Your 4-Step Instagram Marketing Plan

When devising your internet marketing strategy, it can be all too easy to forget about Instagram in the mix.

However, when used correctly, Instagram is a fantastic way to promote products and services and to increase your brand’s visibility.

READ MORE: Would you like a lifestyle friendly Online business?

Here is a 4-step marketing plan to get you started?

Step 1. Identify Your Market, Create Your Brand
To start with you need to find who it is that you’re marketing to and you need to know what your message is. This is important because it will tell you how you are going to go about creating your image on Instagram and it will tell you what kind of content you should be uploading. Think about lifestyles and messages and try to evoke what your brand represents as well as what it produces. Likewise, ensure you have a strong identity with a recognisable logo and then use this across all your social media efforts. Research the competition too and survey your existing customers.

READ MORE: Would you like a lifestyle friendly Online business?

Step 2. Decide What Kind of Channel You Are, Begin Uploading Content
Decide if you’re interested in creating a personal brand, or if you’re about promoting specific artistic products. Likewise, choose whether you want to upload images that are abstract and that broadly paint a picture of a lifestyle, or whether you want to upload images that provide some kind of value or ‘tips’ for instance. Try different hash tags and make sure you are posting with ones that will bring in new traffic.

READ MORE: Would you like a lifestyle friendly Online business?

Step 3. Be Consistent, Do Promotion, Synergise Across Social Media and Your Website
Keep your content coming and meanwhile make sure that you are sharing to other social media accounts, that you promote your Instagram on there and that you outright ask people to follow you. Meanwhile, research people posting images in your niche and follow/like their work. Comment on other images and add a widget to your own site. All these activities will ensure a steady trickle of new users which will gain momentum over time.

READ MORE: Would you like a lifestyle friendly Online business?

Step 4. Run Contests, Use Local Marketing, Get People Involved
You should also work to try and motivate your existing followers to grow your audience further. Running contests, getting people to comment (using caption contests for instance) and sharing the images that other users have uploaded are all great ways to get people to add to your account and to stay lively and engaged.

You should also use local marketing by location tagging your images and by using local hashtags. If you’re local then you should also get your customers involved as they come in to your shop or business – take photos of them and ask them to tag you in their pictures.

READ MORE: Would you like a lifestyle friendly Online business?

Influencer marketing can also help a great deal. Get people behind your message and leverage the ground work that other individuals and brands have done before you.

To Your Success!
Lindsey
www.digital-duchess.com