Instagram and how it can help your business
Written by Keiren Bashor
Social media is a great way for small and large businesses to promote to new audiences. With a staggering 2.4 million (as stated by Rohit Shewale) users in 2024, a company that is active and tries the right marketing strategies they are bound to grow into a formattable market. One of the best parts about marketing on Instagram is that it is affordable, all you need is a free Instagram account and a camera.
Any company can do well on Instagram, from car companies to one off family owned coffee shops. “If your customers are on Instagram, you can be successful on Instagram” (Hailley Griffis, Head of Communications & Content @ Buffer) One way to know if you have customers active on Instagram is to simply just ask, this can be conducted both in person and online via surveys/email lists. In person, even just putting a Instagram profile QR code near checkout and asking customers to follow that account works well since most people follow hundreds of people without any thought to it.
Finding the right people
Once you find your target audience, you should compare it with other social media platforms populations to ensure that Instagram would be the best choice for your company. For example if your demographic is more geared towards people above the age of 50, Pinterest might be a better source of eyes on your company. Whilst over 30% of Instagram’s population being teens and people in their 20’s they are more likely to be using Instagram on a daily basis and to see your promotion.
Having a goal is another way to keep yourself inspired when it comes to social media marketing. Since Rome wasn’t built in a day, not all company Instagram accounts will instantaneously start out large. You need to put in effort and when you have a goal and work towards that goal more people are going to recognize that and engage with you. Having a goal also makes it easier to choose what to and not to post, if you want to increase sales on a certain product, you should post it.
Some common goals for companies marketing on social media:
Use Instagram to increase sales
Grow audience
Create website traffic
Find new business partners
Promotion by popular creators
Other ways of promotion include partnerships with popular content creators in the space your marketing to. Look at what Rise Supplements is doing on TikTok for example, they are partnering with many different content creators that people recognize to sell their products for them, like the profession bodybuilder Noel Deyzel with 6.9 million followers on TikTok. Whilst, offering incentive to do so like discounts on the products. Even though discounts takes away from your top end sales numbers it can be a good way to get new customers to engage and purchase your products to try. There are thousands of content creators that can promote a product and do it efficiently, but finding the right one requires research into the field and who is popular amongst your target audience, and someone that can push your product to a greater amount of people. An affiliate program that works well typically has people find their way to you but what do you look for when you are first getting started? You have to go look for them
Some things to look for when looking for possible affiliates:
Have a following based on content related to your product.
Has a good reputation that wont affect your brand image
Combining all these viewpoints and using them should spark the beginning of a successful social media marketing campaign on Instagram. Be sure to read some of the source articles for more information on how to grow your company.
Sources:
https://buffer.com/library/instagram-small-business/
https://www.demandsage.com/instagram-statistics/
https://www.omnicoreagency.com/instagram-statistics/
https://awario.com/blog/find-affiliates-on-social-media/