There are 2.4 million active Instagram users in Ireland. According to reports, it is bound to become the biggest social media platform in the country. This means that Instagram is very crucial to your digital marketing strategy.
What are the best Instagram marketing hacks? It doesn’t matter if you’re new to Instagram or you’ve been a user for years because there’s always more to learn. In fact, one of the most frustrating things about using Instagram is that there are no easy answers to your concerns. There’s definitely no one-size-fits-all approach for marketing on the platform.
Tips For Instagram Marketing in 2022
Sometimes it can feel hard to keep up with all of the latest tips and tricks in Instagram marketing. Today, we’re going to go over some of the best Instagram marketing hacks you’ll want to know in 2022.
These tricks will help you get more engagement, more followers, and more likes on your posts. If you’re looking to grow your brand or business on Instagram, then you should take note of these Instagram marketing hacks:
Create a Community
Create a community around your business and brand. Make sure you have a brand voice that your followers will be able to identify you with. Engage your followers and respond to their direct messages on Instagram.
You can also gain valuable insights from your followers by asking them what they’re looking for in an Instagram account like yours. This will help you learn more about your audience and how you can serve them, which is the main goal of building an Instagram community around your brand. Some of the ways of building an Instagram community include:
- Using geotags to find people who are interested in your product or service. They’ll see the location you’re at when they open up the app and might want to check out what’s going on nearby, where it’s happening right now!
- Using hashtags. We’ve all been there: scrolling through our feed only to see the same boring posts over again! Try adding some hashtags into yours so that users can find you more easily based on what kind of content they’re looking for.
- Posting frequently. This will keep people coming back day after day because they know that something new is always being added!
Creativity, Creativity, Creativity
You may notice that creativity is the keyword for all of these hacks.
Instagram favours content that is unique, innovative and authentic. You should be telling your story in an interesting way and be true to your brand. This will help you stand out from the crowd and keep customers coming back for more.
Make Sure Your Bio is on Point
Your bio is your chance to make a first impression and tell your audience why they should follow you, so it needs to be on-point. Remember that you only have 150 characters to work with, so use them wisely.
Your Instagram bio should include:
- A link(s) to your website or landing page
- Emojis- add personality and can help break up text
- The first person (I/me/my) instead of the third person (he/she/it/they) because it’s more personal
- A call to action (e.g., click the link below, Shop now)
- Keywords that describe what you do
Use the Gold Hour For Your Pictures
The golden hour is the magic hour. For photographers, it’s the time when the light is just right. If you want to make your Instagram photos pop, it’s important to know what the best time of day to take them is, and how to take advantage of this magic hour.
This means finding a great balance between the intensity of light in the morning and at sunset. The ideal moment for an outdoor photoshoot is between sunrise and sunset—or shortly after sunrise or before sunset, depending on your location—when there are no clouds in the sky and it’s sunny but not too bright (that makes it hard to focus). During these hours of daylight, you can have your camera set up ready for action while standing by a window where there will be enough light.
Utilize The Instagram Stories Features
There is no doubt that Instagram Stories are a great way to keep your audience engaged and drive traffic and conversions.
Unlike the traditional Instagram posts, these short, engaging pieces of content are temporary and will disappear after 24 hours. This means that you don’t have to worry about creating perfectly polished images for your stories.
This platform even lets you add fun stickers, filters, polls and other interactive features to your stories to make them look more appealing.
On top of that, they offer an amazing platform for brands like you to show the human side of your business. So don’t hesitate to share behind-the-scenes videos or silly clips of your team letting loose at work on Instagram Stories.
Geotag Your Location
Geotags are a great feature to use if you own a business, but they can also be used on your personal account to attract the right people. If you go out on a hike and take some great photos, for example, people who like hiking and want to visit that area in the future will be able to find them more easily.
You’ll be able to see how many times your pictures have been viewed from a specific location as well as what locations have been tagged the most often on your profile page.
Use Hashtags in Your Post Captions
Hashtags are how we use multiple words in one Instagram profile post to make them stand out from the crowd. If you don’t know how to use hashtags, it can be a little confusing. While there’s no perfect number of hashtags to put in your caption, it’s important to make sure you get the right ones.
For brands specifically looking to add some uniqueness to their Instagram posts with hashtags, there are several ways they can do this effectively. Brands should also look at using up all or most of the 30 hashtags in their post caption for maximum engagement and for people who aren’t following them yet want a better idea of what they’re saying about themselves on Instagram.
Use a Caption Callout for More Engagement
Instagram callouts allow you to ask your audience for photos or videos on a specific topic using a hashtag to gather it all together. It is a way of asking your followers to share something with you and encourage engagement.
Here are the top callout styles that you should use to boost engagement on your captions:
- Callout Questions: Ask interesting questions to start a conversation with your followers. Questions like “What is your favourite tip?” or “How do you think this will be useful for you?” can help increase replies and comments.
- Callout Tips: This style is one of the most common ones where you highlight a tip in the caption. For example, if you post an image of your new product, include the features and benefits in one line.
- Callout Instructions: If your photo includes instructions, be sure to highlight them in the caption so that people know how they should go about it. Make sure that these instructions are self-explanatory and easy to understand so that users don’t have to ask for clarifications.
- Callout Stories: Your followers love stories! Every product comes with a story behind its creation, tell them about it. If there’s no story behind the product, talk about what inspired you to create something like this. Share other relevant stories too!
Experiment With Filters
Experiment with different filters, but stick to one filter throughout all of your photos to keep your brand aesthetic consistent. Every filter gives a different look to your photos. There is no “best” filter for any given situation – you must experiment and learn how each one affects the feel of your photo. However, once you settle on a filter that works well for your brand, stick with it so all of your images have a consistent aesthetic.
Optimize Every Aspect of Your Content
Your captions, photos, and bio are all crucial to Instagram marketing—but so are the hashtags you use. A good hashtag is not overly broad, but also not too narrow or specific. Make sure you do your research to see which hashtags are worth using for your content. You can even utilize story tags, which would be a big step in helping you grow your following on Instagram.
More importantly, make sure you optimize every aspect of your content to maximize your brand’s chances of success with Instagram marketing in 2022!
You can read more tips on how to amplify your customer experience on Instagram here.
Get The Best Out of Instagram Marketing
Instagram is a vital part of any social media marketing strategy and using these tricks will help you make the most out of this platform! If you want to reach more customers for your business on Instagram, we can help you to develop a customized Instagram marketing strategy.
At Salt Marketing, we take a result-driven approach to social media marketing not only to help you boost engagement and brand awareness but also to enable you to realize an ROI. Focus on running your business and leave Instagram marketing to us!
