If you have doubts about whether Instagram is a good option to publicize your business, you are in the right post. The North American platform that was born in 2011 has 1 billion monthly active users and is the fourth most used social network. Through images, videos and GIFs, Instagram has become a digital showcase where retailers and brands can share their products and promotions in a unique way.
“81% of respondents stated that Instagram helps them find and learn about new products and services.”
According to a Facebook study, 81% of respondents said that Instagram helps them find and learn about new products and services. In addition to publicizing your products, the platform is an excellent tool to generate a community, build your brand narrative and build loyalty among your followers.
What is a Social Media strategy for Instagram?
A Social Media strategy is a plan whose goal is to define specific actions that allow you to achieve your business objectives, as far as possible. It seeks to maximize engagement between a community and your brand in order to generate new potential customers, increase awareness or build loyalty among your current consumers.
Instagram is, therefore, a social network that you should include in your Social Media plan. One of the main mistakes retailers make when marketing on Instagram is not working under a strategy that adapts to the specific needs of your business and your consumers.
Taking advantage of all the features that the platform offers for free will allow you to have a greater reach and increase the possibility of generating more conversions. Simply creating a business profile will open up the possibility of using an endless number of functionalities where the only limit will be your creativity.
Shoppable Tags
This feature allows you to tag products in your publications. Through a simple configuration, you will be able to connect your store so you can add your products to your content and redirect them to your website to make the purchase. Instagram now allows you to tag more than one product in the same post. However, it is important that the tags redirect to the correct product to create a frictionless shopping experience.
Stories
It is ephemeral audiovisual content that does not appear in your feed. They have a duration of 24 hours, and once that period has passed they disappear. They allow you to increase interaction with your brand and humanize it. Through more amateur and informal content, you can show funny and funny moments. They offer the possibility of adding polls, GIFs and other types of tags to enrich your content.
Branded Content
It is an option that allows you to generate content together with other creators or influencers. They are an excellent feature to reach a larger audience related to your business. It helps your brand gain trust and credibility. It is important that you carefully choose the content creators you want to work with. The influencer’s values must be aligned with those of your brand.
Reels
This is one of the most recent features of Instagram. Through short and entertaining videos, you can take advantage of the trends, dances and songs of the moment to viralize your content. It is an excellent option to dynamize your brand, make it more personal and connect with a young audience.
What are the benefits of Instagram for retailers?
Connect with new audiences
Instagram is also a content search engine. Its users perform thousands of searches every day to find new accounts that offer them valuable content. And the best way to do this is through hashtags. Hashtags allow you to categorize your content and make it easy for users to find. Having a solid hashtag strategy is crucial to increase your reach and exposure.
Create a community
Unlike traditional communication channels, social networks and specifically Instagram is the ideal platform to establish two-way relationships. It is about creating links in which the user also has the possibility to interact and be heard. The possibility of adding polls or open questions is a great functionality to do so.
Increase in-store traffic
Although the user is increasingly digital, some things will never change. According to Forrester, 72% of U.S. retail sales will still be made in physical stores in 2024. Geotagging your content with the location of your stores is an incredible feature to increase visits to your points of sale. Adding “in-store only” in the description is another valuable option to do so.
Improve your Instagram strategy
By incorporating certain aspects on a daily basis in the development of your Instagram strategy you will be able to see results in a short period of time. Keep these tips in mind to improve all aspects of your presence on the platform:
Narrow your target audience
Before you start creating content you must know who you are going to interact with. Knowing the needs, values and concerns of your audience will allow you to offer them exactly what they are looking for. This way you will see the interaction rates and your results will be better.
Planning and consistency
Once you know who you are targeting and the content that best suits them, you can plan your publications in advance. It is preferable to have a lower frequency of publication if your content is not going to provide the value your followers need. Adjust the frequency and schedule based on your business.
Work the captions of your posts
Although Instagram is an audiovisual social network, use the descriptions of your posts to give coherence to the images with an attractive copy. It is the voice of your brand. It is important that they contain an attractive CTA or call to action to generate conversions.
Interact with your followers
As we mentioned above, Instagram is a two-way communication channel. Your followers want to interact with you and feel heard. Take into account their comments on your posts and the direct messages they send you. This way they will identify with your business and you will build loyalty.
