Instagram provides a huge opportunity for all sorts of businesses to promote their brand with over one billion-plus monthly active users. Not only that, the number of active users on Instagram is growing more quickly than on Facebook and Twitter. As a result, Instagram has become one of the most important channels to reach out to the target customer base. 

Large organizations are already having a loyal audience base so they are not facing any problems in getting engagement and results on Instagram. But how do you use Instagram to promote your local business and generate revenue? 

More and more local brands are joining Instagram because of this tremendous opportunity. With more than 500 million daily active users it has become a new sales channel for local businesses.

Why is Instagram important for local businesses?

Instagram not only provides you with an opportunity to connect with your audiences but also enables you to engage them with your brand and make them your customer.

Instagram is also quite different from all other social media channels because of the most active audience base. It is one of the strongest visual media which sets it apart from all other available platforms. As a business owner if you are not using Instagram you are missing a large set of potential customers.

However, since Instagram is relatively new, a lot of businesses are struggling to find out an effective strategy to use it. 

Here are the strategies that you could use to generate revenue from Instagram.

1. A powerful introduction with a connection to existing accounts

To start with your Instagram account, it is very important to write a strong bio with an introduction to your company. On Instagram, you can add only one website address to your bio. You can use Bitly to shorten your URL address. It will help you to save the number of characters and write more about your company.

You should also connect your Instagram account with your other social media accounts. If you already have a social media account with a large follower base it will help you to start building up on that. Use your Facebook or Twitter account to promote your Instagram account by connecting with it and pushing the followers to your Instagram account. This will instantly increase the follower base on your Instagram page.

2. Find out what is working

As a user of Instagram, you should always check out the post which is having the maximum engagement and hashtags which are performing well. Instagram reporting tool enables you to check out all such information in one place and track it on a periodic basis.

You can use this data to find the most efficient content for your potential customers. Try to figure out the best performing photos, filters, or hashtags and use them to improve your future posts.

3. Promote your posts on Instagram using hashtags

As you may know, all other platforms like Google, Facebook, or Twitter are based on keywords. But unlike other platforms, the Instagram search is based on hashtags. For example in case you are looking for laptops you can search it on Twitter or Facebook by typing “laptops” whereas on Instagram you need to search it using #laptops.

Start using hashtags to promote your posts on Instagram. It is one of the efficient ways to improve visibility and reach out to new audiences who are searching for products similar to yours.

However, you will get the real value out of it only when you use the right hashtags which are trending or popular. Once you hit the right hashtag there is every chance that your image will show up in the trending tags section on Instagram. You can use a third-party tool to find out the popular hashtags that are being used heavily and fit your Instagram posts.

Unlike all other social media networks, Instagram allows a maximum of 30 hashtags which can really help you to promote your post. However, that doesn’t mean you should always use 30 hashtags on each post.  You should use the hashtags judiciously and as per the requirement. Remember, along with a nice creative you need a great bunch of hashtags to achieve the desired result on Instagram.

4. Use Instagram stories to promote instantly

Instagram stories are an interesting feature of Instagram. It lets you feature images and videos in a time-bounded story format which has disappeared after 24 hours. As a local business owner, you should capitalize on the story feature as part of your Instagram strategy as it has got huge potential. It gives you instant visibility among your follower base.

5. Collaborating with the influencers

One of the easiest ways to achieve a large set of followers on Instagram is by making a tie-up with an influencer with a large follower base. Influencer marketing is one of the most critical aspects of Instagram and helps you to build your Instagram follower base in no time. The biggest advantage of Instagram is that all Influencers are not celebrities and when they promote you will get an instant viewership. 

In the beginning, make a list of top influencers in your industry. Check out their Instagram page to find out their engagement rates and not just their followers count. Make contact with these potential influencers and form a tie-up with them. You can do these in two ways. 

You can either pay them for a sponsored post or you can establish a relationship with them. A lot of small business owners are hesitant about using a sponsored post but you should start using it to get the ball rolling. Try to reach out to individuals who are related to your industry. Choosing influencers who are appropriate to your brand is very critical because the new followers you gain may not be the perfect fit for your product line.

The second way is to be involved in networking with the influencers. You can start following the accounts which are complementary to your business. Get engaged with them through commenting, liking, or reaching out to them through direct messages.  Look for the opportunities which you can jointly do like hosting a webinar or Instagram live sessions. There are plenty of possible tie-ups that you can do to promote your brand using this kind of tie-up.

They can also promote your brand through a contest or a co-branded post. The influencer can also suggest some unique ideas for the promotion of your brand. Try to pick the best ideas which are ideal for your products or services.

6. Checking out the comments

Many businesses post on Instagram and never look at them again. You should never do that. Because of the UI of the Instagram app, it is not easy to check all comments at one go. As a result, most brands use Instagram for publishing and not for engagement with their followers.

To make your Instagram page a successful one, you should check all comments and respond to them on a real-time basis wherever necessary.

7. Video marketing

Over a period of time video has become really important for small businesses. As a result, Instagram is continuously pushing the video content through story and live video features. Instagram videos are easy to make using a phone and don’t require a big investment. Video is continuously improving as an engagement generation tool and you should use it as a part of your Instagram marketing strategy.

8. Regramming

As a business owner, when you start using Instagram, the initial focus should be on building up your audience base. You really need to have some visibility to improve your engagement rate at the initial stage.

Start building your follower base on Instagram by Regramming. Regramming is a quick and easy way to share other people’s posts and get instant visibility. Instagram as an app doesn’t allow you to share other people’s content. You can also use various apps to do Regramming and get instant visibility.

9. Instagram ads

The biggest hindrance for any local business is the limited ad budget. The limited ad budget restricts your capability to give ads on social media platforms. However, you can always go for Instagram ads in such cases as they are extremely cost-effective. A unique and enticing Instagram ad helps a brand to engage more with its potential customer base.

However, the most important aspect of running an advertisement on Instagram is proper targeting. A successful targeting strategy coupled with some additional checkpoints will help you to achieve the best returns from Instagram advertisements.

In case you have a Facebook ad manager account, you can use the same to run advertisements on Instagram as they are built on the same platform. However, you should use different images for Instagram ads as the display structure on Instagram is completely different from all other platforms.

10. Contest on Instagram page

The Instagram contest gives an instant push to your page by increasing engagement with your current and potential follower base. However, you should design your content smartly so that it can maximize your reach.

You can also add a custom hashtag for your contest and make the audience tag their friends and comment on the post to participate in the contest. You should promote the contest well before the launch to get maximum participation. Since you want to address the audience who are and could be your potential customers, you should give the prize which is related to your products or services. This will make sure you reach out to the right audience who are interested in your brand.

11. Win over your competitor’s followers

As a part of a comprehensive Instagram marketing strategy, you should always check out the audiences who are following your competitors.  Find out your competitors who are active on Instagram and have a wide follower base. You can start following the most active participants of your competitors’ page. In all probability, the user will also start following you back.

Remember you can get followers by using this technique but you need to regularly communicate with them so that they spread the word about your brand. You can do it by liking their photos or commenting on their posts.

Conclusion

Getting overnight success on Instagram is very difficult. However, user engagement is very high on Instagram and you need to build your brand on this immensely powerful platform. Start using all the above-mentioned techniques to see how Instagram can bring rapid change into your business.

It is always recommended to select the best strategy for Instagram based on the products and services you are operating. A comprehensive Instagram marketing strategy coupled with engaging content and unique designs surely brings out the best return for your business.

To manage your Instagram marketing efficiently, you can connect with an integrated digital marketing agency like SMON. SMON can help you to create Instagram marketing campaigns based on the ROI to generate leads and new clients for your local business.