Your complete guide to Instagram marketing

Instagram is a social media platform that has grown exponentially over the past few years with more than two billion active users worldwide.

Although it started out as a photo sharing app, in more recent years it has evolved into a powerful marketing tool for businesses of all sizes, and industries.

By leveraging Instagram marketing features, marketers can reach their target audience, build brand awareness, increase engagement, and drive conversions. In this guide, we’ll share everything you need to know about successful Instagram marketing.

What is Instagram marketing?

Instagram marketing enables brands to promote their products or services through the Instagram platform. The most successful Instagram marketing campaigns create engaging content and use various features and tools, including collaborating with influencers, running ads and leveraging analytics to reach more of their target audience, and drive business growth.

How to build an Instagram business account

If you’re new to Instagram and want to know how to create a business account from scratch, we’ve got you covered. Below are three easy steps to get you started.

1) Create a business profile on Instagram (rather than a personal profile)  – by creating a business profile, you can access valuable analytics that provide insights into your audience, and post performance. Business profiles also come with features that aren’t available on personal profiles, such as the ability to add a Contact button, and create Instagram ads. You’ll also have access to Instagram’s library of music that’s cleared for commercial use, making it easier to incorporate music into your posts without worrying about copyright issues.

2) Complete your bio  – your bio is one of the most important parts of your Instagram profile. It’s a short description that tells people who you are and what you do. A good bio is clear, concise, and gives people a reason to follow you. Include relevant keywords and a call-to-action to encourage people to engage with your brand.

3) Add a profile picture  – your profile picture should be a recognisable image that represents your brand. If you have a logo, use that. If not, choose an image that’s closely associated with your brand.

How to keep your profile up to date

Once you’ve set up your profile, it can be easy to forget about it and just focus on content creation, but keeping your Instagram profile up to date maintains a strong brand presence, and helps you achieve your Instagram marketing goals.

Your bio is the first thing people see when they visit your profile, so schedule a regular review to check if any information or links need updating. You can also add any new products or services you’re offering, special promotions, or upcoming events.

You can also use Instagram Story Highlights to save and showcase your favourite Instagram Stories on your profile. They appear in a horizontal bar below the bio section and can be organised into different categories. By using Highlights, content is visible on your profile beyond the usual 24-hour window of Instagram Stories.

Different types of Instagram posts

There are different types of Instagram posts you can create and if possible, it’s best to use as many as you can in your Instagram marketing to mix up your feed, and keep it interesting. 

1. Photos are the most basic type of Instagram post for showcasing your products, promoting your brand, or sharing behind-the-scenes content.
2. Videos (Reels) are a great and highly engaging way to show off your products, share tutorials/demonstrations, and create promotional videos.
3. Carousel posts allow you to share multiple photos or videos in a single post, which are swiped through to view.
4. Instagram Stories can be used to share more casual, behind-the-scenes content with interactive features.

By using a mix of these different posts, your Instagram profile will be fresh and engaging, showcasing your brand or business in a variety of ways, and reaching a wider audience.

Whichever type of post you choose, write an engaging but keyword rich caption to increase engagement, and audience reach. A well-written caption provides context for your post and helps your followers understand the message you want to convey. This is particularly important for photos and videos that may not be self-explanatory.

Captions can also include a call-to-action, such as asking followers to visit your website, sign up for newsletters, or enter giveaways. 

Instagram features for marketers 

Instagram has some great features that are really useful for marketers who want to run an Instagram marketing campaign. They are:

• Instagram ads help you target your audience based on demographics, interests, behaviours, and more
• Instagram Insights provides valuable data on your followers, including demographics, engagement rates, and reach
• Shoppable posts enable you to tag products in your posts so that followers can purchase directly from the post in a quick and easy way
• Instagram live is a great way to showcase new products, answer questions, or share exclusive content

How to create an Instagram marketing strategy

If creating an Instagram marketing strategy sounds overwhelming, then here are seven quick and easy steps to creating your first (or next) one:

1. Define your goals – do you want to increase brand awareness, drive website traffic, generate leads, increase followers or boost sales?
2. Know your audience – research your target audience and their interests, demographics, and behaviour on Instagram
3. Develop your brand voice and aesthetic – develop a consistent brand voice and aesthetic that aligns with your brand values, and resonates with your target audience
4. Create a content strategy – develop a content strategy that includes the type of content you’ll post, the frequency, and the themes or topics you’ll cover
5. Plan a mix of Instagram features – use Stories, IGTV, and Reels to engage your audience and provide variety in your content
6. Decide how to engage with your audience – choose from responding to comments, messages, and mentions
7. Measure your success –  plan how you’ll track your Instagram metrics, such as engagement rates, follower growth, and website traffic, to measure the success of your strategy

Instagram campaigns 

After you’ve created your strategy, you’re ready to create an Instagram campaign to achieve a specific goal or objective. You may want to promote a product or service, increase brand awareness, generate leads or sales, or drive website traffic.

Before you get started with planning your campaign, consider seasonal events or product launches, and define your goals. If you have a new product coming out or a sale during a holiday season, you may want to run an Instagram marketing campaign to increase sales during that time.

When you’ve finished goal setting, get creative and develop your campaign concept, and target audience. Do you want to work with an influencer to create a unique and engaging Instagram marketing campaign or are you going to be the star of your own content? Will you be using photos, videos, carousels, stories or a mixture of them all?

Next up, create your campaign visuals and copy for your campaign, making sure they align with your creative concept, and the type of campaign you’ve chosen.

Once you’ve launched your campaign, regularly monitor the results and track performance. Campaigns are largely experimental so keeping a close eye on your metrics will help you understand the success of your campaign.

Working with influencers for your Instagram advertising strategy

If you want to supercharge your Instagram advertising strategy, then running an influencer campaign is a great option. Working with the right influencer can help you reach a wider audience, build trust, and get the sales you want. Here are our best practice tips for working with influencers on your Instagram marketing:

1. Find the right influencers – research and identify influencers who align with your brand and target audience. Look for influencers who have a strong following and engagement rate on Instagram
2. Negotiate terms and compensation – reach out to the selected influencers and negotiate terms, and compensation. This could include payment, product exchange, or other incentives
3. Create campaign content – work with the influencers to create content that aligns with your brand and campaign objectives either through sponsored posts, Instagram stories, or other types of content.

If you want to explore the world of influencer marketing in even more detail, then our free guide (and template) will get you started.

Using Instagram Insights to understand campaign results

Once you’ve finished your first Instagram marketing campaign it’s time to dive into all the valuable insights that Instagram has collated so you can understand how successful your campaign was.

Instagram Insights helps you understand how your posts performed in terms of engagement, reach, and impressions uncovering what type of campaign content resonates the most with your audience.

You can also track how many profile views your account received and how many website clicks you generated from your Instagram profile.

By using Instagram insights, you’ll gain valuable data and insights which can help you with the planning of your next Instagram marketing campaign.

Now you know how to get started with Instagram marketing and plan your campaigns. If influencer marketing is part of your next strategy then you can plan your next Instagram influencer campaign on Vamp.