With over 1 billion users, Instagram can be an invaluable resource for businesses to create brand awareness and share more creative, visual content. Today, creating a compelling brand story is the focus of many digital marketers. Fortunately, Instagram offers a vast array of business tools created to enhance marketing strategies and engage customers. With dynamic features such as branded content ads and live interactive stories, it is clear why many companies have delved into the world of Instagram.
Led primarily by Gen Zen and millennial users, Instagram is constantly evolving its platform to optimize the content users see in their feeds. Instagram relies on an algorithm that determines the order of photos and videos you see based on the likelihood you’ll be interested in the content, your relationship with the person posting, and the timeliness of the post. Essentially, the algorithm is designed so that users will see more relevant posts (i.e., content they most often engage with) first.
Although this may not seem problematic on the surface, the algorithm has become a sense of frustration for small business owners as organic reach becomes harder and harder to come by, especially when companies often look to reach new audiences who may not be engaging with their brand already. It is important for businesses to make relationship-building a priority. Earlier this year Forbes released an article stating, “Make sure you actively engage with your audience and you post content that’s going to excite people and prompt a quick engagement when they see it on their feed. Do this and your content will be more likely to appear for a larger group of users.”
With this in mind, here are a few helpful practices to include in your business-marketing strategy to enhance your reach and create authentic connections that can further your communication objectives on Instagram:
Post videos. Producing quality video content can increase the amount of time users spend interacting with your post – leading to increased engagement. Videos can also be a great way to showcase your brand organically and authentically.
Strategize the cadence of your posts. In order to push your content to the top of users’ feeds, it is critical you post often. This increases the chances of your audience seeing your content and allows followers to engage with your posts frequently. Instagram Insights is a great platform for businesses looking to analyze the demographics of audiences, the content they’re enjoying, and when they spend time on the app. Scheduling your posts accordingly will help optimize visibility and reach.
Utilize Instagram stories. Using the Instagram story feature can be another great way to actively engage with your audiences while promoting products, partnerships and building brand awareness. Afterall, one-third of the most viewed stories on Instagram are from businesses. One of my favorite aspects of Instagram stories is the share feature. This allows you to share posts and bring more traffic to your page. For example, if you posted a photo over a year ago that received a lot of likes, you can use Instagram stories to resurface it and bring attention back to the post. Using the story feature to post polls or share updates can also be a solid strategy to engage with users and increase interaction, while also getting a better sense of the needs of your target audience.
Engage with your audiences. One of the easiest ways to keep your content prioritized in Instagram’s algorithm is through likes and comments. Forbes council member Scott Douglas Clary says, “Proactively engaging with other users on the platform and followers of your page through likes, tags and comments can show that you’ve created meaningful relationships between users.” You can connect with your followers and make authentic relationships in a lot of different ways. If someone posts a photo of themselves using your product or service, a simple acknowledgment can go a long way. For example, Starbucks recently posted a photo of a summery drink to their Instagram and wrote back to nearly every user that commented saying things like “Glad you like it!” and “If you think it looks delicious, just wait until you taste it!” This is a great way to pull your audience in and make them feel like they are a part of your brand story.
As Instagram continues to evolve, don’t be afraid to try new approaches and tailor practices to your marketing strategy. For the latest announcements, updates and best practices visit the Instagram Business Blog or other Instagram related blog content.
Have you noticed interesting engagement patterns on your business’ Instagram? What strategies have you used to cut through the noise? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below: