- Your Instagram marketing strategy
isn't working as well as you want right now
because things have changed,
but nobody told you, and that's not cool.
But the fact is that what used to work even a few months ago
is dramatically different than the strategies and tactics
that we're seeing succeed on the platform right now.
The good news is you're here, right now,
and I'm gonna be giving you the goods
on exactly what's working on Instagram right now.
I'll show you what's hot, what's not,
and what you may already know but might have forgot.
That rhymed, didn't it?
For example, Instagram is a photo sharing site, right?
Wrong.
Even the head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri,
has come out and said that video, not photos,
is what Instagram is now focused on.
- Today, I actually wanna talk a bit more about video.
And I want to start by saying
we're no longer a photo-sharing app
or a square photo-sharing app.
- Okay, so you can just make a couple videos
and upload them to Instagram
and they'll do okay, right?
Wrong again.
Whoa, sorry.
That was a little harsh.
What I mean is that it's a lot more complicated than that.
For example, you can upload videos as a post, as a story,
as a reel, or go live.
And each of those has its own advantages and disadvantages.
But there is one
that's pretty much dominating all others right now.
Here's the deal,
only a very small percentage of businesses
ever managed to figure out the key to Instagram success
and the secrets that'll allow them to reach more people,
build a massive audience of loyal fans,
or create million dollar generating campaigns.
So here are 10 Instagram marketing strategies
for small businesses,
so you can better use the platform to connect and convert
your ideal customers and clients.
Also, a big thank you to Dollar Eighty
for sponsoring this video,
but more on that later.
For now, let's dive right into the tips,
starting with tip number one, optimize your bio.
Now I appreciate, this sounds like pretty basic information.
I mean, optimize your bio?
Isn't that kind of marketing 101?
And well, yes it is.
But common knowledge isn't always common practice,
and this is why the very first thing you need to do
is take a look at your Instagram bio
and make sure that it clearly reflects what you do
and who you do it for.
I couldn't even begin to tell you
the dozens and dozens of different bios
that I've been sent over the years
by clients and by students,
where I've gone to them
and I've really been confused.
I mean, I know these people,
and I still can't figure out what they're trying to do
with their Instagram bio.
This is why one of my biggest rules
when it comes to marketing
is that you always want to prioritize
clarity over creativity.
First impressions matter.
So make sure that you're making it very clear
what you do, who you do it for,
and why someone should follow you
or stick around for what you've got to offer.
Also, never forget to include a CTA, or call to action,
which is that link in bio that guides people
towards what you want them to do next.
Now, one of the most controversial points
in that link in bio, when it comes to Instagram,
is should you link them to something like a link tree
or a multiple link database,
which is essentially just fancy talk
for saying a place with a whole bunch of other links.
My argument is pretty much always no.
Now, there's a number of reasons for this,
including direct response marketing principles
of always having just one call to action,
as well as psychological principles,
something known as the paradox of choice
where you give people too many options
and they tend to pick none.
But if you can focus on just that main entry point
into your funnel or into your business,
that's probably going to do significantly better
than overwhelming people with all kinds of options
that may or may not be relevant to them.
Tip number two is to make sure that you have a brand plan.
Now, the way to develop a brand plan for Instagram
is to follow the three Cs of consistency, clarity,
and congruence.
So let me explain those now.
Consistency simply means that you're consistent
with your content
as well as with your engagement on the platform.
So are you regularly posting content
and are you regularly responding to DMs
and to messages that you get?
We've all seen the websites with the links to social media
and we've clicked on them
and we found an abandoned Twitter page from 2015.
That ain't good for business.
So if you're making the commitment
to double down on your Instagram marketing efforts,
then make sure that you're carving out the time
and the money and the energy to do so appropriately.
Next, it's clarity.
And again, just like with the bio,
this is where you wanna be crystal clear about what you do
and who you do it for and how you help
and what kind of content that you talk about and provide.
Also, make sure to take a look at your brand guidelines
or your overall style.
Is there a consistent theme or aesthetic on your page?
Basically, does it look good?
And then there's congruence,
which is essentially making sure that what you say
and what you do and what you post and what you talk about
and the value you provide,
that it all works together, that it all makes sense.
Of course, the best way to do this
is to have some set of established brand guidelines.
I'm not talking about a fancy 400-page document
with all kinds of different graphics and images and logos
for your business,
though if you have one, that's fantastic.
Nope, instead I'm talking about just a few simple rules
about what kind of colors you'll use, what kind of fonts,
what kind of content,
what kind of frequency and posting schedule
you're going to stick to,
and then try to stick to it as closely as possible.
All right, tip number three is one of the most important
and certainly the biggest change that we've seen
when it comes to what's actually working
on Instagram right now.
And that's finding that balance between feed and reels
and stories, as well as lives.
Now, in the good old days of Instagram,
well, we basically focused on feed and on stories.
So we had our regular posts that we did
and then we had our stories for our short-term content.
Ah, those were the good old days.
But things have changed.
Instagram has released new features.
They've removed old features.
They've updated other features.
And they just keep messing things around.
But, that's how it's always been
and kind of how it's always gonna be.
So if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
Here's how to join 'em.
All right, so first up is your feed
and this is the main page, the main post that someone sees
when they visit.
And the term that I like to use here is "Real Good".
So essentially you've taken some time,
you've designed a decent post or a decent carousel,
and you're kind of putting your best foot forward.
Then you have stories.
These are what I call "Real Time"
because they're used for less produced and more authentic
kind of behind the scenes footage
of what's going on in real time.
Then you have lives, and I call these "Real Authentic".
It doesn't quite have the same ring to it, but it works.
Essentially, the beauty of going live on Instagram
or basically any other social media platform
is that it is truly authentic because it's happening live,
which means you can't fix slip-ups or mistakes
or if you feel a bit off or you say the wrong thing,
and people like it.
It's more natural.
But then, then we have reels,
and reels my friend,
this is where you want to pay attention.
You see, it's no secret
that short-form vertical video content
has kind of taken over in the past few months,
maybe even a year or so.
Now it could be argued who stole what feature
from what different social media platform,
whether it was Instagram stealing from Snapchat
or YouTube stealing from Snapchat
or TikTok stealing from Snapchat.
Whatever the case, it doesn't matter who started it,
it matters where we're at right now.
Clearly TikTok has become a power player.
YouTube now has their YouTube Shorts,
which is their short-form vertical video.
And clearly, Instagram has Instagram Reels,
which has become the dominant player
and the dominant platform
or dominant placement, feature, tool?
All of the above.
Basically, the key to success, at least today,
right now, on Instagram,
is by doubling down and leveraging Instagram Reels.
So I say Reels, "Real Reach".
This is because the way that the Instagram algorithm works
with Reels
is that it's far more conducive
to getting in front of new audiences
and essentially having that potential to "go viral".
Even if going "viral" isn't your end goal,
it still gives you far more likelihood
of getting in front of the people that you actually want to
because you're giving Instagram what they want,
which is more Reels content.
The beauty of filming short-form vertical style videos
is that you can upload it natively as an Instagram Reel,
but you can also upload it natively as a TikTok
and natively as a YouTube Short.
Now, when I say natively, what I'm talking about
is actually taking the raw footage
and putting it directly into the social media platforms
rather than copying and pasting different links
and sort of just putting an Instagram Reel
and pretending it's a TikTok,
'cause that doesn't work as well.
Okay, next, let's talk hashtags,
but we'll make it quick
because while they are still pretty relevant,
well, there's a lot of other information out there
if you want to go deeper.
The first phase though
is that you definitely still need to do research.
You've gotta find out what hashtags are relevant
and applicable to you, to your business, to your industry,
as well as, most importantly, to your target market.
So essentially, what are the terms that they're looking for?
And then you need to use those.
(Adam puffing)
I know, it's not very profound.
But like I've said before,
common knowledge isn't always common practice.
So you've gotta make sure that you're applying this
and actually using the hashtags
that your target market is using
and not just the ones that you think might work best.
The data's there, you just gotta look for it.
The flip side of this
is that you also want to include variety
and essentially test out different kinds of hashtags.
So you can tap into different sentiments
and different trends
as well as different segments of the market.
Next, let me give you a little tip about shortcuts
and a way to use them to quickly autopopulate
all kinds of different hashtags in only a few seconds.
All you really need to do here
is go into your mobile device, or your tablet,
or even your desktop computer
and look for different shortcuts that are available.
And then you can pre-write texts.
So essentially you can copy out your most popular
or most common hashtags, give them a bit of a short code,
and then all you need to do is type a few keys
and it autopopulates for you.
All right, tip number five
is to leverage micro-influencer marketing.
Now it's no secret that with the rise of the creator economy
and the increased spending and budget allocations
toward influencers and influencer marketing,
well, clearly this is becoming a more established path
to growing your business.
But it's also getting more expensive
as it gets more competitive
and as people realize that influencers
are actually helping to drive revenue
for the businesses they promote.
But there's still a smaller segment of the market
that you can tap into
known as micro-influencers.
And in many cases,
they may be just as
if not more valuable for your business.
Now, a micro-influencer is essentially someone with reach,
someone with an audience that you want to tap into,
but is at a smaller scale
than the larger big household names that you may know.
The beauty here is that they typically have a very niched
and very specific audience.
And they've probably not been approached by larger brands,
which means that you can get in there
for pennies on the dollar.
I mean, if someone has never worked
with a large brand before,
they may be willing to provide you with a shout-out
simply for an exchange of services or products
or merchandise or materials or anything like that.
On the the topic of leveraging other people
to help with your marketing initiatives,
let's talk about tip number six next.
And tip number six is all about using UGC,
or user-generated content.
User-generated content is one of those fancy marketing terms
that pretty much just says exactly what it sounds like,
where it's essentially having your users generate content
for your business.
Now this is typically done with fashion brands
and with anything that's wearable or usable.
Usable?
Yeah, like, let me give you an example.
For example, if I owned a watch company,
I don't, but if I did,
well, what I would do would leverage images and videos
and stories of people wearing my watches
in interesting situations or interesting locations.
Now, ideally I would tie this
to some kind of unique value proposition
or unique selling proposition
that would actually make my watch ideal
for a certain kind of person in a certain kind of market.
For example, if I sold, I don't know,
like a diving watch for someone that went scuba diving,
well, I'd be doing everything I could in my power
to get people to take pictures or videos of them
scuba diving,
and then sending that content to me so I could highlight it
and showcase it on my Instagram.
A perfect example of this is GoPro,
who, if you visit their site,
you'll find it's full of all kinds of different content
that's generated from people using GoPros.
Now, I myself have never uploaded a single thing
to their platform,
but that's because it's mostly just me
doing things in the backyard, which is kind of boring.
All right, tip number seven
is all about leveraging Instagram DMs,
or Instagram direct messages.
Now here's the thing with the Instagram DM,
it is an absolutely fantastic way to connect with people
that you want to start a relationship with,
that you want to engage with their content,
that you want to provide value to,
but please, for the love of all things holy,
don't spam people.
There is a way to do networking properly.
There is a way to introduce yourself
without spamming someone.
And there is a way to comment on someone's posts
and to send them a message and to congratulate them
or to provide value
without looking like you want something immediately
in return,
which, let's be honest, people can see right through.
The big point here is that a lot of business
actually takes place through direct messages
and through contact and communication with your market
and with your customers,
so much so that there's even a brand
or business statement around this term
known as "It's going down in the DMs."
Which basically just says that stuff's happening
in the direct messages.
And that leads me perfectly to this video's sponsor,
Dollar Eighty. (bell dinging)
Dollar Eighty is a software
based on the Dollar Eighty strategy
coined by entrepreneur and marketer Gary Vaynerchuck.
Basically, it's an engagement strategy
that encourages users to go onto their Instagram account
and leave their two cents on nine posts
across 10 relevant hashtags,
which equals 90 comments a day.
But that's a lot of work.
So the purpose of the software
is to help you do this all a whole lot easier
by creating a space to set up hashtags
for posts to comment on,
track comments, and analyze growth.
Doing this not only grows your following,
but also creates a more authentic and engaged audience.
To learn more about Dollar Eighty
and to sign up for a free trial
all you need to do is click the link
in the descriptions below this video.
Tip number eight is that timing matters,
both in regards to the actual time
that you are going to post your content,
as well as the frequency and schedule
that you decide to keep
in order to make sure that you're giving your content
the best chance possible
of ending up in front of your target market.
Now, like all things in business and in marketing,
there is a good, a better, and a best.
So what I'm gonna do is offer suggestions for all three,
and you can find where on the spectrum you wanna start
and where you ultimately want to end up.
First, let's talk about frequency
and just how often you're going to be posting.
Now, if you're just getting started,
let's say the good is once a day.
I appreciate that might even sound like a lot,
but remember there are different ways of doing this.
You can create a story, for example, in 15 seconds.
You can create a post possibly in say 15 to 30 minutes.
And you can create a reel in 15 to 30 minutes,
maybe up to an hour if you really wanna make it amazing.
But you don't have to.
But if you've got a little bit of extra time and money
and energy, well, my suggestion is to upgrade
to the better and possibly even the best
of posting a couple times a day.
I'm not saying you need to put out three reels a day,
two posts, and 15 stories,
but hey, I mean, if you can, probably won't hurt.
But a reel a day is a really great place to start,
a post every day or two is good,
and a few stories scattered throughout the day
can really go a long way
in helping you to build an authentic and engaged audience.
Next, let's talk about when the best time to post is.
Now, full disclosure,
this is going to vary depending on your business
and your market and your industry,
as well as the time zone in the area that you're located,
and most importantly of all, your audience is located.
So, take all of this as what it is,
which is a general guide and a really good place to start.
But then make sure to analyze your analytics.
Analyze your analytics?
That's kind of redundant.
And figure out what works best for you.
For most businesses in most markets
in most industries though,
these are good times to post.
The first of which is somewhere around 8:00 am or 9:00 am
Eastern Standard Time.
Also, if you're a night owl, and your audience is too,
2:00 am Eastern Standard Time tends to work well as well.
And if you'd like to post three times a day,
then the third time you can try
is 5:00 pm Eastern Standard Time.
Now what you'll probably notice here
is that most of these times
fall outside of those usual 9:00 to 5:00
business working hours.
And this is why it's incredibly important
to know who your market is
and when they're active and present online
so you can post content
when they're actually going to engage with it.
As for what days of the week,
well, Mondays and Thursdays tend to do best
and Sunday tends to do worst of all.
And as for engagement
and for you spending time on the platform,
well, the best time to do it
is within the first 30 minutes after you post content,
which will enable you to respond to any DMs
or reply to any comments that you get.
A quick tip here, though,
if you're still struggling to figure out
when the best times to post are
is to simply follow your colleagues and your competitors
and then model your posting frequency and schedule
and even style
after what they're doing.
If they're brand new, well,
they may not know what they're doing.
But if they're established
and they've been around for a while,
odds are good that they probably have a clue
about what works best for them
and therefore what might also work best for you.
On the topic of your audience though,
let's talk about tip number nine next,
which is all about demographic details.
So what kind of people are using Instagram?
Well, as you probably already know, most people.
In fact, the odds are good
that you personally use Instagram,
you know people that use Instagram,
and you know of other people that use Instagram.
But, we can get more specific.
So, 61% of Instagram users
fall between the ages of 18 and 31,
and depending on what statistic you look at,
some are showing that most users of Instagram, around 69%,
fall under the ages of 35 and under.
There's a pretty even split between males and females,
although it edges out slightly more
towards the female demographic.
But, probably most important of all,
there are older demographics and younger demographics
on Instagram,
both present and active.
And this is why I put Instagram into a category
that I call "The Big Four", which is made up of Facebook,
Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube,
meaning that no matter what business or market
or industry you're in,
what target market you're seeking to serve,
you can probably find them on one, if not many,
of those big four platforms
because they're big
and a lot of people use 'em.
Next, let me give you just a few helpful tips
about how to incorporate Instagram advertising
into your overall strategy.
First things first,
Instagram ads are run through the Facebook ads
business manager.
This is because Facebook, now Meta, owns Instagram
and therefore, if you wanna run the ads,
you need to do it that way.
Fortunately, it's really easy to do.
All you need to do is go to business.facebook.com,
sign up for a business account, then create an ad account,
then link your Instagram account,
and you're pretty much done.
Sounds more complicated than it is,
a quick Google search and you'll figure it out.
Now the trick with Instagram advertising
is to know that if you do want to run ads,
you want to do it properly and set it up,
like I've just talked about,
through the Facebook ads manager
'cause it gives you just so many more different options
in regards to optimizing it and targeting and placements
and everything involved.
One of the biggest and most important rules
when it comes to advertising
is making sure that you've really dialed in
your ideal target market,
really figuring out who is that ideal customer avatar,
their demographic details like age, gender, income,
and occupation,
their geographic details like what city or state
or province or country they live in,
and what psychographic details
like what are their attitudes and their values
and their interests and their beliefs?
Once you've got that dialed in,
well, then you can start to work on the offer
that you're going to be putting in front of them.
So, think about what can you do
and what kind of offer can you make
that's compelling and interesting
and actually going to get someone to take action?
Then you can decide on what kind of placement
is going to work best.
You can run it as a story,
you can put it in the feed,
or you can run it, like I would suggest, as a reel.
You see just like reels
are getting almost an unfair advantage
and an extra push in the Instagram organic algorithm,
well, they're also getting some pretty decent results
through the advertising platform as well.
So whether you've been running Instagram ads
for any length of time
and you've not fully pursued reels yet,
now's probably a good time.
And if you're just considering
kind of dipping your toes in the water and testing them out,
well, the best place to start
is probably with an Instagram reel ad.
All right, now tip number 11,
which is a bonus tip for you.
You see, I recently came across a statistic
that said just 0.1% of people only use Instagram.
Now admit I had to read this twice
to figure out what exactly they were saying.
But essentially the takeaway is
is that of the people that use Instagram,
well, just 0.1% of them use Instagram alone
and 99.9% of them use some
or many other different social media platforms.
Sometimes it's Facebook.
Sometimes it's Twitter.
Sometimes it's YouTube.
But in only 0.1% of the time, it's just Instagram.
This is why you need to create
a social media marketing strategy
that works across multiple different platforms.
So to help you do just that,
I've linked up a video right here
that's going to give you a step-by-step guide
on how to create a social media strategy.
So make sure to check that out now
and I'll see you in the next video.
Is what happens after you post your content?
And this is really what separates
the amateur social media marketers from the pros.