your content is founded.

Sometimes, even the branding of businesses is different around the world; what we call Burger King in America is Hungry Jack’s in Australia, Lays potato chips here are Sabritas in Mexico, and DiGiorno frozen pizza is familiar in the US, but Canada knows it as Delissio.

Tales of product tailoring failures often become famous, likely because some of them may seem humorous from a distance, but cultural sensitivity should always be taken seriously. If a brand you are marketing is on its way to becoming a large global seller, the best insurance against reputation damage and revenue loss as a result of cultural insensitivity is to employ regional and cultural experts whose first-hand and lived experiences can steward the organization in acting with awareness and respect.

Source link

Advertisement
Keep an eye on what we are doing
Be the first to get latest updates and exclusive content straight to your email inbox.
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Invalid email address
Continue Reading

MARKETING

How AI Is Redefining Startup GTM Strategy

Published

on

How AI Is Redefining Startup GTM Strategy

AI and startups? It just makes sense.

(more…)

Keep an eye on what we are doing
Be the first to get latest updates and exclusive content straight to your email inbox.
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Invalid email address
Continue Reading

Trending

Follow by Email
RSS