Instagram Marketing: Marketing on social media has evolved entirely over the last decade. In fact, it has changed in the last two years, and brands all over the world have had to adapt to what their customers want.
So, what is working for Instagram marketing in 2022? What are customers looking for and what is converting them? What are some of the biggest brands doing globally and how can you adjust your strategy to join these trends?
We took a look at some of the top ways that you can create a strategy that works for you and your business. Is it time to give Instagram the boost it needs? Look no further!
Focus on Building a Community
A few years ago, Instagram and other social platforms were mostly focused on the number of followers you have and the number of likes per post.
The fact of the matter is that this actually doesn’t translate into anything unless you are talking to real, engaged followers. Take a look at your followers and their engagement with your brand. How many of them are bots? How many likes actually translate into sales?
It’s time to focus on the real followers. But, in order to get real Instagram followers, you will need to focus on building a community. Your community of followers wants to know that you are engaged with them and that you are providing them with content and information they actually enjoy.
To put this into perspective, consider the following: How does your customer journey look? Are you focused enough on the customer experience? If you have not done this from the outset of your brand, it may be time to go back and re-design your entire UX map and determine what your customers want from you.
Know Your Followers and Audience
The next few points will all fall under building a community, and they will all work together to get this right. But, let’s take a look at them point by point.
Start by understanding who your audience is and who they should be. Who do you think will be the people converting? Who will be buying from you?
Put together this customer map and understand their profiles. It will be worth your while to put together an entire customer profile. Map out a profile of customers’ demographics, such as location, age, gender, etc.
Then add in information like their interests and behaviors. Who do they follow on social media? What do they engage with? When are they online? What is trending?
From there, you will have a deep insight into your customers and know what your customers actually want to see and what they will respond to.
Create Content Your Followers Want to See
With this in hand, you will be able to start creating content that will convert your customers.
The winning recipe for content is: make it educational, make it informative and make it entertaining.
Watch who your customers are following and engaging with and follow the same concept. Do not duplicate. Do not copy. People pick that up.
Rather, know what is trending and what is working on social media. Things trend quite quickly, so the minute you see something popping up a few times, try and jump on it. Especially for your Stories and Reels.
Just remember that you will be creating messages and campaigns across various social platforms, so keep it as uniform as possible. But, know that each platform has its own rules and formats, so get used to keeping it uniform, but adjusting it to the platform.
Measure, Monitor, and Track Everything
Now that you know your audience and are creating the content, how do you know if it is working? Plenty of companies skip this step out, and it’s to their detriment. If you truly want to succeed, you need to keep tabs on how successful each post is and what the engagement and conversion rates are like.
Instagram offers you a dashboard that constantly tracks these key metrics so you will know which posts and campaigns are working and which aren’t.
The key is to keep experimenting and keep track of these metrics. It will take a few months, but eventually, you will start to see what your customers respond to and what content converts.
After a year, you will be able to go back, monitor the trends, and even try things out again to see how people respond.
The Bottom Line
Social media, and Instagram marketing in particular, are all about trial and error. Some great posts might not do so well, while others might fly. Keep experimenting. Keep testing. And try posts, Reels, and Stories to try and expand your reach.