Those who understand the key features and trends can work from literally anywhere in the world and have a fairly flexible work schedule. In addition, this is a profession where you can work from your smartphone. Today, we're going to lift the mysterious veil a little bit on how to increase the popularity of your Instagram account and what you need to do it.
Why Instagram promotion is necessary for business
Visual content is becoming more and more popular, and that's why Instagram is becoming a very important platform and gaining more and more popularity. Through the constant publication of photos and videos, you can increase brand awareness at a fairly fast pace. But there are other advantages as well:- you can maintain a dialogue with subscribers on the page, thus turning them into customers - both one-time and regular;
- a huge audience that can be easily reached, and competition on Instagram is much less than on other platforms;
- it is easy to launch targeted advertising, there are convenient tools for analytics and control. Everything is done quite easily, it can be an online job for students or even a vacancy for a person with no experience on the Internet. It is only important not to make typical mistakes, but more on that later.
- After all, it is trivially cheaper here, and the efficiency can be quite high.
Where to start promoting on Instagram
If you are a beginner, you should start by registering a business account. Such an account provides more tools for interacting with the audience and allows you to sell goods or services directly on the platform.
In addition to filling in all the fields, you will need to respond to comments from subscribers and personal ones in the direct to keep attracting new people and strengthening the connection with existing customers. It's important to update the information in your description and link (if you have a website or at least a landing page) so that users have up-to-date information about the company that owns the account or you personally if you are promoting your personal blog. Here's an example of a business page dedicated to the car business:
How to create a business account on Instagram
There are also a few important points that we'll draw your attention to. Again, for better perception, let's summarise everything:- when filling out the name and nickname fields, keep in mind that the name should match the name of the company or brand, and the nickname should be short, easy to remember, and reflect the essence of the business.
- In the profile description, indicate why or to whom it is dedicated, you can also place hashtags here to attract an additional audience;
- Post a link to your website or personal page;
- Use the company logo as an avatar, if you already have one;
- Also, be sure to fill in your contacts as completely as possible, provide various ways to contact you. After all, promotion is also done for the purpose of cooperation, perhaps even to increase recognition. The easier it is to find you, the higher the chances of positive contacts with customers or partners.
Free and Paid Promotion Methods
Is it possible to promote a business account without spending a penny? Yes. It is really possible, but you will need to spend your time. If you are constantly active, posting relevant and interesting content, the number of subscribers will only grow. But it will still be very slow, so usually free methods are still combined with paid ones, namely targeted advertising. Besides, we remind you that it is quite effective on Instagram.Features of targeted advertising on Instagram
If you are launching ads for the first time, the app will ask you for more details about where you can direct traffic: to your profile, website, or direct mail. Briefly about each of them:
- The first option is suitable if you want to attract new subscribers to your account.
- The second one is suitable for those who want to promote a certain company, then it is better to direct them, for example, to the landing page or the company's website for orders.
- The third is relevant when you want to immediately engage the audience in communication, for example, to ask them for a product catalogue. You can choose an age range, approximate geography - from a country to a city district, for example. That is, you can promote both local businesses and more global ones, everything is in your hands.
It is also possible (although it is not required, but it is better to do it) to specify the interests of people you consider as customers.
Here's an example of an advert:
The system will immediately tell you if you have set the limits too narrow, because if so, you will be warned and you can either expand the age range or, for example, the geographical scope in time. Analytics also works when setting the duration and budget, you will be prompted if your settings are ineffective.
Promoting Stories
In general, the principles here are the same as with posts, but there are certain restrictions that should be taken into account when designing:
- Clickable elements are not allowed, i.e., for example, you cannot tag someone or post a hashtag in the story you want to promote.- If a story violates property rights, for example, contains gifs or masks from the Instagram collection, its promotion will be blocked.- The story's age limit cannot exceed about two years, so old content is not suitable for this.
Is there a single strategy and advice for a beginner
For example, you have found a remote work job without experience, which is to promote a business account on Instagram, but you have never done this before. Is there any right strategy?
In general, we'll warn you right away - there is no single right strategy. There are certain rules that we have described above and, of course, typical mistakes that beginners make (we will also talk about them below). But there are no ready-made solutions, it all depends on what you are promoting.
Here's how a nutritionist promotes her personal page, for example. You can see different posts here, some of them are directly about healthy eating, there is a commercial post, and there is also a post to encourage the audience to discuss broader topics:
In general, the principles here are the same as with posts, but there are certain restrictions that should be taken into account when designing:
- Clickable elements are not allowed, i.e., for example, you cannot tag someone or post a hashtag in the story you want to promote.- If a story violates property rights, for example, contains gifs or masks from the Instagram collection, its promotion will be blocked.- The story's age limit cannot exceed about two years, so old content is not suitable for this.
Is there a single strategy and advice for a beginner
For example, you have found a remote work job without experience, which is to promote a business account on Instagram, but you have never done this before. Is there any right strategy?
In general, we'll warn you right away - there is no single right strategy. There are certain rules that we have described above and, of course, typical mistakes that beginners make (we will also talk about them below). But there are no ready-made solutions, it all depends on what you are promoting.
Here's how a nutritionist promotes her personal page, for example. You can see different posts here, some of them are directly about healthy eating, there is a commercial post, and there is also a post to encourage the audience to discuss broader topics:
But still, some of the tips will be true for any promotion strategy, so remember them and use them in your work. If you succeed, you will be able to take on such a part-time job online with more confidence.
- To reach a wider audience, set up different settlements or regions in different publications, while the interests can be the same.
- Use the so-called guerrilla marketing, i.e. comments under posts of popular bloggers where your target audience can see them.
- Widely use collaboration with other bloggers. Don't chase after "big" accounts, as it can be too expensive and not very effective. Smaller accounts with 2-3 thousand subscribers are better, as you can generally negotiate with them on the basis of barter, and there will be more benefits.
When choosing a partner, always look at how much their audience is related to yours and how active it is. If you can confidently give a high score on both criteria, this is your option. - When setting up ads, the promotion period should usually be at least three days and no more than six days so that the algorithms have time to find the right people and not show them the same post several times. A longer period can be specified when you have an already popular account and want to advertise something - a new product or, for example, a course. Then you don't have to worry about repeated impressions, but more coverage due to time will definitely be important.
- Don't abuse text, in general, Instagram doesn't like posts with a lot of it, especially when there is text on images.
- If you rely on video in your promotion strategy, then don't forget that many people watch videos without sound. Therefore, somehow duplicate the information that is voiced, at least in a thesis statement.
Typical mistakes when promoting on Instagram
Of course, not everyone succeeds at once. Sometimes it happens: you've made posts, stories, set up ads, and still don't get more followers, customers, or subscribers. So what's the matter? First, here's a small checklist, go through it and ask yourself if it's true for your account.- Inregular posts. You need to be constantly releasing new stories, videos, and regular posts. Spend a few hours planning your posts and then do the rest of the promotion. You can't launch an account.
- Correctly selected hashtags. It is difficult to overestimate the role of hashtags in Instagram promotion, so choose them very carefully. They should clearly correspond to what your account and a particular post are about.
- Clear audience engagement. There is no need to organise healthy eating marathons if you are promoting, for example, tools for construction and repair. Everything should be aimed at a single goal, namely the formation of your community and community.
- Communicate regularly with subscribers, answer their questions, organise polls, etc. If you have subscribers with access to exclusive content, don't forget about them, let them see what they are paying for.
- Of course, the quality of the content. It must be original and interesting, otherwise you will quickly stop gaining new audience, and the old one may unsubscribe. Also, try the methods we talked about above or scale them up - sometimes success doesn't come right away.
Why it's a good job option for beginners
In general, the trends are such that for many business areas, it is Instagram promotion that will be the reason to launch such online vacancies in Ukraine, such as account manager. Now even politicians are trying to promote themselves on Instagram, for example, the account of the head of Zaporizhzhia region (and no, this is not the official account of the regional administration):
It is (with the right approach) fast, cheaper and, accordingly, effective. All you have to do is not to miss this chance and use it for your benefit (and that of your employer, of course). Good luck to you!
