QUICK LINKS:

1. Understanding the Algorithm
2. Track Your Links
3. Establish Your Colour Palette

When it comes to marketing on Instagram, always make sure to post regularly, use relevant hashtags, and to respond to comments from your followers. Marketing on Instagram can be at times very tricky. So make sure that you are well familiar with the basics first.

Are you ready to take your marketing to the next level? Read below and find out how you can improve the visibility of your product and increase sales. Are there any new Instagram marketing tips out there that can help you to elevate your Instagram game? Of course, there are many—and, luckily for you, we’ve pulled together a list of top 13 of them right here.

Put these tricks to work, and you won’t need anything else to improve your Instagram profile. Rather, you’ll be able it to find new customers, grow a loyal following, and take your business to new heights.

Instagram Marketing Tips #1: Understanding the Algorithm

We don’t intend to sound all geeky and tech-savvy and we also know that the mention of the word algorithm might just be enough for you to close this window, but bear with us for a few more minutes. If you really want to see your Instagram profile take off, it’s of the utmost importance that you put in some time to understand the algorithm behind it.

Unfortunately, the problem here is that Instagram tends to keep the details of this algorithm mostly to itself which makes it almost impossible to crack. Through detailed study and some hit and try methods we have concluded the followings.

We know this now for sure that Chronological ordering does not work. Most of the Users on Instagram no longer see the posts in their feed based on the timeline.

Instead, Instagram now uses a complicated method to analyze a bunch of varied factors and then calculate the likely audience for your posts.

So, what specifically will Instagram look at? There are these seven top factors related to the algorithm that Instagram uses. These factors are:

• Direct Sharing
• Engagement
• Profile Searches
• Relationships
• Relevancy
• Time of Post
• Time Spent Reading Post

The Instagram logic program takes all of these seven factors into consideration and so crunches the numbers to work out the users who would most likely be happy to see your post pop in their own feeds. If you’re still curious and determined to go beyond the smoke and mirrors and dig further more into everything that the algorithmic accounts for, take a look at our comprehensive guide, it covering it all.

Instagram selling Tips #2: Make Your Posts on Desktop

Of course, Instagram is basically used on mobile devices. Because of this, it looks foolish to suggest that you’d need to try and do something Instagram-related on your desktop. However, making your pictures on your pc is a vital step that is definitely worth considering.

You must be wondering why? Well, 1st and foremost, making pictures and editing photos on your pc is way quicker than it’s normally on your phone. Given the size of photos and therefore the practicality, it’s typically easier to do so.

In addition to that, while there are many great photo editing apps available for mobiles, working on your desktop will allow you to use many other professional image creation tools. You can create a customized text quote image or a graphic using Canva for example. If you finally do decide to set your phone aside and start editing images on your desktop, you must be aware of the image sizes you should use.

Following are the typical dimensions you should use and stick with:

Square Image: 1080 pixels in width by 1080 pixels in height

Vertical Image: 1080 pixels in width by 1350 pixels in height

Horizontal Image: 1080 pixels in width by 566 pixels in height

Instagram Marketing Tips #3: Schedule Your Content

Does this situation sound familiar? According to your content planner, you should be posting something to your Instagram feed today. But, there’s always some strings attached: You don’t really have anything good to post. This results in an uncalled-for-haste to pull something worthy together—something that more often than never results in being totally mediocre.

Would you like to dodge that nerve-wracking time crunch? Of course, anyone would. This is why we recommend using an Instagram scheduler like the Schedugram which can be so helpful. Using a scheduling tool for your Instagram posts. It helps you to follow that social media’s one golden rule: to post consistently.

The best posting frequency for Instagram is undoubtedly the posting frequency that you can unfailingly maintain for the rest of your natural life as explained by Neil Patel in an article for Forbes. But, when you are flooded with so many tasks and duties and your plate is full, your social media posts can easily get back-burned or totally forgotten completely.

That’s the benefit of using a scheduler—your content will always be published, without you needing to manage it especially on those days when you’re already overwhelmed and busy.

Do you want to know yet another great benefit of scheduling your social media posts? While using a scheduler, you’re more likely to stick to a strategy. When you have time available to sit down and chalk outposts for upcoming several weeks or even months at times, it’s way easier to keep a track on your main goal and objective.

And finally, it can save you a lot of time. It’s much stress-free and more efficient to make five extra Instagram posts when you are already creating one—instead of needing to open up those editing apps or tools from the start, every time you edit a single image.

Instagram Marketing Tips #4: Benefit of UGC (User-Generated Content)

Even the foremost inventive and forward-thinking brains on the earth will often struggle to come up with a catchy image and caption to post on Instagram. It is but natural, so why not share posts that your followers are posting to their own accounts? It’s an efficient way to not only repurpose some existing content that’s already out there but also it allows you to interact better with your audience—provided you offer them their due credit and a shout out for their rightful image.

Now the question arises, how will you come to know which pictures you need to share or repost? Well, one simple way is to scroll through accounts of followers or influencers who post content that’s relevant to your own kind of posts. However, an excellent and way easier plan of action is to form your own hashtag for your followers to use on linked posts.

For example, the hashtag #theeverygirltravels can help you search an endless archive of gorgeous travel shots (there are currently over fifty-eight thousands of posts using this hashtag!) that most users post to their own account. You can use their pictures to your advantage if you are willing to give them the credit of the picture.

You might not have several choices to start with, given your audience is smaller.
But, don’t hesitate to start encouraging your followers to share their own pictures.
It is always handy to secure some extra content and increase your profile’s engagement—without any desperate measure to produce a post of your own!

Instagram Marketing Tips #5: Track Your Links

Metrics and analytics are surely the keys to the success of any marketing campaign, and conversely same holds well on Instagram.

But, let’s be honest, tracking the conversion rate of your Instagram precisely by yourself can be really tough.

You might be wondering why? It is because Instagram doesn’t allow its users to insert any clickable links in photo captions. Instead, the users only permitted to share a link in their Instagram bio. And just having a link up there isn’t enough. What you are really looking for is to find out the performance of your Instagram account by monitoring the amount and quality of traffic being driven to your landing page which is located in your bio.

This is why many social media gurus recommend using a link shortener which you can easily add to your Instagram bio. That way, you can find out exactly how many people are being sent to your website from your Instagram account.

Keep in mind to create a different bit.ly link whenever you change the address for a new campaign, landing page, or default page to keep a track successful traffic leads as rightly advised by social media trainer Jenn Herman.

Instagram Marketing Tips #6: Prevent Yourself from Getting Shadowbanned

Hashtags can be a powerful tool to attract more users on Instagram. And, it looks tempting to imagine that slapping a bunch of hashtags on your post will make your content to be seen by anyone who’s following that specific hashtag.

Given that, many Instagram users might have recently noticed that their posts, in fact, aren’t visible in those hashtag pages. They have been “shadowbanned”—it is a term that users have come up with for this bizarre phenomenon.

So what actually does it mean to be shadowbanned?

It means that your images will now no longer appear in the hashtags that you’ve used. It can result in a huge loss in your engagement. Surprisingly, after getting shadowbanned, your photos can still be seen by your current followers only, but for everyone else, they don’t exist.

So the question here arises is that why do accounts get shadowbanned?

Many of the Instagram experts are of the view that this is a directed effort on Instagram’s part to filter out accounts who don’t abide by the terms and conditions they’ve laid out.

There can be many reasons, but as Tooby suggested in her article, the followings are most probable reasons that can lead to your account being shadowbanned:

Using specific software (such as audience-growing bots) that are forbidden to use as specified in Instagram’s Terms of Service

Battering Instagram’s daily and hourly limits

Using an abused or broken hashtag

Having an account which is consistently reported by other users

Now the goody, learn how you can prevent yourself from being shadowbanned?

Since the entire idea of shadowbanning is still somewhat unknown, it can be really difficult to know exactly what you can do to avoid it. Of course, if you are doing any of the above-mentioned bullet points, you should refrain from it immediately.

In addition to that, building up a central group of highly active users—people who will almost for sure like and comment on your posts—can help you to improve your engagement level, which is, in fact, something that Instagram considers when figuring out whether or not to shadowban you.

Instagram Marketing Tips #7: Add Locations to Your Posts

If you are not already geotagging your Instagram posts, you should consider doing so. Do you know why? Because, it can significantly improve your visibility, search optimization, and geo-targeting.

Cutting it short, users who are looking at posts from that specific location will immediately see your own post pop up. So what are you waiting for? Get started right now and add your geolocation to your Instagram posts! It’s really a simple change that can yield most impressive results.

Instagram Marketing Tips #8: Get Serious about Instagram Captions

Yes, we all know that Instagram is a mainly visual platform, but captions are a sure way for the users to find out more information about your business, follow your Instagram page, help engage them further with your brand values, and finally decide if your company is working for them or not.

While it’s inviting to add as much detail into captions as you probably can, there is still a better approach that is to think of your caption as a conversation — keep it snappy, short and relatable, and most importantly, always make sure the language that you use is best fitted to the image and goes flawlessly with the overall tone and image of your brand.

An easy way to start a written tone for your captions is to think of your brand as an identity, a real person with whom you are having a conversation with.

So what kind of words shall be used? Are the words you chose playful and enthusiastic? Do they portray your brand as a friend whom you can have a laugh with? Once you have established this personality of your brand, it will become really easier to assess whether a caption does or doesn’t work with your Instagram feed.

Make sure that you are using these words wisely. And be mindful that your captions can spark curiosity or attention within your target audience by using these first few lines, and that they must make some sense when they are either cut off or abbreviated by Instagram’s feed pre-sets.

Instagram Marketing Tips #9: Make Sure Your Brand Hashtags Feel Natural

While generic hashtags can often be a fantastic way to connect with passionate fans and invite them to join the visual conversation, yet nobody likes a brand that is constantly compelling its hashtags into their feeds by overlaying them onto a beautiful image.

Instead of spoiling a beautiful image with many hashtags all over it, why not consider using Schedugram to place your intended hashtags within the first comment line instead. In this way, you’ll be able not only to drive a higher engagement but also avoid frustrating your audience at the same time.

Like all other decisions, brand tags are undoubtedly a product of your company’s values, so don’t be afraid to think beyond the scope of your brand’s name and its geo-location.

When you are choosing a hashtag for your brand, it is very important that you do a detailed research for posted content that has been already tagged with the same hashtag. Convince users who are already posting content while using your hashtag that they must encourage others to do the same… Doesn’t everyone loves the flattery of a regram!

Bonus Instagram Marketing Tips #10: Never Stop Learning

It’s very rightly said: The only constant thing is change itself. Instagram, as a podium, will always be accustomed to change, and there will always be new ways to help people connect through social media.

Make sure that you subscribe to key updates from Instagram and never be afraid to experiment with new things. You could be a pioneer to introduce a user to a new function that Instagram has released. This will surely make you stand out as a leader and go a long way in branding a positive image for your business.

So once you learn about a new feature released for Instagram, do try one or two posts incorporating it (in your own style and tone, of course), and then test several different approaches to use the feature over the next few days so that you can master how best to use it.

Bonus Instagram Marketing Tips #11: Establish Your Colour Palette

Begin to define a two or three-color palette that really reflects your brand.

This will in time become your very own visual footprint in users’ feeds. This palette could be derived from your branding, your logo, or your packaging, or could simply be a series of colours that reflect the mood of your company.

Test out several colour palettes in sets of nine images or so by using an app such as VSCO, or on even a hidden second Instagram account, before you finalize the colours that you’re going to keep
Once you have decided which colour scheme works for you, start collecting background drapes and plain styling objects that can be judicially used while shooting new images for your Instagram feed.

It’s indeed a great idea to keep a few props with you at all times in the handbag, your backpack or even at your studio etc, so that they may come in handy. Obviously, you can never know when the opportunity to snap a great image might arrive!

Bonus Instagram Marketing Tips #12: Know What Your Brand Stands For

As we all know that trends come and go rapidly in today’s fast-paced world. So while it’s very important to keep abreast with the times, it is paramount that you know what your brand stands for, and what the key goals of your Instagram posts are.

Whenever you are creating content, ask yourself:

What is the principle that my brand stands for?

Generally speaking, every brand should have a clear-cut vision, a mission statement, in line with a set of brand values. These standards or values (usually around three to five values are ideal) should be clearly defined, and prominently reflected in every aspect of the brand’s products and even marketing campaigns.

When you understand the key values of your brand then it will help you to answer many questions clearly. Important questions starting from what the packaging should look like, to which hashtags are coherent with the brand that you want to align on Instagram.

What is the main objective of my feed?

Is the main purpose of your feed to inform fans of new products and services? Or is it to encourage them to use your product? Or is it to inspire a lifestyle in which your brand fits nicely into?

By having a clear mission and defined goals for what you are trying to achieve, you can easily make sure that each and every Instagram post ties into a bigger-picture strategy.

This will surely make your Instagram feed a more operative tool in your marketing campaign and result in finding you actively engaged followers who are well prepped for what to do when they come across your content.

Bonus Instagram Marketing Tips #13: Create your own Visual Style

Developing a uniquely different visual style and colour palette can usually take a lot of time, however, a nice place to start is joining the brand values that you have defined already, with some extra research into visuals that are used by other successful companies.

Go on and make a list of techniques and a gallery of screengrabs as a reference point for the content that you want to generate, and revisit it —you can always add to it, change it—from time to time and ensure that your own visual style is on track.